Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition
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Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition
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Narrated by:
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Alan Charles Kors
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Darren Staloff
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Dennis Dalton
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Douglas Kellner
About this listen
For 3,000 years, mankind has grappled with fundamental questions about life. What is real? Who or what is God? When is it legitimate for one person to have power over others? What is justice? Beauty?
This 84-lecture, 12-professor tour of Western philosophical tradition covers more than 60 of history's greatest minds and brings you a comprehensive survey of the history of Western philosophy from its origins in classical Greece to the present.
It took 3,000 years for the debate chronicled in these lectures to reach maturity.
With this series of lectures, you can encompass it by the end of next month. You'll travel chronologically through the history of the Western world, charting the intriguing development of Western philosophy and drawing fascinating connections between thinkers separated by the gulf of time and space. You'll acquaint yourself with the Greek Pre-Socratics (the world's first scientific thinkers) and examine in detail the insights of three towering figures: Socrates, his student Plato, and Plato's student, Aristotle.
You'll examine the contributions to philosophy from biblical traditions and the great minds of the Christian age. Then, you'll mark the critical schism that developed between the claims of faith and those of science and participate in the breathless discovery found during the Enlightenment, which reveled in the new freedom of human potential and scientific expansion. You'll study the provocative philosophical responses (by the Existentialists and others) to the challenges raised by the new scientific consciousness. And you'll conclude with an overview of the work of Derrida and other late 20th-century philosophers and theorists.
The full list of lecturers includes Professors Alan Charles Kors, Darren Staloff, Dennis Dalton, Douglas Kellner, Jeremy Adams, Jeremy Shearmur, Kathleen M. Higgins, Louis Markos, Mark Risjord, Phillip Cary, Robert C. Solomon, and Robert H. Kane.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2000 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2000 The Great CoursesWhat listeners say about Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Zonefreek
- 2018-07-12
Well done.
I found the lecture series useful and insightful. I would recommend the series to anyone interested in philosophical discourse.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dr Rape Eat
- 2020-10-03
Pretty good series
I liked the stuff on Parmenides, Plotinus, and a few others. They missed Deleuze though:(
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Evan Goodwin
- 2019-05-25
Excellent Overview
Most of the narrators are excellent, all of them good. It was a great way to move through Western philosophy.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tyler Gates
- 2022-12-25
Mostly good
I am enjoying this greatly but some speakers (Adams) forget they are speaking on philosophy and spend a lot of time on history.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Phonse Fagan
- 2021-05-27
Ambitious!
For those wanting a decent synopsis of "western philosophy" this ambitious tome will get you started. But you will want to keep your dictionary handy to try and keep track of the frequent "ologys" and "isms" that get tossed around - many of which seem to mean the opposite of what one would expect from their monikers. This is not the fault of the authors, but the overwrought pedantry and (sometimes) deliberate obscurantism of the "great minds" - many of which seem to also struggle mightily with fallacy of the excluded middle: by asking us to make a choice of A or B, when the better option is more likely to be some mixture of both.
And I did find myself frequently asking: Why don't they drop the pedantic jargon and cut to the meat of subject? Indeed, many of the disagreements in points of view and speculations discussed appear to be a matter of semantics - which only occasionally gets pointed out.
In terms of content, it's also hard not be impressed (or puzzled) by the intellectual gymnastics that have been, and continue to be, employed to hang on to "traditional" attitudes - and to find loopholes for belief in the supernatural: where our ability to reason is casually employed to attack the process of reasoning itself. The question of where to ground our ethics arises again and again. And yet, I don't recall hearing anything on the rather obvious point that it is likely to be rooted in the Darwinian and Maslowian notion of a common human nature: a seeming obvious bulwark against absolute moral relativism.
I also take some issue with the title. Instead of "Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition" I think, "Philosophers of Note in the Western Tradition" would be more fitting. Although Newton gets a brief nod and there are some passing references to Einstein's work, most of the geniuses behind our science, technology, medicine, mathematics, arts, and (yes) business are pretty much ignored.
Having said all that: there is a good chance you will learn (or be reminded of) something interesting and/or useful in this sweeping overview.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Christopher Staniforth
- 2021-03-18
Wow!
This was excellent for those who want a broad exposure to western philosophy. It’s a good launching off point to read more deeply into the works of specific philosophers.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- MarianaPontes
- 2022-06-04
Enthralling lectures
Highly recommend for anyone who wants to get a general knowledge of philosophy and pick what topics you might want to deep dive in the future!
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- elcucuy
- 2019-04-16
Very disappointed
A caricature of every philosopher and their philosophies. Would only recommend for an absolute beginner.
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5 people found this helpful