The Entire Archives of Radical Philosophy Go Online: Read Essays by Michel Foucault, Alain Badiou, Judith Butler & More (1972-2018)
On a seemingly daily basis, we see attacks against the intellectual culture of the academic humanities, which, since the 1960s, have opened up spaces for leftists to develop critical theories of all kinds. Attacks from supposedly liberal professors and centrist op-ed columnists, from well-funded conservative think tanks and white supremacists on college campus tours. All rail against the evils of feminism, post-modernism, and something called “neo-Marxism” with outsized agitation. For students and professors, the onslaughts are exhausting, and not only because they have very real, often dangerous, consequences, but because they all attack the same straw men (or “straw people”) and refuse to engage with academic thought on its own terms. Were non-academic critics to take academic work seriously, they might notice that debates over “political correctness,” "thought policing," "identity politics," etc. have been going on for thirty years now, and among left intellectuals themselves.
What Does "Kafkaesque" Really Mean? A Short Animated Video Explains
We derive adjectives from great writers’ names meant to encapsulate entire philosophies or modes of expression. We have the Homeric, the Shakespearean, the Joycean, etc. Two such adjectives that seem to apply most to our contemporary condition sadly express much darker, more cramped visions than these: “Orwellian” and “Kafkaesque.” Tavlin returns in the video above to explain the meaning of “Kafkaesque,” a less-abused descriptor but one we still may not fully appreciate. But the word is much richer than such casual usage as describing a trip to the DMV. Tavlin references Kafka’s short story “Poseiden,” in which the god of the sea can neither explore nor enjoy his realm because he is buried under mountains of paperwork. It’s not the absurdity of bureaucracy alone, but the irony of the character’s circular reasoning in reaction to it, that is emblematic of Kafka’s writing. Related Content: What “Orwellian” Really Means: An Animated Lesson About the Use & Abuse of the Term
It's all greek to me
The Frankfurt Four
Turns out Heraclitus was right. Like he said, fire is awesome, or something like that. The Frankfurt School was a group of philosophers and social critics in Germany that rose to prominance after the War. One thing Derrida in particular is accused of is making everything "subjective", the Frankfurt School might even get accused of this themselves, even though a lot of their work is directly opposed to this. Rick Roderick has a good lecture series that is accessible on some of these thinkers, on YouTube. Permanent Link to this Comic: Support the comic on Patreon!
How Can I Know Anything at All? BBC Animations Feature the Philosophy of Wittgenstein, Hume, Popper & More
How did everything begin? What makes us human? What is the self? How do I live a good life? What is love? The already philosophically inclined will have recognized this as the foundational question of epistemology, that formidable branch of philosophy concerned with what we know, how we know, and whether we can know in the first place. In Wittgenstein’s view, says actor Aidan Turner, “there can’t be more to the public meaning of a language than we’re capable of teaching each other, and the private ‘something’—the ‘beetle’—can’t have a role in that teaching, because we can’t get at it.” Finally, the series lands on a method we can use to know, one science has relied on, with seeming success, for quite some time now: Karl Popper’s idea of falsification. Related Content: 140 Free Online Philosophy Courses What is Love? What is the Self? How Did Everything Begin? What Makes Us Human? How to Live a Good Life? How Can I Know Right From Wrong?
Free Greek language lessons
Free Greek language lessons or μαθήματα ελληνικών are offered around Greece by the Ministry of Education and Culture’s ODYSSEAS program, in addition to Greek history/culture lessons. EU and non-EU citizens must be legally resident in Greece and at least 16 years of age to enroll. After successful completion of 100-150 hours of Greek-language instruction and 25 hours of history/culture lessons, and passing a written and oral examination, students are issued a certificate. Residents and professionals can use this as proof of proficiency, and non-EU citizens need the certificate as one element to apply for a long-term EU-wide residence/work permit and Greek citizenship. ODYSSEAS classes are the only ones recognized by the government, though applicants who paid for lessons elsewhere or already have sufficient knowledge of Greek can potentially skip A1 (Introductory) and/or get an A2 certificate by passing an exam. *Article last updated June 1, 2013. IDEKE and KEE Where to register for courses
How to improve your Critical Thinking skills: Interview with Dr. Gerald Nosich – Life Lessons
In this article I interview an expert on Critical Thinking, Dr. Gerald Nosich from the Foundation for Critical Thinking, who has been teaching Critical Thinking since 1977 to find out how we can improve our Critical Thinking skills. In this article you will learn: Let’s start at the beginning… Michael: What is Critical thinking? Dr. One it’s reflective. So if I’m making a decision I can ask myself : “What assumptions am I making about this?” Or I can ask myself about the implications: “Well, if I make this decision, what’s likely to happen?” “And if I make this other decision, what’s likely to happen?” Notice I’m not just thinking about the decision I have to make, but I’m also reflecting on how I’m going about making the decision, that is I’m reflecting on my thinking about the decision. Now reflectiveness is a major part of critical thinking, but reflective all by itself does not make something “critical thinking”. Dr. “What assumptions am I making about how my child is doing in school?” Dr.
A History of Philosophy in 81 Video Lectures: From Ancient Greece to Modern Times
Above, you can watch 81 video lectures tracing the history of philosophy, moving from Ancient Greece to modern times. Arthur Holmes presented this influential course at Wheaton College for decades, and now it's online for you. The lectures are all streamable above, or available through this YouTube playlist. Philosophers covered in the course include: Plato, Aquinas, Hobbes Descartes, Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Sartre and more. A History of Philosophy has been added to our list of Free Online Philosophy courses, a subset of our meta collection, 1,300 Free Online Courses from Top Universities. Follow Open Culture on Facebook and Twitter and share intelligent media with your friends. If you'd like to support Open Culture and our mission, please consider making a donation to our site. Support Open Culture We're hoping to rely on our loyal readers rather than erratic ads.
