The Great Courses: Intellectual History

 20 books in series
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The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition Summary

Grasp the important ideas that have served as the backbone of philosophy across the ages with this extraordinary 60-lecture series. This is your opportunity to explore the enormous range of philosophical perspectives and ponder the most important and enduring of human questions - without spending your life poring over dense philosophical texts.

Professor Robinson guides you through more than 2,000 years of philosophical thinking and gives you a coherent, comprehensive, and beautifully articulated introduction to the great conversation of philosophy. Every lecture contains substance that can change your view of the world and its history.

You'll journey from the early philosophical ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; chart the origins of Christian philosophy and investigate the Islamic scholars who preserved and extended Greek thought during the Middle Ages; and venture through Enlightenment contributions to philosophy, from Francis Bacon to Locke, Hume, Kant, Mill, and Adam Smith.

Then shift your attention to the modern era, where you see groundbreaking ideas like psychoanalysis, pragmatism, and nihilism, as well as the collision between the inherently social understanding of meaning created by Wittgenstein, the vastly different estimation of human thought developed by the code-breaking genius Alan Turing, and the subtle response to him made by the American philosopher John Searle.

While the lectures cover an enormous range of key thinkers and ideas, they always focus on the most important ideas. The result is a course that gives you everything you need to finally grasp humanity's exciting philosophical history - without years of intense academic study and piles of dense reading.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2004 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2004 The Great Courses
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The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition

The Great Ideas of Philosophy, 2nd Edition

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The Meaning of Life: Perspectives from the World's Great Intellectual Traditions

The Meaning of Life: Perspectives from the World's Great Intellectual Traditions

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The Wisdom of History

The Wisdom of History

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Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition

Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition

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A History of Freedom

A History of Freedom

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The Soul and the City: Art, Literature, and Urban Living

The Soul and the City: Art, Literature, and Urban Living

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Life Lessons from the Great Myths

Life Lessons from the Great Myths

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European Thought and Culture in the 19th Century

European Thought and Culture in the 19th Century

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European Thought and Culture in the 20th Century

European Thought and Culture in the 20th Century

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Philosophy, Religion, and the Meaning of Life

Philosophy, Religion, and the Meaning of Life

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Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition

Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition

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Jewish Intellectual History: 16th to 20th Century

Jewish Intellectual History: 16th to 20th Century

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Between Cross and Crescent: Jewish Civilization from Mohammed to Spinoza

Between Cross and Crescent: Jewish Civilization from Mohammed to Spinoza

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Cycles of American Political Thought

Cycles of American Political Thought

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American Ideals: Founding a 'Republic of Virtue'

American Ideals: Founding a 'Republic of Virtue'

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Tocqueville and the American Experiment

Tocqueville and the American Experiment

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The American Mind

The American Mind

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Great Minds of the Medieval World

Great Minds of the Medieval World

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Books that Matter: The Prince

Books that Matter: The Prince

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Books That Matter: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Books That Matter: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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