Gregory B. Sadler's Blog: Gregory B. Sadler on Medium, page 31

Eleven Podcast Episodes on Descartes' Meditations

I have been converting my core concept lecture videos into podcast episodes in the Sadler's Lectures series.  So far, I've created series on Plato's works - the Apology, Crito, Euthyphro - and on other works by Aristotle, Cicero, Epictetus, Kierkegaard, Rilke, and Sartre.  Recently, I created my longest series yet, going through the entirety of Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy . 

Here below is the first half of that series.  The thirteen episodes in this set...

Ten Videos on A.J. Ayer's Language, Truth, and Logic

One of the texts I teach regularly in my Intro to Philosophy and Ethics classes is A.J. Ayer's classic text of logical empiricism, Language, Truth, and Logic .  Last semester, I finally got around to creating a set of lecture videos on chapters 1 and 6 of the work as aids for my students.

These might be of interest or use to other people as well, as they tackle reading through the work.  So, here are links to those videos:

A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic, ch. 1Kant's vs. Ayer's...

The Fans Have Spoken - Ballard, King, and Pratchett Join The List!

We ran a poll last week to determine which three authors would get placed in the final three slots for my monthly talk series, Worlds of Speculative Fiction, which is about to enter its 5th year.  A bit earlier, I had solicited suggestions from my viewers, subscribers, and followers, and out of the 30 or so writers suggested, I took the top 6 recommendations.

You can see the results above.  Ballard, King, and Pratchett easily outpaced the other three authors.  So I'll be adding...

Six Podcast Episodes on Rilke's Letters To a Young Poet

In November, I resumed editing my video lectures into episodes in the Sadler's Lectures podcast.  After finishing up a series on Aristotle's Metaphysics book 1, I started work on the set that I shot earlier this year on the great Existentialist poet, novelist, and writer Rainer Maria Rilke, specifically on his short work, Letters To a Young Poet.
It's a great little book, a sort of crystallization of key themes of Rilke's own creative process, his own reflections, and his engagement with...

Nine Authors Selected for Worlds of Speculative Fiction 2020

Year 5 of my monthly talk series - Worlds of Speculative Fiction - starts in January, and I already have nine of the twelve authors we'll be reading and discussing picked out.  I had selected seven of them by the time I arrived at our session last week to discuss Bram Stoker.  Two of the regular participants in the discussions contributed two other excellent suggestions.

Next week, I'll start soliciting more suggestions about the remaining three slots for 2020.  I'll create a...

Eight Podcast Episodes on Aristotle's Metaphysics book 1

As my heavy-load semester begins to grind to an end, and I see some of the proverbial light glimmer at the end of the tunnel, I've been able to set aside some time to resume converting my core concept videos into Sadler's Lectures podcast episodes. Right now I'm working on a set of lectures on Rainer Maria Rilke's work, Letters to a Young Poet (I released the first of those today). 

One of the other texts that I teach very frequently is A...work,

Philosophers in the Midst of History Year 5 Scheduled!

Earlier this month, we had the final session for this year in the Philosophers In The Midst of History public talk series, discussing the 20th century existentialist and feminist thinker, Simone de Beauvoir (watch the videorecording here).  She is probably best known for her work The Second Sex, but we also devoted some discussion to another important book of hers, The Ethics of Ambiguity .

That session was number 16, which brings a close to the fourth...

Eighteen-Year-Old Me Is A Terrible Judge

There is a passage by Nassim Nicolas Taleb - taken from a commencement address he gave at
American University in Beirut - that has been circulating around the web a good bit recently.  It has to do with how we ought to understand "success".  His proposal is interesting, and it has some merit to it, but it's also very limited in scope.  I can say unequivocally that in my case, it would be a terrible idea to follow.

Here's what Taleb said:

For I have a single definition of success: y.../>

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Moving Video Premiere Date to November 30

One of the new series of videos I started this year provide viewers with my expert advice about how to engage in self-directed study in the field of Philosophy.  Once I have produced a video in this series, I premiere it on YouTube.  That allows anyone who is interested in the topic and the particular thinker to join in via live chat, while everyone watches it for the first time.  I answer questions and address comments over the hour that the video airs.

This month,...

Seven Videos on Rene Descartes' Meditations 5 and 6

This Fall, I was able to fill in a gap in coverage of videos I originally created for students enrolled in the classes (Intro to Philosophy, Foundations in Philosophy) in which we focus on Rene Descartes' massively influential work, the Meditations on First Philosophy .

The previous semester, I managed to find the time to produce core concept videos covering the first three meditations, but wasn't able to get to the fourth, fifth, and sixth.  That was remedied a few weeks ago, as I finished up the set...