Gregory B. Sadler's Blog: Gregory B. Sadler on Medium, page 35

Seven Videos on Descartes' Meditations 1 and 2

This semester, I am teaching Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy in my Foundations in Philosophy classes at Marquette University and in my Introduction to Philosophy class at Milwaukee Area Technical College.  Although I am by no means a Cartesian, Descartes is among thinkers I consider a philosopher of the first order of importance.  His works are also quite enjoyable to read - at least for me! - both in their original Latin and French and in English translations.

When I have...

New Sadler's Honest Reviews Video

Some time back, I started a new video series - Sadler's Honest Book Reviews - devoted to reviewing recent books purporting to be about philosophy and its intersections or applications to life.  So, practical philosophy, leadership, self-help, productivity, organizational behavior - all of those fall within the broad purview of the series.

Last weekend, I shot another review, this time of a book that is for the most part by the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, and also in part by its editor a...

Why Stop With Descartes' Second Mediation?

Here's a topic that I'll flesh out more fully in a fuller-length piece in my Medium site, hopefully later on this week - something that came first as a complete surprise to me, and then transformed into understandable dismay:  apparently, it is quite common for philosophy instructors to assign and teach only the first two of Rene Descartes' six Meditations on First Philosophy .

I discovered this when posting my recently released core concept videos focused on that very work.  Pe...

Three Videos on Lawrence Kohlberg's Moral Development Theory

Lawrence Kohlberg was a psychologist particularly interested in human moral development.  His six-level model has ben incredibly influential not only in the fields of psychology and education, but also in philosophy, where it is regularly taught and discussed in ethics classes. 

Since I was teaching him early on in my Ethics for Artists and Designers class at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design this semester, I decided to create some new core concept videos as resources for my...

Back To Being A Professor Again

The first half of my academic career, I held the rank of Assistant Professor.  While I taught for Ball State University in their extended education program - teaching Philosophy and Religious Studies classes at Indiana State Prison - that was the highest rank I could attain, since I wasn't tenure track, but rather had yearly contracts.  It was unfortunate, since given my publications at the time, I would have been eligible for promotion early on.

I taught for Ball State for six years...

Not All Inner Citadels Are Good Places

The image of a person having an "inner citadel" of the mind, which can be drawn upon as a resource and refuge, has proven particularly attractive to Stoics, so much so that Pierre Hadot took that catch-phrase as a title for his book, The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius .

Marcus talks about this at several points.  The citadel or fortress image comes up in this passage:

Remember that when it withdraws into itself and finds contentment there, the mind is invulnerable. It doe...

Meanings of "Philosophy" - Some Musings

As I was sitting, drinking my coffee, and reading Al-Ghazali (whose thought I will be teaching to my undergraduate students later this morning, a phrase of Leon Brunschvicg came to mind:  "a way of philosophizing that is not that of philosophers".  A beautiful and pregnant expression, worth turning over in one's mind, rather than quickly handling and then setting aside.

Brunschvicg coined that term as part of a tripartite distinction, bearing on the possible relations between Ch...

Nine Videos on Soren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling

Since I'm now regularly teaching more academic classes (face to face and online) - in fact, I'm getting so many requests that I'm forced to turn some down - I've been focusing my core concept video production on developing resources for my students as they grapple with the texts and thinkers I assign.

One work that I brought back into my classes last Fall is Soren Kierkegaard's Fear And Trembling .  This can be quite a tough one for students, not just because of the intrinsic difficulty of...

Mamet Is Wrong About Cheating and Children

It turns out that the FBI carried out an investigation of corruption and outright cheating in elite colleges admissions processes.  To me, I'll admit, it was a surprise that anyone with genuine power actually cared enough to order an operation, but it's entirely unsurprising to discover precisely how some of the rich, powerful, and famous gamed the system.

It was surprising to me to read playwright David Mamet's open letter defending his friend, actor Felicity Huffmann - who was arrested...

Philosophers In The Midst of History #13 - Epictetus, Slavery, Stoicism, and the Roman Empire

Three years ago, I started delivering a new quarterly series of lectures here in the Milwaukee area, hosted at the Frank Weyenberg Library.  The series is called "Philosophers In The Midst of History".  Each year, I provide a lecture and discussion on an ancient philosopher in February, a medieval philosopher in May, an early modern philosopher in August, and a 19th or 20th century philosopher in November.

In each of the sessions, I lead the participants into some of the key ideas of...