
Explore Aristotle's enduring influence on Western philosophy, from metaphysics and causality to ethics, virtue, logic, politics, rhetoric, poetics and aesthetics, and the scientific method.
Study Anaxagoras, the Greek philosopher who proposed that the universe is governed by a universal mind (nous) and that everything contains a portion of everything, shaping cosmology and influencing Plato.
Explore Socrates, the father of the Socratic method, his pursuit of truth, and his impact on ethics, virtue, and critical thinking in Western philosophy.
Explore William of Ockham's nominalism, Occam's razor as the principle of parsimony, and aristotelian ontology, while examining his political sovereignty of the individual and faith over reason.
Explore Bonaventure's Italian roots, the influence of Saint Francis, and his mystical theology on the journey of the soul, ethics, and metaphysical inquiry.
Explore Jean-Jacques Rousseau's enlightenment ideas on education, the social contract, inequality, and natural human development, and his lasting influence on political thought, literature, and romanticism.
Explore Voltaire’s enlightenment legacy, championing freedom of speech, religious tolerance, and separation of church and state, while promoting reason, secularism, and human rights as foundations of modern democracy.
Explore Gabriel Marcel’s existentialist view of being and having, the problem versus mystery and transcendence, and the importance of authentic human relationships amid the limits of rational understanding.
Explore Simone de Beauvoir's existentialist ethics and feminist activism, her critique of gender roles in the second sex, and her influential relationship with Sartre and political engagement.
Explore Jean-François Lyotard's postmodern critique of metanarratives, language games, and the ethics of knowledge, highlighting plural perspectives and the impact of technology on culture and art.
Explore liberalism as a philosophy of freedom and equality that defends individual rights, limited government, and the free market, shaping democracy, markets, and social justice.
Explore Montesquieu's influence as a French political philosopher who promoted liberty, equality, and the separation of powers, whose spirit of the laws shaped federalism and the American Constitution.
For thousands of years, wise men and women have contemplated the universe, the role of people on this planet, and life after death. They've studied scientific phenomena, the essence of things, reasoning, beliefs, fallacies, critical thinking, and the dynamics of economies, societies, culture, human rights, and behavior.
Today, you will learn about the most compelling ideas, the most prominent philosophers, and the most controversial debates between those influential figures.
Western philosophy has left its mark on history. From ideologists attempting to alter economic systems and structures to wise men from Greece and Rome who discovered truths beyond our imagination, these classes will help you on your journey to become a better critical thinker, a logical, wiser analyst, and someone with a deeper appreciation for life, nature, and the mysteries of the universe.
We will dive deeper into philosophical movements such as humanism, rationalism, Marxism, naturalism, deconstructionism, phenomenology, transcendentalism, hedonism, skepticism, metaphysics, epistemology, feminism, stoicism, empiricism, existentialism, and many others. During these classes, I have tried to highlight multiple perspectives and leave things open for discussion.
This course will address ideas and biographies of famous philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Zeno, Marcus Aurelius, William of Ockham, Voltaire, Sartre, John Locke, Bertrand Russell, Martha Nussbaum, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hegel, Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Margaret Fuller, Edith Stein, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Karl Marx, and dozens of others.
Please consider learning from history's most gifted, intellectual geniuses. Join me on an adventure to study their inspirational breakthroughs, their occasional fallacies, and their lengthy processes to reach novel conclusions and revolutionary adjustments to society, religion, and science.