36
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Philosophy and the Modern Age
Preview the course, beginning with the scientific and social changes of the 17th through 19th centuries that forced all major philosophers to develop dramatically new views. Then see how the 20th century unleashed three diverging pathways for Western philosophers, each producing its own wave of this radically new thought.
1.
Philosophy and the Modern Age
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19.
Rise of 20th-Century Philosophy—Phenomenology
Watch as Husserl tried to formulate a new ideal philosophy of meaning on the basis of a nonempiricist, holistic analysis of human experience. His solution changed all subsequent European philosophy, liberating the investigation of lived experience from empiricism, psychology, and natural science.
19.
Rise of 20th-Century Philosophy—Phenomenology
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2.
Scholasticism and the Scientific Revolution
Grasp how the Scientific Revolution arrived in a world already reeling from religious and social upheaval, fragmenting the medieval Aristotelian-Christian view of the cosmos. Can philosophers discover a way to follow God and the new science at the same time?
2.
Scholasticism and the Scientific Revolution
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20.
Physics, Positivism, and Early Wittgenstein
Witness the logical positivists' reaction to the new physical view of the world offered by special and general relativity, quantum mechanics, and Hubble's discovery of the universe's expansion. They declared that reality is knowable only by science's "verifiable" constructions of sense data. As the young Wittgenstein wrote, beyond those limits we should be "silent."
20.
Physics, Positivism, and Early Wittgenstein
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3.
The Rationalism and Dualism of Descartes
Learn how Descartes forged the first and most influential solution. He posited a private self-consciousness, with its own innate ideas, as the foundation of knowledge, with reality fundamentally divided into both matter and mind (or soul). The former is the realm of science; the latter is that of religion, psychology, and ethics.
3.
The Rationalism and Dualism of Descartes
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21.
Emergence and Whitehead
Learn about both British Emergentism, which argued for a nonreductive metaphysics of science, and the work of Alfred North Whitehead, the one 20th-century philosopher to take up the 17th-century goal of a metaphysical system consistent with physics to explain the place of mind, values, and God.
21.
Emergence and Whitehead
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4.
Locke's Empiricism, Berkeley's Idealism
See how Locke's denial of innate ideas created the modern empiricist view of knowledge as based solely on experience, instigating centuries of empiricist-rationalist debate. Later, Berkeley inaugurated modern idealism with his conclusion that empiricism must deny matter's very existence; there are only minds, with experiences programmed by God.
4.
Locke's Empiricism, Berkeley's Idealism
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22.
Dewey's American Naturalism
Encounter the work of the most prominent American philosopher of the 20th century. Most famous as a philosopher of education, John Dewey called for a transformation of philosophy on pragmatic and naturalist principles and wrote in virtually every area of philosophy. To many Americans, Dewey was philosophy.
22.
Dewey's American Naturalism
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5.
Neo-Aristotelians—Spinoza and Leibniz
Follow the attempts of two thinkers to integrate religion, philosophy, and science without straying from Aristotelian foundations. For Spinoza, everything is one substance—God. For Leibniz, every substance has its own mental properties and "view" of the universe, with God binding all together.
5.
Neo-Aristotelians—Spinoza and Leibniz
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23.
Heidegger's Being and Time
Learn how one of the most important philosophical books of the 20th century created the basis for modern existentialism, as Martin Heidegger put Husserl together with Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to forge a new kind of phenomenology that seeks the meaning of human existence.
23.
Heidegger's Being and Time
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6.
The Enlightenment and Rousseau
Watch the Enlightenment's self-conscious heralding of modernity, where science, freedom, and cosmopolitan education will mean progress in the face of superstition, authority, and tradition. The greatest dissenter is Rousseau, who argued that progress in art, science, and the economy yields no progress in morality or happiness.
6.
The Enlightenment and Rousseau
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24.
Existentialism and the Frankfurt School
Witness European philosophers exploring individual alienation in mass culture as the modern Western world swirls in the turmoil of World War II. The German Frankfurt school merged Marx with Freud to find domination in reason itself. The French combined existentialism with Marxism. And Heidegger—without apology then or later—joined the Nazi Party.
24.
Existentialism and the Frankfurt School
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7.
The Radical Skepticism of Hume
Watch Hume drive empiricism to the extreme of radical skepticism, dismissing all metaphysics as nonsense. If we only know through experience, all we know is experience, so science cannot rationally say that the sun will rise tomorrow or even that it probably will.
7.
The Radical Skepticism of Hume
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25.
Heidegger's Turn against Humanism
Watch Heidegger's later work take a new, decidedly anti-humanist direction. He called for a rejection of Western metaphysics—which expressed the triumph of technology and individualism dictating to Being—and instead asked that humans patiently "listen" to the call of Being.
25.
Heidegger's Turn against Humanism
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8.
Kant's Copernican Revolution
Learn how Kant tried to find an answer to Hume, without which neither science nor philosophy can claim general knowledge of reality. His reasoning changed philosophy forever as he argued that the human mind does not passively receive our experience of the world but actively constructs it from sensation.
8.
Kant's Copernican Revolution
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26.
Culture, Hermeneutics, and Structuralism
See culture and language seize a prime position in philosophical thought with Ernst Cassirer's neo-Kantian view of culture, Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutics (amplifying Heidegger's claim that language is the "house of Being"), and Ferdinand de Saussure's and Claude Levi-Strauss's creation of structuralism.
26.
Culture, Hermeneutics, and Structuralism
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9.
Kant and the Religion of Reason
Kant's saving of science came at a price—the ability to know things as they appear but never "things in themselves." Reason, he argues, cannot prove—nor can science disprove—God, the soul, or free will. Kant protected faith from contradiction and created a different path for the German Enlightenment.
9.
Kant and the Religion of Reason
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27.
Wittgenstein's Turn to Ordinary Language
Plunge into perhaps the most influential work of 20th-century philosophy as Ludwig Witt-genstein rejected his own earlier positivism to declare that linguistic meaning is dictated by its use, not by logic but by the contextual social activities in which sentences operate. Philosophical problems are caused by ripping terms out of their practical context.
27.
Wittgenstein's Turn to Ordinary Language
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10.
The French Revolution and German Idealism
See how the French Revolution and Kant inspired German idealists like Fichte and Schelling to invent a new kind of philosophy, with spirit—hence, freedom—as the basis of nature, not the other way around.
10.
The French Revolution and German Idealism
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28.
Quine and the End of Positivism
See how Willard Van Orman Quine, who studied with the logical positivists, undermined their view. He showed that their distinction between truths of reason and truths of experience, borrowed from Kant, was a mistake.
28.
Quine and the End of Positivism
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11.
Hegel—The Last Great System
Grasp Hegel's synthesis of Fichte's idealism and Schelling's panentheism with world history as the story of God's coming to self-consciousness. We can follow the "dialectic" of partial, incomplete historical perspectives up to the perspective of the Whole, that is, of God.
11.
Hegel—The Last Great System
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29.
New Philosophies of Science
With the decline of positivism, see the appearance of new interpretations of scientific knowledge. Learn about Popper's rejection of the idea that science seeks to confirm its theories, Davidson's formulation of an alternative to reductionism, and Kuhn's provocative view of scientific revolutions.
29.
New Philosophies of Science
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12.
Hegel and the English Century
Watch how the Industrial Revolution, the rise of European imperialism, and the philosophy of Hegel inspired other thinkers—including Comte, Spencer, Bentham, James Mill, John Stuart Mill, and, especially, Darwin and Marx—to create historical explanations for the development of mind and society.
12.
Hegel and the English Century
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30.
Derrida's Deconstruction of Philosophy
Learn about the most famous of the French postmodernists and his "deconstruction" of the history of Western philosophy. All writing (or sign-use, in general), Jacques Derrida asserted, must involve the pretense that the meanings of signs can be controlled, a pretense he vigorously denied.
30.
Derrida's Deconstruction of Philosophy
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13.
The Economic Revolution and Its Critic—Marx
The socially wrenching birth of industrial capitalism, with its massive human costs, provoked many critics, but the most influential was a young German follower of Hegel, Karl Marx. See how his ideas became the 20th century's greatest challenge to Western liberalism.
13.
The Economic Revolution and Its Critic—Marx
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31.
The Challenge of Postmodernism
Derrida's work and that of kindred French thinkers Michel Foucault and Jean-François Lyotard created postmodernism. This movement's radical rejection of modern philosophy's central notions—and perhaps even philosophy itself—joined with a view of postmodern society as no longer requiring a "metanarrative" or foundational philosophy.
31.
The Challenge of Postmodernism
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14.
Kierkegaard's Critique of Reason
Kierkegaard remains the most radical philosophical critic of reason itself. Follow his rejection of Hegel and any attempt to "rationalize" the human condition. For Kierkegaard, the human spirit is subjected to fundamental choices that cannot be reconciled, particularly religious faith, which is intrinsically irrational and higher than reason.
14.
Kierkegaard's Critique of Reason
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32.
Rorty and the End of Philosophy
Sample the thinking of the most famous American contributor to philosophical postmodernism. Richard Rorty argued that the search for the foundations of "knowledge" —little more than whatever the verification procedures of society say it is—is a bankrupt enterprise. Traditional philosophy, according to Rorty, is well forgotten.
32.
Rorty and the End of Philosophy
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15.
Nietzsche's Critique of Morality and Truth
Meet the most violent critic of the Judeo-Christian and, to some extent, Greek values of Western civilization. Nietzsche declared that morality makes the individual sick. The modern decline of religion leaves only the "will to power" and the need for a new set of values. His deepest concern was what those values would be.
15.
Nietzsche's Critique of Morality and Truth
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33.
Rediscovering the Premodern
Learn how a series of 20th-century philosophers—including Leo Strauss, Hannah Arendt, and Alasdair MacIntyre—called for reincorporating premodern notions to supplement modernity. For if modern philosophy is indeed at a dead end, might not its departure from premodern thought be responsible?
33.
Rediscovering the Premodern
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16.
Freud, Weber, and the Mind of Modernity
Besides Hegel, Marx, and possibly Nietzsche, two other German-speaking authors created much of the background for analyzing the unique form of life evolving in the 20th century. Listen as Freud's and Weber's arguments that modern society will generate increasing discontent were taken up by later philosophers.
16.
Freud, Weber, and the Mind of Modernity
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34.
Pragmatic Realism—Reforming the Modern
See how pragmatism enjoyed a resurgence as a means of preserving the philosophical search for realist truth in the absence of foundationalism. Encounter a variety of attempts at nonfoundational epistemology, as thinkers like Habermas, Putnam, Margolis, and Campbell demonstrated this pragmatic renaissance.
34.
Pragmatic Realism—Reforming the Modern
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17.
Rise of 20th-Century Philosophy—Pragmatism
Watch as late 19th-century philosophy begins to fragment into the three subcultures that would characterize philosophy's next century: analytic, continental, and pragmatic. The last would become the indigenous American tradition, exemplified by its two major contributors, Charles Peirce and William James.
17.
Rise of 20th-Century Philosophy—Pragmatism
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35.
The Reemergence of Emergence
While various applications of pragmatism resurfaced in the theory of knowledge, there was also a noticeable return of the metaphysical doctrine of emergence. Witness this return not only in the work of philosophers of science but also in science itself, exemplified by the late 20th-century interest in "complexity."
35.
The Reemergence of Emergence
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18.
Rise of 20th-Century Philosophy—Analysis
Grasp how Frege's invention of the first new logic since Aristotle, combined with Russell's and Moore's attack on the dominant idealism of the age, led to a new approach, "analytic" or "Anglo-American" philosophy. It would become the dominant philosophical approach in all English-speaking countries.
18.
Rise of 20th-Century Philosophy—Analysis
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36.
Philosophy's Death Greatly Exaggerated
After the unprecedented philosophical radicalism of the 20th century, the question of philosophy's future still remains. Sample some of the most likely approaches by which philosophy might successfully integrate—and find common ground among—an increasingly complex array of human activities.
36.
Philosophy's Death Greatly Exaggerated
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36
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Life's Great Questions—Asian Perspectives
Professor Hardy introduces you to this survey of Eastern philosophy's great minds and ideas. After providing a road map for the course, he answers two questions that demand to be asked: What does the Eastern intellectual tradition look like? Why does it matter to those of us in the West?
1.
Life's Great Questions—Asian Perspectives
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19.
Saicho to Nichiren—Japanese Buddhism
Take a closer look at the development of Buddhism in Japan. Among the early Buddhist thinkers you encounter in this lecture are Saicho, founder of Japan's foremost Buddhist temple; Honen, who established Japan's Pure Land sect; and Nichiren, whose form of Buddhism is one of the most prominent in modern Japan.
19.
Saicho to Nichiren—Japanese Buddhism
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2.
The Vedas and Upanishads—The Beginning
Witness how the Eastern intellectual tradition began in India with two anonymous writings: the Vedas and the Upanishads. The former contains the East's earliest thoughts on social conventions (specifically the Indo-Aryan caste system), while the latter sees thinkers truly starting to struggle with basic questions about existence and knowledge.
2.
The Vedas and Upanishads—The Beginning
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20.
Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva—Hindu Vedanta
Why is the Vedanta school of Hinduism the most important and influential of the six orthodox darshanas? How did three great Indian philosophers—Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva—bring order to the confusing teachings of the Upanishads? How did they each conceive the critical relationship between self (Atman) and absolute reality (Brahman)?
20.
Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva—Hindu Vedanta
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3.
Mahavira and Jainism—Extreme Nonviolence
Jainism developed as a rejection of the authority of the Vedas and Brahmin priests. Investigate the views of its founder, Mahavira; delve into Jainism's central tenets and ideas; and listen to two ancient stories that illustrate the pervasiveness of suffering in the world and the theory of multiple truths.
3.
Mahavira and Jainism—Extreme Nonviolence
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21.
Al-Biruni—Islam in India
One fascinating aspect of the Eastern intellectual tradition is the intricate relationship between Hinduism and Islam. After a brief overview of Islam and its arrival in India, delve into some of the vast intellectual accomplishments of Al-Biruni, whom Professor Hardy considers one of the greatest minds in world history.
21.
Al-Biruni—Islam in India
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4.
The Buddha—The Middle Way
Buddhism, like Jainism, grew as another of India's major heterodox schools of thought. Get an overview of this philosophical and spiritual school by exploring the Buddha's life story, Buddhism's basic principles (including the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path), the daily practices of Buddhists, and more.
4.
The Buddha—The Middle Way
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22.
Nanak and Sirhindi—Sikhism and Sufism
Conclude your look at the connections between Hinduism and Islam with this exploration of how thinkers tried to find a balance between the two faiths. Guru Nanak founded Sikhism as a religious tradition that was neither Hindu nor Muslim. Ahmad Sirhindi, a Sufi master, worked to establish clear philosophical boundaries between Hinduism and Islam.
22.
Nanak and Sirhindi—Sikhism and Sufism
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5.
The Bhagavad Gita—The Way of Action
Written partly in response to challenges posed by Buddhism, the Bhagavad Gita is one of the most important writings in Eastern intellectual history. Comb through this landmark text's pages, paying particular attention to its historical context and its emphasis on karma yoga, or acting without attachment to success or failure.
5.
The Bhagavad Gita—The Way of Action
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23.
Han Yu to Zhu Xi—Neo-Confucianism
Follow the rise of a new major system of Eastern thought: Neo-Confucianism, a philosophy concerned more with ethics than with the soul. Some great early Neo-Confucians you meet include Han Yu (who revived an interest in Confucian ideas) and Zhu Xi, who answered Buddhist questions about metaphysics with Confucian insights.
23.
Han Yu to Zhu Xi—Neo-Confucianism
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6.
Confucius—In Praise of Sage-Kings
Focus now on China and the ideas of its first philosopher, Confucius. What was life like during the "age of Confucius"? What are the key ideas and lessons to take away from the Analects, which collect his various sayings? How does Confucianism work for a society? A family? An individual?
6.
Confucius—In Praise of Sage-Kings
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24.
Wang Yangming—The Study of Heart-Mind
Neo-Confucianism is a supremely practical philosophy, according to Professor Hardy. Find out why in his lecture on how intellectuals such as Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming applied the principles of Neo-Confucianism to education and knowledge—specifically through China's iconic imperial examination system, which lasted from the 7th century until 1905.
24.
Wang Yangming—The Study of Heart-Mind
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7.
Laozi and Daoism—The Way of Nature
Examine Daoism, the second of China's major philosophies, cultivated by a legendary figure known as Laozi. This school's central text, the Daodejing, offers unique solutions to the problems of social disorder and violence and provides rulers and individuals with practical advice that prefers simplicity and humility over power and ambition.
7.
Laozi and Daoism—The Way of Nature
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25.
Dogen and Hakuin—Zen Buddhism
Zen Buddhism, which teaches that meditation under the guidance of an enlightened master is the only way to liberation, is the most famous form of Japanese Buddhism. Investigate this philosophy through two Zen masters: Dogen, of the Soto school of gradual enlightenment, and Hakuin, from the Rinzai school of sudden enlightenment.
25.
Dogen and Hakuin—Zen Buddhism
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8.
The Hundred Schools of Pre-imperial China
The Warring States Era (475–221 B.C.) was a golden age in Chinese philosophy. Meet three great minds from this period: Mozi, whose ideas centered on "universal love"; Huizi, who explored the relativity of time and space; and Zhuangzi, who argued for a radical skepticism that refused to choose between contradictory positions.
8.
The Hundred Schools of Pre-imperial China
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26.
Zeami and Sen no Rikyu—Japanese Aesthetics
Noh drama and the tea ceremony are indebted to Confucian rituals and Buddhist ideals. Learn how the great Noh playwright Zeami and the teamaster Sen no Rikyu epitomize medieval Japanese aesthetics and their emphasis on yugen (profound emotion), wabi (feelings of age and obscurity), and sabi (feelings of simplicity and tranquility).
26.
Zeami and Sen no Rikyu—Japanese Aesthetics
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9.
Mencius and Xunzi—Confucius's Successors
Mencius and Xunzi, both followers of Confucius, are likened to the ancient Greek thinkers Plato and Aristotle (who learned from Socrates). Both Chinese philosophers accepted the main precepts of Confucianism, but disagreed on several issues. Compare their views on morality, the existence of evil, the principles of economics, and more.
9.
Mencius and Xunzi—Confucius's Successors
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27.
Wonhyo to King Sejong—Korean Philosophy
Focus here on Korean philosophy and three of its greatest proponents. They are Wonhyo, who popularized Buddhism throughout the country; Chinul, who tried to bridge the divide between the doctrinal and meditation schools of Buddhism; and Sejong the Great, who invented one of the most scientific, rational scripts ever devised.
27.
Wonhyo to King Sejong—Korean Philosophy
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10.
Sunzi and Han Feizi—Strategy and Legalism
Sunzi was a Chinese philosopher best known for The Art of War, which promoted the merits of strategic, deceptive warfare. Han Feizi epitomized legalism, the philosophical school aimed at strengthening the state through rational means. Both thinkers—and their roles in the Eastern intellectual tradition—are the subject of this illuminating lecture.
10.
Sunzi and Han Feizi—Strategy and Legalism
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28.
Padmasambhava to Tsongkhapa—Tibetan Ideas
Philosophy and religion are nowhere more connected than in Tibet, whose Vajrayana school of Buddhism emphasizes secret rituals and meditative practices. Examine key minds, including the man who introduced Buddhism to Tibet (Padmasambhava), a mystic who felt Enlightenment must be experienced directly (Milarepa), and the fascinating figure of the Dalai Lama.
28.
Padmasambhava to Tsongkhapa—Tibetan Ideas
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11.
Zarathustra and Mani—Dualistic Religion
Follow the lives and teachings of two ancient Persian minds. Zarathustra's faith, Zoroastrianism, posited a universe in which the forces of good and evil were locked in combat. Mani later expanded on this dualistic notion to develop Manichaeism, in which this struggle represented the larger battle between spirit and matter.
11.
Zarathustra and Mani—Dualistic Religion
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29.
Science and Technology in Premodern Asia
Discover how science and technology form a part of the Eastern intellectual tradition through the discoveries, theories, and insights of people such as Aryabhata (from India) and Shen Gua (from China). Also, ponder the question of why the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions occurred in Europe and not in Asia.
29.
Science and Technology in Premodern Asia
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12.
Kautilya and Ashoka—Buddhism and Empire
Go back to India during the time of Mauryan Empire (322–185 B.C.) and encounter two of its most renowned political thinkers: Kautilya, who sought to combine ethics with political pragmatism, and Ashoka, the Buddhist convert who desired to govern with compassion. How did their intriguing ideas define India—then and now?
12.
Kautilya and Ashoka—Buddhism and Empire
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30.
Muhammad Iqbal and Rabindranath Tagore
There were many ways that Asian thinkers confronted the technological superiority of Western civilization. See how the views of Pakistan's chief poet and philosopher Muhammad Iqbal and India's Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore held on to respective Islamic and Hindu traditions while accommodating them to the strengthening presence of the West.
30.
Muhammad Iqbal and Rabindranath Tagore
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13.
Ishvarakrishna and Patanjali—Yoga
The yoga commonly practiced in the West stems from the ideas of Ishvarakrishna and Pantajali. Learn how the former developed the metaphysical theories of matter and spirit behind yoga, while the latter cultivated the physical and mental disciplines designed to yoke the body and mind toward spiritual liberation.
13.
Ishvarakrishna and Patanjali—Yoga
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31.
Mohandas Gandhi—Satyagraha, or Soul-Force
Mohandas Gandhi is rightfully one of the most well-known Asian philosophers. What are the historical roots of some of his ideas, especially that of nonviolent resistance (satyagraha)? Why were some of his critiques of the West and modernity so controversial? What was the relationship between his ascetic lifestyle and his thought?
31.
Mohandas Gandhi—Satyagraha, or Soul-Force
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14.
Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu—Buddhist Theories
Although the Buddha discouraged philosophy, some of his disciples nevertheless began exploring philosophical questions. The result was the birth of Mahayana Buddhism. Here, get a pointed introduction to two major figures in its development and refinement—Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu—and their views on reality, existence, truth, and consciousness.
14.
Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu—Buddhist Theories
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32.
Fukuzawa Yukichi and Han Yongun
After a brief look at Japanese and Korean history between the 19th and 20th centuries, explore the intriguing perspectives of the Westernizer Fukuzawa Yukichi and the traditionalist Han Yongun. The former stressed the development of an independent-minded middle class; the latter sought answers to contemporary crises in Buddhist tenets.
32.
Fukuzawa Yukichi and Han Yongun
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15.
Sima Qian and Ban Zhao—History and Women
First, pore over the pages of Sima Qian's Shiji (The Grand Scribe's Records), which offered a comprehensive history of the world that profoundly influenced China's cultural identity. Then, meet Ban Zhao, the first great female mind of Eastern philosophy and an insightful commentator on the complex relationships between men and women.
15.
Sima Qian and Ban Zhao—History and Women
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33.
Kang Youwei and Hu Shi
Of all the nations in Asia, China had the most difficult transition to the modern era. Delve into Chinese reform through Kang Youwei, who argued for the persistence of Confucian attitudes in the face of Western individualism, and Hu Shi, whose championing of vernacular Chinese allowed intellectuals to escape the strangleholds of the past.
33.
Kang Youwei and Hu Shi
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16.
Dong Zhongshu and Ge Hong—Eclecticism
Witness the continued evolution of Confucianism and Daoism through the lens of two great Eastern thinkers. The first is Dong Zhongshu, who combined traditional Confucian moralism with cosmological speculations rooted in nature. The second is Ge Hong, China's most famous alchemist who reconciled several strands of Neo-Daoism with Confucianism.
16.
Dong Zhongshu and Ge Hong—Eclecticism
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34.
Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong
Come face to face with two pivotal figures in recent Chinese history. Sun Yat-sen is considered the father of Chinese nationalism and energized the people with his ideas. Mao Zedong, one of modern history's most infamous figures, is noted for his brutal application of the Communist ideologies of Marx and Lenin.
34.
Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong
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17.
Xuanzang and Chinese Buddhism
After the collapse of the Han dynasty in A.D. 220, Buddhism became widely accepted in China. Explore the ideas of the four major schools of Chinese Buddhism: Tiantai, Huayan (Flower Garland), Pure Land, and Chan (Zen). Also, meet the most important mind behind Buddhism's spread, the monk and translator Xuanzang.
17.
Xuanzang and Chinese Buddhism
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35.
Modern Legacies
In the first of two final lectures on the modern legacies of Eastern philosophy, Professor Hardy takes a look back at vital lessons from India's and China's great minds and recaps the enduring themes on fundamental human issues that form the core of their rich intellectual traditions.
35.
Modern Legacies
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18.
Prince Shotoku, Lady Murasaki, Sei Shonagon
Shift now to Japan, which merged Chinese philosophical ideas with Japanese traditions. Professor Hardy introduces you to three early intellectuals and their works: Prince Shotoku and his 17-article constitution; Murasaki Shikibu and her psychological novel, the Tale of Genji; and Se Shonagon and her commentary on court life, the Pillow Book.
18.
Prince Shotoku, Lady Murasaki, Sei Shonagon
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36.
East and West
Continue examining themes from Chinese and Japanese philosophy. Then, conclude the course with a revealing discussion of a question you may have asked at the start of these lectures: What does this have to do with my life? The answer will open your eyes to the enduring importance of the East's great minds.
36.
East and West
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