In contrast to empiricist and rationalist traditions, existentialism proposes an order-less world, vaguely hostile, where people choose their character and goals, have an obligation only to be "authentic," and may only observe the truth (reality) in moments of anxiety. In this program, world-renowned author and professor Bryan Magee and University of California, Berkeley, philosopher Herbert Dreyfus trace the roots of existentialism from Edmund Husserl's...

Drawing from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and from the worlds of theater, philosophy, history and education, one of the nation’s leading writers and commentators helps us become more understanding considerate toward others, and to find the joy that comes from being seen.

The prescient seeds of thought disseminated by Friedrich Nietzsche in the 19th century prefigured the pivotal 20th-century concepts of existentialism and psychoanalysis. In this program, interviews with Nietzsche biographers Ronald Hayman and Leslie Chamberlain, archivist Dr. Andrea Bollinger, translator Reg Hollingdale, writer Will Self, and philosopher Keith Ansell Pearson probe Nietzsche's life and elucidate his writings. In addition, his sister's...

This is a concise, comprehensive guide that covers the main schools of thought from the Ancient Chinese philosophies of Confucius and Lao Tzu; Ancient wisdom from Aristotle, Plato, Zeno and Pythagoras; through to those most influential of philosophers studied the world over -- Hegel, Marx, Descartes, Kant, Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein. It also discusses the "big questions", such as: What is truth? What kind of person is it good to be? What do we...

Here is the essential guide to philosophy. Philosophy: An Illustrated History of Thought is an authoritative yet fun reference book and timeline on the compilation of human knowledge. Both art and science attempt answers to the big questions -- what is truth, how to be good, and where did we come from? -- but philosophy is the interpreter we use to verify it all. We need it to make sense of the simplest math and the most esoteric poetry, and it has...

Dr. Peter Singer has been called the most influential living philosopher. He has also been called a monster. In this thought-provoking program, he faces his critics and discusses his ideas on euthanasia, abortion, and infanticide. The program follows his worldwide tour of lectures and encounters, including case conferences and a trip to Austria, where most of his family was killed in the Holocaust. A range of commentators consider his utilitarian...

Fin de siecle Vienna was a city that on the surface reflected the gaiety of a society at its zenith, yet early rumblings of the revolutionary changes to come could already be detected in the works of giants such as Kokoschka, Klimt, Schiele, Freud, and Mahler. This vintage program juxtaposes the lives and works of the composer Arnold Schoenberg and the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, two Viennese visionaries who, although rooted in different disciplines,...

A generation after Americans had freed themselves politically and economically from Britain, it would be up to Ralph Waldo Emerson to carry the Revolution to individual men and women by exhorting them to a freedom of the spirit as well. Through a detailed recounting of Emerson's life, this program traces his vision of the ideal in America from its genesis to its flowering as the principles of Transcendentalism. Readings from Emerson's journals, addresses,...

This program presents the biography of Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset. A wealth of photos and archival footage help illustrate the extraordinary times in which Ortega lived, while Professor Jose Luis Molinuevo, director of the Centro de Estudios Orteguianos, discusses his important contributions to the realms of social and political philosophy. Particular attention is given to Ortega's Espana Invertebrada and La Rebelion de las Masas.