Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
Philosophy has been studied for thousands of years. It involves the use of reason and argument to search for the truth about reality - about the nature of things, ethics, aesthetics, language, the mind, God and everything else. This series of five introductory lectures, aimed at students new to philosophy, presented by Marianne Talbot, Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford, will test you on some famous thought experiments and introduce you to some central philosophical issues and to the thoughts of some key philosophers.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Introductory philosophy lectures • logic, argumentation, symbolic logic • metaphysics and epistemology: reality, existence, knowledge • philosophy of mind and language: rationality, consciousness, expression • ethics and political philosophy: how to live, justice • history of philosophy overviewThis podcast offers an introductory survey of philosophy through a short lecture series designed for newcomers. Across its episodes, it uses reasoned argument and classic thought experiments to frame the kinds of questions philosophers ask and the methods they use to pursue answers. A recurring focus is philosophical method: how to analyze claims, construct and evaluate arguments, and use both informal reasoning and symbolic logic to clarify issues and test conclusions.
The content spans several core areas of the discipline. It examines metaphysics and epistemology by asking what exists, what it is like, and how—if at all—humans can know reality. It also introduces philosophy of mind and language, exploring topics such as rationality and consciousness and how subjective experience and thought can be expressed meaningfully through language. In moral and political philosophy, the podcast considers how people ought to live and what principles might define justice and legitimate political authority.
Alongside these thematic introductions, the series situates ideas in a broad historical context, tracing major developments from early Greek philosophy to modern debates. Overall, the podcast functions as a structured orientation to central philosophical problems, key terminology, and the argumentative tools used to engage them.
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Philosophy of language and mind 2009-Jan-09 87 minutes |
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Metaphysics and Epistemology 2009-Jan-09 90 minutes |
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Ethics and politics 2009-Jan-09 92 minutes |
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The philosophical method - logic and argument 2009-Jan-09 94 minutes |
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A romp through the history of philosophy from the Pre-Socratics to the present day. 2008-Nov-13 92 minutes |