Philosophy and Critical Thinking course

I registered and starting poking through today. I'm liking the sections on Descartes a lot, whom I've tackled and all but their presentation of him is so much clearer than I could put it.

I also registered. Thanks!

Reply to Banno
I may have a go at the course. Have you done it yourself? It does seem that critical thinking is becoming ranked alongside philosophy in bookshops and libraries. I read a couple of books on critical thinking and found them very useful because they seem to be applicable to real life and not simply abstract academic theories.

Reply to Jack Cummins So you find philosophy is "applicable" "simply to abstract academic theories"?

Reply to 180 Proof
I enjoy philosophy for what it is and I even get a bit 'high' when I go into the abstract theories. I guess it is all about balancing, the abstract and the more grounding ways of thinking. I am reading Merleau-Ponty's work on perception at the moment and that seems neither too far fetched or too flat and simplistic. Also, a bit of fiction helps too and I am reading Somerset Maughan's ' Of Human Bondage', and before long it should be time for the next short story competition which will balance the theoretical side of philosophy with another approach.

Quoting Jack Cummins

I enjoy philosophy for what it is ...

Pierre Hadot wrote a masterwork Philosophy as A Way of Life reminding us to focus on the Hellenistic schools in contrast to modern academization of philosophy. Pragmatism, Exisstentialism and Absurdism are modernist attempts to reimagine the Hellenestic emphasis on eudaimonia / ataraxia over above 'theoria'. If all you're getting from philosophy is "abstract academic theories", then, IMHO, you're readings may be a mile wide but certainly an inch deep.

Somerset Maughan's ' Of Human Bondage' ...

From Spinoza's Ethics, Part IV "Of Human Bondage, or the Strength of the Emotions", which is a fine novel itself that I feel is even more insightful from having read Spinoza too. As you may or may not know, Jack, for all of the "abstract academic theory" – rationalist demonstration – in the preceding three parts, Spinoza's examination of how emotions both enable and constrain reasoning 'brings philosophy down to earth' (à la the Epicureans-Stoics), which is further elaborated on in the context of neuroscience by Antonio Damasio in his superb Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain.

Reply to Moliere, Reply to frank, Reply to Jack Cummins

Good that folk are interested. I've done all but the last unit, nothing new in it but good revision.

Muchas gracias señor/señorita @Banno!

Reply to Banno
This is an excellent course, thank you.
The presenters/philosophers are easy on the eye and ear. Content is covered with ease and clarity.
I can hardly believe that I struggled in an earlier life with 'Validity' and 'Reliability'.
Short segments and a few questions after to check understanding. Video alongside transcript.
Key terms magically glossaried. And more...

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For those interested, Module 1:
What is an argument is and how it is structured?
What makes an argument compelling?
How do we evaluate arguments?
What is knowledge?
What does it mean to doubt something?
What is the relationship between doubt and knowledge?

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Quoting Banno

Worth a look even if only for the extended interviews with the likes of David Chalmers and Ronald De Sousa. (there's one from Fred d'Agostino, with whom I once studied.)

Yes, I note the list. I haven't looked yet but I will.
Thanks again. What a great find :sparkle:

Reply to Amity You are welcome. I didn't see the now-deleted chat. Perhaps the right approach would be to mention the course in replies to apparent neophytes.