Bryan Magee - The Great Philosophers

1987.
Chapters:
0:00 Myles Burnyeat on Plato
43:59 Martha Nussbaum on Aristotle
1:27:24 Anthony Kenny on Medieval Philosophy
2:10:25 Bernard Williams on Descartes
2:53:30 Anthony Quinton on Spinoza and Leibniz
3:37:02 Michael Ayers on Locke and Berkeley
4:20:09 John Passmore on Hume
5:01:24 Geoffrey Warnock on Kant
5:44:14 Peter Singer on Hegel and Marx
6:27:15 Frederick Copleston on Schopenhauer
7:10:42 J. P. Stern on Nietzsche
7:53:42 Hubert Dreyfus on Husserl and Heidegger
8:39:15 Sidney Morgenbesser on the American Pragmatists
9:20:04 A. J. Ayer on Frege, Russell, and Modern Logic
10:02:12 John Searle on Wittgenstein

[@user-ns2li3ik6j]

I had Myles Burnyeat as a tutor for two terms in 1978. It's such a pleasure to see him as I remember him. He developed Alzheimer's when he was 70 and died at 80. Still, he lived and here he is.

[@flowersinathens102]

It's saddening that a great mind developed by years of study goes away while it is still alive. Such is Alzheimers. But i guess death is just the same, we just aren't here to experience it. Im happy you could meet him in person.

[@noshirm6285]

A gem of an upload! When I listen to these speakers, I thrill not just to their erudition, but also to their articulate speech. What on earth has happened to learning and good speech in the years since this was filmed?

[@TheWorldTeacher]

Are you familiar with the movie "IDIOCRACY"?

[@shaungallagher5334]

Because strong minds have been dulled down for the benefit of a few.

[@noshirm6285]

@@shaungallagher5334 Very true.

[@realisticthinking3490]

I get the same impression as you. In my opinion, good taste, erudition and intelligence have been under attack for some many year in favor of this feel-good you are good as you are approach.

[@TribeOfCooks]

I was just reading a wiki article on Karl Marx’s Daughter and how her and her sisters would reenact and recite Shakespearean dialogue for their father FOR FUN when they were just kids around 3-6 years old. Now we watch Cocomelon.

[@ratbullkan]

Complex broadcastings have died out since they didn't get as much audience as other programs, but I'm confident the intelligent articulate people are still around

[@WuntaykTimmy1]

Oh capitalism you "Perfect" system. "Oh this philosophers show isn't getting enough views, not pulling in the dollars. Let's cancel it!" Who cares if it could inspire a whole new generation. Who cares if they truly DO have the money to have kept it going. Who cares! 😁..............😳

[@hossamgebeily]

I’m very ignorant. I’ve had to watch this a couple of times to really understand this. Thank you for the free education! 🙏

[@sean.3909]

This is incredible! I’ve never heard of Bryan Magee before watching this. He’s an incredibly good speaker.

[@GordonCaledonia]

His book on Schopenhauer is great.

[@tranzco1173]

Have you seen the old Michael Sugrue lectures?

[@TheWorldTeacher]

I know how you can be an INCREDIBLY-GOOD writer. ;)

[@ajarnwordsmith628]

He is a credibly good speaker, which is axiomatic if a philosopher is to speak credibly, so to speak! Let's leave it to the mendacious among us to be incredibly good speakers. That, too, is axiomatic, so to speak.

[@bigron7009]

Can you believe he was a politician. One of those rare decent politicians...they don't make em like that no more

[@SpiritintheSky.]

What a joy. I've owned the accompanying book (and others of his) for decades. Now I can watch the programmes. We owe the remarkably articulate Mr Magee (RIP) a great debt of gratitude for all he did in his long life to stimulate an interest in philosophy in the non-specialist. Thank you very much, Mr Balcarras, for making this priceless material available.

[@IsaacSMILE]

Banger.

[@davidkennedy6251]

These episodes are awesome. They will be a delight forever. I feel blessed watching them.

[@mikhailfranco]

Wonderful to find these online. I watched them on British TV a long time ago. I also bought the book - highly recommended. And here it is again. Fantastic.

[@lefthand84]

I've been listening to these and the late 70s series at night for a few years now. I rarely understand what they're on about, but that's what helps me get to sleep! Thanks for putting them in all one vid!

[@marsbanditnyc9043]

I put this on before going to sleep and woke up 7 hours later to it still playing 😅 great upload!

[@DorothyPotterSnyder]

Martha Nussbaum is amazing. Secondly, when I watch these videos, and I watch them several times over, I find that my best method is to take each point as it’s explicated, and then pause the video and absorb it and then come back and watch the rest of the video. I am getting so much from this education and I’m so grateful both to Bryan McGee for his extraordinary work and to the uploader of these videos.

[@joaomarreiros4906]

Am I a complete nerd for liking this?

[@glennpaquette2228]

This is an amazing series. Thank you Bryan Magee. I wish I had met him.

[@rossg9361]

Bryan Magee was a great communicator. He was also also able to explain difficult ideas in his books in clear prose. A dollar store Bertrand Russell, and that’s actually a compliment.

[@aaronrobertcattell8859]

Mark Twain once said that “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.”

[@MichaelSheffield-ox8yd]

This is a glorious immersion into pure intellect. RIP Bryan Magee, whose The Philosophy of Schopenhauer is a masterpiece, as is his Confessions of a Philosopher. Ultimate Questions, his last published book, is a gem as well.

[@garyhughes1664]

I remember watching The Great Philosophers many years ago when engaged in my own studies. It is wonderful to be able to rewatch them now, all these years later, and altogether in one in one huge upload. Really appreciate the work that’s gone into this. Thx for sharing.

[@physicsdaemon]

The sofa looks comfortable, perfect for lounging...

[@HoovyTube]

59:15 This woman is absolutely brilliant and I wish that she had been the first peron to introduce me to Aristotle. Totally unpretentious, well-spoken and charismatic.

[@StationGarageSt]

1:04:46 Trigger's Broom came to mind😅kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2fcf2WwfdminK8

[@eameece]

But she omits the "unmoved mover" and (I think falsely) discounts that Aristotle wrote about the types of soul.

[@sevensixtwobyfiftyon]

I have to ask, does @1:03:50 support gender affirming transformation?

[@Garvey-vm3qt]

Idk if unpretentious is the right word. She seems to be under the impression that she’s the only human on earth that truly understands Aristotle’s work. Still brilliant though.

[@RingJando]

Thank you magnificently!

[@lefthand84]

Thank you for putting all of these in one place. Always happy to hear Bryan Magee talk about "philosophay".

[@vangroover1903]

It's so comforting to see the great Art Carney discuss such heady topics. He was a huge talent.

[@ArtPhotographerLindsay]

Lol.

[@newfrontierfilms6314]

😂😂😂

[@clickityclackity75]

This is priceless ! I’ve been listening to this, over and over, again ! Thank you !!

[@haimbenavraham1502]

Thank you for this resurrection. A great series by Bryan Magee, on the never ending story.

[@serhiyzhylin8000]

Thanks for this. This video has been a companion to my morning routine for a week now)

[@hankchinaski_]

300K views over 1 year. there's still hope for humanity.

[@dann5480]

Great upload. Thanks. You've do us all a great service.

[@BrainiacFingers]

Tremendous upload!!! It's great to have the entire series on one video. 👍

[@SaleemRanaAuthor]

This is an excellent series! My love for philosophy has returned after many years of abandoning it in pursuit of other intellectual interests. Magee's understanding of the various philosophers is astounding, and he often presented superior interpretations of the great philosophers' ideas than the specialists he interviewed.

[@eapooda]

how dare you leave philosophy lol, welcome back !

[@pinosantilli3371]

what other intellectual interests can be possibly be more important that philosophy?

[@SaleemRanaAuthor]

@@pinosantilli3371 Good point!

[@TheWorldTeacher]

@@SaleemRanaAuthor: philosophy: the love of wisdom, normally encapsulated within a formal academic discipline. Wisdom is the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, insight, and good judgement. Wisdom may also be described as the body of knowledge and principles that develops within a specified society or period. E.g. “The wisdom of the Tibetan lamas.” Cf. “wisdom”. Unfortunately, in most cases in which this term is used, particularly outside India, it tacitly or implicitly refers to ideas and ideologies that are quite far-removed from genuine wisdom. For instance, the typical academic philosopher, especially in the Western tradition, is not a lover of actual wisdom, but a believer in, or at least a practitioner of, adharma, which is the ANTITHESIS of genuine wisdom. Many Western academic (so-called) “philosophers” are notorious for using laborious sophistry, abstruse semantics, gobbledygook, and pseudo-intellectual word-play, in an attempt to justify their blatantly-immoral ideologies and practices, and in many cases, fooling the ignorant layman into accepting the most horrendous crimes as not only normal and natural, but holy and righteous! In “The Republic” the ancient Greek philosopher Aristocles (Plato) quotes his mentor Socrates as asserting that the “best” philosophers are, in actual fact, naught but useless, utter rogues, in stark contrast to “true” philosophers, who are lovers of wisdom and truth. An ideal philosopher is one who is sufficiently intelligent to understand that morality is, of necessity, based on the law of non- violence (“ahiṃsā”, in Sanskrit), and sufficiently wise to live his or her life in such a harmless manner. Cf. “dharma” and Chapter 12. One of the greatest misunderstandings of modern times is the belief that philosophers (and psychologists, especially) are, effectively, the substitutes for the priesthood of old. It is perhaps understandable that this misconception has taken place, because the typical priest/monk/rabbi/mullah seems to be an uneducated buffoon compared with those highly-educated gentlemen who have attained doctorates in philosophy, psychology and psychiatry. However, as mentioned in more than a few places in this book, it is imperative to understand that only a miniscule percentage of all those who claim to be spiritual teachers are ACTUAL “brāhmaṇa” (as defined in Chapter 20). Therefore, the wisest philosophers of the present age are still those exceptionally rare members of the Holy Priesthood! At the very moment these words of mine are being typed on my laptop computer, there are probably hundreds of essay papers, as well as books and articles, being composed by professional philosophers and Theologians, both within and without academia. None of these papers, and almost none of the papers written in the past, will have any noticeable impact on human society, at least not in the realm of morals and ethics, which is obviously the most vital component of civilization. And, as mentioned in a previous paragraph, since such “lovers-of-wisdom” are almost exclusively adharmic (irreligious and corrupt) it is indeed FORT ITO S that this is the case. The only (so-called) philosophers who seem to have any perceptible influence in the public arena are “pop” or “armchair” philosophers, such as Mrs. Alisa “Alice” O’Connor (known more popularly by her pen name, Ayn Rand), almost definitely due to the fact that they have published well-liked books and/or promulgate their ideas in the mass media, especially on the World Wide Web. The fact that, after THOUSANDS of years following the publication of Plato’s “Republic”, not a single nation/country on this planet has thought it wise to accept Plato’s advice to promote a philosopher-king (“rāja-ṛṣi”, in Sanskrit) as the head of its social structure, more than adequately proves my above assertion. Unfortunately, however, both Plato and his student, Aristotle, were themselves hardly paragons of virtue, since the former was an advocate of infanticide, whilst the latter favoured carnism (animal slaughter). To my knowledge, the only Western philosopher who was truly wise was the German, Arthur Schopenhauer, because he espoused a reasonably accurate metaphysical position and he adhered to the law (that is, the one and only law, known as “dharma” in Bhārata) to a larger degree than most other Westerners. Hopefully, someday, I will discover another philosopher without India to join Arthur.

[@eameece]

But a more physicalist view of them.

[@tonyburton419]

RlP Bryan Magee - great series. Brilliant communicator.

[@ParkerNotes]

Thank you for this! So beautiful

[@sebastianverney7851]

Very many thanks for this. Wonderful that David Balcarras has made this available on KZbin. Husserl and Heidegger are surely wrong to say we are not at all conscious of objects that we are subliminally conscious of. If any subject were to become unconscious, as for example by general anaesthetic, the objective world, of which they say we have no consciousness, would soon collapse, with disastrous results. I’ve noticed in these excellent talks that no one mentions astrology. If you haven’t realised our spiritual connection with the outer cosmos, you are at an extreme disadvantage in understanding the nature of our being. They are all such great thinkers, yet every one of them (with the possible exception of Plato) misses the greatest thought of all.

[@marcobrambilla2439]

To listen to these dialogues brings us so far above our lives

[@grenvillephillips6998]

Both elevating and invigorating!

[@Mujangga]

Very nice visual quality.

[@ilijaduni]

Priceless!

[@meshzzizk]

6:43:02 This discussion of Schopenhauer’s anticipation of Freud skips over Schopenhauer’s most important follower-Nietzsche-who famously opened his most important book with the line, “We are unknown to ourselves, we knowers.”

[@GordonCaledonia]

Magee himself should have just done the Schopenhauer episode! Rudiger Safranski's book, _Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy_ is the best book on old Arthur, I feel.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

I like Schopenhauer 's description of Hegel : " a monument to the stupidity of the German people. "

[@saud319]

Amazing. Thank you for uploading this.

[@hernan_972]

Thanks for uploading these great interviews

[@arashirani5092]

Thank you so so so much for this great work and effort 🙏🙏🙏👌👍

[@spencertherren6806]

You're very generous with this upload. Thank you.✌️

[@eapooda]

Been watching the Ayer interviews and man each one i watch gets better and better

[@martin812ful]

Thankyou for reviving this great piece of work and making it accessible again! It was wonderful to find it there just when I needed it!

[@treesb201]

Thank you for uploading this. It’s such a relief to come across something so intelligent and interesting.

[@myrawells5691]

Great! Thank you! Fascinating and invigorating

[@rifatsele2908]

I am recently interested in philosophy and Bryan Magee and his friends are helping me a lot to grasp this difficult subject. Also, what a wonderful examples of English language being used on this episode ❤😊

[@ravijoshi7830]

One of the most scholarly & accurate elaboration of Western philosophy by eminent experts. Thank you Prof Bryan Magee.

[@lauricetork5819]

thanks a million for such great interviews that became as a reference to us. Very much appreciated

[@syedasifuddinqadri1126]

wonderful; love of learning grows because of people like Bryan Magee.

[@steveeley1792]

Thanks for posting this!

[@darillus1]

excellent upload , thank you so much!

[@acousticmotorbike2118]

Great debates and discussions facilitated by Bryan Magee.

[@MrXeCute]

Althow this is a great lecture... Maybe we should update this. Plato was an individual, thinking about individual experiences. We live in a global world, what we know, is what people, friends, family arround the world experience. Two of our most outdated spacetelescopes are currently out of our solarsystem, another one shows us new pictures of the birth of our universum every day.... one can think, the boundries are changed. ;-)

[@robertpelzer5041]

thank you very much for the upload!

[@zilefn9212]

Terrific content. I was amused by the Garrick Club tie too. Almost a bygone age now ...

[@KenshoBeats]

Wow! What a treat! I’m gonna wait for the right moment to dive into this 👌🏼👌🏼

[@paulmclean876]

... bloody awesome upload - many thanks!

[@bentewindelboe1806]

de taler så levende, jeg tegner dem

[@PROsec5]

This is a gift. thank you!

[@fredkelly6953]

This has shown me how little philosophers matter except to themselves.

[@AbsbsjdbZhahebsjs]

Why?

[@paulsolon6229]

Excellent dsc of Plato Way to go

[@jamichqndio]

We may disagree with views and philosophical analysis of many philosophers who are interviewed in this series still this is a wonderful series. Bryan Magee knows how to generate critical philosophical discussion.

[@adaptercrash]

Double vision dualism and I just leave it on, I don't know about you.

[@adaptercrash]

Exotic

[@kurumban6032]

Excellent, top class introduction to the great thinkers.

[@martinkennedy2400]

...glorious upload: rightly iconic big thanks

[@philosophytoday6518]

Fascinating. Thank you

[@Allen1029]

Love Quinton's Spinoza-Wordsworth connexion.

[@auggiemarsh8682]

Brilliant upload. Such rich material I'll be listening to for years to come.

[@micheledeidda2565]

The trumpet in the entrance, wow😊

[@antonyperks9156]

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING VLOG MAINLY BECAUSE OF ALLLLLLL THE Metaphysics EVERYWHERE.

[@siddspain]

6:24:00 if overwhelmed by the whole amazing content. Start here.

[@username1235400]

Thank you so much !

[@ellepeterson9992]

Thank you

[@alwaysgreatusa223]

If you really want to know what Socrates was about, then besides reading 'Apology', you should read Clifford's 'Ethics of Belief', and especially what he says about the Duty of Inquiry. Socrates often repeated that inquiry into fundamental beliefs and values is the most vital human activity -- Clifford explains with dramatic clarity why this is the case!

[@auggiemarsh8682]

I could only find ‘The ethics of belief’ and belief about ethics: William Kingdon Clifford at the Metaphysical Society. Is this Clifford Ethics of Belief you are referring to? I think not. I'll keep looking

[@alwaysgreatusa223]

@@auggiemarsh8682 Yes, that's the one !

[@auggiemarsh8682]

I found a pdf file to download. thanks for the reference

[@alwaysgreatusa223]

@@auggiemarsh8682 You are welcome. Of course, I am just expressing an opinion here: because there is no way to know for sure what endgame Socrates had in mind with his peculiar method of philosophizing. Most philosophers begin with assertions, while even those who begin by asking questions are quick to answer them. Socrates, for the most part, only asks questions, and while he suggests possible answers, he never definitely provides the final answer. Does that mean Socrates was a skeptic ? I don't believe this to be the case because Socrates seems too positive a person to be a true skeptic. While it is true that in 'Apology' Socrates declares human wisdom to be worth little or nothing, and that only God is wise, I think he meant what commonly passes for human wisdom is worth little or nothing, because it is often based upon merely rationalizing (in the psychological sense) our prejudices; whereas real wisdom requires an open mind, a willingness to challenge our own beliefs, and a deeper understanding of the complexity of issues that results from philosophical analysis and debate -- rather than just attempting to justify our own prejudices and beliefs by selecting evidence which supports it, while ignoring any evidence that might speak against it. Not that philosophy can ever make a person wise, for there is really no such thing as a wise man (or person) -- just as there is no such thing as a perfect person. But by philosophizing we can become more intelligent beings -- not all-wise like a God who knows all things -- but more rational in our beliefs. I think this is the 'wisdom' that human beings are capable of achieving, and I believe this is what Socrates (and Clifford) were both really about. They are simply trying to get us to be more rational in forming (and/or acquiring) and holding-on to (or abandoning) our beliefs. I think they both believed that the more rational people become, the more open-minded they will become, and the better they will behave and treat each other morally. I think this is why Socrates also declared, an unexamined life not to be worth living !

[@xxcoopcoopxx]

Socrates is worth emulating; he's an example of a Good Man. -Something we males aught to pursue to be.

[@donaldwhittaker7987]

Good stuff

[@FF-so3su]

Fantastic, thanks

[@terencenxumalo1159]

good work

[@kehindeonakunle7404]

Great historical philosophy. Global treasure.

[@tombouie]

Quite Impressive & thks

[@HeronMarkBlade]

fantastic thanks!!

[@robertmorrison2959]

thank you

[@turinhorse]

omg ty for this. my copies were really poor quality

[@connorseunninga2324]

with beauty, in mind

[@Three-Chord-Trick]

Imagine programs like these being produced today?

[@colinglass1342]

Shostakovich one of my favourite Russian composers.This video is an epic 10 hours in length

[@markletts8802]

Thanks..

[@mikhailfranco]

Just in case you were wondering, Magee is a wearing a _Garrick Club_ tie (1st episode) Yes, in those days, in Britain, there were gentlemen's clubs ... and ties.

[@mandytiffany4585]

I remember seeing this also his Men of Idea's especially Noam Chomsky

[@NathanCline12-21]

“People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.” - Emma Goldman

[@ExxylcrothEagle]

Shostakovich right out of the gun!! Nice intro

[@parwarkhoshnaw]

great .

[@victorblackley8372]

Never thought I'd see a hottie on an old show about the history of philosophy, populated by old gentlemen of the horn rimmed spectacle generation, but Martha Nussbaum has got it going onnnnnnnn 😍

[@davidmaina443]

it is a tragedy that i finally discover this now something i ought to have discovered 15 years ago.....

[@arunendumukherjee3480]

Better late than never 😊

[@mmedeuxchevaux]

Playing this at .85 speed makes it sound far more natural (and, for me, enjoyable.)

[@mpcc2022]

I think to Plato the world of forms was literally another reality and I don't think given that Homer was taken seriously enough for Socrates to repudiate him for his depiction of the gods that Plato wouldn't think the world of forms was a real place. He even says the soul comes from this place.

[@timandmonica]

I'm always really curious about what they're talking about when shows like this have this style of end credits. Let me hear!

[@positionnormal]

Very comfortable looking sofa indeed, I must say.

[@isaiahcruz3431]

Interesting choice of Shostakovich’s 8th Symphony to introduce the series

[@ELLAS1234]

in Plato's Timaeus, at some point in the book he mentions some analogies related to the four elements, if you put earth-m and fire-E and air and water (... .. . find them yourself) and in the end you do the maths, the result is E = m*c 2

[@aaronrobertcattell8859]

if i had not furniture in a room just a box if i use that box as a pace to put a cup is it then a table or a box does it matter if the box is in the center of the room?