A Good Life in a Bad World? - An SWF 2013 Lecture by AC Grayling

How should we lead our lives? What are the possibilities of living good lives in modern societies? Passionate, erudite and always accessible, leading philosopher AC Grayling promises an illuminating lecture on how we live, how we treat one another, and our interactions with the world at large.
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[@markwilson9935]

Isn't it wonderful to listen to ,and comprehend, a speaker with no hidden agendas and a simple yet concise message. Very enjoyable. Thanks for the post!

[@adityashiledar3832]

His words flow so naturally...and sparkle with wisdom.

[@juancrios-qs8ri]

This is a mind of the 21th century, What a pleasure to listen to his lecture!

[@the_Rade]

So eloquent and clear, erudite and persuasive. Very good

[@fergusanderson7985]

i love AC grayling, what a great thinker!

[@oksimoron222]

What a beautiful mind...

[@MrMoon-cg2yy]

As sick as they come.

[@Xerox-ty7bf]

Excellent! Thanks for posting this, really enjoyed AC Grayling, excellent speaker and great thinker.

[@perseussagittariuschannel1094]

He is brilliant.

[@MrMoon-cg2yy]

Funny... all imbeciles say the same.

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

M.r. Moon Unsuccessful troll is unsuccessful.

[@MrMoon-cg2yy]

Rami Gilneas Follow your own advice if you can.

[@tedfrisiras5022]

Great talk!!!!

[@rhondah1587]

Absolutely Awesome!!

[@MrMoon-cg2yy]

U should get out more!

[@athavulftheevolutionary3447]

+M.r. Moon get out and attend a nice lecture

[@ConvictedFelon2024]

Wow, that last statement reminded me of the Nightwish song _The Greatest Show on Earth_ (the one that features Richard Dawkins), where the final lyrics are *We were here!* repeated several times. The human race may not last forever, but the fact that we existed is as incontrovertible as the universe being comprised of stars and consisting of dimesions of space and time.

[@EmperorsNewWardrobe]

46:55 his point about here is fascinating, about how the increased understanding of agency caused the gods to recede away from us into the mountains

[@ryanjorgensen9450]

His last words gave me chills

[@MrMoon-cg2yy]

OMG you didn't actually listen to that rubbish did you? ...poor fellow!

[@migduh]

M.r. Moon What's your deal, man? Why do you hate A.C. Grayling?

[@athavulftheevolutionary3447]

+Cassidy Curt maybe he's living a bad life in a bad world..?

[@coreycox2345]

Same, Ryan Jorgensen. When I first heard this, I thought of it as my religion for several years.

[@Leibo07]

"A true life amidst the wrong is impossible" (TW Adorno)

[@leonardniamh]

Leibo07 certainly very very difficult

[@leonardniamh]

I agree in that Ive experienced it

[@carryall69]

+Psi Clops that's somehow not correct. i never heard about hera being involved in that, but that zeus send him to the underworld because he was killing travelers and guests, which was a violation of philoxenia. there he pissed off ares because he tricked thanatos and chained him (in another version it was hades), so ares had to free thanatos and he returned sisyphus back. then he tricked persephone to release him for a while and hermes had to drag him back. finally the gods were so pissed that they cursed him to endlessly roll a huge boulder up a steep hill..

[@kahlesjf]

The à la carte cherry-picking of religious tenets by its practitioners has been more than well-accommodated by those willing to pick up the ball and establish a new variant as is demonstrated by the more than 200 denominations of Christianity in the U.S. and 45,000 worldwide. A good starting point for people to begin to question the supernatural beliefs they are literally being sold. Excellent lecture.

[@11Kralle]

+Psi Clops Maybe there is more than one version about Sisyphos?

[@leonardniamh]

Yes absolutely I wish autonomy were accepted

[@erikhirschfelt5066]

Grayling is operating in a vacuum

[@psiclops521]

Ah! My hobbyhorse! Professor Grayling mentions Sisyphus and says that Sisyphus was punished because he angered "the gods". No! (Or to say it in French, "No!") Sisyphus did not anger "the gods". Sisyphus angered one god: Zeus. Sisyphus was put in the position of having to either not tell the truth to Hera, which would undoubtedly have resulted in Hera punishing him, or tell the truth and anger Zeus, which resulted in his famous punishment. This became my hobbyhorse nearly forty years ago when I realized that, while people remember the punishment, they almost universally forget the reason for it or, as Professor Grayling has done, generalized it into, "He angered the gods." As a result, I decided that Sisyphus had ceased to be an individual in the story and had become his punishment.

[@bonnie43uk]

You certainly know your Sisyphus.

[@psiclops521]

bonnie43uk That was pretty fussy of me, but I'll own it. That was me.

[@vikingjanch]

His narrative is located within societal norms of achievement and ego oriented satisfactions. It also ignores the animal world, and the interests of the earth, as the "good life" as far as non humans are concerned might involve a scaling back of human activity, not its flourishing.i find him too well adjusted to be a great philosopher. The answers for humanity surely lie outside establishment tropes.

[@mpcc2022]

You don't get more goats, sheep, and people. You have to include the people part of this discussion, professor Grayling, because the Hebrews of the old testament participate in a lot of war and agriculture and you need human capital for both which is also the reason why the Bible makes no moral case against slavery.

[@youcanfoolmeonce]

The question is an oxymoron. Good life includes happiness, so how can you be really happy, even if things are going well for you when millions of lives are shattered, hundreds of millions live in misery, under bombs, are maimed, hungry, have no shelter, no clean water, have disease, etc., etc. Those whose actions cause the problems will never adapt the attitude of humanism. There will be rich, poor and some in the middle until mankind allows itself to be destroyed.

[@barkYdarkATFB]

Good life doesn’t necessarily mean happiness. If you are burdened with the suffering of others then you do what you can to alleviate it. Just the act of doing for others will give you a personal reward.

[@williametheridge1764]

90% these "problems" come from bad Old Values governments, not the liberal democracies, v sad cases of govts betraying their people.

[@peterkerruish8136]

Richard I have given this podcast a thumbs down simply because the audience questions were inaudible.

[@ManInTheBigHat]

I like this guy, but he's too PC. It feels like he doesn't recognize the tyranny of virtue that's grabbed hold of the present generation. He's very charming and interesting, but I get a cuttlefish vibe.

[@jkovert]

WARNING: It's an hour and a half of your life that you'll never get back.

[@ConvictedFelon2024]

And an hour-and-a-half well spent.

[@jkovert]

@@ConvictedFelon2024 pussification