Reading Philosophy

What Does It All Mean? - Episode 4

How should we think of the relation between our bodies and our minds? Are they fundamentally the same, or different? And what does that mean for the kind of universe we live in?

From Thomas Nagel's great introduction to philosophy that requires no prior knowledge, with commentary.

The ⁠full text is available online⁠.

You can join future live sessions on Discord: https://discord.gg/philosophy

What Does It All Mean? - Episode 3

Thomas Nagel's great introduction to philosophy that requires no prior knowledge.

'Are There Other Minds?'

The book was originally published in 1987. The ⁠⁠full text is available online⁠⁠.

This recording contains commentary and discussion.

You can join future live sessions on Discord: https://discord.gg/philosophy

What Does It All Mean? - Episode 2

Thomas Nagel's great introduction to philosophy that requires no prior knowledge.

'How do we know anything?' - Part 2.

The book was originally published in 1987. The ⁠full text is available online⁠.

This recording contains some commentary.

You can join future live sessions on Discord: https://discord.gg/philosophy

What Does It All Mean? - Episode 1

Thomas Nagel's great introduction to philosophy that requires no prior knowledge.

'What is philosophy?' and thoughts on 'How do you know anything?'

The book was originally published in 1987. The full text is available online.

This recording contains some commentary.

You can join future live sessions on Discord: https://discord.gg/philosophy

The Responsibility of Intellectuals - Part 2

Noam Chomsky critiques the dominant intellectual culture of his days, in relation to the Vietnam war.

This was originally a talk given at Harvard in 1966, and then published a year later in the New York Review of books.

Read free online: ⁠https://chomsky.info/19670223/⁠

The recordings contains commentary and discussion.

The Responsibility of Intellectuals - Part 1

Noam Chomsky critiques the dominant intellectual culture of his days, in relation to the Vietnam war.

This was originally a talk given at Harvard in 1966, and then published a year later in the New York Review of books.

Read free online: https://chomsky.info/19670223/

The recordings contains commentary and discussion.

A Review of B. F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior - Part 2

Chomsky, N., 1959. “Review of Verbal Behavior,” Language, 35: 26–58.

Text available free online: https://chomsky.info/1967____/
In Leon A. Jakobovits and Murray S. Miron (eds.), Readings in the Psychology of Language, Prentice-Hall, 1967, pp. 142-143.

In this early influential review, Chomsky put a serious dent into Skinner’s “radical behaviorism”, from which it never fully recovered. We get an early glimpse of Chomsky’s views on language, science and human nature.

A Review of B. F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior - Part 2

Chomsky, N., 1959. “Review of Verbal Behavior,” Language, 35: 26–58.

Text available free online: https://chomsky.info/1967____/
In Leon A. Jakobovits and Murray S. Miron (eds.), Readings in the Psychology of Language, Prentice-Hall, 1967, pp. 142-143.

In this early influential review, Chomsky put a serious dent into Skinner’s “radical behaviorism”, from which it never fully recovered. We get an early glimpse of Chomsky’s views on language, science and human nature.