Who are the great philosophers, and what makes them great?
Our series covers major philosophers and texts. For each, we’ve selected an excerpt and done a close reading with the accompanying text. Our goal is to understand and interpret — not to argue with — though we point out key claims and controversies.
This Episode: A close reading of the foundational opening book of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics:
The full playlist. Includes:
- Immanuel Kant on the limits of reason. Critique of Pure Reason.
- William James on pacifism and defeating militarism. The Moral Equivalent of War.
- Galileo Galilei on not persecuting scientists. Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina.
- Ayn Rand on individual rights. Man’s Rights.
- Heidegger on re-casting metaphysics. What Is Metaphysics?
- Socrates on escaping prison or not. Plato’s Crito.
- And more …
About the Professor:
Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, USA, and has had visiting positions at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the University of Kasimir the Great in Poland, Oxford University’s Harris Manchester College in England, and Jagiellonian University in Poland.