How to Live: Philosophy
The profound teachings of the great philosophers lie at the center of this playlist How to Live: Philosophy. Each segment of the film explores the unique perspectives of legendary thinkers, including those expounded by Plato, Aristotle and Nietzsche. The insights provided by these towering figures remain relevant to our lives even today, and continue to challenge and inform our views on love, greed, conflict, spirituality and the art of being human.
Take the example set forth by Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the most influential and prolific sermonizers of the existentialist movement. Through his novels and essays, Sartre articulated a world view that challenged the status quo and our widely accepted perceptions of reality. He recognized the absurdity in patterns and practices most others held as normal and logic-based. With a great disdain for capitalism and the sheepish obedience it inspired, Sartre urged each human being to open their eyes to the possibilities of freedom by unleashing themselves from the shackles of greed.
Three hundred years prior to the emergence of Jean-Paul Sartre, Francois de La Rochefoucauld adopted a decidedly less enthusiastic view on the possibilities of human kindness and possibility. "If one were to judge of love according to the greatest part of the effects it produces," La Rochefoucauld wrote, "it might very justly pass for hatred rather than kindness." La Rochefoucauld's life was largely defined by misfortunes in the form of exile, poverty, and crippling romantic hardship. The sum total of these experiences found voice through his masterful employment of aphorisms, a series of brief, succinct sentences designed to illustrate complex ideas with minimal text and maximum clarity. In its purest form, this approach can still be found today, particularly on social media platforms like Twitter.
In a matter of minutes, each segment of How to Live: Philosophy clearly and cleverly encapsulates the ideologies of these and many other great philosophers, including Ludwig Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Epicurus, the Stoics and Augustine. Their perspectives run the gamut of human emotion and experience, and they speak to truths we all continue to grapple with in our everyday existence. But perhaps most importantly, the lessons they imparted provide us with a quantity which is sorely lacking in our modern society: enlightenment.
ahead of its time..."Make Athens Great Again "...totally caught me off guard..
How is this a documentary? It's 6 minutes long.
To Thomas
on bottom, click on the forward arrow, shows one segment at a time.
Rich insights much appreciated
Can philosophy solve the greatest physics quest? that of breaking through the Density of mankind's common sense!
it is Allain du Botton. The blokes cool as, he's got such a warmth about him, articulate, witty, daft. I like how simple he makes such complex subjects and ideaologys.
Slightly reminiscent of a modern day Bertrand Russell. Slightly mischievous!!
Been following The School of Life for years. I really wish this kind of stuff should be required in high school and then in college. The closest thing I ever got was when I was in college. It was a "Personal Ethics" class.
What a beautiful series , love school of life ...
Thank you for the excellent video. It is concise and easy to understand. I look forward to seeing more of your video of this nature. I love the idea about the voters who should think before casting their vote. I think it maybe the biggest problem of most of the modern "democracies".
Some parts are slightly incorrect, no? Such parts like the book by Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, being a guideline for his son rather than being edited by it.
Very well executed; clear, concise & interesting ! The narrator's voice sounds like Alan Debotton ?
Excellent series, gives a basic understanding of the great thinkers!!!
Really helped me look at life in a different way. I look forward to reviewing the series every few days...always find something I had missed..really enjoyed the way Alain presents the differences and strengths of the philosophers . Wish I had studied philosophy 40 years ago.
Darwin was a Fraud!
The only true philosophy that will ever come to pass as being universally true, border line fact, is the scientific term, 'survival of the fittest'. Actually, I don't even know that it was originally a scientific term or not. What we think, express, and believe individually might dictate our salvation when a God is someday proven to you. But other then that, everything revolves, or derives from that concept of thought.
What a very fresh way of explaining the work of often difficult philosophers. Thanks for uploading.
Love this series. It rocks
Interesting. Thank you.
wonderful, many obvious problems with the material itself but as far as a educational and historical purposes excellent.