Ep. 30 Epictetus, The Slave Who Became a Stoic Master - Stoic Thinkers Part 4

Send us a Text Message.Roughly 1800 years ago, the most powerful person in the world wrote a book. Actually, back then it was only his journal, but today it is considered one of the great books of world wisdom. Known simply as Meditations, the emperor of the Roman Empire, Marcus Aurelius, for ten years wrote most mornings about the challenges he was to face and how he intended to approach them through the lens of his stoic philosophy. For generations since, millions have found a bit of themselves in the reflections of Marcus Aurelius, and being that he was the emperor of Rome make the problems all the more relatable, for if the most powerful person in the world might experience such difficulties, why not I? Join us as we present our fourth annual celebration of the philosopher king Marcus Aurelius.Sign up for our newsletter here! Open Door Philosophy NewsletterContact us via email at [email protected] Open Door Philosophy on Instagram @opendoorphilosophyOpen Door Philosophy website at opendoorphilosophy.com

Send us a Text Message.Can morality be entirely relative to an individual or a cultural standard? Does the diversity of moral beliefs across cultures undermine the existence of objective moral principles? Does the fact that human sacrifice once existed in one culture but looked down upon but another disprove the fact that there are objective morals? Or if we accept that moral subjectivism exists, is there a way to justify or make moral claims? Join us for this episode on moral relativism. Sign up for our newsletter here! Open Door Philosophy NewsletterContact us via email at [email protected] Open Door Philosophy on Instagram @opendoorphilosophyOpen Door Philosophy website at opendoorphilosophy.com

Send us a Text Message.Last weekend, as I was driving down the interstate in Houston, I noticed, not for the first time, a billboard that claims, “Signs, Miracles, and Wonders! Every Sunday at 11:00 AM.” I turned towards my wife and quipped, “I didn’t realize you could schedule them.” But in all seriousness, how should one express such things to others, something like a miracle or a sign? If language is how we report the world, how does one speak of their public or private experience of God? Is someone who has a religious experience able to speak authoritatively about what has been revealed to them? And if so, how are we to determine if their important revelation is legitimate? Is religious experience a type of proof of God and a justification of belief? Clearly we have lots of questions. Join us as we wrap up our series on Religious Experience. Sign up for our newsletter here! Open Door Philosophy NewsletterContact us via email at [email protected] Open Door Philosophy on Instagram @opendoorphilosophyOpen Door Philosophy website at opendoorphilosophy.com

Send us a Text Message.In the book of Exodus, God appears to the biblical patriarch Moses in the form of a burning bush, and tells him he is to lead the Isrealites, enslaved by the Egyptians, to freedom. In the Bhagavad Gita, the source of all things, lord Krisha, appears to prince Arjuna as his charioteer and helps him understand his identity and potential on the eve of a major battle. These appearances by gods, however, are not reserved just for the spiritual heroes of old. Millions of people around the world report having similar religious experiences where they encounter God in a variety of ways, are gifted spiritual powers, or their souls are washed clean and they are made new again. What exactly is a religious experience? Under what circumstances do they occur? And what should their meaning be in our life? Can we even speak of them in any sort of meaningful way? Join us for this first in a two part series on religious experience. Sign up for our newsletter here! Open Door Philosophy NewsletterContact us via email at [email protected] Open Door Philosophy on Instagram @opendoorphilosophyOpen Door Philosophy website at opendoorphilosophy.com

Send us a Text Message.What’s the most important question in philosophy? Our guest Jack Symes believes it to be the question of God’s existence, no matter where you fall on the belief spectrum.  In this episode, Jack discusses with us his latest book, Philosophers on God: Talking about Existence which directly address this question. What is the origin of the universe? What are the most powerful arguments for and against the existence of God? What do thinkers outside of the Abrahamic faiths have to say about such questions? And why is Adam Sandler still making movies? Join us as we discuss these questions and gain insight about the many current thinkers included in the book with Jack Symes. You can purchase Philosophers on God: Talking about Existence by following this link. Sign up for our newsletter here! Open Door Philosophy NewsletterContact us via email at [email protected] Open Door Philosophy on Instagram @opendoorphilosophyOpen Door Philosophy website at opendoorphilosophy.com

Send us a Text Message.Included in this episode are feminist icons Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvoir, champions of new ethics Mary Midgley, Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, and Elizabeth Anscombe, and contemporary powerhouse on love and other moral stances Susan Wolf. It's a lot packed into one hour! Join us for this final installment of the series: Women Who Shaped Philosophy!Sign up for our newsletter here! Open Door Philosophy NewsletterContact us via email at [email protected] Open Door Philosophy on Instagram @opendoorphilosophyOpen Door Philosophy website at opendoorphilosophy.com

Send us a Text Message.Throughout the history of philosophy, women have been active, yet markedly absent from much of the scholarship. If you go into a book store or do a google search for the greatest philosophers, you would most likely see one or two women, at most on any given list. How can those two things coexist together? In Han Dynasty China, a female scholar was employed by the Emporer to write on the role of women. Plagued by the looming accusations of withcery and devil worship, a woman in the Medieval France wrote a treatise on the nature of women the empowerment in their traditional role. Across the ancient world into the Medieval Era, women were held positions of expertise from which they advised, often other women, on how to lead a good life and fulfill their social role. What did these women write about? Join us today as we discuss these philosopher queens and their contributions to philosophy.Sign up for our newsletter here! Open Door Philosophy NewsletterContact us via email at [email protected] Open Door Philosophy on Instagram @opendoorphilosophyOpen Door Philosophy website at opendoorphilosophy.com

Send us a Text Message.Throughout the history of philosophy, women have been active, yet markedly absent from much of the scholarship. If you go into a book store or do a google search for the greates philosohers, you would most likely see one or two women, at most on any given list. How can those two things coexist together? In Ancient Greece and Rome, a few women were revered as philosophical teachers. Plato occasionally included women in his famous dialogues. In Alexandria, Egypt, daughters of scholars were educated, and one rose to prominence through her public lectures. What did these women write about? Join us today as we discuss these philosopher queens and their contributions to philosophy.Sign up for our newsletter here! Open Door Philosophy NewsletterContact us via email at [email protected] Open Door Philosophy on Instagram @opendoorphilosophyOpen Door Philosophy website at opendoorphilosophy.com

Send us a Text Message.Whether concepts such as the Golden Ratio or more subjective standards of aesthetic judgments, beauty has been the subject of debate for every era of philosophical history. In the ancient world, it was the Greeks that formed much of what the ancient era would think about when considering beauty in concepts such as symmetry and ratios. The Enlightenment era philosophers of the modern period, influenced by the new emphasis on reason, grappled with the subjective nature of beauty and proposed a way that beauty could be both contextual yet universal. In the late modern and post-modern eras, women philosophers took up the question of beauty in application to themselves, attempting to find exactly how they should respond to the concept. Join us today as we look for beauty. Sign up for our newsletter here! Open Door Philosophy NewsletterContact us via email at [email protected] Open Door Philosophy on Instagram @opendoorphilosophyOpen Door Philosophy website at opendoorphilosophy.com

Send us a Text Message.Beauty and aesthetics seems to be one of the least discussed branches of philosophy, yet occupied the minds of some of the greatest philosophers such as: Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hume, just to name a few. Its appeal is immediately obvious, however, when someone asks the seemingly simple question of exactly what beauty is. The conversation that typically follows involves topics such as: what exactly are standards of beauty, if these standards are objective or entirely in the eye of the beholder, and under what circumstances do we or do we not encounter beauty. Some say beauty is rare; others that it is around us all the time if we would just look; that the outward self is just a grotesque veneer; that true beauty resides within. I mean, is the song that’s playing in the background right now beautiful? The last time your and your friends got together and played Mario Party? The weekend morning that just involves a cup of coffee, a book, and a cat purring in your lap ‘cause it loves you? Whatever the perspective, it seems beauty is something that matters to us, whether we find it in a sunset, a soaring aria, or in the eyes of our loved ones. Join us as we explore the practical side of beauty in this first of a two part series on the subject.Sign up for our newsletter here! Open Door Philosophy NewsletterContact us via email at [email protected] Open Door Philosophy on Instagram @opendoorphilosophyOpen Door Philosophy website at opendoorphilosophy.com