Avicenna and Medieval Muslim Philosophy

Islamic Philosophy: Bolinda Beginner Guides

• UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 25 mins)
• By Majid Fakhry
• Narrated By Raad Rawi

A comprehensive examination of the struggle to reconcile philosophy and Islam. From the introduction of Greek Philosophy into the Muslim world in the eighth century, right through to modern times, Majid Fakhry charts the evolution and interaction of philosophy, theology, and mysticism in the Islamic context. Highlighting key individuals, movements, concepts, and writings, Fakhry also explores the conflicts and controversies between anti- and pro-philosophical parties.

The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World

• ORIGINAL (24 hrs and 28 mins)
• By The Great Courses, Robert Garland
• Narrated By Professor Robert Garland

Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.

Discourse on Metaphysics

• UNABRIDGED (1 hr and 53 mins)
• By Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
• Narrated By Kevin Theis

The conception of God which is the most common and the most full of meaning is expressed well enough in the words: God is an absolutely perfect being. The implications, however, of these words fail to receive sufficient consideration. For instance, there are many different kinds of perfection, all of which God possesses, and each one of them pertains to him in the highest degree. We must also know what perfection is.

Metaphysics

• UNABRIDGED (14 hrs and 30 mins)
• By Aristotle
• Narrated By James Cameron Stewart
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

Aristotle's Metaphysics was the first major study of the subject of metaphysics - in other words, an inquiry into 'first philosophy', or 'wisdom'. It differs from Physics which is concerned with the natural world: things which are subject to the laws of nature, things that move and change, are measurable. In Metaphysics, the study falls on 'being qua being' - being insofar as it is being; the causes and principles of being, the causes and principles of substances.

The World as Will And Idea, Volume 1

• UNABRIDGED (20 hrs and 31 mins)
• By Arthur Schopenhauer
• Narrated By Leighton Pugh

Schopenhauer was just 30 when his magnum opus, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, a work of considerable learning and innovation of thought, first appeared in 1818.

Much to his chagrin and puzzlement (so convinced was he of its merits), it didn't have an immediate effect on European philosophy, views and culture. It was only decades later that it was recognised as one of the major intellectual landmarks of the 19th century.

Maimonides and Medieval Jewish Philosophy

• UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 52 mins)
• By Idit Dobbs-Weinstein
• Narrated By Lynn Redgrave

From Philo of Judea to Maimonides and beyond, medieval Jewish philosophy created an outstanding, unbroken tradition. Jewish thinkers worked to square Biblical faith with the demands of reason; their efforts to understand the individual in relation to God and to the human community powerfully foreshadowed contemporary problems. Maimonides, who can be compared with Saint Thomas Aquinas, profoundly influenced much subsequent philosophy.

The Holy Qur'an: A Modern English Reading, Volume I: Chapters 1-8

• UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 32 mins)
• By Noorbox Productions
• Narrated By Kevan Brighting

The Holy Qur'an was revealed in Arabic over 1400 years ago for the whole of humanity to the last prophet in Islam, Muhammad (peace be upon him). Written down and recorded as it was revealed, The Holy Qur'an remains unchanged, even to this day. The Holy Qur'an is considered the greatest miracle given to the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

This is a Modern English reading of the interpretations and meanings of the Holy Qur'an, based on interpretations of the meaning by Dr Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali and Dr Muhammad Muhsin Khan.

This production in the English language is only an interpretation of the Arabic.

Duns Scotus and Medieval Christianity

• UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 56 mins)
• By Ralph McInerny
• Narrated By Lynn Redgrave

The Roman Empire became Christian in 323 AD; about two centuries later, the rest of Europe began to convert. Medieval culture blurred the line between the sacred and the secular. While political and religious hierarchies vied for influence, liberal arts education claimed to seek sacred truths through secular means. But when Aristotle's works were first translated from Arabic, there began a conflict between reason and faith. Franciscan John Duns Scotus was one philosopher who tried to bridge this gap.

St. Thomas Aquinas: The Giants of Philosophy

• UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 4 mins)
• By Kenneth L. Schmitz
• Narrated By Charlton Heston

St. Thomas Aquinas is known for producing history's most complete system of Christian philosophy. In the late 13th century, this quiet, reflective Dominican scholar combined the work of Aristotle with Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and pagan thought to reconcile reason and faith. For Thomas, intellectual knowledge is a sign of the spirituality that energizes the human center. He believed we can know that God exists, but not what God is like.

The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant: The Complete Work Plus an Overview, Chapter by Chapter Summary and Author Biography!

• UNABRIDGED (26 hrs and 48 mins)
• By Immanuel Kant, Israel Bouseman
• Narrated By Marlain Angelides

The Critique of Pure Reason is a work that examines the faculty of reason and the qualities inherent in human thought. Before this time the influence of the knower on that which was sought to be known was not considered in a thorough and developed manner. Kant attempted with this critique to establish a limit to the knowable based on the nature of human cognition. His work was an attempt to address the failings in philosophy and metaphysics and provide a solid foundation for the proper use of reason to expand knowledge.

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes

• UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 31 mins)
• By Tamim Ansary
• Narrated By Tamim Ansary
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

Until about 1800, the West and the Islamic realm were like two adjacent, parallel universes, each assuming itself to be the center of the world while ignoring the other. As Europeans colonized the globe, the two world histories intersected and the Western narrative drove the other one under. The West hardly noticed, but the Islamic world found the encounter profoundly disrupting.

Baruch Spinoza: The Giants of Philosophy

• UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 13 mins)
• By Thomas Cook
• Narrated By Charlton Heston

A Portuguese Jew living in Holland, Spinoza was excommunicated because of the unorthodox view he took of God. Spinoza wrote in the rationalist style of a geometric proof to develop his idea of God as the infinite, indwelling cause of all things, a unified causal system that is virtually synonymous with nature.

The Arabs: A History

• UNABRIDGED (27 hrs and 30 mins)
• By Eugene Rogan
• Narrated By Derek Perkins
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

In this definitive history of the modern Arab world, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan draws extensively on Arab sources and texts to place the Arab experience in its crucial historical context for the first time. Tracing five centuries of Arab history, Rogan reveals that there was an age when the Arabs set the rules for the rest of the world. Today, however, the Arab world's sense of subjection to external powers carries vast consequences for both the region and Westerners who attempt to control it.

The New Testament

• ORIGINAL (12 hrs and 26 mins)
• By The Great Courses, Bart D. Ehrman
• Narrated By Professor Bart D. Ehrman

Whether taken as a book of faith or a cultural artifact, the New Testament is among the most significant writings the world has ever known, its web of meaning relied upon by virtually every major writer in the last 2,000 years. Yet the New Testament is not only one of Western civilization’s most believed books, but also one of its most widely disputed, often maligned, and least clearly understood, with a vast number of people unaware of how it was written and transmitted.

St. Augustine: The Giants of Philosophy

• UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 8 mins)
• By Robert O'Connell
• Narrated By Charlton Heston

St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.) was the first great systematic Christian philosopher. He attempted to combine the philosophical insights of Plato with the faith explicated in the Bible. Augustine thought of Plato's eternal forms as ideas in the mind of God; he believed that the Eternal Christ provides the light of knowledge to the human mind.

Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane

• UNABRIDGED (25 hrs and 15 mins)
• By S. Frederick Starr
• Narrated By Kevin Stillwell
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. Central Asians achieved signal breakthroughs in astronomy, mathematics, geology, medicine, chemistry, music, social science, philosophy, and theology, among other subjects.

What I Believe: 3 Complete Essays on Religion

• UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 25 mins)
• By Bertrand Russell
• Narrated By Terrence Hardiman

Remarkably relevant, beautifully written, and filled with wit and wisdom, these 3 essays by Bertrand Russell allow the listener to test the concepts of The Good Life, Morality, The Existence of God, Christianity, and Human Nature. "What I Believe" was used prominently in the 1940 New York court proceedings in which Russell was judicially declared "unfit" to teach philosophy at City College of New York. "Why I Am Not a Christian" concludes that churches throughout history have retarded progress and states that we should instead "look to our own efforts here below to make this world a fit place to live in." Finally, "A Free Man's Worship," perhaps the most famous single essay written by Russell, considers whether humans operate from free will.

Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds

• UNABRIDGED (20 hrs and 3 mins)
• By Joel L. Kraemer
• Narrated By Sean Pratt
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

The first definitive biography of Moses Maimonides, one of the most influential intellects in all of human history, illuminates his life as a philosopher, physician, and lawgiver. Recalling such bestsellers as David McCullough's John Adams and Walter Isaacson's Einstein, Maimonides is a biography on a grand scale, brilliantly explicating one man's life against the background of his time.

The Consolation of Philosophy

• UNABRIDGED (4 hrs and 54 mins)
• By Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
• Narrated By David Rintoul

The Consolation of Philosophy is one of the key works in the rich tradition of Western philosophy, partly because of the circumstances in which it was written. Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (c480-c524) was of aristocratic Roman birth and became consul and then master of offices at Ravenna, one of the highest posts under the Ostrogothic Roman ruler Theodoric. But Boethius was unjustly charged with treason in 524, and this led to house arrest, then torture and execution.

The Ethics of Aristotle

• ORIGINAL (6 hrs and 9 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Father Joseph Koterski, S.J.

In this 12-lecture meditation on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, you'll uncover the clarity and ethical wisdom of one of humanity's greatest minds. Father Koterski shows how and why this great philosopher can help you deepen and improve your own thinking on questions of morality and leading the best life. The aim of these lectures is to provide you with a clear and thoughtful introduction to Aristotle as a moral philosopher.

The Metamorphoses

• UNABRIDGED (16 hrs and 16 mins)
• By Ovid
• Narrated By Charlton Griffin

An undeniable masterpiece of Western Civilization, The Metamorphoses is a continuous narrative that covers all the Olympian legends, seamlessly moving from one story to another in a splendid panorama of savage beauty, charm, and wit. All of the gods and heroes familiar to us are represented. Such familiar legends as Hercules, Perseus and Medusa, Daedelus and Icarus, Diana and Actaeon, and many others, are breathtakingly recreated.

Mind-Body Philosophy

• ORIGINAL (12 hrs and 21 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Professor Patrick Grim PhD

How is it that our brain creates all the subjective experiences of our lives every single day - the experiences we call reality? That is the mind-body problem. In Mind-Body Philosophy, Professor Patrick Grim of the State University of New York at Stony Brook leads an intellectually exhilarating tour through millennia of philosophy and science addressing one of life's greatest conundrums. But you won't just be a spectator as Dr. Grim engages and encourages each of us to come to our own conclusions.

Augustine: Philosopher and Saint

• ORIGINAL (6 hrs and 12 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Professor Phillip Cary

These 12 illuminating lectures paint a rich and detailed portrait of the life, works, and ideas of this remarkable figure, whose own search for God has profoundly shaped all of Western Christianity. You'll learn what Augustine taught and why he taught it – and how those teachings and doctrines helped shape the Roman Catholic Church. These lectures are rewarding even if you have no background at all in classical philosophy or Christian theology.

The Foundations of Western Civilization

• ORIGINAL (24 hrs and 54 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Professor Thomas F. X. Noble

What is Western Civilization? According to Professor Noble, it is "much more than human and political geography," encompassing myriad forms of political and institutional structures - from monarchies to participatory republics - and its own traditions of political discourse. It involves choices about who gets to participate in any given society and the ways in which societies have resolved the tension between individual self-interest and the common good.