The Big Questions of Philosophy

By: David K. Johnson, The Great Courses

Narrated by: David K. Johnson

Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

We have all pondered seemingly unanswerably but significant questions about our existence - the biggest of all being, "Why are we here?" Philosophy has developed over millennia to help us grapple with these essential intangibles. There is no better way to study the big questions in philosophy than to compare how the world's greatest minds have analyzed these questions, defined the terms, and then reasoned out potential solutions. Once you've compared the arguments, the final step is always deciding for yourself whether you find an explanation convincing.

This course gives you the tools to follow and create logical arguments while exploring famous philosophers' viewpoints on these important questions. Although progress has been made toward answers, brilliant thinkers have continued to wrestle with many big questions that inspire thoughtful people everywhere. These questions include: What is knowledge? Does God exist? Do humans have free will? What is right and wrong? How should society be organized?

Given the complexity of these big questions, it should be no surprise that many controversies are far from settled. In fact, by the end of these 36 lectures, you may be even less sure of the right answers to some of the questions than you were at the beginning. But being a philosopher means constantly testing your views - giving a reasoned defense if you believe you are right and modifying your ideas when you realize you are wrong. You'll discover that great thinkers before you have offered convincing answers to hard questions, philosophers after them have made equally persuasive objections, and then still others have refined the debate even further - causing the issues to come into sharper and sharper focus.

Join Plato, St. Anselm, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Mill, Smith, Marx, Rawls, and many others in an exploration of fundamental questions. Get ready to think big!

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2016 The Great Courses (P)2016 The Teaching Company, LLC

Thought provoking

This was my first course in philosophy and philosophical questions and I really enjoyed how the material was presented. I consider myself a moderately religious person and found some of the material challenging those beliefs (which is not bad). I appreciated the effort to explain the logic and ideas behind each of these questions. This lecture series helped me by giving me some mental tools and guidance to better examine more complex concepts.

Great intro to philosophical thinking

Well worth the time! Clarified what is philosophy, how to think about hard problems and how we can gain true knowledge. Covers many topics in half hour chunks. I left and came back to it a couple times before reaching the end, which was fine, though he does refer back to earlier lectures, so don’t stay away too long :-) Got me fired up to learn more about certain topics, so now I have a reading list.

A Challenging & Very Well-Delivered Course

The prof is really excellent at explaining complex concepts in a way that is memorable and accessible.

He presents the ideas of influential philosophers, past & present, and also devotes a lot of time to teaching how to reason soundly & carefully & avoid logical fallacies. I think the part about abduction - choosing the best explanation - was most useful to me.

This course challenged me because he concludes quite definitively that there is no good reason to believe in a God. But I'm still glad I listened to it, because any misconception you have that you are not aware of is something that is just waiting to crumble.

LIFE'S MEANING

David Johnson’s first thirty lectures revolve around proof of God, the definition of reason, knowledge, truth, and the existence of free will. Those lectures, though logically consistent, are a slog and may cause listeners to stop listening. However, the last six chapters of Johnson’s lectures are rewarding summaries of government philosophy and the meaning of life. The first two thirds of Johnson’s philosophical analysis conclude God’s existence is an unverifiable truth, solely dependent on the chimera of faith.

The final chapter of Johnson’s lectures is “What is the Meaning of Life”. There is no definitive answer. Maybe, it is the number 42, the nonsensical conclusion of the Bible noting “The Duration of Suffering”. (It is also Douglas Adams ironic answer in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.)

WORTH PURCHASING. THOUGHT PROVOKING.

I enjoyed the listening to the content. Professor can get a little too enthusiastic, and sometimes seems a little simplistic in his reasoning/conclusions. But I guess I am getting OLD.

Opens your eyes.

Touches on truly important topics using logic to discuss religion, the soul, the purpose of our lives, morality. Well done - he usually starts out with the religious answer to an argument + logically breaks down what that answer really means logically to the question. Then slowly builds up a logical case to try + answer the question using the leading ideas of yesterday and today. Just like real philosophy, the big questions are not completely "solved", but you will gain a pile of knowledge on how and where philosophers have pushed the questions/answers. Everyone should take the time to listen + think through these topics, the time spent will be some of the most worthwhile of your life.

I didn’t have a choice in my review

I suggest anybody who start the course, do so with the last lecture so you know what you are getting into. I believe it is worth the time to listen to the course but I started to get burned out after the freewill section as he became to Mustafa Mond-ish for me. I have to admit, I don’t think I am intelligent enough to comprehend the course and this may lead to my poor comprehension of my next point. If science and reason are bases for truth then why is it permissible to the use “thought experiences” that break these laws of science to validate his perspective while quickly dismissing counter points with an intermittent condescending tone . To me, that doesn’t seem logical sound nor unbiased but I really don’t know. I am sure there is an explanation. So I leave all with this recommendation, if Dr. Johnson covers a topic then you should go find somebody who holds the opposite position to truly gain a comprehensive viewpoint.

Challenging But Ultimately Fulfilling

Good overview of the major themes of introduction to Philosophy. Professor Johnson is very enjoyable to listen to, even his digressions, which add to the understanding of the topic being discussed. Several times during the course I struggled to agree with the arguments being presented, but found it hard to refute them. If you enjoy being challenged, this is highly recommended.

Great course from The Great Courses!

I really enjoy listening to Professor David Johnson discuss philosophy in this audiobook. He really is a philosophy guru. The style in which the book is read is also enjoyable and easy to follow along, as topics are relateable to the listener with pop culture references. I'm looking forward to enjoying his other published works.

The best use of my time ever

I can’t say enough about how much I got out of this course. I had a philosophy class in college and still didn’t know the great majority of the content of this course, or at least it wasn’t explained in this way. I also had history classes and theology classes, but this course gave all of that a context and a framework for making sense of it. Whether you just want a broad overview or whether you think you want to study a particular philosophy or theory, start here. In the latter case, you’ll get some background and context regarding challenges to the theory that can possibly influence your decision on whether to seek further information. I already purchased the metaphysical course by the same author and am very much looking forward to it. After I listen to this for a second round. It’s tightly packed, no filler here.