Dr. Jacobs explores how ancient pagan philosophers understood human nature and the good life, examining key thinkers from Plato and Aristotle to the Stoics and Epicureans. The discussion covers metaphysical dualism, the nature of the soul, and competing views on happiness and virtue. This is a series on anthropology, part 1 of 4.
00:00:00 Intro
00:07:04 Metaphysical dualism
00:09:25 Empedocles
00:10:33 Plato
00:14:29 Pantheism
00:15:03 Heraclitus
00:18:52 Evil is a privation or distortion
00:22:13 The human experience of polarity
00:27:24 Four levels of discourse
00:33:46 Manichaeism & Gnosticism (extreme metaphysical dualism)
00:37:15 Plato & Socrates’ nature of the soul
00:54:35 The body and the afterlife
01:00:27 Epicureanism
01:08:31 Happiness and pleasure
01:14:43 The ethics of the stoics
01:37:29 The ethics of Plato and Aristotle
