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Sadler's Lectures

Latest episodes

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Jul 5, 2025 • 14min

Plutarch, On Tranquility - Focusing On What's Good In Our Lives - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay On Tranquility This episode focuses specifically on his advice that we ought to direct our focus to what is actually good in our lives, and respond to those things with a sense of joy and appreciation (kharis). If we look at our lives, we actually have a number of good things either in the present or even in the past You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's On Tranquility here - https://amzn.to/3GkzgYS To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
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Jul 3, 2025 • 16min

Plutarch, On Tranquility - Life As Mixed Good And Bad - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay On Tranquility This episode focuses specifically on the importance of recognizing that life will be a mix of good and bad things, rather than primarily good things, as some people unrealistically desire, hope, or expect it to be. He advocates for harmonizing the two together into an overall good life, and discusses each person as having not just one but two spirits or fates. You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's On Tranquility here - https://amzn.to/3GkzgYS To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
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17 snips
Jul 2, 2025 • 13min

Plutarch, On Tranquility - Making Use Of Things And Circumstances - Sadler's Lectures

Dive into Plutarch's insights on achieving inner peace by embracing life's uncertainties. Discover the clever metaphor of life as a game of dice, emphasizing adaptability and wise engagement with circumstances. Explore the bee analogy, showcasing how we can extract sweetness from adversity, turning challenges into opportunities for growth. Reflect on Stoic philosophies that encourage resilience, urging listeners to view obstacles as stepping stones to a more fulfilling life.
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Jul 1, 2025 • 16min

Plutarch, On Tranquility - Tranquility, Lifestyle, and Occupations - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay On Tranquility This episode focuses specifically on a mistake that a number of people make in thinking about what will produce happiness, tranquility, or contentment for them, namely living a certain lifestyle or having a particular occupation. If one does not have one's mindset, assumptions, desires, habits in order, one simply brings the reason for one's lack of tranquility from whatever previous lifestyle or occupation one had into the new lifestyle or occupation one adopts. You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's On Tranquility here - https://amzn.to/3GkzgYS To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
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Jun 29, 2025 • 17min

Plutarch, On Being A Busybody - Developing Self-Control Over Curiosity - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay On Being A Busybody This episode focuses specifically on he importance of developing self-control (enkrateia) in order to curb excessive and harmful curiosity. We do this in general through habituation, training, and to some degree learning or study. He also provides in-depth discussion of a number of specific practices we can use in that process of moving ourselves into self-control and towards virtue. You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's On Being A Busybody here - https://amzn.to/3IcyoX5 To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
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Jun 28, 2025 • 15min

Plutarch, On Being A Busybody - Curiosity And Lack Of Self-Control - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay On Being A Busybody This episode focuses specifically on his discussions bearing on the role lack or loss of self-control (akrasia in Greek) plays in the sort of problematic curiosity he criticizes in this work. Plutarch claims that lack of self control is just as evident in this curiosity as it is in adultery. He also discusses some of the bad effects for the curious person, including being distrusted by others You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's On Being A Busybody here - https://amzn.to/3IcyoX5 To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
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Jun 27, 2025 • 15min

Plutarch, On Being A Busybody - Redirecting Curiosity to Better Topics - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay On Being A Busybody This episode focuses specifically on one of the general practices he suggests to wean oneself away from this vice, namely deliberately redirecting one's attention from the usual objects of morbid curiosity towards better, or at least less bad objects. A person ought to focus on their own problems and troubles, not those of others, but they can also focus on the secrets of the natural world. If that's not interesting enough, and one needs something bad to stimulate, one can read those in histories or tragedies, rather than prying into the secrets of one's neighbors and contemporaries. You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's On Being A Busybody here - https://amzn.to/3IcyoX5 To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
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Jun 25, 2025 • 14min

Plutarch, On Being A Busybody - Curiosity, Secrecy, and Privacy - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay On Being A Busybody This episode focuses specifically on one of the features of the sort of curiosity or inquisitiveness central to being a busybody, namely that the person exhibiting it attempts to dig into other people's secrets, to find out bad things they would rather keep private, motivated by the desire and enjoyment of knowing those things and bringing them to light. He points out that this sort of curiosity can be not only unseemly or shameful, but also quite dangerous to those motivated by it You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's On Being A Busybody here - https://amzn.to/3IcyoX5 To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
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Jun 24, 2025 • 16min

Plutarch, On Being A Busybody - Curiosity As A Vicious Disposition - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Middle Platonist philosopher and biographer Plutarch's essay On Being A Busybody This episode focuses specifically on why the sort of curiosity, inquisitiveness, meddlesomeness, or being a busybody he discusses is actually a vicious disposition, rather than something good. It involves a desire to learn about the troubles, problems, or bad things (kaka in Greek) of others. Instead of focusing upon their own problems or deficits, they focus on those of others. You can find the copy of the text I am using for this sequence on Plutarch's On Being A Busybody here - https://amzn.to/3IcyoX5 To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
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Jun 23, 2025 • 25min

Alasdair MacIntyre, Designing Our Descendants - A New Table Of Virtues

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th and 21st century philosopher and moral theorist, Alasdair MacIntyre's short address "Designing Our Descendants: Seven Traits for the Future", a presentation to the 1978 general meeting at the Hastings Center. MacIntyre first discusses how intentionally designing descendants is a matter that has political dimensions, then sets out seven key traits that he thinks are most needed, and concludes with projections of what the lives of people in a society where these traits are widespread would look like. The seven traits in a "new table of virtues" MacIntyre identifies and discusses are: Ability to live with uncertainty (and an unpredictable environment) Roots in particularity (a capacity for finding a particular and local way of being a home in the world) A commitment to non-manipulative modes of relationship with people and nature Finding a vocation in one's work (an ability to find a work that is peculiarly our own to do in the world) Accepting one's death (recognition that there will come a time when one's life is complete) Hope (a spirit of hope for which there cannot be adequate empirical grounds) Willingness to take up arms (to go to war and to acquire the skill necessary to win a war) To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 3,500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler You can get MacIntyre's After Virtue here - amzn.to/2RiplGT

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