Sadler's Lectures

Lectures on classic and contemporary philosophical texts and thinkers by Gregory B. Sadler
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Sep 17, 2025 • 14min

Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Nature And The Universe - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of the various meanings that people in ancient times gave to the term "nature", rejecting certain of them and endorsing others of them. He also discusses why the world itself is something subject to nature as the Stoics understand it, and providentially ordered and arranged 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 Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc
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Sep 16, 2025 • 13min

Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Perfection Of Earth And Stars - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of the perfection and beauty of the super-lunary realm, which includes the planets, the sun and moon, and the fixed stars. The ancients thought that these heavenly bodies exhibited perfect order and regularity in their motions, which are either the rotation of the sphere of the heavens, or the circular orbits of the planets, sun, and moon. 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 Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc
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Sep 15, 2025 • 12min

Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Beauty Of Cosmic Matters - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on his discussion of a number of dimensions to the world and universe which we can contemplate the beauty of, and thereby come to an appreciation of providential and intelligent ordering of the universe. These include the earth itself, the ocean, the air, and the aether or the heavens. 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 Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc
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Sep 14, 2025 • 10min

Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - The Stars As Gods - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on the set of arguments that he presents for the stars (including the sun, moon, and planets) being gods, and playing their orderly and constant roles within the cosmos, and doing so voluntarily. 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 Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc
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Sep 12, 2025 • 12min

Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Arguments That The World Is God - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, and in particular on the sequence of arguments that he provides, drawing from the works of earlier Stoic authors, intended to make the case for the world itself being God. 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 Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc
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Sep 11, 2025 • 14min

Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Argument From Degress Of Being - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, in particular one of the arguments for the existence of the gods presented by Balbus, which we can call the argument from degrees of being. This type of argument doesn't fit neatly into the modern conventional classification of ontological, cosmological, and teleological arguments for the existence of the divine. It works by noting that there are different degrees (gradus) of being, going from bare being through plants, animals, humans, and other higher rational beings (gods), arguing that the top grade of being cannot be empty or non-existent. 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 Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc
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Sep 10, 2025 • 13min

Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Argument From Intelligence - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, in particular one of the arguments for the existence of the gods presented by Balbus, which we can call the argument from intelligence. It might be viewed as a variant on a cosmological argument, working from an effect to the necessary existence of a cause. In this case, the existence of human intelligence, and claimed impossibility of that resulting from a cause that is not itself intelligent, leads to the conclusion of the existence of a divine intelligence. 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 Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc
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Sep 9, 2025 • 13min

Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Argument From Cosmic Arrangement - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it focuses upon the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, in particular one of the arguments for the existence of the gods presented by Balbus, which we can call the argument from cosmic arrangement, which might be classed as a design or teleological argument. The general idea is that we observe order and arrangement to the universe, which presumably would need to come from very powerful and intelligent being, i.e. the gods. 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 Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc
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Sep 8, 2025 • 12min

Cicero On The Nature Of The Gods book 2 - Argument From Divination - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero's work, On The Nature Of The Gods, which critically examines Epicurean, Stoic, and Skeptic perspectives on matters of theology and cosmology Specifically it focuses upon on the presentation of Stoic cosmology and theology by Quintus Lucilius Balbus in book 2, in particular one of the arguments for the existence of the gods presented by Balbus, which we can call the argument from divination. The argument essentially consists in claiming that divination, that is consulting the knowledge or will of divine beings, could not work if there were no divine beings. Since divination does work, there must be divine beings. 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 Purchase Cicero's On The Nature Of Gods - amzn.to/3JITSZc
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Sep 6, 2025 • 17min

Philip Jose Farmer, The Lovers - The Lalitha, Parasitism, and Parallel Evolution - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century fantasy and science fiction writer, Philip Jose Farmer's novella The Lovers (which can be found anthologized in his Strange Relations It discusses the type of rational being Jeanette Rastignac turns out to be, a species of pseudo-arthopoda called a "lalitha" 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 Get Philip Jose Farmer's Strange Relations here - https://amzn.to/3ivJXtj

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