Sadler's Lectures

Lectures on classic and contemporary philosophical texts and thinkers by Gregory B. Sadler
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Oct 30, 2025 • 14min

Heloise and Abelard - Letter 4 - Love, Despair, and Repentance - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the sequence of letters between two great Medieval intellectuals, lovers, and religious Heloise D'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard It focuses specifically on the fourth letter, which is by Heloise. In this letter Heloise reaffirms her love for her husband Abelard, and asserts that life will have little value or attraction for her after he dies. She explains what emotions she experiences, and the despair she feels about their situation, and then discusses the conflicts within her heart and mind that stand in the way of genuine and consistent repentance on her part 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 Read Heloise and Abelard's Letters - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35977/35977-h/35977-h.htm
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Oct 29, 2025 • 18min

Heloise and Abelard - Letter 3 - Love, Virtue, Duty, and God - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the sequence of letters between two great Medieval intellectuals, lovers, and religious Heloise D'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard It focuses specifically on the third letter, which is by Abelard. It discusses Heloise's proposal that although they have taken monastic vows, they can rightly enjoy some married life together through writing letters to each other, and Abelard's rejection of that suggestion. He tell her that they both must turn to God and make Christian perfection their goal, even if that means leaving their amorous relationship behind, and he tells her that by his own confessions, he intends to change her love into contempt or hatred for him. 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 Read Heloise and Abelard's Letters - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35977/35977-h/35977-h.htm
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Oct 27, 2025 • 17min

Heloise and Abelard - Letter 2 - Married Love and Religious Life - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the sequence of letters between two great Medieval intellectuals, lovers, and religious Heloise D'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard It focuses specifically on the second letter, which is by Heloise. It discusses the arguments that she advances in the letter, which center on her view that they can continue to enjoy their married relationship through writing letters to each other, even though after Abelard's castration both of them took religious vows and began monastic life. 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 Read Heloise and Abelard's Letters - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35977/35977-h/35977-h.htm
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Oct 26, 2025 • 23min

Heloise and Abelard - Letter 1 - A History Of Abelard's Calamities - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the sequence of letters between two great Medieval intellectuals, lovers, and religious Heloise D'Argenteuil and Peter Abelard It focuses specifically on the first letter, which is by Abelard. It discusses the consolation Abelard attempts to provide his fried by recounting the story of his life, which includes his romantic, intellectual, and sexual involvement with Heloise, their marriage, his castration, and their taking religious vows and entering monastic life. 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 Read Heloise and Abelard's Letters - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35977/35977-h/35977-h.htm
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Oct 24, 2025 • 18min

Seneca, Letter 109 - Fellowship And Wise People - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 109 It focuses specifically on whether or not a wise person, according to the Stoics, would want or need to be involved with other people, particularly other wise people, to which his answer (perhaps surprisingly to some) is yes. He provides some reasonings for the position he articulates on this, including how the wise person, despite in a strict sense not needing anything or anyone else, will nevertheless desire to share their life with others, and will also benefit from the advice and fellowship of other wise people. 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 Purchase Seneca's Letters - amzn.to/2Myx6os
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Oct 23, 2025 • 19min

Seneca, Letter 99 - Consolation For Loss Of A Child - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 99 In this letter, after a brief introductory paragraph, Seneca reproduces a letter sent to a different correspondent Marullus when he had lost a young child. Although Seneca says that his goal is not to console but rather to offer criticism, he in effect does both of these, offering a number of considerations that can prove helpful to a person who is grieving the loss of a loved one. 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 Purchase Seneca's Letters - amzn.to/2Myx6os
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Oct 21, 2025 • 14min

Seneca, Letter 6 - Friendship, Progress, and Sharing Knowledge - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 6 It focuses specifically on how we make moral progress, and that we ought to want to share that progress with our friends. He also clarifies that when we learn something we ought to want to share that as well with our friends. A better way to do this than simply learning precepts is to spend time with those who we think have made progress and developed understanding, so we can see how they actually live their lives 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 Purchase Seneca's Letters - https://amzn.to/2Myx6os
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Oct 20, 2025 • 14min

Seneca, Letter 3 - True and False Friendship - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca's Letters, this one looking at Letter 3 It focuses specifically on Seneca discussing a paradox of calling someone a friend but not trusting them with information. This leads Seneca to say that his correspondent, Lucilius doesn't seem to know what genuine friendship really is or involves, and to make a distinction between the common but mistaken use of the term "friend" and the proper sense of the term. He also suggests that many make mistakes by first loving someone and trusting them as a friend and only later on forming a correct judgement of them as a person, when the order of this ought to be reversed. 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 Purchase Seneca's Letters - https://amzn.to/2Myx6os
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Oct 11, 2025 • 19min

Soren Kierkegaard The Present Age - Silence, Speaking, and Chatter - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 19th century philosopher, essayist, and theologian, Søren Kierkegaard's review essay "The Present Age" contained in his review of Two Ages: The Age of Revolution and the Present Age It focuses specifically on what Kierkegaard calls the "nullification of the passionate disjunction between being silent and speaking', which is "chattering". 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 You can get a copy of the Two Ages here - amzn.to/3eShxHv
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Oct 10, 2025 • 16min

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan - Wit, Judgement, And Fancy - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work Leviathan It focuses specifically on first part of chapter 8 where he discusses what he calls "intellectual virtues", meaning the abilities of the mind that people praise, which he frames in terms of "wit", and distinguishes into natural and artificial. Natural wit in turn is divided into fancy which focuses upon similarities and judgement which focuses on differences. Judgement is more important that fancy for wit. 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 Purchase Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan - amzn.to/3uhKmDE

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