Summary: This program pays lyrical homage to the enigmatic relationship between the poet/dramatist Goethe and the Baroness Charlotte von Stein and explores its influence on his work. Excerpts from a selection of the more than 2,000 letters exchanged by Goethe, Charlotte, and their friends bear testimony to the intensity and intimacy of the relationship-one which most experts believe was platonic,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: In this program from the Famous Authors series, viewers are introduced to the biography and work of the French writer Voltaire. The video discusses conditions and politics of 18th century France, and reviews important tenents of the Enlightenment, both critical to understanding the writer's work. Voltaire was often in trouble, and sometimes imprisoned, for voicing his controversial views and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: World-renowned author and professor Bryan Magee and contemporary philosopher Geoffrey Warnock discuss the philosophy of anti-empiricist Immanuel Kant, and his view that activities and powers within the mind are the key to knowledge, and that all knowledge is appearance. Knowledge, for Kant, is a complex affair, in which knowing is acquired not just through the senses, but through pure concepts...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: The life, personality, and thought of the 18th-century political philosopher and essayist are examined in this outstanding program. Emphasis is on Rousseau's critique of the inequities and shallowness of French society, and the new values system he developed which promoted individual rights and a return to nature. Rousseau's masterwork, The Social Contract, defined this philosophy and served as...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006