Hardy, Grant
Summary: "[This series] is an epic, comprehensive survey of the East's most influential philosphers and thinkers. In 36 lectures, [the student will be introduced to] the men and women responsible for molding Asian philosophy and for giving birth to a wide variety of spiritual and ideological systems, including Hinduism, Daoism, Confucianism, Sufism, and Buddhism."--Www.thegreatcourses.com.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Teaching Co. 2011
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 109 GRESummary: In recent decades, the philosophy of humor has been recognized as a legitimate subfield of philosophy. The reason for this? Because to understand how humor works is to better understand the nature of human experience. In these 24 insightful, informative, illuminating, and (yes) humorous lectures, explore the philosophical theories and explanations of humor, from blatantly obvious puns to...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2018
Copies Available at Woodmere
2 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 128 TAKCall number: DVD 128 TAK
Summary: Those who wish to pursue a life of pure reason are often attracted to the movement known as secular humanism. This program explores the movement by presenting several humanist inquiries, including: How and why do religions develop? Can morality exist without religion? Is there a humanist narrative that can take the place of myth? How can public policy become truly rational? The film features...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program explores three major areas of philosophical inquiry into religion: religious epistemology, or the exploration of the rational grounds for religious beliefs and, in particular, the existence of God; the metaphysics of religion, which inquires into the nature of God; and theodicy, which examines the philosophical implications of the presence of evil in the world. Commentary by Alvin...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: It is a philosophy that seeks to replace religion with rites of passage based on compassion and rationality. Despite its overarching goals, Humanism divides into several groups-from hedonism to secularism. This program delineates viewpoints from five articulate humanist proponents who, through thoughtful explanations, evoke the multifaceted landscape of Humanist thought. Participants include...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Dr. Peter Singer has been called the most influential living philosopher. He has also been called a monster. In this thought-provoking program, he faces his critics and discusses his ideas on euthanasia, abortion, and infanticide. The program follows his worldwide tour of lectures and encounters, including case conferences and a trip to Austria, where most of his family was killed in the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Furrowed brows, widened eyes, clenched teeth-such signals reveal a great deal about our leaders, and they also influence our reactions to media images. This program investigates ways in which facial expressions and nonverbal communication determine political charisma and power. Presenting examples from a wide range of historical and current sources, the film shows how psychologists diagram and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Is it reasonable to expect the entire world to adopt democratic ways, or is it wrong to press other countries to embrace a system that-however beneficial it may, in theory, be-is completely at odds with their cultures and traditions? The motion under consideration in this Oxford Union-style debate is "Democracy isn't for everyone." Panelists in favor stress that true democracy is more than...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: In this program with world-renowned author and professor Bryan Magee, the late philosopher and radical political theorist Herbert Marcuse explains how the so-called Frankfurt School reevaluated Marxism when world economic crisis failed to destroy capitalism as predicted by Marx. He also analyzes the philosophical roots of the student rebellions of the sixties.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Who should lead the world's only superpower? When is it acceptable to topple another country's leader? Are personal freedom and national security mutually incompatible? The answers to urgent political questions such as these are informed by 23 centuries of discourse that started with The Republic. This program focuses successively on the pivotal ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Rousseau,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Even as some governments and activists work to prevent human cloning, it can be assumed that, in a laboratory somewhere on this planet, scientists are moving closer to cloning a human being. This program offers an extraordinary and at times unsettling look at rapid advances in what is perhaps the most controversial area of genetic science. Both sides of the ethical debate over cloning are...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: The impact of continental philosophy has been tremendous, infusing the humanities with a strange brew made up of energy and insight combined with absurdity and meaninglessness. This program delves deeply into concepts and thought processes that fueled the inquiries of the era's major exponents: Hegel's dialectic, Marx's dialectical materialism, Kierkegaard's lone individual standing before God,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program travels from Plato's cave to Gettier's papier-mache barns while addressing, along the way, questions such as: What does it mean to really know something? How can one know that one knows it? And is seeing the same thing as believing? Deconstructing the principles of epistemology are Rutgers University's Alvin Goldman and Peter Klein and Princeton University's Alexander Nehamas and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: The Nuclear Age-sprung upon the world with the atomic bomb-remains a bitter memory. How biotechnology, with its power to change life on Earth at the most fundamental level, will be viewed in the decades to come depends on decisions being made right now. This program confronts viewers with some of the ethical and moral implications of cloning, stem cell research, and animal testing. Commentary...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: In May 1987, Edward Johnson, a young African-American found guilty of murder and attempted rape, was executed at Parchman Penitentiary in Mississippi. This program, set in the days immediately preceding and following Johnson's death in the gas chamber, focuses on the legal mechanism for execution and the intense ethical debate surrounding it. Johnson is interviewed at length. Questions arising...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: Could genetic research stigmatize people who carry a "bad" gene? Could their behavior actually be determined by that gene? If so, then just how free is free will? Moderated by Harvard Law School's Charles Ogletree, this Fred Friendly Seminar scrutinizes social, ethical, and legal issues involving genetic research into undesirable traits such as addiction to alcohol by exploring the relationship...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: In a material world, some argue that financier Michael Milken may have done more for humanity than even Mother Teresa. In this program, ABC News anchor John Stossel, entrepreneur Ted Turner, economist Walter Williams, and philosopher David Kelley redefine greed, discussing its value as the driving power in business that creates opportunities for others as it churns wealth for itself. By pumping...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1998
View online at AVOD
Summary: What is the price of free speech? Protected by their First Amendment rights and the Internet's cultural philosophy of "post it all and let the readers decide," American hate groups are having a field day on the World Wide Web, creating virulent virtual communities of intolerance. In this program, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel investigates the proliferation of hate online with Don Black, founder of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program looks at the impact of the visual image on news and politics in the electing of Presidents and the governing of America. While projecting a self-serving image has long been an understandable part of American politics, the 1980s produced a marriage of sophisticated news manipulation by political candidates and a willingness of the news media to dance to the candidate's tune. To what...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Do Americans still hold certain truths to be self-evident? Do all human beings possess inalienable rights endowed by their creator? Are all lives of equal value? And if so, how do those core beliefs translate into public policy on issues such as healthcare, poverty, abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia? This program explores what the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin called a "consistent...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: From love to international affairs, from war to business, nearly everyone lies. This program reveals the vital role played by deception in our society, and examines new "foolproof" scientific methods for sorting out the truth. Studies by evolutionary psychologists link lying to the power of language, and show how children and others learn to lie to survive socially. At a university,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Systematic thought about the true nature of things is the very foundation of philosophical reasoning: idealism and materialism.realism, nominalism, and conceptualism.the noumenal and the phenomenal.logical positivism, emergentism, and modal realism. In this program, Rutgers philosophers Brian McLaughlin, Barry Loewer, John Hawthorne, Ted Sider, and Dean Zimmerman discuss the nature of this most...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Selfish Gene is frequently misread as a biological justification for ruthless behavior. In this classic program, author Richard Dawkins sets the record straight through an exploration of selfishness and enlightened self-interest built upon evidence from the Prisoner's Dilemma game and real-world non-zero-sum social situations. "The tragedy of the commons," symbiotic behavior among animals,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Psychological experiments have shown that the natural human desire to conform can lead people to mistrust their own experiences, turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, and even inflict harm on the defenseless. But these findings have come at a price: the potential emotional damage of those being studied. This three-section program grapples with some of the thorny ethical issues arising...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009