What is the meaning of life? Philosophy
Philosophy, Religion, and the Meaning of Life
Explore one of the most important questions of all in this brilliant and insightful course taught by an acclaimed professor of philosophy.
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Gloster from
Challenging and Rewarding
I have to admit that it was a tad difficult "getting into" this course and the framing Dr. Ambrosio gave to it. Personally, I believe that much of the first two lectures could have been combined into one and in that one more attention should have been given to ensuring that what he was attempting was "accessible" to most of us.
However, with that caveat/wish said, I must say that I have seldom encountered a more intellectually stimulating -- as well as challenging to my personal convictions -- than this one.
Briefly, he proceeds to discuss the "meaning of human life" as an ongoing struggle/conversation between ourselves and our ancestors as we attempt to understand how it is possible for us to entertain such profound hopes for our lives in the midst of chaos and violence which seems both impersonal and also a direct consequence of our human nature.
The essential question remains to haunt us: Do our lives have meaning and value...or not? Is their purpose to our existence or is it just a flickering candle in the "wind" of an indifferent universe?
He argues that we can boil down our common responses to these profound (and profoundly disturbing) questions by suggesting that we have either identified our highest aspirations and concepts of how we should behave as EITHER a "hero" or a "saint."
In essence, heroes are those who gain meaning and purpose by living their lives in as excellent and noble a matter as possible, even if the universe (or "the gods") are indifferent.
Saints, on the other hand, are those who adhere to the Judaeo-Christian understanding that there IS a purpose to life and that it is found in a relationship to a Creator-God who values humanity. In this framing, the way to pursue meaning is to live in supportive harmony with our brothers and sisters. This kind of nobility is less individualistic, but no less heroic in its own way, than that envisioned for the "hero" model.
Professor Ambrosio then uses the rest of the course to illustrate expressions of these two frameworks as iterated -- and lived -- by various important figures across history.
By the time of the Renaissance -- which was also a period that introduced profound and unsettling changes to how humans had long thought of their relationship to each other and to a well-ordered universe -- he introduces the idea of an identity which COMBINED what had been separate, somewhat counter-force ideas of Hero and Saint: that of the "secular saint."
This secular saint assumes ever greater significance -- if wavering identity -- as we move ever closer to the 20th and 21st centuries.
Some of these lectures were among the most genuinely fascinating I've encountered in my 81 years. Others presented figures with whom I had been somewhat familiar in a new light that allowed me to both understand how they fit into the idea of the "secular saint" as well as how they contributed to the evolution of its framework/idea.
It was a privilege to become acquainted with Professor Ambrosio and to spend as much time as I did with him and this intriguing journey.
Be aware that this is a course that definitely demands your steady attention which, while hardly a bad thing, can be a stumbling block for those who might be accustomed to doing something else while listening to or watching these lectures. But giving them your full attention will prove, I believe, to be greatly rewarded by their content.
Date published: 2024-11-13
Rated 1 out of
5
by
MichiganMike from
Sad
My wife and I have watched over 200 courses from the Teaching Company, over the past twenty years (no exaggeration), most excellent, some mediocre; but this is the first course we've ever watched that was just bad. There was some good stuff here, which might have made a good 12-lecture course, but mostly there was just a lot of word salad that was meaningless. We have never sat through a lecture mocking the lecturer before, as he beats words and metaphors to death. Now I know what a pedagog sounds like. Sorry, Prof. Ambrosio, just tellin' it like it is.
Date published: 2024-02-04
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Brent1789 from
Intellectually Rigorous
I can't believe this course isn't more highly rated. The professor is exceptional, and the subject is approached from a creative and informative stance. Challenging (it is, after all, a course on the meaning of life) and absolutely worthwhile.
Date published: 2023-11-24
Rated 2 out of
5
by
Shelly from
A philosophical tryout
There is something vital missing from this endeavor. I purchased this set of lectures less than a month ago and assumed the instructor would provide an alternate set of approaches to one's life journey. Instead he seemed to have come up with a perspective of "Hero or secular saint," never defined what he meant by this choice or how or why he came up with it, and proceed as if trying to appeal to some panel of academic acquisition editors, substituting abstract words here and there searching for ways to underscore his argument. Not only that, but he kept shifting his body and employing the same tone and rhythm which often became soporitic.
On the plus side, there were moments when he read from a subject's writings, like Flannery O'Conor, became involved and, if nothing else, gave the listener a touch of life from a uniquely mystical, Southern sensibility of yesteryear.
It's hard to say what to make of all this except to say, as the philosopher Heidegger would put it, it all depends on what realities you were "thrown into" (his was Nazi Germany) and how you learned to cope or thrive. In fact, putting aside the amorphous hero and secular saint guideline, Heidegger's approach alone might have been more meaningful.
Date published: 2023-07-01
Rated 5 out of
5
by
MarginalMan from
Philosophy, Religion and the Meaning of Life
Extraordinary introduction to the critical questions preoccupying mankind in western civilization, organized thoughtfully around two easily understood archetypes -- the Saint and the Hero. This is erudition in all of its mastery and beauty on full display. When money and power finally purge the humanities from our educational system leaving only STEM courses for our children, at least we will have this gem in the archives. Thanks professor Ambrosio for this heroic and saintly contribution.
Date published: 2023-02-26
Rated 3 out of
5
by
BuffMan from
Philosophy, Religions and the Meaning of life
To me, this course was a very detailed exploration of Hillel’s conundrum “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I?”. Professor Ambrosio’s passionate and poetic presentation examines this question through two lenses: one of “honor” (hero) and one of “agape” (saint).
My only real objection is with the title of the course. With a title of “Philosophy, Religion and the Meaning of Life”, it is natural to expect a broad overview of how people throughout the world use philosophy and religion to find meaning. But as Professor Ambrosio clearly stated in the fourth sentence of the fifth paragraph of the summary, this series “…focuses on one particularly central dynamic in Western history.” A better title would have been: “The Hero and the Saint; Two Paths to Find Meaning in Life within the European Tradition.”
Date published: 2022-01-07
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Andy70 from
Philosophy, Religion, and the meaning of life
I have not finished the course, I have just started listening. A point of clarification, you do not win the Medal of Honor it is awarded, for gallantry above and beyond call of duty.
Date published: 2021-10-06
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Lifeisgood from
Excellent, very knowledgable
The professor is knowledgeable, articulate and excellent. Like many of the courses, the detail is more grad level than undergrad, and like many of the courses, have to listen multiple times to many of the lectures for the full meaning presented in the words. I am impressed how the information is parsed in such a careful meaningful way. With knowledge of the last century that includes growing up in a museum with old timers telling stories, I appreciate the philosophic depth with the history to help build the picture being presented.
Date published: 2021-06-21
Overview
About
Dr. Francis J. Ambrosio is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Fordham University, with a specialization in contemporary European philosophy. At Georgetown University, Professor Ambrosio received the 1998 Bunn Award for Faculty Excellence and the 2000 Dean's Award for Teaching. In 2009 he received the Dorothy Brown Award for Outstanding Teaching Achievement, given by the student body to the faculty member who has had the strongest impact on the students' university experience. Professor Ambrosio is widely published in scholarly journals, such as the International Philosophical Quarterly, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, and the Journal for the British Society for Phenomenology. He is the editor of the books Text and Teaching (1991) and The Question of Christian Philosophy Today (1999). In 1997, he published a study of the painting of Fra Angelico titled Fra Angelico at San Marco: The Place of Art. His most recent book, Dante and Derrida: Face to Face, was published in 2007. Professor Ambrosio teaches courses on Plato, Existentialism, hermeneutics, deconstruction, and Dante. In 2000, he founded the MyDante project at Georgetown University, which has been widely recognized as one of the most innovative and effective educational websites currently available in the field of humanities.
01: Meaning—A Question and a Commitment
What gives meaning to human existence? Consider two pivotal Western approaches to the question the Humanist-philosophical and monotheistic wisdom traditions and delineate the key metaphorical figures of the Hero and the Saint. Consider also the value of a commitment, not to an answer about meaning, but to a way of life based in questioning.
32 min
02: Hero and Saint—Mapping the Cultural Genome
Explore the notion of Mystery (the tension between meaning and absurdity) as the fundamental condition of human existence. Deepen your encounter with the Hero and the Saint as human archetypes using the metaphor of the genome, as the two figures represent identity traits that can be passed on across time and cultures.
31 min
03: The Heroic Age—The Greek Worldview
Focusing on the Greek epic Hero, probe the worldview against which the Hero's journey unfolds. From Homer's Iliad, identify the core concepts of "necessity," "fate, and "heroic excellence" as they define the Hero's life mission and task. Consider the notion of "agon" - the struggle of the Hero to fulfill his or her destiny.
28 min
04: Heroism and the Tragic View of Life
This lecture explores a new form of cultural expression, Greek drama, and a further incarnation of the Heroic ideal, the tragic hero. Follow the emergence of the Greek dramatic festival, and contemplate Aristotle's and Nietzsche's seminal ideas on tragic drama, where beauty and transcendence arise from a willing embrace of life "and" death.
30 min
05: Plato—Politics, Justice, and Philosophy
In his account of the trial of Socrates, Plato was instrumental in shaping the primary legacy of Greek culture to the modern world: the figure of the citizen-hero. Ponder the deep implications of Socrates' heroic virtue and philosophical identity in his commitment to personal integrity and to "not-knowing" as the ultimate wisdom.
32 min
06: Plato's "Republic"—The Hero's Reward
What is the reward, the "payoff" in the Hero's journey? Discover Plato and Aristotle's poignant answers to this question. Study Plato's core ideas in the "Republic," equating meaning and transcendence with living justly, and Aristotle's ethics, where virtue and integrity of character become the wellspring of happiness.
31 min
07: The Heroic Ideal in Late Stoicism
Learn the meaning of heroic citizenship in Roman Stoic philosophy, as movingly expressed by Epictetus and the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Consider an "interior divinity" and self-esteem rooted in clarity of mind and purposeful embrace of one's personal fate. Consider also how the Hero archetype shapes our own modern human identity.
29 min
08: "In the Beginning"—The Hebrew Worldview
Enter the worldview underlying our second archetypal figure: the Saint. Probe the heart of the creation story in Genesis, in two encounters with Mystery: Creation itself, in the relation of God to man as one freedom to another, and the "other side" of freedom - the possibility of refusal called "sin."
30 min
09: Father Abraham, the First Saint
From the biblical story of Abraham, you encounter the three fundamental features of the Saint's identity: a calling by God, a promise or covenant with God, and a testing of that bond. Reflect deeply on the nature of the covenant relationship and on the enigmatic meaning of Abraham's sacrifice.
30 min
10: Saintly Types in the Hebrew Bible
Within the single figure of Moses, we find the archetypes of Prophet, King, and Priest, which embody the three features of the Saint's identity. Explore the meaning of these roles in the stories of Elijah, King David, and Job. Probe the core value of sacrifice in awakening the sense of life's sacredness.
31 min
11: Jesus as Saintly Innovator—Forgiving Love
In this lecture, discover how Jesus appears in the Saintly tradition as a radical innovator - creating a dramatically new understanding of the covenant of God with humanity. Contemplate the profound symbolic effect of the Resurrection as a transformation of human identity through the possibility of forgiveness.
32 min
12: Hero or Saint? Saul of Tarsus
The achievements of Saul of Tarsus, later Saint Paul, mark a critical moment in early Christianity. Follow the dynamic thrust of his journey as he opposes the original apostles, proclaiming the universality of Jesus's mission, and uniting in his actions the qualities of Heroic citizenship with those of Saintly faith.
31 min
13: Hero or Saint? Augustine of Hippo
Augustine follows Saint Paul as a pivotal figure in the path of "conversion" the attempt to integrate Heroic and Saintly ideals to find a more powerful human identity. Trace Augustine's dramatic life, from his restless youth to his compelling embrace of Christianity and his developing vision of a perfect world order.
32 min
14: Mohammed—The Prophet as Saintly Innovator
The culture of Islam shows underlying links to both the Greek and Christian worldviews. Study the five pillars of Islamic faith and the journey of Mohammed as both religious leader and political ruler. Reflect on Islam's divergence from Christianity and Judaism and on the nature of conflict between religious cultures.
30 min
15: Saint Francis and Dante—Saintly Troubadours
The medieval notion of romantic love marks the birth of the modern Western conception of individuality. See how both Saint Francis and Dante converted the Romantic impulse to serve a mystical, intimate connection with God - God incarnated in the human identity of woman, whose love is transforming
32 min
16: The Agony and Ecstasy of Michelangelo
Michelangelo embodies the struggle for integration, the struggle between life and death, as expressed through the visionary power of art. Uncover the Heroic substance of Michelangelo's life and the symbolic meaning in his "David" and the three incarnations of the "Pietà" as they express the stages of his own arduous journey.
32 min
17: Enlightenment Patterns of Cultural Mutation
In the Enlightenment, a series of critical cultural changes marked the ascendency of secularism and the Heroic worldview. Consider the far-reaching implications of Martin Luther's challenge to papal authority, the victory of empirical science, and the ideologies of capitalism and the nation-state as new formulations of human identity.
31 min
18: Mt. Moriah Revisited—Saintly Transgression
Nineteenth-century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard reacted violently against the current of European cultural evolution in the wake of the Enlightenment. Investigate Kierkegaard's radical rejection of Hegelian rationalism and his passionate, subjective vision of faith rooted in the Saintly sacrifice of Abraham and a spiritual acceptance of universal absurdity.
32 min
19: A History of Suspicion—Marx, Darwin, Freud
In the 19th century, the work of Marx, Darwin, and Freud represented a multilevel reassertion of the Humanist-Heroic worldview, based in radical reinterpretations of history. Assess Marx's "historical materialism" and Darwin's biological determinism as theories of meaning, and Freud's conception of the ego as the struggle of the tragic hero.
30 min
20: Nietzsche—The Return of the Tragic Hero
Friedrich Nietzsche's writing played a pivotal role in the movement toward a re-conceptualization of the Heroic figure. Here you encounter Nietzsche's fictional character of Zarathustra and his revelation of the "Overman" that is to come, living out the will to self-mastery as a dynamic embrace of reality as it is and must be.
32 min
21: Dostoevsky—The Return of the Saint
As Nietzsche did for the Heroic, Dostoevsky calls for the return of Saintly identity in a time of crisis. As Dr. Ambrosio reads from "The Brothers Karamazov," chart Dostoevsky's mystical appeal for the covenant bond between human beings, and consider the ways in which the Saint and Hero, in reaching wholeness, cannot dispense with each other.
31 min
22: A Century of Trauma
This lecture explores the ways in which 20th-century wars, totalitarianism, and political strife reflect a trauma or "death" of the human imagination. Consider how new means and magnitudes of destruction fracture the human sense of reality, calling for new structures of meaning that might be equal to the scope of humanity's challenges.
30 min
23: The Quantum Leap
The scientific revolution that brought relativity theory and quantum mechanics derailed the Enlightenment conception of science as a purely objective, unchanging context. Explore the cultural backgrounds of scientific "paradigm shifts" and their poignant human consequences, as in the case of Robert Oppenheimer, the "father" of the atomic bomb.
32 min
24: Existentialism—Sartre and de Beauvoir
Existentialism arose as a response to the dehumanizing threat to human meaning posed by the forces of totalitarianism. Study the core principles of Sartre's philosophy, asserting the possibility of Heroic freedom and meaning based in absolute responsibility for self. Consider de Beauvoir's insights into patriarchal oppression and gender as a meaning construct.
32 min
25: Camus and the Absurd Hero
Albert Camus' Existential vision shows a contrasting methodology to Sartre's. In "The Stranger" and "The Myth of Sisyphus", contemplate his notion of "rebellion" as a path to meaning and the human possibilities that arise from a refusal of comforting social conventions and the core awareness of an indifferent universe.
33 min
26: Flannery O'Connor and the Mystery of Grace
In Flannery O'Connor's writing we find the metaphoric identity of the Saint pushed to its limit by the inhumanity and cultural upheavals of the 20th century. Track her unique sensibility, steeped in a sense of Mystery, as she articulates the limitation of individual existence and the deep need for the Other.
32 min
27: The Holocaust and the Crisis of Forgiveness
This lecture explores the Holocaust's impact on the human search for meaning through the voices of Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas, and Elie Wiesel. Consider the Saintly impulse in the face of man's greatest horror, in the ultimate questions of responsibility to others and forgiveness for the death of humanity.
29 min
28: Faulkner and Beckett—Images of the Forlorn
Samuel Beckett and William Faulkner articulate a cultural current affecting both Hero and Saint. In "Waiting for Godot," investigate the crisis of meaning that shapes the characters' nonaction. Enter Faulkner's nonlinear fabric of time in "The Sound and the Fury," suggesting a refusal of causal explanations for human experience.
32 min
29: Viktor Frankl—Freedom's Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, proposed a radical view of freedom, forged in the death camps. Learn about his empowering conception of meaning, rooted in the attitude taken to experience and suffering, as he affirms the human capacity, in all circumstances, to choose one's identity, one's "own way."
32 min
30: Simone Weil—Imagining the Secular Saint
Simone Weil's philosophical writings reveal the qualities of the secular Saint, living both archetypal paths of meaning simultaneously. Uncover her moral and political worldview, based in an uncompromising vision of justice and in the human impulse to transcendent good as the foundation of true meaning and value.
32 min
31: Simone Weil—A New Augustine?
This lecture delves further into the sensibility of Simone Weil, in her parallel hunger for social justice and for intimacy with divine truth. Trace her mystical spiritual conversion and her rejection of institutional religion, in choosing to live "at the intersection of Christianity and everything that is not Christianity."
30 min
32: Identifying the Secular Saint
Delineate the metaphor of the secular Saint in two contemporary lives. In Martin Luther King's words and actions, see how he moves freely between a call for political justice and for spiritual principle. Observe how Mother Teresa lived the way of the Saint in the world and the Heroic in her own internal struggle.
32 min
33: The Secular Saint at the Movies
The highly sensitive medium of film is particularly well suited to portraying the contemporary blurring of the images of Hero and Saint. Trace these archetypes as they appear in the genres of Western, war, biblical, and fantasy films, and locate the traits of the secular Saint in the enduringly popular "Casablanca."
33 min
34: Ernest Becker—The Denial of Death
Psychoanalyst Ernest Becker identifies the relationship of Hero and Saint as analogous to that of human life and death. Grapple with his conception of the necessity of confronting ultimate limitation and finitude, as integral to a "contemporary spirituality" that yields the possibility to always begin life anew.
32 min
35: Terror and Hope in a Planetary Age
How can we, as individuals, live the human search for meaning effectively in the face of humanity's current, unprecedented challenges? Consider the human stance and "binocular" vision of the secular Saint as we might respond through them to the crisis points of worldwide terrorism, globalization, and our imperiled environment.
32 min
36: The Secular Saint—Learning to Walk Upright
In concluding, reflect on the commitment to questioning and responsibility that we've explored and its core implications for human living. Reflect also on the present-centered awareness of the human archetypes that live in and through us, as they affirm our own path to meaning, our humanity, our freedom.
29 min
