Philosophy as a Guide to Living

by Stephen A. Erickson

Course Lecture Titles
1. The Axial Model
2. Kants Hopeful Program
3. The Kantian Legacy
4. Kant and the Romantic Reaction
5. Hegel on the Human Spirit
6. Hegel on State and Society
7. Hegel on Selfhood and Human Identity
8. Schopenhauers Pessimism
9. Schopenhauers Remedies
10. Alienation in Marx
11. Marxs Utopian Hope
12. Kierkegaards Crises
13. Kierkegaards Passion
14. Why God DiedNietzsches Claim
15. Nietzsches Dream
16. Freuds Nightmare
17. Freud on Our Origins
18. Psychoanalytic Visions in and after Freud
19. Heidegger on the Meaning of Meaning
20. Heidegger on Technologys Threat
21. Heideggers Politics and Legacy
22. The Human SituationSartre and Camus
23. Power and ReasonFoucault and Habermas
24. Todays Provocative LandscapeThresholding

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Audiobook, History

13 pages, Audio CD

First published January 28, 2006

Reviews

[Mario Russo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great course. I think this course deserves more than the 3. something star it have on average reviews. Maybe because I'm generous or I usually don't have that high expectations, I've found this course (despite being a little bit shallow) tremendously enjoyable and got myself stopping what I was doing and reflecting upon it , or annotating for further research. Good stuff.

[Henrik Maler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose to listen to Erickson's lecture series because of the core concept of philosophy as a guide to enhance flourishing. Studying Cognitive Science, which allowed me to study (analytically oriented) philosophy of mind and emotion, I have become disenchanted about the technicalities and distance to real human concerns. Therefore, I can strongly relate to Erickson’s introductory statement that most of philosophy has indeed become highly technical with its aim to clarify the meaning of terms and concepts; too technical for many who, like me, have been fascinated with philosophy for its dealing with issues that are important for our lifes, as humans, being in the world. This detachment from our concerns also poses the reason why I decided to major in philosophy with a focus on its history.

Content-wise, I would only criticise that sometimes more details could have been offered not only for a better understanding of the theories as such, but also in order to establish a clearer connection to how these theories would inform our ways of living and our self-posed questions what the meaning of life is (e.g. Marx and Foucault).

In total, this is a wonderful course: a very relatable topic, a well-chosen collection of thinkers, skilled description and explanation of their ideas, and also a sympathetic teacher. I can imagine it is especially interesting for those who are not familiar with existential thinkers like Kierkegaard and Nietzsche (which Erickson treated in more detail).

[Don Heiman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Teaching Company course “Philosophy as a Guide to Living” was released in 2006. The course lecturer is Pomona College Professor Stephen Erickson. His 24 lectures are based on a philosophical Axial model that describes the human journey (conduct) of life based on competing perspectives about the mysteries of human reality, liberation, and world order paradigms. Each lecture is 30 minutes long. The lectures feature the Western civilization philosophical thinking of Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Nietzche, Kierkegaard, Marx, Freud, Sartre and Camus, to mention a few. The course guide and transcripts are exceptional. I also like the annotated bibliography and supplementary reading notes. (P)

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good commute fodder in the sense that this is one good prof — with a strong command of the material — sorting various great minds into his own 24-lecture general-access course on Heidegger’s big point about “what philosophy does to you.” Indeed, the Schopenhauer, Kant, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Hegel, and Foucault lectures are good enough that I’d have much preferred to listen to Erickson go into detail about their material (and they’re the names I know best, so that speaks to his command of that work). The rest is so-so. Recommended nevertheless

[Ethan Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a field that can be too opaque and technical for laypeople, Stephen Erickson weaves the thought of disparate European thinkers to illustrate philosophy’s unifying quest for meaning and guidance in a confounding world.

[Shobhit · Rating 1 out of 5]

I endured the series. Synchronized horse farts will be better than this.

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have read the description more carefully. If I want guides to living, I will avoid Freud, Marx, Nietzsche, and Foucault.
Should have been titled “the bad idea factory.”

[Sagnik Chakraborty · Rating 5 out of 5]

One word.
Beautiful.

[Jack Bentele]

Still not quite comfortable enough to use Hegelian in a sentence but watch out I’m getting there

Enjoyed this a lot, great overview with insightful detail and structure.

[The Angry Lawn Gnome · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pluses: Interesting and accessible, makes some rather difficult material (esp. in Kant and Heidegger) understandable to the average listener, presumably without distorting their messages too much. The section on Freud was also something of an eye-opener, as I'd never imagined his system worked quite the way Erickson says it did.

Minuses: Erickson can be extremely patronizing at times, though I doubt he even realizes it. He also seems to overdo the Midwest cornpone a bit for my tastes; if he was raised like that doubtless he's moved far beyond it. He also has a collection of stock phrases that grew quite tiresome after a while "let us meditate on," "we have reached a point in our journey," and a few others that seemed to crop up about every five minutes.

As to substance, I don't think his presentation of Marx was very well done, as best I recall he never explains why his starting point was Kant, and I found the last few sections, on existentialism (Sartre, Foucault, Habermas, etc.) close to impossible to follow...which may say more about the material than the one trying to explain it in laymman's terms.

I did enjoy it, I liked most of the survey, but I just can't bring myself to click on that 4th star.

[Þór Hauksson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting overview course on some of the key ideas of modern philosophy. Simplified enough for layman terms, but rather extensive with limited depth. Erickson is engaging but keeps repeating himself and spends too much time justifying philosophy as such; as a way to discuss human existence.

[Marcus Solberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting course on different (historical) cultures and religions view of life, how one should live it, and what the meaning of it is, or should be.