Links to Additional Great Resources
Today’s wisdom comes in all shapes and sizes. You might find it on a protest poster. Perhaps you see it in a version of Humans of New York. It could be the speech of an actress, a Ted Talk, or a newspaper column.
Philosophy is alive and well and living on Earth in many films, in books, in the Internet, and found in rather extraordinary ways. We think of philosophers as people writing long books and papers about big questions, and they are that, for sure. But they are also people who are talking about big questions, marching in the name of big questions, making films about big questions, and much more. So in order to get a handle on some of our modern philosophies, we have to look to popular culture.
Some materials cannot be used in print form, however, without serious copyright issues. We are allowed to link to those materials and there are some spectacular things on the Internet worth using in a Philosophy course.
Once can, of course, lose links and things do migrate about the Web in astonishing and confusing ways. At least at publication date, these are all alive and functional. Every course will use additional materials, of course. These are here just to start conversations.
Here we find news, Ted Talks, video, interviews, and all of this very much at the center of conversations in the US, but truly, across the globe. We still are talking about the roll of good and evil, about race and class and gender, about fake news and real news, and how we might discern the difference!
These links might help us think about why we still teach philosophy, why we still require this kind of class, why we want everyone to take the time to think and ponder and wonder and debate.
Check out this short interview with author Rebecca Newberger Goldstein in San Diego Tuesday for a discussion about her book “Plato at the Googleplex.”
From Ted Talks: “Oxford philosopher and transhumanist Nick Bostrom examines the future of humankind and asks whether we might alter the fundamental nature of humanity to solve our most intrinsic problems.”
A Philosophical Quest for our biggest problems
