Philosophy Tube

What's the definition of 'art'? A pretty fundamental question in aesthetics - the philosophy of art. I explain the basic theories, citing Wittgenstein and George Dickie, among others, touching on art history and modern art today.

Some fans tell me that philosophy makes them sad, especially existentialists like Satre and Camus, and especially if it impacts their religious faith. So if studying it makes you depressed, anxious, or lonely, here's a story to help you feel better, and some chat about the wonder of learning!

The Internet Creators Guild, invented by Hank Green and Laura Chernikoff, looks cool, but it symbolises some problems that I have with YouTube, “the YouTube community,” and Silicon Valley more generally – it’s a kind of bourgeois technocratic liberalism

Part 1/3 - What does it mean to be creative? Whether you're a creative artist, scientist, mathematician, musician...what is it? Aesthetics, neurology, and the philosophy of creativity combine to reveal the secret of original and valuable thinking!

Part 2/3 - Philosophers like Kant and Plato think you can't teach creativity, but there are three rules you can use to stimulate your unconscious mind and get the creative juices flowing!

Part 3/3 - Some creative people feel of sadness, anxiety, depression, even Imposter Syndrome. Is there a link between art and sadness, or even mental illness? Is it something in the brain? In the heart? Something to do with Marxist economics and capitalism?

We need to understand how white supremacist propaganda works and what it tells us about communication and truth. Let’s look at the myth of the Irish Slaves, and the myth of White Genocide…

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a famous dystopian novel by George Orwell, and it’s a very useful teaching tool for learning about language and justice. What moral issues come up when we talk about words, knowledge, and who has access to them?

Here’s a video examining Slavoj Žižek’s book “Violence” in a bit more detail. It’s got some interesting things to say about politics, democracy, and capitalism, but there’s some problems too.

What does it mean to be a famous celebrity? Is fame about knowledge, success, money, or ambition? What can we learn about fame from legends like Che Guevara and Jesus, or philosophers like Schopenhauer? Does capitalism shape fame in the modern age?

When people break the law they get arrested by the police and punished by the courts - prison, a fine, whatever. But why? What's the philosophical purpose of legal punishment? Does it benefit society, and if so how exactly? Is it moral? Let's compare consequentialism and retributivism.

Part 1/2 - What is prison for? How has crime and punishment changed in the last 250 years? Philosopher Michel Foucault says the penal system - that's law, courts, police, surveillance - exists to protect the power of the ruling class, but what does that mean?

Part 2/2 - More Foucault! A look at Jeremy Bentham's prison, the Panopticon, and what it says about Edward Snowden, cyber-security, government surveillance. Also discussing Stop & Search by the police in the UK, and what it says about power and spying.

What does “law and order” really mean? What can we learn about history and politics from it? And do you always have to obey the law?

George Berkeley was a philosopher who denied the existence of the physical world – an Idealist! If you’re studying A-Level philosophy you’ll need to know this important bit of metaphysics!

The Enlightenment philosophy of John Locke made America and Canada what they are today, and helped forge the British Empire too. History reveals a tale of racism, colonialism, and First Nation genocide; of law, politics, property, and land. The legacy of “the State of Nature.”

Is lying ever okay? Not according to philosopher Immanuel Kant, who said that we should always tell the truth no matter the consequences!

This 2-part series looks at what human rights can do for refugees and migrants. In this Part 1, hear the story about the refugee crisis that followed WWI, and what happened to Europe when racism and greed combined…

This 2-part series looks at what human rights can do for refugees and migrants. In this Part 2, hear about how human rights are supposed to work, and what some alternative ideas might be.

God and truth, science and religion, belief and madness - what do the philosophers Anthony Flew, R.M. Hare, and Søren Kierkegaard have to say about these topics?

How does "love" figure into politics? White supremacists and racists like the Ku Klux Klan will sometimes insist that they aren't hate groups, but love groups. But what kind of "love" is it? Is it true love, or just narcissism?

Does it make sense to talk about time passing, or time standing still? What do physics and metaphysics say about the philosophy of time?

A 4-part series about liberalism. In this episode, how political ideologies work, the role of violence in politics, how liberalism makes exceptions, and how it markets itself as “centrist” and “reasonable.”

A 4-part series about liberalism. In this episode, what capitalism is, how capitalism and liberalism are linked, and how the English Civil War led to John Locke.

A 4-part series about liberalism. In this episode, the economic ideology of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, that led to austerity and the financial crisis.

A 4-part series about liberalism. In this episode, 3 big problems with liberalism: it slides to the right; it's wrong about how humans make decisions; and it supports capitalism.

Here’s the start of a brand new series - the Philosophy of YouTube! In this first instalment I talk about bullying online, and the role of emotion in discourse!

Mark Bray's new book "Antifa: the Antifascist Handbook" came out recently, and so here's my impressions of it!

In this second instalment of the Philosophy of YouTube I talk about art and creativity, and how advertisers take advantage of the distinction between expression and communication!

In this third instalment of the Philosophy of YouTube I talk about knowledge and morality, access to information, and how the Internet might complicate what we think about responsibility....

In this fourth instalment of the Philosophy of YouTube I talk about how communities are constructed - whether through common languages or editing styles - and the barriers to entry