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.
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
