Three Minute Philosophy: Empedocles

[flyingbrad]

YOU ARE TALKING TOO FAST AND I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING.

[takebackkean]

ok so we have find him on the moon whos in.

[AARVIDEOS1234]

He said most of this stuff in his Aristotle one

[SeanPearce777]

LOVECRAFTIAN MONSTROSITIES!

[foolfan83]

This one's too quiet. I can barely hear it on my laptop with the volume turned all the way up.

[MandatoryMadMan]

Dude, I don't know whey but you are awesome

[nightmeer6]

You'd be a great rapper.

[ganondorf59]

Thales was NOT the first philosopher. That title goes to Zoroaster, who I sincerely feel is the best of all philosophers ever along with Kant.

[Bananianiown]

@ganondorf59 I believe Thales was the first in WESTERN Philosophy, whereas Zoroaster is considered to be more Middle Eastern Philosophy. That is what is typically taught in Universities. I don't know, just an observation.

I agree on the point of Kant. :)

[ganondorf59]

@Bananianiown That I can agree on. Yet the title WESTERN tends to be forgotten when speaking of Thales. Zoroaster, nevertheless, was more complete than any other philosopher I can think about. His Ethics are frankly almost perfect (bias due to them being like mine) and his Metaphysics (with some interpretation) are, if read-through accordingly, the summary of what many acclaimed western philosophers, such as Schopenhauer and even myself would expose, except even better and closer to perfection.

[Bananianiown]

@ganondorf59 I can appreciate your love of Zoroaster's philosophy, but I have to say I don't believe his are anything near perfection, mostly because perfection does not exist. You see, if one makes the assumption that Zoroaster's ideas are closer to perfection, one would have to build a model of what perfection looks like, and that can be a very polarizing action since many people have many different ideas about what perfection really is. It just gets too messy.

[ganondorf59]

@Bananianiown I forgot to mention I meant my notion of perfection. In my (hopefully soon to be published) Existentialist-Metaphysical-Et­hical book, Nature Of Knowledge And Its Course, I conclude one of the last segments of the entire work with the following almost poetical description of what Perfection is to me: Perfection? The time-span and wholeness of the Rose. Those who have contemplated it and its life-span have contemplated the wholeness of the Universe; have contemplated Existence.

[Bananianiown]

@ganondorf59 Ah, well I would love to read that. It sounds really interesting.

[ganondorf59]

@Bananianiown I would love to send it to you for free in virtual format if you wish. I wish to spread and receive knowledge at all times, so there is nothing I can enjoy more than read and give to read. If you wish, send me a PM with your e-mail and I can send it to you.

Thanks for the interest btw, I'm really glad that throughout our life-spans we are shown enlightened minds are more than certainly present and by their very being they send out an inherent sensation of certainty and hope.

[neferiusnexus]

Captain Obvious!

Here to point-out that dinosaurs were long-extinct when humans first arrived on the scene.

Carry-on Citizens!

[FootbalFutbolS0ccer]

0:55 earth looks like a cookie 

[Mazurka1001]

Stupidity not philosophy. 

[JackJosephh]

do a three minute philosophy on beyonce

[Abab216]

Anybody else read "The Day My Butt Went Psycho" and the two sequels? Noone? Oh well...

[es1064]

Soooo, Empedocles made the theories of evolution, the big bang,... and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

[mikepoop1]

1:05-1:13

say what?

[DoctorNociceptor]

Tyrannosauruses? Yeah it's really similar to Aristotle but oh well.

[potatohead93]

hes a boss

[xlllNIGHTMARElllx]

he sounds awesome

[destinydenied1]

Empedocles is my favourite philosopher:)

[adlayeshay]

you wrote really similar things for aristotle as well... were these 2 guys just similar?

[IkazuchiNYC]

learn to speak, your audio is terrible

[straaler5]

i had to write an essay about the first philosophers and i wrote this down exactly, my teacher gave me a 9 and said it was hilarious.

[rolingpingu]

Why does everyones' pants are made out of fire? They don't go up...

[ThaddeusRobe]

TAY-lees

[roflcopterprods]

I think I like Emedocles's version of evolution better

[rolingpingu]

@roflcopterprods It's near to the theory of abiogensis

[SupersonicAK47]

Isn't this mostly the same as Aristotle's one?

[RogueArkhangel]

@SupersonicAK47 That's what I was gonna say....

[wrobellol]

@SupersonicAK47 yeah it seems to be that way but some pretty cool stuff anyway

[PrimitiveBaroque]

@SupersonicAK47 Aristotles ideas were really just a synthesis of previous philosophers. But yeah its similar :-) lol

[xiimAfake]

wait.... was the part about humans running from dinosaurs a joke?

........because humans weren't even alive when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

[rolingpingu]

Philosoraptor at 0:25

[MoaiMaea]

Running away from dinosaurs? Are you joking? I hope so because anything else would be ridiculous.

[NinjaHydra]

@MoaiMaea Pull the stick out of your ass and laugh.

[MoaiMaea]

Says the guy who bothers to reply to my comment.

[rolingpingu]

@MoaiMaea He's deninetly joking, but I get the reaction it makes, mainly this days where scienfic theories, such as evolution, are being threatened and pseudo-scientists are trying to replace them with tales telling people and dinasours lived at the same time.

[MoaiMaea]

Exactly. And seeing how he lives in an Anglophone country I figured he might actually believe this :|

[rolingpingu]

@MoaiMaea Well, besides some states in USA, there are not many places where people actually believe strange thinks lik that! Also, by the fact that u say "anglophone"...do u live in Quebec? Here people say that word when they talk about english-speakers :P

[MoaiMaea]

If you had looked at my profile you would have seen that I do not ;>

Here people say that word when they talk about English speakers in general.

[rolingpingu]

@MoaiMaea :O I see, u live in Germany!

[MoaiMaea]

Indeed.

[blamtasticful]

On the contrary; if you are truly apart you can't have strife.

[kldirectv2]

Όχι φιλόσοφοι του εικοστού αιώνα ?

[rolingpingu]

@kldirectv2 Αυτός πρέπει να κάνει ένα βίντεο για Σαρτρ ή ο Φρόιντ

[teleomorph]

Everyone always gets the 4 elements thing WRONG and loves to make fun of how 'stupid' our ancestors were thinking such rubbish. It's a misunderstanding of the word. They were referring to the FOUR PHASES OF MATTER, which, indeed, can be described as 'elemental':

Earth = Solid

Water = Liquid

Air = Gas

Fire = Plasma

--Why is so this so hard for people see???

[teleomorph]

@teleomorph (and historical discourses on a 'fifth element' can be easily likened to our current speculations about states such as the Bose-Einstein condensate, the zero-point energy field or, in some philosophical circles, consciousness.)

[Parralyzed]

@teleomorph yeah, because they knew about plasma

[teleomorph]

@Parralyzed (head-smack) fire = plasma state. they are practically synonyms. they knew about fire, therefore, they knew about plasma. they obviously didn't know about what we refer to as atomic elements or the chemical behaviors of atoms that give rise to crystallization, melting point, etc. Do you really think I was implying that?

[Parralyzed]

@teleomorph 1. "they knew about fire, therefore, they knew about plasma." That's bullshit, with the same reasoing they would have known that atoms existed, because they knew that things existed: If you only know that something exists, doesn't mean you understand it, which is absolutely neccessary for "referring" to the concept of plasma; and that's assuming you premise to be true, where did you take the idea from that fire=plasma?!

[Parralyzed]

@teleomorph 2. 2.1."They were referring to the FOUR PHASES OF MATTER" 2.2."they obviously didn't know about..."

Are you serious? You utter crap like that and then act all smart like I misunderstood you. How the hell can they have an understanding of plasma (which is inferred from "referring to") but not of any other of the things MODERN science has brought upon us? Because the concept of plasma didn't exist in those days, therefore they couldn't refer to it! Simple logic, moron!

[teleomorph]

The classical 'elements' describe the four fundamental qualities or FEATURES of matter. They can be interpreted as elemental in that everything is a mixture of these four states (most water and air has solid solutes and tissues are mixtures of solid, liquid and some gases). [continued]

[teleomorph]

All I'm saying is the old school philosophers recognized these four fundamental phases and they didn't have to understand quantum mechanics to see that basic truth. Before neon lights or Jacob's Ladders fire was the best representative of plasma they had.

[teleomorph]

@Parralyzed maybe lightning would be a more accurate example of plasma than fire but they included lightning and the sun (which is certainly plasma-state) in their concept of the element 'fire.'

[Parralyzed]

@teleomorph Isn't that great! *pats on back*

...I mean wtf! got no reading abilities bitch?! You still fail to answer my MAJOR argument:

how could they KNOW plasma existed which is neccessary for "referring" to it!?

[teleomorph]

@Parralyzed I'm really trying to understand your question. Do you agree that the features of the phases of solid, liquid and gas qualitatively correlate with the terms earth, water & air? If so, why is it so problematic to correlate the term 'fire' with the 4th phase of matter known as plasma? (apologies for the instigative "head-slap" comment. can we refrain from attacks now and resolve this confusion with civility?)

[Parralyzed]

@teleomorph Yes they seem to kinda fit but as for plasma, that is oviously a coincidence, how would they know about plama?!

[rolingpingu]

@Parralyzed That's true, they knew about the void though

[rolingpingu]

@teleomorph O.o Really? Wow, that changes my worldview about the past...

Though, I doubt they know anything about plasma at that time

[teleomorph]

@rolingpingu they didn't know about plasma any more than they knew about atoms in crystal or fluid states, but they saw lightning (a form of plasma) and considered it to be elemental and called it 'fire.' Just like they called gases (nitrogen, oxygen, etc) "air", or solid matter, whether gemstone, metal or bone, "Earth."

[JPAndreoni]

hilarious

[tennebanoit]

What animator do you use?

[metric09]

dude these are great. perfect balance of info and comedy. i wouldnt mind if there was a little more info but i love philosophy and ppl prolly wouldnt like the vids as much if u catered to geeks

[DeeHoffner]

My underpants are made out of earth ... always falling down! Teehee.

[03jkeeley]

the audio quality is fine, it just needs to be a bit louder

[SkormFlinxingGlock]

I love the new ones about ancient Greek philosophers... anxiously awaiting the next batch!

[TheWierdestPoet]

this is the main one with audio issues, and i have really good speakers and a pro audio sound card.

perhaps soon Hegel? Sartre? Derrida? Heidegger?

[Andrewh313]

Tee hee! "Lovecraftian monstrosities!"

[MajorYum]

No one seems to care about him doing one on the greatest philosopher and thinker of all time, Paris Hilton.

[poconnor82809]

Hegel please.

[economienda]

the audio is indeed bad

[MrMixWhelan]

The classical elements: water, fire, air and cookie

[happyman]

the ancient greeks almost discovered air bending.

[mythicronus]

As much as i really enjoy your series, i do find something much more authentic and better with your old style of presentation in your first series. It just seems less unique and creative. But nevertheless still good.

[AlexanderAlcatraz]

Can you please do a video on William James? Or at least pragmatism in general?

[Amanixox]

Can you please do one on Socrates. Nietzche or Karl Marx since your videos are so great? (:

[XelleohelleX]

@Amanixox Haven't you seen the one on Neitzche? It's brilliant.

[Amanixox]

@XelleohelleX is that a joke?

[XelleohelleX]

@Amanixox *slow clap*

[Zaphenath4]

Try working on making your gabbling more clear :)

[coglegTHEpirateOFNUL]

Χρύσιππος ὁ Σολεύς :D

[vistaphyte]

Goddam this thing is quiet. I have the pc volume all the way up and I'm using a studio set of headphones, and it's still barely audible. To put that into perspective, if I got a message on msn or something I'd go deaf. If it's mic quality that's making it this bad than I recommend splitting the audio from the video and amplifying it in an audio editing program.

[HOYASAXA13]

hahahha stephen hawking

[fixelvis112345]

Great video! Some new suggestions: Socrates, Schopenhauer, Spinoza, Wittgenstein, Sarte, Rousseau.

[TheHomelessCripple]

Do Darwin, that would be awesome!

[AdriLeverkuhn]

i can't hear anything at max volume, mate

[a199215]

You should do Adam Smith, Freud and Marx.

Honestly, your videos are hilarious.!

[thesupplantor]

Nice work as usual Collegebinary. :)

[DrDeist]

Loved the periodic table.

[jcohen2j]

thanks!

[hurtchow]

agreed about the mic. i assume you're using a macbooks internal speaker? i also assume you're using iMovie and you google image search your images and pick them with calculated randomness

[meloncron]

these are great - but you should invest in a better quality mic ^^

[Sumsel]

its really hard to follow especially if you're not a native speaker like me! i enjoyed it anyway!

[olive15]

this is your aristotle one, almost word for word...

care to explain?

[Zontertes]

@olive15 probably because aristotle borrowed much of his ideas from empedocles and there are many similarities between them, especially reguarding the downward movement of earth and the upward movement of air. gravity wasn't discovered until the 17th century by Sir Isaac Newton, so these old grecian farts had no idea how to properly discribe the motion of objects.

[PBDPBD]

@olive15 l2r, he did explain.

[chuparsito]

@olive15 he's already explained, you massive wank.

[TheTrueSocialCircle]

I was laughing like hell when you discussed Empedocles' theory of evolution. You, sir, are a genius.

[Ormaaj]

I do agree "pants" should be an element.

[sammosammy]

=D These always make my day. I rewatch every single one whenever a new one is released.

[95TurboSol]

Keep em coming!

[Alecal89]

lol the power of love

[CelticAlphabet]

Lol using a couple linez from your old videos was funny.

Will you do subtitles next time?I had to listen to the first 5 seconds like 9 times to figure out what you said.

[Forceflows]

I always enjoy your videos, but this one has a rather low volume.

[RiceballRox]

lol...how can someone talk this fast?!

good video though.

[ascurtis05]

Yay Milesian philosophers!

[Sloth7d]

Are you a fan of Yahtzee, CB?

[Jmsadv]

Fix the freaking Audio please.

[ThaEther]

the sound on your videos is always so low :(

[03jkeeley]

fantastic as always :)

[Satansbitch101]

this is the same thing as Aristotle

[mebe84]

great job once again

[ALittleLissaFace]

I've missed these so much!!

[sdstever]

I LOVE Three Minute Philosophy, but for the love of water, fire, air, and dirt, please FIX YOUR AUDIO.

[rerere284]

underpants go up? :o

[TheHomelessCripple]

hmm this sounds a lot like another video you made...

[wadadde]

Hey, I like your stuff a lot, but the audio is usually extremely quiet and/or noisy...

Anyway, good stuff!

[defcore108]

I could totally handle another butt or two.

[richardcadbury]

The only time humans have had to run from T-Rex is in Jurassic Park.

[MaaX59]

@richardcadbury how bout Jurassic Park 2?



[richardcadbury]

@MaaX59 of course!

[GlowingBeard]

I think he was kind of right with the elements, but instead of being element, they were more or less the states of matter.

[chrisofnottingham]

What this amounts to is this: They just made up any old crap.

[TheDawnBearer]

Gloria gloria!!!

[LJAXD]

Great video!

[RaymondDundas]

Hooray for obscure pre-Socratic philosophers! I can't wait for Anaximander!

[FlowCell]

To bad you didn't play a snipit of music from the band Earth Wind and Fire.

Let's groove tonight!

[Cathartick]

Great vid! :D

[CollegeBinary]

Oh, before too many people point it out, I recycled two jokes from my first ever 3MP video on Aristotle. They're better applied to Empedocles, so maybe just think of it as a nostalgic wink.

[Anochrist]

@CollegeBinary  we dont mind :)

[electrobrain]

@CollegeBinary I'm actually going think of it as a nostalgic WANK and like it none the less for doing so. Well done!

[shedininja001]

@CollegeBinary you recy... hey maybe this dude is where we get the saying liar liar pants on fire.

[Kingaxel1]

@CollegeBinary Yes i totally picked up on those! Nevertheless its still a great episode!

[DjembeDjam]

@CollegeBinary I for one appreciated the use of swearing in the origianl videos. It sounded so funny with your accent. Love watching all these vids on my ipod on the bus to/from college :D

[obiwanobiwan13]

@CollegeBinary I noticed but it DID fit, so a neat little connection...

Cool you're doing so many Greeks and giving the Ancients the attention they deserve, but how many more? Epicurus, surely, maybe Epictetus (Roman, but close enough) but how long until either it goes stale or runs into the far end of obscurity?

Nevertheless, as a philosophy and english major (who is so much a major he doesn't care to use proper grammar and capitalize those, just 'cause) I LOVE AND HAVE LOVED YOUR WORK.

[rmeddy1]

Very similar to the Aristotle video

[TheEsko]

pretty nice, good job guys loved it

[virgozero]

is it just me is he speaking even FASTER in this one lol?