Ethics: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, book 1

In this lecture from my Fall 2011 Ethics class at Marist College, we start Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics and discuss the range of answers to the question: What is Happiness? We also discuss means, ends, and disciplines.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Aristotle
• Ethics
• Nichomachean
• happiness
• virtue
• wealth
• pleasure
• choices
• sadler
• marist

[doctordoctordocism]

thanks so much for this professor! i just turned in my last assignment today! i'm now officially done with college as a phil major! :D but i will definitely be continuing to watch your lectures b/c you're such a good teacher! plz keep these vids comin'!

[gbisadler]

@doctordoctordocism Congratulations! So, what next for you?

I will keep on with the videos, but I'm not sure what I'm going to tackle next. Most of these can be used for my Ethics classes next semester, and I'll probably make some more closely focused, perhaps shorter, videos to supplement them. Maybe it's time to start back with more Dr. Sadler's Chalk and Talk vids

[doctordoctordocism]

@gbisadler thanks! maybe you should make some vids on kant's epistemology or hegel and kant's views on aesthetics? just a suggestion, those are topics that interest me :) next? wellll.. i have been searching desperately for a job.. any job... and i'm trying to get a job as a website designer for now until i can save enough money for law school. we'll see where that takes me.. :D

[gbisadler]

@doctordoctordocism Well, I'm glad you're tossing me softball suggestions! It would be very fun to revisit Hegel, who I used to work on, but who is also difficult to teach.

Yep, the job market is tough at present -- I'm only part-time myself now. Law school is a good idea -- a debt, sure, but one that can be paid off by the return on investment in the degree. You'll also find a lot of interesting connections between philosophy and law

[gbisadler]

@piper5018 hahaha! I expect I'm also on the "older side," but fortunately still appear younger than I am. Thanks for the compliment -- which is a pretty weighty one for me -- I've started to get clear, after more than a decade of teaching undergraduates, what my role really is -- to communicate what is vital in these classic texts and authors to people who haven't yet glimpsed it, so that we can all share in the life of the mind -- and for students, that they'll continue that life after college

[piper5018]

@gbisadler My professor is definitely on the older side, and unfortunately I think he isn't as enthusiastic as he once was. I stumbled on your videos while trying to redefine my understanding of ethics as the lectures were not explicative enough. I definitely agree that many need a guide as this is a required class for myself and others.

I applaud your ability to demonstrate these important topics and a clear manner.

[gbisadler]

@piper5018 I'm sorry to hear that. It seems to me that Aristotle (and many other philosophers) -- and students -- deserve professors who genuinely desire to study, teach, and communicate a passion for the class-material.

Some students will,on their own, perhaps even despite their professors, discover something worthwhile in these texts -- because it's there. But so many others need as a guide someone who is themselves deeply interested in the texts.

I'm glad these videos could be of use

[piper5018]

A lot more interesting than my ethics professor >.<