Tamar Gendler: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Politics and Economics

Tamar Gendler, Department of Philosophy Chair at Yale University, Cognitive Scientist

Who gets what and who says so? These two questions underlie and inform every social arrangement from the resolution of schoolyard squabbles to the meta-structure of human societies. They are also the basis of political philosophy. Professor Tamar Gendler uses the work of three titans of the discipline, Thomas Hobbes, John Rawls, and Robert Nozick, as a lens to guide us through the taut debate about the role of government in society, asking "Will we embrace the radical state of nature or will we surrender our freedom to the leviathan of the state?"

The Floating University
Originally released September 2011.

Additional Lectures:
Michio Kaku: The Universe in a Nutshell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NbBjN...

Joel Cohen: An Introduction to Demography (Malthus Miffed: Are People the Problem?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vr44C...

Steven Pinker: Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B_ON...

Leon Botstein: Art Now (Aesthetics Across Music, Painting, Architecture, Movies, and More.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6F-sH...

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[ChromaticTempest]

Philosophy is simply asking questions that relate to humanity as a whole and building logical theories to answer those questions. Religion most definitely is a part of philosophy as it attempts to answer "how" & "why," although if there's a step child in the group... Also I should add that philosophy is a rhetoric spanning back thousands of years, a continuous conversation that will end only when humanity's earning for truth is extinct. To engage in it, is to become immortal.

[Vaishnavi Sinnarkar]

She is explaining the reasoning behind the mutual retaining of arms between Russian and the United States; not justifying them. Unless you think both of the countries are created entirely of stupid, ignorant, and irrational people, it's unlikely that the mutual retaining of arms has come about illogically. What Gendler is explaining here is that there are different methods of thought that can arrive at different, yet still logically sound conclusions.

[AeolisticFury]

This video entirely constitutes of selective Anglo-American thought. There was absolutely no mention of other huge political thinkers/topics, for example; Socialism, Capitalism, Marx, Hegel, Machiavelli, Confucius, Plato, and there was a brief straw-man of Anarchism.

[AeolisticFury]

Taxes aren't the theft. Property is the true theft.

[kajmobile]

who do u sell ur labor to in order to get ownership of the planet's resources? and how did that person come to own the planet!?! did they work out a secret deal with nature?

[kajmobile]

A labor system where u have to sell ur labor in the market means income is allocated based on bargaining power. That is unfair, unjust and inefficient. That always results in the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. And you wind up with ridiculous outcomes like Kim Kardashian getting paid hundreds of times more than brain surgeons.

The only fair and efficient way of allocating income is by limiting differences in income 2 only what's reqd 2 get people 2 work hard and give max effort

[Romualdo Juarez]

Having a job is selling your work for money. It is implicit in the requirement to sell such work for a salary to ACQUIRE ownership, that ownership of the resources is not a priori. Science and politics don't mix well, in fact that's a central debate in modern political philosophy. Just as much as the VP lacks proof of their model's plausibility, the opposite is just as true, and is also the case with the current system.

[cory brannon]

I love her sexy matter of fact shrill voice. ...... O it gets me off!!!

[Keith Cassinger]

Because you are some sort of a scholar? Read this other guys comments and it will immediately discredit this guy. Cannot spell on many of them.

[CannabisAficionado]

@Johnyd, why don't you listen and contemplate the substance of her lecture rather than fixate on an inconsequential discrepancy in her introduction. She mentioned African philosophy, which, correct me if I'm wrong, implies Islamic/Middle Eastern philosophy as well. She was not talking about specific philosophical subsets but only REGIONAL philosophy. Please grow up.

[kajmobile]

I agree that the only just system is one where everyone owns the world's resources equally. However, that just means u have a right to a job and equal ownership in the organization that is converting those resources into goods and services.

It does not mean we can make everything free, make work voluntary and just give everyone whatever they want! The Venus Project is unscientific and has ZERO proof that their world of abundance is possible

[kajmobile]

Muslim is a follower of a religion, not a place. The reason why she didn't mention Muslim is because she went through a list of geographic places, not a list of religions