NEW PERSPECTIVES IN PHILOSOPHY

Special Discount Offer

Invite Twelve Contemporary Philosophers into Your Classroom.
Save more than 25% on complete set of 8 DVDs.

Complete set includes two Thinking Allowed VideoQuartets and four Thinking Allowed Singles.

Click here for ordering information.

LIVING PHILOSOPHICALLY (#Q374) ***** (Highest Rating) ABC Clio Video Rating Guide for Libraries SPIRITUALITY AND THE INTELLECT Jacob Needleman The essential tension between our material and spiritual natures is often forgotten as we pursue contemporary concerns. Jacob Needleman, Ph.D., author of The Heart of Philosophy and The New Religions, points to Socrates as the ideal philosopher who, through his questioning, brought people to an appreciation of deeper strata of awareness. SELF AND UNIVERSE Arthur M. Young How can there be separate things in a universe that is interconnected? How can we be separate beings in a universe created by God? Arthur M. Young, inventor of the Bell helicopter, is the founder of the Institute for the Study of Consciousness and author of The Reflexive Universe. Young suggests that the ancient dieties act in our psyches as forces which unite the individual with the universe about us. THE PRIMORDIAL TRADITION Huston Smith Huston Smith, Ph.D., author of Forgotten Truth and The Religions of Man, delineates the common threads that run through spiritual traditions of all cultures. Because the science of acoustics has nothing to say about beauty, he says, does not mean that Brahms isn't beautiful. Similarly, the notions of the soul and spirit persist regardless of their lack of relevance to a modern, materialist world view. SELF AND SOCIETY Jane Rubin Philosophers have questioned how one can live a meaningful life in a social milieu that lacks clear values. One response is to define oneself by accepting as a role model one who is truly committed--such as Christ or Buddha. Jane Rubin, Ph.D., teacher of religious studies at U.C. Berkeley, contrasts this approach with modern existentialists who view an idealist approach to life as an escape from authenticity.

DOES MIND MATTER (#Q294) ***** (Highest Rating) ABC Clio Video Rating Guide for Libraries MIND AS A MYTH U. G. Krishnamurti Does the mind exist as a distinct entity apart from our thoughts about it? U. G. Krishnamurti is a disquieting skeptic and author of Mind Is A Myth and The Mystique of Enlightenment. As "mind" is a myth, he says, so is the notion of "self." The human being is like a dog chewing a dry bone. When its gums bleed, the dog may believe the bone is rich with blood. Just so, we believe the mind is real. THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM Julian Isaacs Most brain researchers believe we will eventually explain the mind in terms of neurological functioning. According to Dr. Julian Isaacs, Ph.D., an applied psychologist, this materialist view is inconsistent with the evidence of parapsychology. New developments in areas such as theoretical physics, says Dr. Isaacs, may eventually lead to an understanding of the common ground connecting mind and matter. MINDS, BRAINS AND SCIENCE John Searle Will computers ever achieve consciousness? John Searle, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy and cognitive science at U.C. Berkeley and author of Intentionality and Minds, Brains and Science. He challenges the notion that the human mind operates like a computer, pointing out that intentionality and other human faculties are not achievable through artificial intelligence. MIND IN TIBETAN BUDDHISM Ole Nydahl The Tibetan lamas are specialists in understanding the "bardo" planes of the afterlife. Ole Nydahl, Ph.D., is among the first westerners to be trained as a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master. Philosopher and author of Entering the Diamond Way, Nydahl describes the mind as a pure, limitless field where our thoughts create various visions which appear objective to us in sleep and death.

BEYOND THE POST MODERN MIND Huston Smith, Ph.D. The modern western worldview is dominated by the materialist values of science. According to Huston Smith this withdrawal of emphasis from human values--and from essential elements such as meaning, quality and purpose--has lead to widespread alienation and social discontent. Dr. Smith is a former professor of religion at M.I.T. and author of The Religions of Man and Beyond the Post-Modern Mind. (#S113, length 30 minutes.)

THINKING ABOUT THINKING Michael Scriven, D. Phil. "Evaluation phobia" is Dr. Michael Scriven's term for the fear that individuals and organizations have about carefully examining the logic of their own decisions. Scriven is a philosopher and multi-disciplinary scholar whose speciality is the very process of thinking itself. He is the author of many books, including Primary Philosophy, Reasoning, and The Logic of Evaluation. (#S140, length 30 minutes.)

MIND OVER MACHINE Hubert Dreyfus, Ph.D. Human intuition and perception are basic and essential phenomena of consciousness. As such, they will never be replicated by computers. This is the challenging notion of Hubert Dreyfus, archcritic of the artificial intelligence establishment. Dr. Dreyfus, a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, is author of What Computers Can't Do and co-author of Mind Over Machine. (#S150, length 30 minutes.)

THE CULT OF INFORMATION Theodore Roszak, Ph.D. Our real educational and cultural needs are in danger of becoming lost in the erroneous fascination with the information processing model of the mind. One of America's foremost social critics, Theodore Roszak, Ph.D., author of The Making of the Counter-Culture, Eco-Psychology and The Cult of Information, delivers a scathing indictment of the over-selling of computer and high-tech ideology to the American public. (#S160, length 30 minutes.)