Friend of the show Greg Sadler joined us for a look at Frank Herbert's Dune series. We discuss nomadology, war machines, imperceptibility, eternal recurrence, materialism, and much more.

Dr. Sadler is currently an adjunct professor at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Editor of Stoicism Today, the producer of the Half Hour Hegel series, and the president of our local SOPHIA (Society of Philosophers in America) chapter. but you might be more familiar with his YouTube channel, Gregory B. Sadler, with over 120k subscribers.

Dr. Sadler's Links:

Blog: https://reasonio.wordpress.com/about-greg/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEtxsMx4qsoitFwjBdLU_gA

https://twitter.com/philosopher70

Support us on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/muhh

Twitter: @unconscioushh

Greg Sadler - Speculative Heretics of Dune

In this panel discussion Michael Ly, Burlington CFO, and Dr. Denise Dunbar, Faculty Member Oplerno, talk about the Future Of Higher Education

Moderator: Gregory B. Sadler, Ph.D

Woodblock: Panel Discussion On Future Of Higher Education

This is my relatively short talk given during the 2025 Plato's Academy multidisciplinary conference: The Philosophy and Psychology of Anger, during which I discuss some of the useful insights and practices early Christian thinkers (2nd-5th Century CE) can provide us. These don't require one to be committed to Christianity and can be applied by a wide range of people.

I begin with a passage from Pierre Hadot's book Philosophy As A Way Of Life: "[Christians] believed they recognized spiritual exercises, which they had learned through philosophy, in specific scriptural passages . . . The reason why Christian authors paid attention to these particular biblical passages, was that they were already familiar, from other sources, with the  spiritual exercises of prosokhē, meditation on death, and examination of the conscience.” 

What Hadot calls “spiritual exercises” gets called by a variety of other terms by other thinkers. Foucault’s "technologies of the self", Nussbaum’s "therapeutic arguments", as well as the more general "philosophical practices" many of us reference in our work and study.

What we can say about these early Christian thinkers is that many had a philosophical education, had opportunities to engage with pagan philosophical schools, some of which had pretty strong religious stances, with precursor and contemporary Jewish thought, and with a variety of other disciplines like rhetoric, medicine, literature, political theory, law, history, music, etc. There was already a strong interest in issues about anger already raised and debated in ancient philosophy including: vicious anger, can anger have useful role, dangers of indulging or excusing anger, anger and courage or justice, types or levels of anger, divine anger. Early Christian thinkers rely upon or incorporating broadly Platonic psychology, and ethical conceptions drawn from Platonist, Stoic, and Aristotelian schools, but within a framework Christianity provides.

The thinkers I reference and discuss in this presentation include:
2nd-4th Century CE: Clement of Alexandria 150 – c. 215 AD, Tertullian 155 – c. 220, Origen 185 – c. 253, Lactantius 250 – c. 325
4th  5th century CE: Basil of Caesarea 330 – 379, Gregory of Nyssa 335, Evagrius Ponticus 345–399 AD, John Chrysostom 347-407, Ambrose 339-397, Jerome 342–347-420, Prudentius 348-413?, John Cassian 360 – 435, Augustine of Hippo 354-430

Some of the key scriptural passages they tend to engage most heavily with include:
A number of discussions of anger in Pre-Christian Jewish scriptures, particularly in the Psalms, Proverbs, and Sirach
The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Paul’s Letter To Ephesians, and the Letter of James 

There is a stress on identifying and dealing with vices that involve anger, but also on developing virtues of Patience, Humility, Mercy, and Forgiveness. They also adopt, develop, and discuss a number of useful practices for lessening, understanding, or dealing with anger.

Early Christian Thinkers On Anger - Sadler's Lectures

Dr. Gregory Sadler joined me in the studio and we attempted a discussion about philosophy.   It turns out that it's good for you.  get a hold of some ideas ad take them for a spin.  After we shut off the microphones Dr. Sadler revealed that it's impossible to understand every idea in philosophy, and that's okay.

In this episode we discussed:
Micheal Moorcock
Chronicles of Cornelius
Philip K. Dick
Tank (rock band)
Seneca and the Stoic Opposition
Cicero
Fundamentalism
Eclecticism
weddings
Anher management
Dostoevsky Versus Nietzsche
Shestov - "All Things Are Possible"
The Two Minute History of Philosophy
University Problems
Aristotle's Categories

Image for Hire - 2018-04-17 - Freelance philosopher Dr. Gregory Sadler

In the studio with The Skrauss, Renegade scholar and Speculative Fiction Expert, Gregory Sadler.
Topics discussed:
Imagination
"On Truth and Lies" by Nietzsche
Dick realism
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"
Emanuel Kant's Copernican Turn
Stick with your Existential Crisis and See Where it Goes
"Zapgun"
"Perelandra"
"The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldridge"
"Flow My Tears, The  Policeman Said"
"Through a Scanner Darkly"
Dickish Themes:
1)Insect Mind
2) reality unraveling
3) seeing the break in reality and figuring out what to do about it
4) transcendence
"The Man in the High Castle"
I-Ching
Pot in our times
"Radio Free Albumeth"
Dick's "Exegesis"
Robert Crumb
Nag Hammadi Library
Find the blessed Doctor at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler

https://reasonio.wordpress.com/

Image for Hire - 2018-08-14 Doc Gregory Sadlerand The Skrauss  talk SF (Speculative Fiction)

I explore some of the contours of what a BLR (Beyond Left and Right) political philosophy might look like, and in particular try to answer the charge that it is a (potentially) reactionary philosophy ("reactionary" is not good, if you haven't heard the term).

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/becomeother

Ep. 16: Is BLR Reactionary?

: In this ninth episode of the Wisdom for Life radio show, hosts Dan Hayes and Greg Sadler examine a common image of concentric circles used to understand relationships with other people towards whom we might have affection, care, or moral obligations.  The smallest circle is that of close friends and family, while the largest extends to all humanity, and potentially beyond.

They discuss how differing philosophical and wisdom traditions, including Stoicism, Buddhism, and Utilitarianism have used this image, and developed practices designed to help us develop attitudes of justice and benevolence towards other beyond the circles we most typically focus upon.

They also examine a common issue that arises when considering circles of community - to what extent should a person focus on their nation or political community as the most important?  Should their focus instead be on all people, or on people closer to them?

They end the show by introducing a very helpful philosophical practice derived from several schools of Buddhism, Metta or "loving-kindness" meditation, which employs the conception of circles.

Show Music is by Scott Tarulli

Wisdom for Life: Circles of Care and Concern

In this tenth episode of the Wisdom for Life radio show, hosts Dan Hayes and Greg Sadler examine a common matter in everyday life - lying. What is a lie, and what counts as "lying"?  Can lying ever be something good, right, required, or even just all right?

They discuss different ways we can classify and understand lies, including the distinction between white, black, and blue lies.  Moral theories help us to understand and evaluate the rightness or wrongness of lies - and why they are right or wrong, good or bad - and they examine lying through the rigorous deontological lens of Immanuel Kant, and the more forgiving utilitarian lens of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.

They also examine a common issue that frequently arises.  What about people who embellish stories?  Are they lying?  And is that embellishment morally bad, or is it something that contributes to enjoyable communication

They end the show by introducing a very helpful philosophical practice designed to help people develop an understanding of what kinds of lies or deception they engage in, and why they do it, so they can make better choices about these matters 

Show Music is by Scott Tarulli

Wisdom for Life:  Is Lying Ever Good?  2020-05-23

In this thirteenth episode of the Wisdom for Life radio show, hosts Dan Hayes and Greg Sadler discuss the Social Contract, a classic philosophical concept that plays a key role in American politics and everyday ethics, and which also bears on recent nationwide protests over police misconduct and aggression.

They discuss first what the social contract is and whether or not it has been broken for many Americans, referencing the recent short talk given by Kimberly Jones.  They also look at what ideas from classical social contract theory - found in Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Rawls can be useful for understanding our present situation

They also discuss who has been systematically excluded from the social contract, examine a few of the key points that Charles Mills discusses in The Racial Contract, and look at the features Nicholas A Christakis outlines for a better social contract.

They end the show by discussing a practice that listeners could engage in - trying to imagine a new social contract that would be equitable and just for all.

Kimberly Jones "How We Can Win" video - https://youtu.be/llci8MVh8J4
Charles Mills, The Racial Contract - https://amzn.to/3ea6rM1
Nicholas A Christakis, Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society - https://amzn.to/2BZj9id

Show Music is by Scott Tarulli - https://www.scotttarulli.com/

Wisdom for Life: The Social Contract Today

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Early Christian Thinkers On Anger - Sadler's Lectures

Sadler's Lectures

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