Introduction to Philosophy — Season 1, Episode 1: On Virtue
Documentary, Talk • 61 min • 1 season, 1 episodes
Episode synopsis
In our introductory lecture, Dr. Bonevac explores the foundations of ethics through virtue theory, drawing on Confucius, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to examine what it means to live a good life and cultivate good character. We address three central questions—what kind of person to be, what to do, and how to decide—while discussing virtue as a mean between extremes, the unity of virtues, weakness of will, and the role of habit in developing virtue. The lecture concludes by considering how virtues may instead be complex combinations of simpler traits rather than strict means between extremes.
About Introduction to Philosophy
In Introduction to Philosophy, a nine-hour course, Dr. Bonevac guides us through the major traditions of Western philosophy in eight engaging lectures on ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. We explore three key ethical frameworks—virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism—before tackling fundamental questions about reality, from realism to idealism. The course then examines theories of knowledge, weighing skepticism’s doubt, rationalism’s innate ideas, and empiricism’s reliance on experience. Finally, we consider how these philosophical traditions continue to shape debates about morality, reality, and human understanding today.