
Early Modern Philosophy: Descartes and the Rationalists
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Narrated by:
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James D. Reid
About this listen
From the 17th to 18th centuries, bold thinkers cast off the authority of ancient traditions and embraced reason as the primary tool for understanding the world. These rationalists, or early modern philosophers, included René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz—visionaries whose answers to profound questions remain relevant today.
Early Modern Philosophy: Descartes and the Rationalists covers the key philosophers of this period in 12 fascinating half-hour lectures, presented by award-winning teacher James D. Reid, Professor of Philosophy at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
The rationalists addressed momentous questions such as: What can we know for certain? Are we truly free? Is there a God or a higher power? In addition to Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, this course also covers Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, Lady Anne Conway, and Nicolas Malebranche, who each contributed unique perspectives on mind-body interaction, the nature of substance, and the role of God in human understanding.
It is no accident that early modern philosophy developed in tandem with the Scientific Revolution, spearheaded by Kepler and Galileo, among others. Together, the two movements laid the foundation for a fully modern world, guided by reason, systematic inquiry, empirical evidence, and a growing secular view of the universe that emphasizes human autonomy. As a result, taking this course is like witnessing the birth of the modern mind.
Professor Reid shows how the rationalists serve as a bridge between the Scholasticism of the late Middle Ages and philosophers of the 18th-century Enlightenment, including David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Locke, and Voltaire. Their influence also extends to 19th and 20th centuries, with Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and other renowned thinkers.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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From spirituality to politics and science, the occult has had an astonishing influence on the human experience across the centuries. It may surprise you to learn that everyday activities like attending church services or reading your daily horoscope all fit the broad definition of the occult. As you will see in the 24 illuminating episodes of Secrets of the Occult, the mystic and obscure are threaded through our ordinary lives in more ways than you may realize.
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insightful and well-presented.
- By Robert H. on 12-14-22
By: Richard B. Spence, and others
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God Against the Gods
- The History of Monotheism and Polytheism
- By: Robert Garland, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert Garland
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Original Recording
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Religion is foundational to what it means to be human. Our quest for meaning is as ancient as our very existence, stretching back to a time when Neanderthal burials and Paleolithic figurines suggest our ancestors recognized a power that transcended visible reality. From ancient civilizations to the 21st century, belief in a higher power seems to be a universal human instinct. These 12 thought-provoking lectures introduce you to the world of comparative religion, giving you insights into a variety of religious expressions and human cultures.
By: Robert Garland, and others
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Thinking Like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making
- By: Randall Bartlett, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Randall Bartlett
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Original Recording
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Economic forces are everywhere around you. But that doesn't mean you need to passively accept whatever outcome those forces might press upon you. Instead, with these 12 fast-moving and crystal clear lectures, you can learn how to use a small handful of basic nuts-and-bolts principles to turn those same forces to your own advantage.
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Great for beginners, nothing you for an economist
- By V. Taras on 07-08-15
By: Randall Bartlett, and others
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The Ancient City
- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Ancient Greece and Rome
- By: Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most remarkable historical works of the 19th century came from the pen of French historian Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges, a native of Paris. This amazing analysis of family and religious life among the ancient Greeks and Romans is the key to understanding ancient Mediterranean civilizations. The story begins in the misty period of the Bronze Age as the Indo-Europeans began to filter down into the Italian and Greek peninsulas. They brought with them a patriarchy that was based on ancestor worship and the veneration of hearth gods.
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Exhaustive Detail
- By Existimator on 06-15-24
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What America’s Founders Learned from Antiquity
- By: Caroline Winterer, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Caroline Winterer
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Original Recording
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Many Americans know that our nation’s founders drew inspiration from the political systems of ancient Rome and Greece. But what exactly were these influences? And did they shape the United States in far-reaching ways? In these 24 compelling lectures, Professor Winterer takes you on a journey into the thought and actions of the American revolutionaries, showing how classical antiquity shaped every aspect of the revolutionary and founding era.
By: Caroline Winterer, and others
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Understanding the World of Financial Markets
- By: Connel Fullenkamp, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Connel Fullenkamp
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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Whether you’re buying a home, saving for retirement, running a business, or just plain speculating, it’s important to understand financial markets. These are the engines of commerce in today’s world, powering economic activity and steering the flow of capital. Taught by Professor Connel Fullenkamp of Duke University, Understanding the World of Financial Markets is aimed at the ordinary investor and surveys the impressive range of financial markets—from stocks and bonds to futures, options, real estate, private equity, and virtual assets.
By: Connel Fullenkamp, and others
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Being and Time
- By: Martin Heidegger
- Narrated by: Martyn Swain, Taylor Carman
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Being and Time was published in 1927 during the Weimar period in Germany, a time of political, social and economic turmoil. Heidegger himself did not escape the pressures and his nationalism, and undeniable anti-Semitism in the following decades cast a shadow over the man, but not the work. Being and Time is not coloured by expressions of his later views (unlike other writings) and remains an outstanding document.
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Surprised it works as audio
- By Anonymous on 02-02-20
By: Martin Heidegger
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Doctor Faustus
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 26 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas Mann's last great novel, first published in 1947 and now newly rendered into English by acclaimed translator John E. Woods, is a modern reworking of the Faust legend, in which Germany sells its soul to the Devil. Mann's protagonist, the composer Adrian Leverkühn, is the flower of German culture, a brilliant, isolated, overreaching figure, his radical new music a breakneck game played by art at the very edge of impossibility. In return for twenty-four years of unparalleled musical accomplishment, he bargains away his soul—and the ability to love his fellow man.
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Literary self flagellation
- By Lipton101 on 02-13-25
By: Thomas Mann
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The Theory of Everything: The Quest to Explain All Reality
- By: Don Lincoln, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Don Lincoln
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
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At the end of his career, Albert Einstein was pursuing a dream far more ambitious than the theory of relativity. He was trying to find an equation that explained all physical reality - a theory of everything. Experimental physicist and award-winning educator Dr. Don Lincoln takes you on this exciting journey in The Theory of Everything: The Quest to Explain All Reality. Suitable for the intellectually curious at all levels and assuming no background beyond basic high-school math, these 24 half-hour lectures cover recent developments at the forefront of particle physics and cosmology.
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Audible’s Best Science Offering, A Gem
- By MikeB on 12-08-18
By: Don Lincoln, and others
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Think like a Stoic
- Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World
- By: Massimo Pigliucci, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Massimo Pigliucci
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
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Distilled to its essence, the ancient Greco-Roman philosophy known as Stoicism is a philosophy of personal betterment. Professor Pigliucci, who knows firsthand just how transformative a Stoic approach to life can be, has designed these 25 lessons as an enlightening introduction to the basics of Stoic philosophy and ways to incorporate its lessons into your own life.
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A lot to love. A little to object to.
- By Amazon Customer on 08-20-21
By: Massimo Pigliucci, and others
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Underwater Archaeology
- Mysteries of the Deep
- By: Ashley Lemke, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Ashley Lemke
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The work of archaeology uncovers fascinating vestiges of humanity’s past, greatly enriching our knowledge of our ancestors and ourselves. Over the last century, archaeologists have increasingly ventured underwater, making spellbinding finds and opening an incredible new frontier for archaeological discovery. In the 12 delightful and eye-opening lectures of Underwater Archaeology: Mysteries of the Deep, Professor Lemke, an expert underwater archaeologist working in the field, invites you to discover astonishing treasures of history that lie beneath the waves.
By: Ashley Lemke, and others
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The Greeks
- A Global History
- By: Roderick Beaton
- Narrated by: Anna Crowe
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek city-states, led by Athens and Sparta, laid the foundation for much of modern science, the arts, politics, and law. But the influence of the Greeks did not end with the rise and fall of this classical civilization. As historian Roderick Beaton illustrates, over three millennia Greek speakers produced a series of civilizations that were rooted in southeastern Europe but again and again ranged widely across the globe.
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An Ethnography of the Greeks
- By gmurphy92 on 03-27-22
By: Roderick Beaton
The course covers, as one would expect, Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz; but also Anne Conway, Elisabeth of Bohemia, and Malebranche. Typically, the focus in early modern philosophy texts is on metaphysics and epistemology, but I appreciated that Reid includes these thinker's moral theories as well. They were not just interested in knowledge -- they were also interested how this knowledge can and should effect the way act and live.
I hope the author next does the empiricist tradition.
Great Introduction and overview
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