History of Philosophy — Leonard Peikoff

Lecture-by-lecture analysis of Peikoff’s 50-part survey of Western philosophy, from Thales to Kant.

Source: YouTube Playlist Links: Philosophy, Civilizational Cycles, Epistemology

About the Course

Leonard Peikoff’s “History of Western Philosophy” is a 50-lecture survey covering ~2,400 years — from the pre-Socratics (6th century BC) through Kant (18th century). Peikoff is an Objectivist and presents the material through that lens, but the course’s real value is how he draws the threads together: each philosopher responding to the last, errors compounding across centuries, and the consequences showing up in culture, politics, and art.

The course divides into:

Purpose of This Section

These pages are not primarily about cross-linking into the vault’s existing framework. The goal is to:

  1. Track the course — summarize what Peikoff actually argues in each lecture
  2. Evaluate the chain — does his narrative of ideas-causing-ideas hold up? Has history been kind to these philosophers or vindicated them?
  3. Note where he’s strongest and weakest — the Objectivist lens sharpens some things and distorts others

Episodes

# Title Duration Page
1 Introduction to the History of Western Philosophy 34:45 Episode 1
2 Thales of Miletus and the Birth of Greek Philosophy 17:48 Episode 2
3 Heraclitus of Ephesus: A World of Change and Contradiction 31:51 Episode 3
4 Parmenides of Elea: Logic Demands a Changeless Universe 30:12 Episode 4
5 Pythagoras: Mathematics and Mysticism 29:59 Episode 5
6 The Pluralists, the Atomists and the Birth of Determinism 49:40 Episode 6
7 The Skepticism of the Greek Sophists 32:06 Episode 7
8 The Life and Teachings of Socrates 15:38 Episode 8
9 Plato’s Metaphysics: The World of Ideal Forms 1:03:09 Episode 9
10 Plato’s Epistemology: Innate Ideas to the Forms 42:25 Episode 10
11 Plato’s Ethics: Virtue and the Health of the Soul 52:51 Episode 11
12 Plato’s Political Philosophy: Collectivism & the Philosopher-King 36:43 Episode 12
13 Aristotle: A Philosopher for Living on Earth 41:11 Episode 13
14 Aristotle’s Epistemology: Concepts and Science 48:41 Episode 14
15 Aristotle: The Father of Logic 40:33 Episode 15
16 Aristotle’s Metaphysics: Matter, Form and Causality 36:58  
17 Aristotle’s Teleology: Motion and the Unmoved Mover 45:07  
18 Aristotle’s Psychology: Soul, Perception and Thought 29:54  
19 Aristotle: Universals, Individuation, Metaphysics Overview 16:31  
20 Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics 1:17:52  
21 Epicurus: Atomic Theory and Hedonism 46:14  
22 Stoicism and the Quest for Apathy 59:14  
23 Ancient Greek Skepticism 28:02  
24 Neoplatonism and the Transition to Christianity 51:26  
25 Saint Augustine on Knowledge and Reality 28:55  
26 Saint Augustine and the Ethics of Christianity 53:59  
27 The Dark Ages and the Rediscovery of Aristotle 35:39  
28 Thomas Aquinas: Aristotelianism and Christianity 49:07  
29 The Separation of Faith & Reason 34:18  
30 The Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation 37:08  
31 The Rise of Modern Science and Renaissance Ethics 1:04:38  
32 Thomas Hobbes: Mechanism and Sensualism 28:51  
33 Thomas Hobbes: Nominalism, Skepticism, Absolutism 1:03:12  
34 Descartes: Father of Continental Rationalism 1:06:33  
35 Baruch Spinoza 1:10:31  
36 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 39:06  
37 John Locke: Empiricism & Individual Rights 56:02  
38 George Berkeley: Empiricism to Idealism 51:45  
39 David Hume: Skepticism about the External World 56:54  
40 David Hume: Causality, Induction, Subjective Ethics 50:38  
41 Kant: The Problem Posed by Hume 39:23  
42 Kant: The Revolutionary Hypothesis 1:11:43  
43 Kant: Transcendental Aesthetic 23:01  
44 Kant: Transcendental Deduction of the Categories 50:59  
45 Kant: Metaphysical Deduction of the Categories 38:00  
46 Kant and the Ethics of Duty 1:09:31  
47 Critique of Kant from an Objectivist Perspective 35:26  
48 Objectivism on the Validity of the Senses 47:35  
49 Objectivism on Sensory Qualities & Concept Formation 1:12:37  
50 Objectivism on Certainty and Cartesian Doubt 47:41  

Tags

philosophy, history, objectivism, peikoff