“Founders of Western Philosophy: Thales to Hume” Listening Group
with Thomas Walker-Werth
18 hours total | 12 sessions, beginning February 18, 2025
Learn and compare the competing philosophic ideas that shaped the Western world and continue shaping it today—morally, culturally, and politically.
The history of Western philosophy is the story of the fundamental causes that created the world in which we live. What is the fundamental nature of existence or reality? What is our means of knowing it? What are values and morality—and where do they come from? What are the essential features of a civilized society?
These are the questions on which philosophy is focused. And the answers philosophers have given throughout the ages have caused knowledge and ignorance, happiness and misery, freedom and tyranny, life and death.
In this listening group, Thomas Walker-Werth will lead discussions of Leonard Peikoff’s lecture series, “Founders of Western Philosophy: Thales to Hume.” As Dr. Peikoff says in his opening lecture, “To fight for your values in a world such as ours, you must regard yourself as a psychotherapist of an entire culture. Its present state at any given time cannot be understood except as an outgrowth from its past. The errors of today are built on the errors of the last century, and they in turn on the previous, and so on back to the childhood of the Western world, which is ancient Greece.”
Come learn and discuss the ideas that gave rise to the West. The knowledge you’ll gain will enable you to think more clearly, live more fully, and defend civilization more effectively.
Instructor
Thomas Walker-Werth
Course & Session Schedule
How the Course Works
This course is interactive and discussion-driven, so enrollment is limited. Register early to secure your spot.
Participants will listen to the provided lecture recordings from “Founders of Western Philosophy: Thales to Hume” before each live session.
The course is held live on a video conferencing app called Zoom, which you can download for free here. Sessions are video recorded, so if you miss a session (or want to review), you can watch the recording.
The course is 18 hours long, consisting of 12 sessions of 1.5 hours each. Homework assignments are optional. Doing them may require an additional hour or more per week but will greatly enhance what you learn in this course.
Course handouts and supplementary materials are delivered via email. Course participants are invited to an exclusive OSI Courses group on Facebook, where they can post questions and engage in discussions with the instructor and other participants.
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