The Great Philosophers
The Great Philosophers is a 1987 BBC television series presented by Bryan Magee. There were 15 episodes, in each of which Magee interviewed a noted philosopher.
Overview
[edit]In this series, Magee discussed the major historical figures of Western philosophy with fifteen contemporary philosophers. The series covered the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, among others, ending with a discussion with John Searle on the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Extensively revised versions of the dialogues of The Great Philosophers are available in a book of the same name.[1] DVDs of, and streaming rights to, the series are sold to academic institutions[2] and episodes are available to stream to those with access to the Alexander Street academic database.[3] Neither this series, nor Magee's 1978 series Men of Ideas, are commercially available to home users but most of the episodes from both are freely available on YouTube.[4] The theme played over the opening credits comes from the third movement of Symphony No. 8 (Shostakovich).
Guests
[edit]- Myles Burnyeat on Plato
- Martha Nussbaum on Aristotle
- Anthony Kenny on Medieval Philosophy
- Bernard Williams on Descartes
- Anthony Quinton on Spinoza and Leibniz
- Michael R. Ayers on Locke and Berkeley
- John Passmore on Hume
- Geoffrey Warnock on Kant
- Peter Singer on Hegel and Marx
- Frederick Copleston on Schopenhauer
- J. P. Stern on Nietzsche
- Hubert Dreyfus on Husserl, Heidegger and Modern Existentialism
- Sidney Morgenbesser on The American Pragmatists
- A. J. Ayer on Frege, Russell and Modern Logic
- John Searle on Wittgenstein
See also
[edit]- Men of Ideas, a similar BBC television series presented by Magee in 1978
References
[edit]- ^ Magee, Bryan. (2001). Talking philosophy : dialogues with fifteen leading philosophers. Magee, Bryan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192854178. OCLC 47676350.
- ^ "Great Philosophers". Films Media Group. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ "Great Philosophers, Episode 1, Bryan Magee talks to Myles Burnyeat about Plato | Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company". search.alexanderstreet.com. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
- ^ "Bryan Magee (RIP) Presents In-Depth, Uncut TV Conversations With Famous Philosophers". Open Culture. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.