Gifford Lectures video stream

While our own Professor David Fergusson is delivering the Gifford Lectures series in Glasgow University these 2 weeks, the whole Gifford series in Edinburgh last month is now available to be heard/watched online.

It was given a month ago by Professor Alexander Nehemus (humanities, philosophy, comparative literature) of Princeton University.

The title of the whole series was:

'Because it was he, because it was I: Friendship and its place in life.'

The topics and videos (wvx) of the sessions are here:

1. Friendship in Art, Literature, and Philosophy: a Poor Subject

2. The Aristotelian Background: Ancient Philia and Modern Friendship

3. Because it was He, Because it was I: Loving our Friends for Themselves

4. Friendship in Drama, Film, and Television: the Significance of the Unimportant

5. Friendship, Politics, and Morality: a Clash of Values

6. The Good of Friendship: Freedom, Autonomy, and the Self

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Personally, I am actually more interested in Prof. Fergusson's topics.

• The new atheism: historical roots and contemporary context.
• The implausibility of religious belief: claims and counter-claims.
• The genesis of religion: can Darwinism explain it away?
• Religion, morality and art: invention or discovery.
• Is religion bad for our health? Saints, martyrs and terrorists.
• Sacred texts: how should we treat them?

Going over to Glasgow a few times a week is a bit far. Just hope that Glasgow will also put it online soon, or I'll have to wait for the book to come out. (Still, just reading the book, you'll miss the beauty of a Scottish gentleman lecturing.)