Philosophy

Doug takes up Socrates' claim that genuine knowledge cannot be "overpowered" by desire or emotion, and reads it alongside early Buddhism's treatment of the same problem. Distinguishing knowing about what is good for us from the kind of…

Doug examines whether there is any reliable way to know when we are right, tracing how confident certainty has misled even history's greatest thinkers, and asking whether Buddhist meditative insight offers a better standard. Drawing on…

Doug examines whether it is wrong to have children, comparing a surprising teaching attributed to a Buddhist meditation master (Ajahn Chah) with the contemporary philosophical position of anti-natalism as articulated by David Benatar, and…

Is AI sentient? I argue the question may not have a clear yes-or-no answer — and that this tells us something profound about the nature of personhood itself. Drawing on the ancient "sorites" paradox, philosopher Derek Parfit's work on…

Derek Parfit was one of the greatest philosophers of recent decades, and yet most people have never heard of him. His remarkable views on personal identity explicitly followed those of the Buddha. I'll look at Parfit's life as well as…

How do we come to know anything, by the lights of early Buddhist dharma? We will look at this key philosophical problem, illuminated by words from one key sutta, and a more recent, deep work of 20th century commentarial analysis.

What was the philosophy of mind in early Buddhism? I'll look at several different aspects of the Buddha's analysis of the mind, including a couple of topics that are important in a Western philosophical context but that the Buddha didn't…

What did the Buddha have to say about key metaphysical topics such as what exists and how it is structured? I'll discuss this most basic aspect of philosophy and how the Buddha's views fit into some contemporary discussions of topics such…

Do all systems of spiritual practice lead to the same place? Are they all essentially identical? This is a view that's come to be known as "perennial philosophy" or "universalism". I'll consider what the Buddha had to say about such…

Is Buddhism nihilistic? We'll consider whether an early Buddhist argument for non-self implies there is "no anything", by looking at a short online critique by philosopher Rick Repetti.

Should we read Buddhist texts as philosophical treatises with particular, definite claims? Or should we read them as inspired literature to be enjoyed creatively? We'll look at one early text from the Pāli tradition that gives an answer…

This is a short introduction to the development of the doctrine of two truths in Buddhism. We'll look briefly at the doctrine's origins that are treated in an earlier video, then we'll turn to the role of the abhidhamma/abhidharma in…

We'll discuss what it really means to "bracket off" or "cherry pick" material from a tradition that one finds useful as versus material that one does not. Is this a recent or questionable thing to do? We'll look at some examples of…

Is there a meaning to life? We will begin by looking at what "meaning" is, and then take that to suggest various questions we might consider. Finally we will turn to what an early Buddhist answer might be.

What is the difference between mind and body? This is an age old problem in philosophy. We will begin by looking at the history of this relation in Western philosophy and theology, and then move into how they are conceived of in early…

Essentialism is a new approach to life, developed in a recent book by Greg McKeown. We'll consider it in this video, and how its ideas relate to those found in early Buddhism.

We often feel that the more we have, the happier we will be. Is that really so? We will take a look at the paradox of greed using a story from the Buddha's teaching.

We'll take a step back and look at the reason why I started making videos for this YouTube channel, why I feel that the teachings of early Buddhism are so interesting for today. We'll look at how their teachings compare with contemporary…

Philosophy in the West needs broadening. We'll look at a recent book by Bryan Van Norden that argues that Western philosophy has for far too long been parochial in its outlook towards non-Western thinkers. We'll consider the history…

What is the Buddhist Middle Way? We'll take a look at early Buddhism in particular, and some of the material found in suttas of the Pāli Canon. There we'll see there are a few related approaches to this topic, some immediate and…

Nirvana or the awakened state is often said to be indescribable, and typically understood as permanent. We'll consider both of these claims, and look at a neat thought experiment by philosopher Frank Jackson along the way.

The Buddha had some very interesting things to say, but was he a philosopher? Justin Whitaker and I recently wrote a paper on this topic, which I'll discuss here.

We'll look at three ways that Buddhism isn't a religion, focusing on early Buddhism in particular. Of course, Buddhism has religious aspects. However it also can be seen as something entirely non-religious, more in the vein of a school of…

The present moment, the "now" is often made the focus of our intention and practice, for many very good reasons. In this video we will turn to some of the more philosophical aspects of the present moment, in order to investigate certain…

What might the Buddha have thought about secular approaches to Buddhism? We will take a look at arguments found in a couple of early texts, the Apaṇṇaka and Sandaka Suttas, as jumping-off points. Our trip will take us through perhaps the…

Secular humanism is a naturalistic life stance oriented towards this life, as is secular Buddhism. How are these allied life stances similar and different?

How is early Buddhist thought like that we find in classical Greece? I'll give a short intro to that fascinating question, pointing out some key differences. This is my second YouTube video, so it's a bit rough. Apologies in advance!…