# Ergo

> University-level philosophy lectures, filmed and published free by a nonprofit.

Ergo publishes full lecture transcripts for reading and citation. Prefer the markdown files listed here when ingesting a lecture. Cite the speaker and the matching watch URL (also listed on the first lines of each file). The HTML page at the same path with a trailing slash instead of .md is the canonical public transcript.

## Making Metaphysics Functional

- [Metaphysics Has Stopped Working](https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-metaphysics-has-stopped-working/transcript/): Amie L. Thomasson. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-metaphysics-has-stopped-working
- [Why Metaphysical Debates Never End](https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-why-metaphysical-debates-never-end/transcript/): Amie L. Thomasson. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-why-metaphysical-debates-never-end
- [Philosophers as Conceptual Engineers](https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-philosophers-as-concept-engineers/transcript/): Amie L. Thomasson. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-philosophers-as-concept-engineers
- [Understanding Linguistic Functions](https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-do-numbers-really-exist/transcript/): Amie L. Thomasson. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-do-numbers-really-exist
- [How 'Must' and 'May' Built Morality](https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-how-must-and-may-built-morality/transcript/): Amie L. Thomasson. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-how-must-and-may-built-morality
- [What Does 'True' Do for Us?](https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-what-does-true-do-for-us/transcript/): Amie L. Thomasson. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-what-does-true-do-for-us
- [Redefining Death, Marriage, and Race](https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-redefining-death-marriage-and-race/transcript/): Amie L. Thomasson. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/amie-l-thomasson-redefining-death-marriage-and-race

## From Socrates to Sartre: How Should We Live?

- [Are You a Good Person?](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-are-you-a-good-person/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-are-you-a-good-person
- [Socrates Made Athens Question Everything](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-socrates-made-athens-question-everything/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-socrates-made-athens-question-everything
- [Is Good Just What the Gods Want?](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-is-good-just-what-the-gods-want/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-is-good-just-what-the-gods-want
- [Are Humans Just Pleasure Seekers?](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-are-humans-just-pleasure-seekers/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-are-humans-just-pleasure-seekers
- [Do the Ends Justify the Means?](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-do-the-ends-justify-the-means/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-do-the-ends-justify-the-means
- [Kant: Right and Wrong Aren't Just Opinions](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-kant-right-and-wrong-arent-just-opinions/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-kant-right-and-wrong-arent-just-opinions
- [Kant's One Rule for Right and Wrong](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-kants-one-rule-for-right-and-wrong/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-kants-one-rule-for-right-and-wrong
- [Aristotle on Living Your Best Life](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-aristotle-on-living-your-best-life/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-aristotle-on-living-your-best-life
- [Your Character Is Your Destiny](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-your-character-is-your-destiny/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-your-character-is-your-destiny
- [Sartre's Terrifying Gift of Freedom](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-sartres-terrifying-gift-of-freedom/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-sartres-terrifying-gift-of-freedom
- [How Should You Live? The Great Answers](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-how-should-you-live-the-great-answers/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-how-should-you-live-the-great-answers

## From Descartes to Nietzsche: The Birth of Science and the Death of God

- [When the Old Map Stopped Working](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-when-the-old-map-stopped-working/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-when-the-old-map-stopped-working
- [Descartes Reboots Everything](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-descartes-reboots-everything/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-descartes-reboots-everything
- [The Birth of Modern Science](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-the-birth-of-modern-science/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-the-birth-of-modern-science
- [Hume's Map of the Mind](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-humes-map-of-the-mind/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-humes-map-of-the-mind
- [Why You Can't Prove Tomorrow](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-why-you-cant-prove-tomorrow/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-why-you-cant-prove-tomorrow
- [Kant Wakes from His Dogmatic Sleep](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-kant-wakes-from-his-dogmatic-sleep/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-kant-wakes-from-his-dogmatic-sleep
- [How Your Mind Builds Reality](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-how-your-mind-builds-reality/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-how-your-mind-builds-reality
- [Nietzsche's Warning to the Future](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-nietzsches-warning-to-the-future/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-nietzsches-warning-to-the-future
- [Making Your Beliefs Your Own](https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-making-your-beliefs-your-own/transcript/): Lee Braver. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/lee-braver-making-your-beliefs-your-own

## Quantum Mechanics and the Crisis of Scientific Realism

- [The Crisis In Physics](https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-the-crisis-in-physics/transcript/): David Albert. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-the-crisis-in-physics
- [The Experiment That Broke Reality](https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-the-experiment-that-broke-reality/transcript/): David Albert. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-the-experiment-that-broke-reality
- [When Physics Stops Making Sense](https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-when-physics-stops-making-sense/transcript/): David Albert. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-when-physics-stops-making-sense
- [Two Laws That Can't Both Be True](https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-two-laws-that-cant-both-be-true/transcript/): David Albert. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-two-laws-that-cant-both-be-true
- [Bell's Impossible Proof](https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-bells-impossible-proof/transcript/): David Albert. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-bells-impossible-proof
- [Three Ways to Save Reality](https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-three-ways-to-save-reality/transcript/): David Albert. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/david-albert-three-ways-to-save-reality

## Kant’s Three Questions

- [Can We Know Anything Beyond Experience?](https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-can-we-know-anything-beyond-experience/transcript/): Reed Winegar. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-can-we-know-anything-beyond-experience
- [Why the Cosmos Breaks Reason](https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-why-the-cosmos-breaks-reason/transcript/): Reed Winegar. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-why-the-cosmos-breaks-reason
- [Can Free Will Escape Causation?](https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-can-free-will-escape-causation/transcript/): Reed Winegar. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-can-free-will-escape-causation
- [Every Proof of God Collapses](https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-every-proof-of-god-collapses/transcript/): Reed Winegar. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-every-proof-of-god-collapses
- [Must Morality Crush Our Desires?](https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-must-morality-crush-our-desires/transcript/): Reed Winegar. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-must-morality-crush-our-desires
- [When Belief Outruns Evidence](https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-when-belief-outruns-evidence/transcript/): Reed Winegar. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-when-belief-outruns-evidence
- [Nature Looks Designed. Is It?](https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-nature-looks-designed-is-it/transcript/): Reed Winegar. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-nature-looks-designed-is-it
- [Is Beauty More Than Opinion?](https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-is-beauty-more-than-opinion/transcript/): Reed Winegar. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-is-beauty-more-than-opinion
- [Did Kant Really Answer Hume?](https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-did-kant-really-answer-hume/transcript/): Reed Winegar. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/reed-winegar-did-kant-really-answer-hume

## Personal Identity and Narrative

- [Two Questions of Who You Are](https://ergo.org/videos/marya-schechtman-two-questions-of-who-you-are/transcript/): Marya Schechtman. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/marya-schechtman-two-questions-of-who-you-are
- [Are You Your Mind or Body?](https://ergo.org/videos/marya-schechtman-are-you-your-mind-or-body/transcript/): Marya Schechtman. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/marya-schechtman-are-you-your-mind-or-body
- [When One Person Becomes Two](https://ergo.org/videos/marya-schechtman-when-one-person-becomes-two/transcript/): Marya Schechtman. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/marya-schechtman-when-one-person-becomes-two
- [How Your Story Holds You Together](https://ergo.org/videos/marya-schechtman-how-your-story-holds-you-together/transcript/): Marya Schechtman. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/marya-schechtman-how-your-story-holds-you-together
- [Is Your Life Story a Fiction?](https://ergo.org/videos/marya-schechtman-is-your-life-story-a-fiction/transcript/): Marya Schechtman. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/marya-schechtman-is-your-life-story-a-fiction

## Walter Benjamin: Language, Memory, History

- [The Necessity of The Contingent](https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-a-philosophy-made-of-quotations/transcript/): Eli Friedlander. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-a-philosophy-made-of-quotations
- [From the Creative Word to the Fall of Language](https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-judgment-is-the-original-sin/transcript/): Eli Friedlander. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-judgment-is-the-original-sin
- [Translation and the Kinship of Languages](https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-translation-is-not-about-meaning/transcript/): Eli Friedlander. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-translation-is-not-about-meaning
- [Tragic Fate and Comic Character](https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-there-is-no-innocent-fate/transcript/): Eli Friedlander. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-there-is-no-innocent-fate
- [Realizing the Irretrievability of the Past in Memory](https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-can-memory-cure-nostalgia/transcript/): Eli Friedlander. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-can-memory-cure-nostalgia
- [Modernity and the Destruction of Experience](https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-why-we-stopped-telling-stories/transcript/): Eli Friedlander. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-why-we-stopped-telling-stories
- [Every Epoch Dreams the One to Follow](https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-every-era-dreams-the-next/transcript/): Eli Friedlander. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/eli-friedlander-every-era-dreams-the-next

## Introduction to Spinoza and His Theory of Love

- [Why God and Nature Are One](https://ergo.org/videos/noa-lahav-ayalon-why-god-and-nature-are-one/transcript/): Noa Lahav Ayalon. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/noa-lahav-ayalon-why-god-and-nature-are-one
- [The Mind Is the Body's Idea](https://ergo.org/videos/noa-lahav-ayalon-the-mind-is-the-bodys-idea/transcript/): Noa Lahav Ayalon. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/noa-lahav-ayalon-the-mind-is-the-bodys-idea
- [Joy, Sadness, and the Power to Act](https://ergo.org/videos/noa-lahav-ayalon-joy-sadness-and-the-power-to-act/transcript/): Noa Lahav Ayalon. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/noa-lahav-ayalon-joy-sadness-and-the-power-to-act
- [Love as an Expansion of Self](https://ergo.org/videos/noa-lahav-ayalon-love-as-an-expansion-of-self/transcript/): Noa Lahav Ayalon. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/noa-lahav-ayalon-love-as-an-expansion-of-self

## Lectures on Infinity

- [Infinity Has a Story to Tell](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-infinity-has-a-story-to-tell/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-infinity-has-a-story-to-tell
- [Zeno's Paradox and Infinite Sums](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-zenos-paradox-and-infinite-sums/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-zenos-paradox-and-infinite-sums
- [Supertasks: Doing Infinitely Many Things](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-supertasks-doing-infinitely-many-things/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-supertasks-doing-infinitely-many-things
- [The Paradox of Giants: Strange Consequences in High Dimension](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-the-paradox-of-giants-strange-consequences-in-high-dimension/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-the-paradox-of-giants-strange-consequences-in-high-dimension
- [The Largest Tweetable Number](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-the-largest-tweetable-number/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-the-largest-tweetable-number
- [Potential vs Actual Infinity](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-potential-vs-actual-infinity/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-potential-vs-actual-infinity
- [Galileo's Paradox of Infinity](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-galileos-paradox-of-infinity/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-galileos-paradox-of-infinity
- [What Does Finite Really Mean?](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-what-does-finite-really-mean/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-what-does-finite-really-mean
- [Hilbert's Hotel Is Always Open](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-hilberts-hotel-is-always-open/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-hilberts-hotel-is-always-open
- [Beyond Countable Infinity](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-beyond-countable-infinity/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-beyond-countable-infinity
- [Set Theory's Deepest Mystery](https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-set-theorys-deepest-mystery/transcript/): Joel David Hamkins. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/joel-david-hamkins-set-theorys-deepest-mystery

## Plato’s Theaetetus: An Inquiry into Knowledge

- [Is Knowledge Just Perception?](https://ergo.org/videos/richard-polt-is-knowledge-just-perception/transcript/): Richard Polt. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/richard-polt-is-knowledge-just-perception
- [Can Every Perception Be True?](https://ergo.org/videos/richard-polt-can-every-perception-be-true/transcript/): Richard Polt. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/richard-polt-can-every-perception-be-true
- [Does Relativism Refute Itself?](https://ergo.org/videos/richard-polt-does-relativism-refute-itself/transcript/): Richard Polt. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/richard-polt-does-relativism-refute-itself
- [How Is False Judgment Possible?](https://ergo.org/videos/richard-polt-how-is-false-judgment-possible/transcript/): Richard Polt. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/richard-polt-how-is-false-judgment-possible
- [A Lucky Guess Isn't Knowledge](https://ergo.org/videos/richard-polt-a-lucky-guess-isnt-knowledge/transcript/): Richard Polt. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/richard-polt-a-lucky-guess-isnt-knowledge

## Computation as a Universal and Fundamental Concept

- [Computation and Its Limits](https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-computation-and-its-limits/transcript/): Tim Roughgarden. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-computation-and-its-limits
- [Is There Anything Computers Can't Do?](https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-is-there-anything-computers-cant-do/transcript/): Tim Roughgarden. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-is-there-anything-computers-cant-do
- [How Algorithms Outsmart Complexity](https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-how-algorithms-outsmart-complexity/transcript/): Tim Roughgarden. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-how-algorithms-outsmart-complexity
- [Easy Problems, Hard Problems](https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-easy-problems-hard-problems/transcript/): Tim Roughgarden. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-easy-problems-hard-problems
- [Two Worlds We Might Live In](https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-two-worlds-we-might-live-in/transcript/): Tim Roughgarden. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-two-worlds-we-might-live-in
- [AI, Quantum Computing, and Beyond](https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-ai-quantum-computing-and-beyond/transcript/): Tim Roughgarden. Full transcript. Watch: https://ergo.org/videos/tim-roughgarden-ai-quantum-computing-and-beyond

## Optional

- [Topic Index](https://ergo.org/topics/): concepts linked to the moment each is discussed
- [Courses](https://ergo.org/courses): the public course catalog
- [Sitemap](https://ergo.org/sitemap.xml): every public HTML page