The Teaching Company

[Gary Childress]

I've DL'd quite a few of their titles in the past and have been reasonably happy with the courses. However, I notice a new course they have on Conservatism featuring such "great thinkers" as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Now I'm beginning to wonder about the quality of the other lectures I've DL'd in the past. I mean I was always a little put off by the fact that they had Robert Solomon doing lectures on Nietzsche and Existentialism. I can think of a number of other professors I'd rather hear on the topic.

Anyone else here have opinions on the Teaching Company? I'd be particularly interested in hearing from Plotinus and Fifty on this.

http://www.teach12.com/teach12.aspx

 

[Earthling]

Reagan and Thatcher epitomize the conservative movement though, what's your concern? Do you want things analyzed from a modern perspective rather than a primary source expressing the bias/agenda of the times?

 

[kulade]

You'd be hard pressed to find genuinely great thinkers behind the conservative movement. The least you could portray would be political leaders.

I've listened to some TTC lectures. Nice for light learning to pass the time, but I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy any. Then again, the act of selling knowledge is quite silly anyway.

 

[Gary Childress]

Reagan and Thatcher epitomize the conservative movement though, what's your concern? Do you want things analyzed from a modern perspective rather than a primary source expressing the bias/agenda of the times?

My concern is that maybe the professor has a superficial understanding of conservatism. I mean lumping Reagan and Thatcher into conservatism seems sort of lax to me. According to mundane parlance they are "conservative" but to me they don't epitomize conservatism. I mean Reagan was all about getting rid of "big government" and then led the nation into the greatest Federal deficit yet experienced. It seems sort of stupid to me to include such hypocrisy. Reagan and Thatcher were politicians and nothing more. They weren't shining examples of conservative ideals. I just fear that the whole lecture is a waste of time and isn't going to gain anyone any valuable insights into politics.

I have much the same opinion of Robert Solomon with respect to teaching Nietzsche. Back when I was studying Nietzsche Robert Solomon wasn't all that renowned in philosophical circles with respect to Nietzsche scholarship. I mean, if I want to learn about Nietzsche I'm looking for someone like David Allison to do the presentation.

I'm just afraid that many of the lectures of the Teaching Company really are nothing all that spectacular as they promote themselves to be. I mean, they have a philosophy of Mind course which is taught by some no name in the field from what I know of. If I were the Teaching Company I would be out trying to recruit some of the big players in their respective fields, like John Searle or Daniel Dennett or Patricia Churchland to give a course on philosophy of mind.

Fortunately I've never paid full price for one of their lectures. I've always purchased them when they were on sale.

 

[Gary Childress]

You'd be hard pressed to find genuinely great thinkers behind the conservative movement. The least you could portray would be political leaders.

I've listened to some TTC lectures. Nice for light learning to pass the time, but I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy any. Then again, the act of selling knowledge is quite silly anyway.

These are my thoughts too for the most part. Picking political leaders as shining examples of conservatism seems stupid.

Fortunately I haven't paid full price for any of the courses I've purchased. My experience with the Teaching Company is that they make nice companions to a long drive in the car but if you really want to learn something about a topic you're better off finding a good book on it.