Category: Uncategorized
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Patañjali and the Yoga-Sūtra
Slide 1: Patañjali and the Yoga-Sūtra You’ve seen the word “yoga” thousands of times. It’s on gym schedules, wellness apps, Instagram bios, coffee shop noticeboards. There are probably three yoga studios within walking distance of wherever you’re sitting right now. Yoga, in the twenty-first century, is a multi-billion dollar global industry. So here’s my question…
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Gautama: Founder of Nyāya Philosophy
Part 1: Introduction & Historical Context (Slides 1-2) Slide 1: Title Slide Here’s a question I want you to think about as we begin: How do you know what you know? Not what you believe, not what you hope, not what someone told you — but what you actually know with confidence. How do you…
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Introduction to Bādarāyaṇa and the Vedānta-Sūtra
Slide 1: Introduction to Bādarāyaṇa and the Vedānta-Sūtra Alright, let’s talk about one of the most influential—and most misunderstood—texts in Indian philosophy. We’re diving into Bādarāyaṇa’s Vedānta-Sūtra, composed in the fifth century CE. Now, before we go any further, I need you to understand something crucial: this text has more names than a spy with…
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Zhang Zai: Architect of Neo-Confucian Metaphysics
Slide 1: Title Slide – “Zhang Zai: Architect of Neo-Confucian Metaphysics” “Heaven is my father and Earth is my mother, and even such a small creature as I finds an intimate place in their midst… All people are my brothers and sisters, and all things are my companions.” Let that sink in for a moment.…
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Xunzi: The Architect of Confucian Order
Slide 1: “Xunzi: The Architect of Confucian Order” You know what’s funny about philosophy? We tend to remember the optimists. The ones who tell us we’re fundamentally good, that virtue comes naturally, that humanity is basically on the right track. Those are the philosophers who get statues, whose names become household words. And then there’s…
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The Rituals of War: Structure, Honor, and Divine Indifference in Iliad Book VII: Commentary and Analysis Iliad Book VII
Overview Book 7 is structurally one of the most balanced and formally elegant books in the epic. It operates as a kind of pause — a ritualized interlude between the ferocious fighting of the surrounding books — built around the themes of single combat, honorable exchange, and the protocols of war. Homer uses it to…
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🎓 Project Update
With AI assistance, I’ve been developing several interconnected educational projects: Each lecture and commentary is backed by rigorous research from academic sources. The goal: provide free, accessible academic-level analysis of philosophy and literature to anyone interested. All works will be translated into multiple languages and housed in my open library at http://library.leshley.ca and to follow…
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Introducing Leshley’s Library
Welcome to Leshley’s Library – Where Knowledge Knows No Boundaries Leshley’s Library (https://library.leshley.ca/) is an open‑access hub that delivers scholarly lectures and public‑domain works to anyone, anywhere, completely free and without paywalls. AI‑Enriched, Multilingual Learning Our AI pipeline first cleans and formats each lecture. The result? Accurate, readable versions in 28 languages: Arabic • Bulgarian •…
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Anaximenes of Miletus: Pioneer of Natural Philosophy
## Slide 1: Title Slide – “Anaximenes of Miletus: Pioneer of Natural Philosophy” Alright, here’s something that’s going to blow your mind about ancient philosophy. We’re about to meet a guy who lived 2,600 years ago—Anaximenes of Miletus—and this man had the audacity to look up at the sky, look down at the earth, look…
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Protagoras: The Measure of All Things
# SLIDE 1: Title Slide – “Protagoras: The Measure of All Things” Okay, here’s a question for you: Is there such a thing as truth with a capital T? I mean, really think about it. When you say “this coffee is hot” or “that movie was terrible” or even “murder is wrong”—are you describing something…