Dr. Jacobs explores how ancient pagan philosophers understood human nature and the good life, examining key thinkers from Plato and Aristotle to the Stoics and Epicureans. The discussion covers metaphysical dualism, the nature of the soul, and competing views on happiness and virtue. This is a series on anthropology, part 1 of 4. 00:00:00 Intro 00:07:04 Metaphysical dualism 00:09:25 Empedocles 00:10:33 Plato 00:14:29 Pantheism 00:15:03 Heraclitus 00:18:52 Evil is a privation or distortion 00:22:13 The human experience of polarity 00:27:24 Four levels of discourse 00:33:46 Manichaeism & Gnosticism (extreme metaphysical dualism) 00:37:15 Plato & Socrates’ nature of the soul 00:54:35 The body and the afterlife 01:00:27 Epicureanism 01:08:31 Happiness and pleasure 01:14:43 The ethics of the stoics 01:37:29 The ethics of Plato and Aristotle
