The Great Courses lecture series by the esteemed Prof. Charles Mathewes. I had really high hopes for this one, but was really let down. I was so disappointed that I didn't even finish the series. Basically, it's the way the professor delivers his lecture. All I want to know is why evil exists. Prof. Mathewes' lecture runs the gamut from ancient literature to present philosophies, analyzing the concepts of evil, the definitions of evil, how and why evil exists, how different philosophers perceive evil, etc. He covers Satan, Dante, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Montaigne, Pascal, Milton, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Conrad, Freud, Camus, Arendt, etc. Sometimes I have the feeling that not all these guys have anything to do with evil. Our professor just wants to show off the depth and breadth of his knowledge. And he spouts lots of high-falluting words that even I have never heard of. I seriously doubt if some of those words are in the dictionary, and he's just making them up as we go along.For every series, Prof. Mathewes starts off with a new philosopher, gives a short biography, how great and/or profound he was, what was his greatest work(s), his signature philosphy, a few anecdotes here and there. Then, he somehow associates that philosophy to the study of evil. Then, he moves on to the next philospher. All throughtout, he talks as if he knows all these philosophers personally. Mr. So and So wants believes that..., Mr. So and So thinks that..., Mr. So and So wants us to know that... Heck, he even knows what Satan is thinking. Seriously.
I've been waiting for so long for the final punchline as to why evil exists that I gave up halfway.
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