Sadler's Lectures
Lectures on classic and contemporary philosophical texts and thinkers by Gregory B. Sadler
I'm that YouTube Philosophy Guy! Find more than 3,000 videos in my main channel. Support my video and podcast work! https://www.patreon.com/sadler or https://www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
Learn more about this podcast channel - https://youtu.be/qRvL0gqlyrw and https://gregorybsadler.substack.com/p/the-sadlers-lectures-podcast
Due to popular demand - and with the work underwritten by my Patreon supporters - I have been converting my videos into MP3 files listeners can listen to anywhere they want!
I have a second podcast, Mind & Desire, publishing original episodes on a variety of topics in philosophy, which you can find here - https://gregorybsadler.substack.com/podcast
Learn more about this podcast channel - https://youtu.be/qRvL0gqlyrw and https://gregorybsadler.substack.com/p/the-sadlers-lectures-podcast
Due to popular demand - and with the work underwritten by my Patreon supporters - I have been converting my videos into MP3 files listeners can listen to anywhere they want!
I have a second podcast, Mind & Desire, publishing original episodes on a variety of topics in philosophy, which you can find here - https://gregorybsadler.substack.com/podcast
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 2, 2025 • 20min
Philip Jose Farmer, The Lovers - Religion and Metaphysics of Isaac Sigmen - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century fantasy and science fiction writer, Philip Jose Farmer's novella The Lovers (which can be found anthologized in his Strange Relations
It discusses the overall metaphysical and religious perspective developed by Isaac Sigman, which is the official doctrine of the "Sturch" or state-church of the Haijac Union, one of the main world powers in the story, and the one that Hal Yarrow belongs to. The sturch's interpretation of Sigmen holds that a person's thought can be unreal (which is bad), that people are responsible not only for everything they do but everything that happens to them, and that they can fall into the mistake of desiring a "pseudofuture".
To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler
If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler
Get Philip Jose Farmer's Strange Relations here - https://amzn.to/3ivJXtj

Sep 1, 2025 • 15min
Philip Jose Farmer, The Lovers - Earth After the Apocalyptic War - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century fantasy and science fiction writer, Philip Jose Farmer's novella The Lovers (which can be found anthologized in his Strange Relations
It discusses the narrative setting for the novella, specifically the aftermath of the "Apocalyptic War", in which a virus killed most of humanity globally. After the pandemic, communities of survivors repopulated the Earth, coming from Hawaii, Iceland, the Caucasus, Israel, Central Africa, and Malaysia. At the time of the story, the globe is divided between four super-states.
To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler
If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler
Get Philip Jose Farmer's Strange Relations here - https://amzn.to/3ivJXtj

Aug 31, 2025 • 18min
Philip Jose Farmer, The Lovers - Breaking The Taboo On Sex in SciFi? - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century fantasy and science fiction writer, Philip Jose Farmer's novella The Lovers (which can be found anthologized in his Strange Relations
It discusses whether and how that work "broke the taboo" on sex in science fiction when it was published in 1952.
To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler
If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler
Get Philip Jose Farmer's Strange Relations here - https://amzn.to/3ivJXtj

Aug 30, 2025 • 19min
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan - The True Moral Philosophy of Laws of Nature - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the modern philosopher Thomas Hobbes' work Leviathan
It focuses specifically on his discussion in chapters 15 and 26. In chapter 15, after having enumerated and explained the majority of the "laws of nature", which Hobbes notes correspond to various virtues, he claims that the science of the laws of nature, of virtue and vice, and of good and bad, is the "true and only moral philosophy". His position seems somewhat paradoxical, however, for reasons discussed in chapter 26
To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler
If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
You can find over 3500 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler
Purchase Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan - amzn.to/3uhKmDE

Aug 28, 2025 • 15min
Jorge Luis Borges - Pierre Menard, Author Of The Quixote - Menard's Unfinished Production
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosophical short story writer, essayist, and poet Jorge Luis Borges's story "Pierre Menard, Author Of The Quixote" which can be found in Collected Fictions.
If focuses specifically on the main portion of the story, where the author discusses Pierre Menard's "other, subterranean, interminably heroic production", namely that of writing the Don Quixote, a project which he was able to carry out in part before his death. We look at the inspiration, the motivation and intention, and the method of this work, and the author's own assessments of the superiority of Menard's over Cervantes' Quixote.
To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler
If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler
Get Borges' Collected Fictions here - https://amzn.to/3xZnwHA

Aug 27, 2025 • 17min
Jorge Luis Borges - Pierre Menard, Author Of The Quixote - Menard's Visible Work
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosophical short story writer, essayist, and poet Jorge Luis Borges's story "Pierre Menard, Author Of The Quixote" which can be found in Collected Fictions.
It focuses specifically on the first portion of the story, where the author discusses Pierre Menard's visible work, of which he provides a definitive and chonological listing, supplemented by "a few vague sonnets", and certain portions of Don Quixote. In this video, we look at some of the common themes, features, and preoccupations of Menard's writing.
To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler
If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler
Get Borges' Collected Fictions here - https://amzn.to/3xZnwHA

Aug 26, 2025 • 16min
Jorge Luis Borges - Emma Zunz - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosophical short story writer, essayist, and poet Jorge Luis Borges's story "Emma Zunz" which can be found in Collected Fictions.
It provides an interesting tale of revenge to which Borges gives his usual narrative depth and twists. Emma finds out that her father, who was slandered and sent to prison by the genuine embezzler, Loewenthal, who now owns the mill she works at, and she sets into a motion a plan to bring about justice
To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler
If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler
Get Borges' Collected Fictions here - https://amzn.to/3xZnwHA

Aug 25, 2025 • 12min
Jorge Luis Borges - The Shape Of The Sword - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosophical short story writer, essayist, and poet Jorge Luis Borges's story "The Shape Of The Sword" which can be found in Collected Fictions.
Borges listens to a story told by a former Irish revolutionary, marked by a scar across his face. the narrative centers on a physically cowardly and intellectually arrogant comrade, John Vincent Moon, who the narrator will save and protect and then be betrayed by to the British. It will turn out that the narrator himself is that very person Moon, and that he has told the story in that manner to get a full hearing. He then demands that Borges despise him.
To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler
If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler
Get Borges' Collected Fictions here - https://amzn.to/3xZnwHA

Aug 24, 2025 • 23min
Jorge Luis Borges - The Theologians - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosophical short story writer, essayist, and poet Jorge Luis Borges's story "The Theologians" which can be found in Collected Fictions.
It centers on a (perhaps one-way) rivalry between two Christian theologians, Aurelian and John of Pannonia, in a time when the Christian church is struggling with a number of heresies, some opposed to each other. John and Aurelian both produce refutations of one heresy, and then when Aurelian uses a passage from John's earlier refutation in a new refutation of a different heresy, John is condemned as a heretic. In the end, Borges suggests, there might not be any real difference between the two men
To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler
If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler
Get Borges' Collected Fictions here - https://amzn.to/3xZnwHA

Aug 21, 2025 • 18min
Jorge Luis Borges - Deutsches Requiem - Sadler's Lectures
This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th century philosophical short story writer, essayist, and poet Jorge Luis Borges's story "Deutsches Requiem" which can be found in Collected Fictions.
The story is narrated in the voice of an unrepentant Nazi about to be executed for war crimes, Otto Dietrich zur Linde. He claims to be inspired in his life and in his activity within the Nazi party by great people in philosophy, literature, and music, and argues that we are now entering a new age of violence, which Nazi Germany helped to steer the world towards, even though it has to be sacrificed in the process
To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler
If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM
You can find over 3000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler
Get Borges' Collected Fictions here - https://amzn.to/3xZnwHA


