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(0)The Great Courses (Firm)
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Logic is intellectual self-defense against such assaults on reason and also a method of quality control for checking the validity of your own views. But beyond these very practical benefits, informal logic—the kind we apply in daily life—is the gateway to an elegant and fascinating branch of philosophy known as formal logic, which is philosophy’s equivalent to calculus. Formal logic is a breathtakingly versatile tool. Much like a Swiss army...
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We commonly define the Pythagorean theorem using the formula a2 + b2 = c2. But Pythagoras himself would have been confused by that. Explore how this famous theorem can be explained using common geometric shapes (no fancy algebra required), and how it’s a critical foundation for the rest of geometry.
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Local produce is readily available year round when you know tricks for off-season gardening. Learn the advantages of and methods for planting during the “second spring,” including tips on building a simple, inexpensive structure that creates a microclimate, making it possible to harvest fresh food all winter long..
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Quantum mechanics gives us a picture of the world so radically counterintuitive that it has changed our perspective on reality itself. In Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World, award-winning Professor Benjamin Schumacher gives you the logical tools to grasp the paradoxes and astonishing insights of this field.
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In approaching the historical Jesus, consider why the New Testament Gospels are the only useful early sources on his life, and study the criteria used by scholars for evaluating the Gospels as history. Then investigate Jesus's apocalyptic worldview, which envisioned the imminent end of history and a coming kingdom of God.
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Get your feet wet at America’s coastal national parks, where dunes, salt marshes, ponds, and lagoons characterize shorelines. Investigate the myriad dynamic processes at Cape Hatteras, Cape Cod, and Assateague National Seashores, and at Sleeping Bear Dunes, Indiana Dunes, Pictured Rocks, and Apostle Islands National Lakeshores..
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Follow Irish history through the age of rebellions sweeping across Europe and America, and find out how figures such as Wolfe Tone founded the quest for Irish republicanism. Delve into the cultural expressions of the 18th and 19th centuries, when poets and musicians kept ancient traditions alive.
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Even when manufacturing the seemingly simplest of decisions, our control panel can steer us in the wrong direction. Learn why our cognitive machinery often over-weights attributes, considers information that really has no bearing on the decision at hand, and sometimes makes short-term evaluations that won't serve us well later.
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In this final lecture, you’ll trace the influence of Etruscan art and architecture in the Renaissance, when many exports of “Roman” culture were actually Etruscan. Then review what modern DNA research tells us about the origins and endings of the Etruscans—and the limits of our knowledge about this mysterious people even today..
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Glide into the age of Romanticism, when poets surpassed politicians in setting national agendas. In this lecture, after considering the distinction between civil and ethnic nationalism, you’ll study a number of 19th-century revolutions that swept across the region—and reflect how defeat in these revolutions paved the way for empires..
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For more than 20 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has been amassing discoveries that rival those of history's greatest scientists and explorers, making it the most important scientific instrument ever built. This program is a visual feast of images taken by Hubble. Go on a dazzling voyage of discovery that will delight your eyes, feed your imagination, and unlock new secrets of the cosmos.
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Continue your study of live-event photography with this lesson that takes you to a family fishing trip in Nebraska’s Bohemian Alps. How does an expert photojournalist use establishing shots, detail shots, and interesting lighting effects to tell the (sometimes hidden) stories behind all the fishing, cookouts, and family fun?.
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Grasp how depression involves shutting down and turning away from pain, and how mindfulness practice turns our attention to the experience at hand, thus challenging the depressive stance. Observe how mindfulness changes our relationship to thoughts, moods, and feelings, allowing us to see them as transient events.
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If we make our landscapes beautiful and functional, many of our needs can be met where we live. That’s the idea behind sustainable landscapes, the benefits of which you’ll explore here, from the surprising abundance of edible plants and household materials that can be produced, to the valuable services they can perform..
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Learn how to keep a discussion focused by recognizing common diversionary fallacies. Ad hominem attacks try to undermine the arguer instead of the argument. Straw man tactics substitute a weaker argument for a stronger one. And red herrings introduce an irrelevant subject. As in other lectures, examine fascinating cases of each.
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Investigate robot actuators: the motors and transmissions that underlie all robotic movement. You’ll learn about the early use of springs as motors in automata; how electricity spins the magnets that make motors move; how movement defines what a robot is; and different types of motors (including DC and servo motors)..
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In this section, put what you’ve learned to work by asking the big question: Can religious belief be justified? Start with Hume’s argument that testimony can never justify a belief that a miracle has occurred. Analyze the flaws in Hume’s reasoning, and think about whether his conclusion still holds.
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[Acts 1–10] Turn to subsequent texts of the New Testament, which take up the struggle to understand Jesus and what it means to live by his message. The Acts of the Apostles, you’ll find, is a fascinating narrative that shows the Christian community being transformed as it welcomed Jews, Greeks, and Romans.