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A Rough History of Disbelief A rather interesting documentary by Jonathan Miller that touches on the philosophy and politics of atheism, deism and skeptical/rational thinking throughout the program, but mainly focuses on the history of what is commonly call atheism. He is a very good narrator and does well to remain thoughtful and introspective when talking about his own philosophy. I'll leave it to the video descriptions to describe each segment's content. Part 1: Shadows of Doubt Jonathan Miller visits the absent Twin Towers to consider the religious implications of 9/11 and meets Arthur Miller and the philosopher Colin McGinn. He searches for evidence of the first 'unbelievers' in Ancient Greece and examines some of the modern theories around why people have always tended to believe in mythology and magic. Part 2: Noughts and Crosses With the domination of Christianity from 500 AD, Jonathan Miller wonders how disbelief began to re-emerge in the 15th and 16th centuries. He discovers that division within the Church played a more powerful role than the scientific discoveries of the period. He also visits Paris, the home of the 18th century atheist, Baron D'Holbach, and shows how politically dangerous it was to undermine the religious faith of the masses. Part 3: The Final Hour The history of disbelief continues with the ideas of self-taught philosopher Thomas Paine, the revolutionary studies of geology and the evolutionary theories of Darwin. Jonathan Miller looks at the Freudian view that religion is a 'thought disorder'. He also examines his motivation behind making the series touching on the issues of death and the religious fanaticism of the 21st century.
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Feb 19, 2010 03:25
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 07:27 |
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I'm gonna throw a request out here for a documentary. I was channel surfing a few months back and came across a really interesting documentary about the housing crisis. It started out talking about the effect of people being granted longer loans for housing back in the first half of the 20th century. It covered the housing crisis in Dallas in the 80's and talked about the need to use property as collateral for loans. It contrasted it with the economic collapse in Argentina and the experiment of providing micro-loans without property used for collateral. To contribute: Absolute Zero (Hulu) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwA If it's NOVA it's probably a good documentary, but this one really sticks out. It looks at the history of cold in relation to humans understanding what it is. It covers the invention of thermometers, refrigeration, and the use of cooling. The last half is really interesting with the scientific race to reach colder and colder temperatures and the discovery of liquid hydrogen/helium and quantum states of matter.
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Feb 22, 2010 00:43
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