Didn't I ask for a cocktail?
PRODUCER: Three, two, one, action.
NARRATOR: AzzyLand presents
most of what you need to know about philosophy
in around five minutes.
The word philosophy tells us why the subject matters.
It's originally a word from Ancient Greek.
The first part, "philo," means love.
The second part "sophia" means wisdom.
So, philosophy means, quite literally,
"The love of wisdom."
But what does wisdom mean?
NARRATOR: Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?
Plato.
For Plato, the essence of living a wise life
came down to the command, "To know yourself."
His big idea was that our lives so often go wrong
because we don't give ourselves time
to think carefully and logically.
Meaning that we often end up with the wrong values,
careers and relationships.
I want to marry the princess.
You? Marry the princess? [LAUGHING]
AZZYLAND: Plato observed how proud
people were about their instincts,
making snap decisions based on how they felt.
He compared this to being dragged along
by a group of blindfolded wild horses.
[HORSE NEIGHS]
NARRATOR: Daoism.
AZZYLAND: Daoism, or "The Way,"
is based on the concept of wu wei,
which means "non-doing" or "doing nothing."
But it doesn't mean being lazy.
Wu wei is connected to reverence
for the natural world.
We should behave like bamboo that bends in the wind
or the plant that adjusts itself to the shape of a tree.
Instead of trying to force things,
we must put our egos aside
to be at one with the environment.
We can be like water, which is submissive and weak,
but it has the power to wear down
what is hard and strong.
NARRATOR: Stoicism.
Stoicism flourished for around 400 years
in Ancient Greece and Rome.
But it's still a useful guide for teaching us
how to be calm and brave
in these uncertain and anxious times.
What we need to do is systematically
and intelligently crush every last vestige of hope.
It is far better, the Stoics proposed,
to courageously come to terms with every worst possibility
and then make ourselves entirely at home with them,
embracing what could happen if our worst fears came true.
We would cope.
Vogue break!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Machiavelli.
Machiavelli said, wicked people use lies,
threats and violence to get their way.
And that's why they rule the world.
Machiavelli's most famous book...
The Prince.
[DRUMROLL]
The Prince gave advice to princes,
who ran things in those days, on how to get things done.
The Prince was not a guide to being a tyrant.
It's a guide about what nice people
need to learn from tyrants,
so they can be effective.
[SNAPS] Manstool?
NARRATOR: Nietzsche.
Nietzsche's boldest assertion was that God is dead
and we killed him.
This was not some kind of boast.
Nietzsche thought that religious beliefs are very useful.
And he called for a reformation
in which people would fill the gaps
created by the disappearance of religion
with the wisdom and healing beauty of culture.
NARRATOR: Existentialism.
The Existentialists focused on the agony of choice.
They asked us to reject the delusion
that perfection is within reach.
That sinking feeling that we had
that option to choose correctly, but failed,
is an illusion.
Disappointment is just an inevitable characteristic
of the human condition.
[EXHALES]
[LAUGHS]
Philosophy used to be [BLEEP] cool,
with people like Socrates out in the streets
in Ancient Greece asking people real questions
and discussing [SNAPS] big ideas.
Over time, those big ideas
have become stuck in universities
and debated by people with no interest
in actually improving the world.
But the Internet is turning the tables
and philosophy is back, baby,
with ordinary people asking deep questions
in discussions just like this one.
Right here, on YouTube.
NARRATOR: So, now that you've had a crash course
in what philosophy actually is,
catch up on the rest of the series,
as some of YouTube's most popular creators
tackle some of philosophy's most intriguing ideas,
right here, on The School of Life.
Want to know more? Of course you do.
Click the link below.