Welcome to Crash Course Political Theory! Over the next 13 episodes, Ellie Anderson will introduce you to the perspectiv | dHNfTFU3ZmxMNlEwZjg
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00:00What is justice? And who gets to decide?
00:04What is liberty? And how do we measure it?
00:07Is war ever justified? Should prisons be abolished?
00:11What does communism actually mean? Should governments even exist?
00:16Maybe, in a swirl of information, some of these questions are on your mind.
00:20Or maybe the only question on your mind is, who should I vote for?
00:23Or, what's going to happen if that's who people vote for?
00:27Or, wait, I'm supposed to be voting?
00:30No matter where you are in the information vortex, we'll meet you there.
00:34I'm Ellie Anderson, and this is Crash Course Political Theory.
00:38I'm a philosophy professor, and I'm obsessed with finding ways to make sense of the present by learning from the thinkers of the past.
00:44I've taught at colleges and universities for over a decade, and I write both for other academics and for the public.
00:50I'm also co-host of Overthink Podcast and YouTube channel, where I help people understand philosophy and how it can make sense of their everyday lives.
00:58For the next few months, we'll dig into ideas that seem unshakable, like freedom and justice, rights and democracy, but are actually always evolving.
01:09In other words, we don't really know or agree on what we mean by them.
01:13We're constantly negotiating them, in every protest, election, and a large percentage of TikToks.
01:20Political theory explores concepts and questions that have dogged humanity since we first organized ourselves into groups,
01:27and that continue to inform the biggest issues of our time, from policing and incarceration to war and inequality.
01:34It brings together Socrates, Karl Marx, Hannah Arendt, bell hooks, your grandma, and even you,
01:42to ask and try to answer questions fundamental to who we are and what we want the world to be.
01:47The series won't advise you on who to vote for or what to think.
01:51But political theory can give us the skills to sift through information that overwhelms us from all sides,
01:58to identify fears and values spiraling amid facts and evidence,
02:02to get a better handle on the ideas at the root of contemporary politics,
02:07and to notice patterns that can make us better informed and more compassionate citizens.
02:11So let's meet back here, next week, for some calm and clarity amid the political chaos.
02:17Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Political Theory,
02:20which was filmed at the Bastille studio and was made with the help of all these nice people.
02:24If you want to help keep Crash Course free for everyone, forever, you can join our community on Patreon.