Dickens 

Dream come true to hear Professor S speak about Hard Times. Thank you Sir. Profoundly grateful for your own generosity.

Great episode. Hey Dr. Sugrue it would so cool if you could talk about William Blake!

Thank you for continuing to educate us, professor. You are one of the greatest teachers I have ever encountered. Thank you so much. Sincerely.

Thank you, Dr. Sugrue. Your lectures are always enlightening, entertaining, and inspiring. You're the best!

Beautiful point about teaching children. Merrylegs the GOAT

I love how your old videos and the love they have recieved brought you with the help of you, your daughter (and im sure many others) to produce more material! With very few investments the production quality could go much higher and i hope this channel thrive!

Love this channel. Pity I discovered it after his death. He reminds me of my dad who luckily is still with us. He really inspires learning and breaks down these difficult subjects well.

Old curiosity shop is one of my favourite books , dickens is a master at combining the perfect sentences with genius story lines and characters.

Quite simply my favorite professor. A man with an infectious passion and a mastery of literature. His candor, pace and understanding is second to none. Thanks prof.

The ending of this was amazing about children and morality

Thank you Dr Sugrue. Your joy of the book shines through!

Thank you Professor Sugre, I am again listening to this one. "Hard Times" is one of my favorites by Charles Dickens. 6 years old I was already reading, my papa I would pester him , explain this to me, and I still played and painted. Spinoza was for first philosopher and the Bible and poets and literature. Music, nature, farming. Bee hives my grandpa taught me to get their honey, and I learned the exquisite nature of bees. Dynamic and dysfunctional family of various nature's. What an adventure everyone one's life is. Thank you.

Brilliant as always, Professor, thank you so much for sharing your talent, passion, and insight

Thank You!

so cool youre creating new content for us in addition to all the old lectures. youre the best !!!!

give this man a proper camera and setup he deserves it!

There is not a single novel by Dickens that I have not studied.He wrote 20 novels. Yet, I could never get into Hard Times and it was Mike who really walked me through it and unpacked its hidden message.Martin Chuzzlewitis another favourite of mine

Professor Sugrue should write a novel.

I have a great deal of respect for you. Thank you very much for your work.

Very happy to hear this! Thanks Mike!

Are you doing this all from memory? If so.... We're seeing genius. Amazing.

Thank you for this. Your are a first rate teacher and a very likable fellow. Happy Thanksgiving!

Always a pleasure to listen.

The account in the book of the relationship between Stephen and Rachel is so poignant, so heartbreaking beyond words. It is this pure, self-giving love that seems to me the "standard" for the book. It sets the standard that is realized finally in the "faith, hope and charity" that Gradgrind grows into after his catharsis/conversion. This extraordinary gift for teaching, it was part homily, part literary criticism and part philosophy of man--such as I've never experienced. Dickens himself is smiling down from heaven.

Thank you. Thank you.

The problem with lacking education and wanting it for your kids is that you don't know what it is what you want, unless a committed and ethical professional can show you. And once you see what it is, it horrifies you because it's not what you wanted at all. I'm beginning to almost expect such beautiful lessons at the end of these videos, but it still took me by surprise

Beautiful message

Still as always as beautiful..health and happiness!

Thank you so much, dear professor!

Happy Thanksgiving, sir. Thank you for continuing to share your wisdom with a world that needs it. I would love to hear Dr. Sugure speak on the philosophy of George Carlin. He may not be the first name a scholar would say when speaking of contemporary philosophers, but he exposed truth through absurdity with ideas that resonated across generations.

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for a new Michael Sugrue video!

Oh yeah! thanks professor

I would pay good money to see Dr Sugrue deliver one of his lectures in person! So grateful for your erudite content sir.

Excellent as always

Hey there professor.

“To create in the abstract. To create in the minds of men vivifying reflections of the mystery-this is the great work”

This video inspired me to read the book! seriously great job!

Came in for dickens lesson. Left with how to raise children lesson. Love Dr Sugrue. God bless you

excellent as always Dr. Sugrue🥪🧠

Moby Dick needed an editor?? Wasn't it hacked up by editors? How else did we get the facepalm of Wycliffe replaced with Cranmer? Anyways, i haven't read Dickens, but maybe an abridged version in childhood -- enjoying this! Maybe I'll look this book up.

I'm certainly going to read this book now, but I must refrain from spoiling it because I know your analysis is thorough. Thank you for letting me know Charles Dickens is the king of naming shit.

Always a joy to listen to your lectures, old and new. I wonder if you will ever visit for us Ovid and his Metamorphoses?

God bless you Sir

yay! thank u ❤

i have had this one on my shelf for awhile (Hard TImes) - going to read and come back to this video.

Thanks

2 cities is one of my favourite books. Love Dickens. Incomparable I think

It's noticeably how misinterpreted Adam Smith was, in spite of the flaws of his work - even by smart ppl like Dickens. Adam Smith did also write 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments', in which he addressed human emphaty.

Could you please ask professor Sugrue if he ever intends to talk about Max Stirner, the post-hegelian philosopher? Thank you for Charles Dickens.

Dr Sugrue, thank you for another fantastic lecture. I would be very keen to hear your thoughts on Martin Amis's work in particular 'The Information' as it is deeply influenced by the works of Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, Sapir-Whorf, and Sartre and is an extremely ambitious and rich work of philosophically-inquisitive fiction.

Bravo!

I will give Dickens another go, on the back of your recommendation. He was treacle to me on initial reading.

Michael, you need to churn out these videos at a faster pace than once a week. I get uncontrolled cravings for your next lecture.

I seem to remember someone posting your Marcus Aurelius lecture years ago (you were a much younger man when it was recorded, but still sharp as a knife). It was one of the many little things that led to my eventual conversion to the One True God and His Catholic Church. I see you are still faithfully doing His work and this video, like all the others, was fantastic. Thank you again, Professor.

2:43 Mr Gradgrind - Teacher of his own children and other children. Calls his children according to given numbers. 3:44 Grounded in Facts, Vs Children being Children 5:18 Best Friend, Mr Bounderbie, wealthy factory owner accusing the poor of being loafers and lazy and deserving of close to nothing. “Gold Spoon and Turtle Soup.” 7:57 Tommy robs Mr Bounderbee’s bank and frames Stephen Blackpool, good honest virtuous worker. 8:21 Sissy Shoe is the daughter of Mr Slery who has a speech-impediment. Leaves his daughter with Mr Gradgrind. 9:22 Mary Legs, a lovely show dog 10:37 What’s a horse? 12:29 Squares 14:16 Accusations of Undermining Union 15:24 Reason and Imagination. 16:19 Sentiments are properly part of human nature 16:55 Sew Bad Seed, Get Bad Fruit. 17:56 Stephen Blackpool I have to be more charitable 20:12 Paper Love 20:57 Reap What You Sew 21:56 Scadger - ScabBadger 23:14 Coke Town 24:28 Thought he was doing right when he was doing wrong Poor Tiny Tim 😢 Comedians can illicit pathos 32:25 Gradgrind changed his ways, Faith Hope Charity then Facts. 33:50 Sissy Shoop - Flowers, Horses, taken charge. Truly Beautiful. 35:05 36:06 Let children grow slowly. Let children be children for a while. 37:17 Teach them what is suitable for their age. 38:42 Michael Sugrue’s Children

Wonderful video, would love to see an analysis on Lord of the Rings similar to this

I didn’t know Dickens was also a Neuroscientist. The way he describes Mr. Blackpool or Gradgrind, mirrors the ways of the left hemisphere of the brain. The seemingly aimless and misunderstood mentality that enacts its will over all things, in spite of all things, to control all conceivable things. Directly in conflict with the imaginative and abstract elements of understanding that the right hemisphere provides.

Please consider doing a video on Rene Girard! Scapegoating has been such a problem in recent years and would love to hear your take on this important thinker.

Could you please talk about Emile Cioran, about his idea’s about life, death, existence, consciousness, void, hoop, etc. Thank you.

I wonder if Dr. Sugrue has read Starmaker by Olaf Stapledon. It’s a refreshingly philosophical work in the genre of science fiction, written in the 1930s. It introduces some really interesting concepts.

I couldn't follow the story fully, made difficult by those complicated names of those multiple characters. But I got the gist of it....

Professor, can u make some videos on Kafka too?

I've studied more recently that morality was the main function of an education. You can invest in different pursuits that others would say was worthless. We give children 12 years of education which is 8 more than 100 years ago. It's society that say's they are incapable of leadership.

❤❤❤

THE CROC IN THE BACKGROUND 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

Please do Unamuno! Greetings from Perú!

'Powers-that-be' definition: Creditors. Thought experiment: Let's imagine that a future government were to decide to underwrite debtors rather than creditors. What would happen to the entire global 1%? Kaput. They need us more than we need them. And everybody concerned would do well to keep this fact in mind as me move into the future.

Sir can you explain about Human existence of kierkegaard?

Literature? A thousand times more useful and inspiring as a source of life insights and lessons. Philosophy? Not so much.

Please please more Dostoevsky.

Is it a little ironical the J.S. Mill became the face of 19th century utilitarianism given his 'education' (recounted in his autobiography) ? And what 'saved' him...poetry....romantic poetry...poetry of the emotions.

Please do Moby Dick! You could never finish unpacking that text

Children 5-10 are good at “rote” learning, like times tables.

Loose baggy monster…. I’m claiming this. 😂

The gecko lizard clings with its feet, And goes into the palace of a king Pr 30:28

I don’t think the opening line is “facts, facts, facts”

Mr. Surgrue. I believe Ayn Rand has not at all been given the attention she deserves. Could you please make a proper respectful video on her philosophy without any evasions. Please. I'd rather prefer to talk to you beforehand as I believe I've understood the solution which can change the world

"Medicine, law, buisness, engineering these are noble pursuits neccessary to sustain life but poetry, beauty, romance, love, joy these are what we stay alive for" - Dead Poets Society

adopt me as a son before you leave

I have this novel in a 1987 penguin.....I tried to read it but it saddened me I will try a 2nd time

Thanks