After watching the Vervaeke lecture yesterday.
I had to travel back to the late 1980’s and recall when I first watched a wonderful TV series hosted by Bryan Maggee.
Magee through a series of discussions with academics in various fields of Philosophy, attempted to lay out a history of Philosophy. I devoured every episode it was wonderful and sits in my archives.
The one figure who totally captured me (like John Vervaeke today) was a brilliant teacher who eloquently articulated and communicated the complexities of the works of Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty that Professor was Hubert Dreyfus.
I went on a deep dive, downloading many hours of lectures by Professor Dreyfus on the works of Heidegger, which I have on hard drives to this day, and use as a resource to refresh myself on Heidegger from time to time.
Even in the days prior to Podcasting I built up a substantial archive of lectures on Philosophy and Comparitive Religion. Listening to many, many hours of lectures. Pure bliss.
Dreyfus’s book “Skillful Coping: Essays on the phenomenology of everyday perception and action” also became a key text.
The many hours of Dreyfus’s lectures I had downloaded, gave me a good basic introduction to Heidegger.
Hubert Dreyfus had a very unique talent as a Professor, Teacher, Dreyfus was a great communicator, his lectures are wonderful and I treasure them.
Dreyfus’ work is still very relevant today, in highlighting, how a deep understanding of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty points to limitations and problems to be solved within the fields of Artificial Intelligence and the understanding of consciousness.