Four Hundred Years of Freethought, Part 1


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This is Samuel Putnam's tour of European literature which began to appear once the globe was circumnavigated and the printing press made books more available, which encouraged thinking and questioning beyond the confines of the Bible and provincial customs. It traces the modernization of education as we learned more about the universe -- astronomy, physics and science, philosophy -- and delved into understanding our own natures beyond religious constraints. It begins with Giordano Bruno, then bounces around among an array of philosophers - Bruno, Spinoza, Descartes, Locke, Spencer, Heeckel, etc., while making a sweep through Literature, the discovery of America, the French and American Revolutions, America's Civil War, playwrights like Shakespeare, agnostics like Ingersoll and Paine, the major and minor poets of Europe and America, geology, evolution, politics, nature, ethics, women's emancipation, and evaluates the influence of freethought in the Western world as of the 1890's. Putnam was a highly accomplished and prolific writer and poet, easy to follow yet often profound. (Summary by Michele Fry, BC) (19 hr 33 min)

Chapters

Proem (Preface) - The Past - Bruno; The Present - Ingersoll; and The Future - T… 7:55 Read by Michele Fry
I. Introduction 14:28 Read by Michele Fry
II. The Three Voyages - Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Magellan 20:33 Read by Rita Boutros
III. Before Columbus 26:37 Read by Rita Boutros
IV. Astronomy 16:22 Read by Harley James
V. The Reformation 8:20 Read by Larry Wilson
VI.1 Philosophy: Bruno 24:51 Read by Larry Wilson
VI.2 Philosophy: Spinoza 18:05 Read by Larry Wilson
VII.1 Minor Philosophers: Pomponazzi 32:16 Read by Rita Boutros
VII.2 Minor Philosophers: Telesio, Campanella, Vanini 16:09 Read by Cbteddy
VIII.1 The Critical Philosophy: Descartes, Hobbs & Locke 14:42 Read by Michele Fry
VIII.2 The Critical Philosophy: Hume & Kant 25:44 Read by Ted Lienhart
VIII.3 The Critical Philosophy: Hamilton 21:23 Read by Ted Lienhart
VIII.4 The Critical Philosophy: Comte 22:01 Read by Tessa Adler
IX. The Final Scientific Answer - Monism 33:34 Read by Rita Boutros
X.1 Education and Ethics: Bacon 32:04 Read by Kari Burns
X.2 Education and Ethics: Comenius, Pestalozzi 15:26 Read by Rita Boutros
X.3 Education and Ethics: Froebel & Combe 15:22 Read by Ted Lienhart
X.4 Education and Ethics: Herbert Spencer & Huxley 21:34 Read by Ted Lienhart
X.5 Education and Ethics: Holyoake 20:44 Read by Rita Boutros
X.6 Education and Ethics: Owen & Haeckel 23:37 Read by Ted Lienhart
XI.1 Literature: Provencal 22:25 Read by Ted Lienhart
XI.2 Literature: Rabelais, Montaigne & Cervantes 13:30 Read by jenno
XI.3 Literature:Mysteries and Moralities, Marlow 19:08 Read by Kari Burns
XI.4 Literature: Shakespere 26:10 Read by Kari Burns
XII Gibbon 43:52 Read by Ted Lienhart
XIII.1 Voltaire 21:31 Read by JFSmoyer
XIII.2 How Voltaire Died 32:53 Read by JFSmoyer
XIII.3 Rousseau, Diderot, the Paris Salon 30:37 Read by C. B. Seyfarth
XIII.4 The French Revolution 18:59 Read by Tatiana Chichilla
XIII.5 Thomas Paine 31:30 Read by Kari Burns
XIII.6 Condorcet, Volney 11:35 Read by KevinS
XIV.1 Shelley-Goethe Era 24:10 Read by Michele Fry
XIV.2 Shakesperean Era (Homer, Virgil & Milton) 32:56 Read by Kari Burns
XIV.3 Modern Poets (Burns, Wordsworth, Scott, Keats, Byron, Lessing, Schiller &… 32:46 Read by Michele Fry
XV. Geology - Age of Man; Age of Earth; Order of Evolution 23:52 Read by Harley James
XVI.1 Evolution - What is Evolution? 27:27 Read by Rita Boutros
XVI.2 Evolution - Methods & Proofs 28:07 Read by Rita Boutros
XVI.3 Evolution - Results - Religion - Morality, Progress 36:42 Read by Rita Boutros
XVII.1 Modern Europe - Politics (Kossuth, Mazzini) 22:42 Read by Ted Lienhart
XVII.2 Modern Europe - Politics (Garibaldi & Proudhon) 20:41 Read by Ted Lienhart
XVII.3 Modern Europe - Politics (Bakounine, Marx, Lassalle & Gambetta) 22:28 Read by Ted Lienhart
XVII.4 Modern Europe - Politics (Oasteler & Bradlaugh) 15:56 Read by Ted Lienhart
XVIII.1 Modern European Literature: Realism (Tennyson & Swinburne) 17:22 Read by Beeswaxcandle
XVIII.2 Modern European Literature: France and Scandanavia: (Massey, Hugo, Zola… 11:08 Read by Beeswaxcandle
XVIII.3 Modern European Literature: Russia (Pushkin, Gogol, Turgeneff, Tolstoi … 7:47 Read by Beeswaxcandle
XVIII.4 Modern European Literature: Science and Philosophy (Huxley, Tyndale, Mi… 10:13 Read by Beeswaxcandle
XIX.1 America Before the Civil War - Paine and Jefferson 23:22 Read by Michele Fry
XIX.2 America Before the Civil War - William Lloyd Garrison 11:29 Read by Michele Fry
XIX.3 America Before the Civil War - Freethought (Bryant, Poe, Thoreau & Emerso… 11:02 Read by Michele Fry
XX.1 Woman's Emancipation - the Bible, the Church, the State - Before Christian… 20:32 Read by Rita Boutros
XX.2 Woman's Emancipation - Woman Herself 30:22 Read by Rita Boutros
XXI.1 America Today - Inside Christianity 22:17 Read by Tatiana Chichilla
XXI.2 America Today - Outside Christianity; Walt Whitman 3:43 Read by Phil Chenevert
XX1.3 America Today - Outside Christianity; Ingersoll 12:28 Read by Tatiana Chichilla