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PHILOSOPHY

The Problem with Video Essays

Philosophy Tube | June 16, 2026



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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Aristotle, De Caelo
Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption
Amir Alexander, Liberty’s Grid
Hakob Barseghyan, Nicholas Overgaard, & Gregory Rupik, “Chapter 8,” in Introduction to History and Philosophy of Science
John Brinckerhoff Jackson, “Jefferson, Thoreau, and After,” in Landscape in Sight: Looking at America
Robert C. Bosanquet, “Greek and Roman Towns I,” in Town Planning Review
Rene Descartes, Principles of Philosophy
Rene Descartes, Meditations
John Dunne, “Measuring Locke’s Shadow”
Matthew H. Edney, “Review of Liberty’s Grid,” in Imago Mundi
John Henry, “The Mechanical Philosophy,” in The Scientific Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science
James E. Lewis, “Review of Liberty’s Grid,” in William and Mary Quarterly
John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government
Isaac Newton, Principia
Steven Shapin, “On Gods and Kings: Natural Philosophy and Politics in the Leibniz-Clarke Disputes,” in Isis
Dan Stanislawski, “The Origin and Spread of the Grid-Pattern Town,” in Geographical Review
Martyn Thompson, “Locke’s Contract in Context,” in The Social Contract From Hobbes to Rawls
James Tully, “Rediscovering America”
James D. Walsh, “Everyone is Cheating Their Way Through College,” in New York Magazine
Wil Williams, “The Video Essays That Spawned an Entire YouTube Genre,” in Polygon

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#philosophy #history #geography

Written by Philosophy Tube

Comments

This post currently has 44 comments.

  1. @Hannahtehbanana

    June 16, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    Video essays make my brain hurt now. Not because I don’t like learning new things, but because I know I’m getting bombarded by a bunch of people who get their facts and opinions from TikTok. It seems like everyone’s a professional on every controversial topic now, even if it’s for the sake of pretending to be one because hopping on the most trending controversial topic is gonna make them the big bucks. No I don’t want to watch you rant for 50 minutes about why “AI bad 😡” especially if I know it’s going to be you just rambling about your take on it like 50 other people have already done.

    We’re information fatigued while simultaneously being bombarded with misinformation lol

  2. @sagoot

    June 16, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    7:30
    Aristotle model (And later Ptolemy's improved model) were accepted because for a long time, they were just the best models out there.
    The church only accepted these models around the 12th century. But before being accepted by Christianity, Greek, Roman, Muslim and Jewish thinkers were still using Aristotle's model.

  3. @AllfatherBlack

    June 16, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    The problem with video essays even those of merit is the same problem philosophy has always had: no one gives a shit and your beliefs are provably worthless if they don't result in something physical, tangible results for the normal person.

    All these video essays do almost literally nothing unless theyre AT LEAST like 2 hours long. I watch various categories literally every day, and I cant explain what it is, but Im 100% confident its actually impossible to explain any important subject in less than an hour and even then it would not be useful to anyone with just TWO hours of experience.

    And who watches video essays over even 45 minutes usually? Almost no one watches the 45 minute ones, hence YouTube Shorts, tiktok, reddit comments etc.

    We need a solution that requires tools we don't have which is an informed, capable populace (in America).

    Best of luck to you all Im out this B including Youtube ASAP

  4. @Kimeters

    June 16, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    While ether theory as historically presented is provably false, I still find that the idea it presents helps for understanding how virtual forces exist in special relativity.
    For example, binary black holes decaying orbits are sort of commonly known vaguely about through pop science. But if theyre in empty space orbiting each other smoothly for millenia, then how do they fall into each other? Well they create distortions in gravity that can be measured from Earth and the energy making those distortions has to come from somewhere – their orbital energy. The motion of the stars drags the vaccuum itself.

  5. @KKcreeps-1

    June 16, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    Being from a university background where it’s standard to cite references for any factual statement you make, it didn’t occur to me you might only be using a single source for a whole video like this, there are other video essayists who have less of a professional and experienced impression whom I am conscious of this fact with, and take what they say with a grain of salt, but that level of critical thinking shouldn’t just be reserved for those who seem the least professional or put together

  6. @nepnep1057

    June 16, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    Yeah… this is how I feel about science communication as well, infotainment in general is great (it's most of what I watch here lol), but making content mass-entertaining fundamentally doesn't allow for the same rigor as purely informational content. I believe both have value, infotainment is an incredible way to get people interested in something, it just shouldn't ever be treated as a source.

  7. @LordRavensong

    June 16, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    I make maps for authors and do panels about how authors can use maps to help their stories, and I have a theory about maps: when you see a straight line on a map, there's a very, very, very high chance that it was drawn by a white man who had never been to the area.

  8. @JohnHenry1

    June 16, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    At long last, you've acknowledged what has always been true: your chosen medium and developed style are fundamentally performative – more about delivering validation to the already-convinced than offering the kind of nuanced, thought-provoking insight that lingers. It's telling that this moment of self-awareness arrives more than twenty minutes into a video on a relatively dry subject. This confession deserves its own full video – and, to your credit, a noticeable shift in your approach. Still, it's hard not to reflect on the many polemical, ideology-driven videos you've released on far weightier topics, each amassing hundreds of thousands of devout followers. One can only imagine their discontent when you stop feeding their regular doses of smug, self-righteous indignation and certainty.

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