Good in Theory: A Political Philosophy Podcast
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
46 - Athenian democracy and Plato w/ Graham Culbertson (Everyday Anarchism Podcast)
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is a crossover collabo with Graham Culbertson of the Everyday Anarchism podcast. Graham asked me over to talk Athenian democracy, Plato, ...
45 - Humane War feat. Samuel Moyn
05 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
War tends to bring out the human propensity for atrocity. Nobody likes indiscriminate killing, torture and so on. What to do about it? One response is...
44 - Samuel Huntington "The Clash of Civilizations?"
17 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Samuel J. Huntington’s 1993 “The Clash of Civilizations?” is the most assigned article in American political science. It predicts a worldwide ...
43 - Tyranny at Work feat. Elizabeth Anderson
06 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Americans hate when the state tells them what to do. They’ve got freer speech, freer access to guns and less regulation on business than any other r...
42 - The New Aristocracy feat. Matthew Stewart
02 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Stewart is a philosophy PhD and author. He’s also a Princeton guy and former management consultant so he knows rich people. His new book, T...
41 - Love in the Time of Big Data feat. Alfie Bown
18 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Big tech companies tell us they’re our servants, existing to fulfill our desires more cheaply and conveniently than ever. Alfie Bown doesn’t think...
40 - Is Liberal Democracy the Best We Can Do? feat. The Morality of Everyday Things
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is democracy the worst form of government except for all the others or is it just the worst? This is a crossover with the delightful Morality of Eve...
39 - The Glorious History and Ugly Present of Rhetoric feat. Rob Goodman
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rhetoric is supposed to inspire. Imagine Cicero exhorting the Roman people, Churchill vowing to “fight on the beaches.” Yet, when politicians spea...
38 - GiT Holiday Special with Sep
26 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the holidays again! And Theory Elf Sep comes on to help celebrate them. We talk about the past year of working on the pod, where I've been...
37 - Thought Lab 4: The Psychology of Horror
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Grizzly bears are scary. But what about zombie grizzly bears? What’s makes something horrifying rather than just frightening? Paul has a theory. It...
36 - Moral Saints 2: Why Be a Saint?
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is about Wolf’s “Moral Saints,” Peter Singer’s “Famine, Affluence and Morality,” and Larissa Macfarquhar’s Strangers Drowni...
35 - Susan Wolf, “Moral Saints”
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is about Susan Wolf’s 1982 article “Moral Saints.” You’re probably a moral enough person. But have you ever had that nagging fee...
34 - The Esoteric Plato feat. Earl Fontainelle
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today I speak with Earl Fontainelle of the Secret History of Western Esotericism podcast (SHWEP). I don’t understand Plato. Partly this is because ...
33 - The End of the End of History feat. Philip Cunliffe and George Hoare
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I talk to Phillip Cunliffe and George Hoare about their new book The End of the End of History. In 1989, Francis Fukuyama predicted a boring eternit...
32 - Fukuyama’s “The End of History?”
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1989, Francis Fukuyama was a foreign policy expert with an interest in Hegel. He published a little essay called “The End of History?” in which...
31 - Thought Lab 3: Utilitarianism & the Great Spreadsheet
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Paul Sagar and I get into utilitarianism. We talk about thought experiments that involve: drowning kids, ruined loafers, death squads and biowe...
30 - Plato's Republic 13: Choose Yourself
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers the last bit of book 10 of Plato’s Republic. Imagine you get to choose your reincarnation. You can come back as a tyrant, a spor...
29 - Plato's Republic 12: Poetic Sweet Tooth
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Socrates thinks that poetry is like candy: delicious but bad for us. If we consume too much, it’ll rot our souls. That’s because the poets just pa...
28 - Plato's Republic 11: A Tyrant's Life
19 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers book 9 of Plato's Republic. In this episode, Socrates is going to finally answer the question that started it all. Back in b...
27 - Plato's Republic 10: Degenerate Cities, Degenerate Souls
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How does politics affect personality? In the ideal city, the perfect laws and education create philosopher kings. But what about everywhere else? I...
26 - Plato's Republic 9: Horny for the Good
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers book 7 of Plato's Republic. Socrates is what I call a “philosopher of desire.” He cares more about the questions than...
25 - Thought Lab 2: Tainted Art and Moral Luck
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is it ok to laugh at The Cosby Show? To rock to “Rock With You”? To eat with the knife that was used to murder your family? Does bad luck make you...
24 - Plato's Republic 8: The Philosopher Kings
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This book covers parts of books 5-6 of Plato’s Republic. Who should rule the city in speech? Philosophers of course! In this episode, Socrates expla...
23 - Plato’s Republic 7: Socratic Family Values
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers book 5 of Plato’s Republic.What do you do when the private family causes too much corruption? Nationalize it! Create a giant fam...
22 - Thought Lab 1: The Dead Chicken Experiment
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first in our Thought Lab series, in which political theorist Paul Sagar comes by to chat about thought experiments and the themes they rai...
21 - GiT Valentine's Day Special: Rousseau and Romance Past
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I talk about a crush I had in Paris as a boy. Then Sep and I dig into Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Marcel Proust to explain what on earth was going on in...
20 - Do Free Markets Make Free Humans? Interview with Jeffrey Bercuson
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jeffrey Bercuson is author of A History of Political Thought: Property, Labor, and Commerce from Plato to Piketty.This book does a whirlwind tour thro...
19 - Granny Gore to Girl Power: Naomi Hamer on the History of Fairy Tales
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Naomi Hamer of Ryerson University tells us an unfamiliar version of a classic fairy tale then chats about how children’s stories have changed and th...
18 - GiT Xmas movie special with Sep
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sep of Sep’s Weird Movie Blog comes on to talk about Christmas movie and capitalist fairy tale, Trading Places. Sep is Good in Theory’s episode ar...
17 - Plato's Republic 6: How to be a Good Person
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers book 4 of Plato’s Republic. What does it mean to be a good person? What is justice? To answer these questions, Socrates and the...
16 - Plato's Republic 5: Lies, Noble Lies and Gymnastics
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers the second half of book 3 of Plato’s Republic. Glaucon and Socrates develop a completely immersive education program for the gua...
15 - Interview: politics v. philosophy with Agnes Callard
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Agnes Callard is a philosophy prof, Plato expert and public philosopher. We talk about the relationship between politics and philosophy (it’s compli...
14 - Plato's Republic 4: Myths 4 KidZ
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers parts of books 2 and 3 of Plato’s Republic. Adeimantus and Socrates start planning an education for the guardians. As it stands,...
13 - Plato’s Republic 3: City of Pigs, Army of Dogs
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode covers the first part of book 2 of Republic. Glaucon and Adeimantus take over the conversation with Socrates and challenge him to prove...
12 - Interview: Paul Sagar, what's your problem with Plato?
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Sagar is a lecturer in political theory at King's College London and the guy who played Thrasymachus in book 1. He actually doesn't li...
11 - Plato's Republic 2: Good to be Bad
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
(covers the second half of book 1 of Plato's Republic) In this episode, Socrates goes up against his most formidable opponent yet: the sophist Th...
10 - Plato's Republic 1: Justice for Beginners
07 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Plato’s Republic is full of bad arguments and worse political proposals and it may still be the most influential work of political theory ever. Book...
9 - Athens: Ahoy Polloi!
11 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
9 - Athens: Ahoy Polloi! The Athenians ran their government like an open mic night, pulled off one of the greatest golden ages in human history and sh...
8 - Sparta: Killer Beehive
21 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Spartans are legendary fighters and legendary patriots. They believed in equality, meritocracy, and freedom. They also ran the most brutal slave s...
7 - Interview: Rebecca Goldstein
13 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rebecca Goldstein wrote a book of Platonic dialogues, in which Plato is on a 21st-century book tour in America. It’s called Plato at the Googleplex....
6 - The Polis: Freedom Farms, Phalanxes and Class War
06 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Greeks invented political liberty and everyone loves them for it. Were they freedom-loving geniuses? Maybe. Were they farm boys who could handle...
5 - Plato’s Apology 5: The Apology of Athens
22 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Executing an innocent 70-year-old philosophy might look bad but you had to be there. Topics include: Why a reasonable, well-intentioned Athenian may h...
4 - Plato's Apology 4: Your Brain On Politics
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A lot of Athenians suspect Socrates of plotting to overthrow democracy. On the other hand, Socrates says that when Athenians start thinking politics, ...
3 - Plato's Apology 3: Not-So-Dangerous Minds
25 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Some people think that philosophy is an outrage to religion and a danger to morality. Was this why the Athenians killed Socrates? Are these ever good ...
2 - Plato’s Apology 2: Free Speech Hero?
11 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Socrates insults his jury, dares them to sentence him to death, then makes fun of them when they do. Unswerving commitment to truth? Troll’s defenc...
1 - Plato's Apology 1: The Divine Troll
11 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Socrates, daddy of Greek philosophy, is on trial for impiety and corrupting the youth. According to him, his only crime was trolling the city of Athe...
Trailer
04 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Good in Theory is a podcast about political philosophy and the history of ideas. Clif Mark explains his favourite books in enough detail that you&apos...