Philosophy Bites

Marilyn McCord Adams on Evil

12 Jul 2009

Contributed by Lukas

The Problem of Evil is usually presented as a problem for believers. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Marilyn McCord Adams suggests tha...

Luciano Floridi on the Fourth Revolution

28 Jun 2009

Contributed by Lukas

New technology is changing our relationship to reality and in the process what we are, argues Luciano Floridi, in this episode of the philosophy podca...

Paul Snowdon on Persons and Animals

14 Jun 2009

Contributed by Lukas

What is a person and what makes me the same person over time despite change? John Locke emphasized that continuity of memory makes us the same person ...

Michael Sandel on What Shouldn't Be Sold

28 May 2009

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Sandel. 2009 Reith Lecturer, discusses the moral limits of markets. You can follow Nigel Warburton discussing Sandel's first Reith lecture on ...

Allen Buchanan on Enhancement

16 May 2009

Contributed by Lukas

Philosophy Bites looks at ethical questions raised by enhancement. Technological developments have opened up many new opportunities for intervening in...

Walter Sinnott-Armstrong on Moral Psychology

02 May 2009

Contributed by Lukas

Moral psychology is the empirical study of how people make moral judgements. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Walter Sinnott-Armstrong ...

Thomas Hurka on Pleasure

18 Apr 2009

Contributed by Lukas

Pleasure is something we all want. But is it, and should it be the only thing that we want? Is pleasure all the same kind of thing? Philosopher Thom...

Terence Irwin on Aristotle's Ethics

04 Apr 2009

Contributed by Lukas

This episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast focuses on Aristotle's Ethics. In conversation with Nigel Warburton, Terence Irwin of Oxford University e...

Raymond Tallis on Assisted Dying

21 Mar 2009

Contributed by Lukas

Assisted dying, providing a patient with the means to kill themselves, is a highly controversial issue. For this episode of the Philosophy Bites podca...

Julian Savulescu on the 'Yuk' Factor

08 Mar 2009

Contributed by Lukas

Should we base our morality on our emotional reactions of disgust? We all have a sense of 'yuk' at some activities or situations. Julian Savulescu of ...

Sebastian Gardner on Sartre on Bad Faith

20 Feb 2009

Contributed by Lukas

Jean-Paul Sartre's notion of Bad Faith lies at the core of his existentialist classic Being and Nothingness. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites p...

Keith Ward on Idealism in Eastern and Western Philosophy

06 Feb 2009

Contributed by Lukas

Questions about the nature of reality are at the heart of all philosophy in both Western and Eastern traditions. Keith Ward gives an overview of the i...

David Papineau on Scientific Realism

22 Jan 2009

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists talk about sub-atomic particles which are invisible to the eye. Do such particles really exist? Or are they simply convenient fictions that...

Kate Soper on Alternative Hedonism

11 Jan 2009

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Soper believes that we need to rethink how we live in the light of impending environmental catastrophe. She maintains that alternative ways of li...

Chandran Kukathas on Genocide

29 Dec 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Genocide is, at first glance, a straightforward term. We understand what it is and why it is such an evil. But, as  Chandran Kukathas of the London S...

M.M. McCabe on the Paradox of Inquiry

14 Dec 2008

Contributed by Lukas

How do we learn anything? This isn't a puzzle until you start thinking hard about it. In his dialogue The Meno, Plato presented an apparent paradox ab...

Raymond Tallis on Parmenides

07 Dec 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Parmenides was one of the most important pre-Socratic philosophers. Raymond Tallis discusses his ideas and influence in this episode of the Philosophy...

Don Cupitt on Non-Realism about God

30 Nov 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Don Cupitt, a controversial theologian and philosopher, whose BBC television series and book The Sea of Faith was extremely influential, giving birth ...

Wendy Brown on Tolerance

23 Nov 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Tolerance is usually thought of as the great virtue of democratic societies. Wendy Brown of UC Berkeley asks some sceptical questions about the concep...

Anne Phillips on Political Representation

16 Nov 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Political representation in a democracy doesn't necessarily reflect the variety of people within a society. Most noticeably, there is a much lower per...

Anthony Grayling on Bombing Civilians in Wartime

09 Nov 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Anthony Grayling argues that bombing civilians in Dresden and other German cities in the Second World War was morally wrong.

Christopher Shields on Personal Identity

03 Nov 2008

Contributed by Lukas

What makes anyone the same person over time? In this interview for Philosophy Bites Christopher Shields addresses this question of personal identity, ...

Alexander Nehamas on Friendship

26 Oct 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Alexander Nehamas explores the value of friendship in this interview with Nigel Warburton for the Philosophy Bites podcast.

Raymond Geuss on Real Politics

19 Oct 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Raymond Geuss wants political philosophers to focus on real politics rather than abstract notions. In this interview with Nigel Warburton for Philosop...

Roger Crisp on Virtue

12 Oct 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Roger Crisp discusses the nature of virtue in this interview with Nigel Warburton for  the Philosophy Bites podcast.

Anthony Appiah on Experiments in Ethics

05 Oct 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Anthony Appiah makes the case for the relevance of psychological experiments to our ethical reasoning in this interview for the Philosophy Bites podca...

Christopher Janaway on Nietzsche on Morality

28 Sep 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Friedrich Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morality provides a radical view of the origins of our values. Nigel Warburton interviews Christopher Janaway a...

Peter Cave on Paradoxes

21 Sep 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Philosophers have been fascinated by paradoxes since ancient times. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Nigel Warburton interviews Peter C...

Adrian Moore on Kant's Metaphysics

14 Sep 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is a notoriously difficult work. In this interview for Philosophy Bites A.W. Moore of Oxford University gives ...

Barry C. Smith on Neuroscience

07 Sep 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Philosophers of mind have traditionally introspected sitting alone in their rooms. Now new developments in neuroscience are producing surprising resul...

Ray Monk on Philosophy and Biography

31 Aug 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Ray Monk discusses the relationship between philosophy and biography in this interview with Nigel Warburton for the Philosophy Bites podcast. Can an u...

M.M. McCabe on Socratic Method

24 Aug 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Philosophy began in earnest with Socrates. He asked impertinent questions. In this interview with M.M. McCabe, Philosophy Bites explores the nature of...

Aaron Ridley on Nietzsche on Art and Truth

16 Aug 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas about art and truth run through much of his philosophical writing, but are most apparent in his first book, The Birth of T...

Clare Carlisle on Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling

10 Aug 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Soren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling retells and interprets the story of Abraham and Isaac. In Kierkegaard's hands the story becomes a model for the...

Alex Neill - the Paradox of Tragedy

03 Aug 2008

Contributed by Lukas

How can we enjoy watching tragedy when it is a genre that deals with suffering and pain? In this episode of  the Philosophy Bites podcast Alex Neill ...

Quentin Skinner on Machiavelli's The Prince

27 Jul 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince is one of the most notorious works of political philosophy ever written. Quentin Skinner sets it in its historical co...

Peter Adamson on Plotinus on Evil

20 Jul 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Plotinus, who lived in the 3rd Century A.D., was the founder of neo-platonism. In this episode of Philosophy Bites Peter Adamson explains what Plotinu...

Matthew Kramer on Legal Rights

13 Jul 2008

Contributed by Lukas

What precisely is a legal right? Matthew Kramer discusses this question with Nigel Warburton in this episode of Philosophy Bites.

Melissa Lane on Rousseau on Modern Society

06 Jul 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Modern society is for most people synonymous with progress. Not for the eighteenth century thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau believed that civil...

John Broome on Weighing Lives

29 Jun 2008

Contributed by Lukas

How do we weigh lives one against another? Governments frequently have to make life and death decisions that take in to account such issues as the qua...

Robert Rowland Smith on Derrida on Forgiveness

22 Jun 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Jacques Derrida, father of deconstructionism, divided philosophers. For some he was a genius; for others a charlatan. In this episode of the Philosoph...

John Dunn on Locke on Toleration

15 Jun 2008

Contributed by Lukas

John Locke, writing in the Seventeenth Century, argued for religious toleration, though stopped short of toleration of atheists. In this episode of th...

Will Kymlicka on Minority Rights

08 Jun 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Should minority groups such as recent immigrants or those who have suffered historic injustice be given rights that other citizens don't have? Will Ky...

Jennifer Hornsby on Human Agency

01 Jun 2008

Contributed by Lukas

What goes on when someone does something deliberately? Jennifer Hornsby discusses this difficult philosophical question with Nigel Warburton in this e...

Tim Scanlon on Free Speech

30 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

In this bonus episode produced in association with the Open University, Tim Scanlon discusses the limits of free speech with Nigel Warburton. A transc...

Donna Dickenson on Body Shopping

25 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Do you own your body? If not, who does? These are important questions in an age in which there is extensive trade in body parts. Donna Dickenson, auth...

Mary Warnock on the Right to Have a Baby

22 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

In this bonus episode produced in association with The Open University, Mary Warnock, a philosopher who also sits in the House of Lords, addresses the...

Anthony Kenny on Aquinas' Ethics

18 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Aquinas, the thirteenth century Dominican is the subject of this episode of Philosophy Bites. Anthony Kenny explains the key features of Aquina...

Michael Sandel on Genetic Enhancement in Sport

14 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

In this bonus episode of Philosophy Bites made in association with the Open University, Michael Sandel addresses the question of whether we should all...

Jonathan Wolff on Marx on Alienation

11 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Karl Marx's theory of alienated labour is the topic of this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Jonathan Wolff, author of Why Read Marx Today? ex...

Peter Singer on Human Use of Animals

08 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

In this bonus episode produced in association with the Open University as part of the Ethics Bites series, Peter Singer, perhaps the world's best kno...

Chandran Kukathas on Hayek's Liberalism

04 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Friedrich Hayek was a major figure in Twentieth Century economics and political philosophy, but his ideas are sometimes caricatured, not least because...

Richard Reeves on Mill's On Liberty

27 Apr 2008

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Philosophy Bites Richard Reeves, author of a recent biography of John Stuart Mill sheds light on Mill's classic defence of individu...

David Miller on National Responsibility

20 Apr 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Can a nation be collectively responsible for actions? And how should apologies and reparations be handled when the perpetrators of injustice may be de...

Peter Millican on Hume's Significance

13 Apr 2008

Contributed by Lukas

David Hume is probably the greatest English-speaking philosopher to date. In this interview for Philosophy Bites. Peter Millican, a Hume specialist, e...

Janet Radcliffe Richards on Men and Women's Natures

06 Apr 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Are men and women different by nature? And if so, what follows? Janet Radcliffe Richards, author of The Sceptical Feminist and Human Nature After Darw...

Raimond Gaita on Torture

30 Mar 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Is it immoral even to consider the use of torture in some circumstances? If the State is threatened, should we be prepared to shelve human rights for ...

Derek Matravers on the Definition of Art

22 Mar 2008

Contributed by Lukas

What is art? Can anything be a work of art? Derek Matravers, author of Art and Emotion, explores these questions in conversation with Nigel Warburton ...

Melissa Lane on Plato and Totalitarianism

16 Mar 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Was Plato's ideal state a totalitarian one? Karl Popper, thought so, and made his case in The Open Society and Its Enemies. Melissa Lane, author of Pl...

Thomas Pink on Free Will

09 Mar 2008

Contributed by Lukas

We often blame people for what they do or fail to do. But that implies that they were free to choose whether or not to act in the way they did. At the...

Anthony Appiah on Cosmopolitanism

02 Mar 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Is it possible to be a citizen of the world while maintaining your own distinctive identity? Anthony Appiah defends the ethical position he dubs cosmo...

A.C. Grayling on Descartes' Cogito

23 Feb 2008

Contributed by Lukas

A.C. Grayling, author of a recent biography of René Descartes, explores Descartes' Cogito argument, the pivotal argument of the Meditations, in conve...

Hugh Mellor on Time

15 Feb 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Events happen in time. And time is essentially tensed: there is past, present, future. D.H. Mellor, author of Real Time (and Real Time 2) suggests oth...

Richard Tuck on Free Riding

10 Feb 2008

Contributed by Lukas

If what I do has only a negligible impact on events, why should I bother doing it at all? Why not 'free ride' on other people's contributions? Richard...

Stephen Mulhall on Film as Philosophy

03 Feb 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Most philosophers who consider the movies focus on the nature of the cinematic medium. Stephen Mulhall argues for a different approach. He thinks that...

Richard Norman on Humanism

27 Jan 2008

Contributed by Lukas

How can non-believers make sense of the world? How can there be morality without God? In this episode of Philosophy Bites philosopher Richard Norman e...

Richard Bourke on Edmund Burke on Politics

20 Jan 2008

Contributed by Lukas

The eighteenth century thinker and politician Edmund Burke was one of the founders of modern conservativism. In his Reflections on the Revolution in F...

Angie Hobbs on Plato on War

13 Jan 2008

Contributed by Lukas

What causes human agression? For Plato's Socrates it comes from innate tendencies nurtured in the wrong way. And that's where war comes from. Angie Ho...

Barry Smith on Wittgenstein's Conception of Philosophy

06 Jan 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the great figures of Twentieth Century Philosophy. Part of his originality lay in his view of what Philosophy was and h...

Mark Vernon on Friendship

30 Dec 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What is friendship? Is it a suitable subject for Philosophy? Mark Vernon, author of The Philosophy of Friendship, explores these questions in conversa...

G.A. Cohen on Inequality of Wealth

23 Dec 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Can differences in income be morally justified? Should we expect rich people to give their money to the poor? G.A. Cohen, author of a book with the pr...

Barry Stroud on Scepticism

16 Dec 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Can I trust my senses? Can I tell that I'm not now dreaming? Some philosophical sceptics have maintained that we can't know anything for certain. Ba...

Julian Baggini on Thought Experiments

09 Dec 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Philosophers often use elaborate thought experiments in their writing. Are these anything more than rhetorical flourishes? Or do they reveal important...

Susan James on Spinoza on the Passions

02 Dec 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What are the passions and what role do they play in human life? These fundamental questions fascinated Baruch de Spinoza who in his book Ethics gave a...

Henry Hardy on Isaiah Berlin's Pluralism

25 Nov 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Is there a common currency in which we can compare the various ways in which people choose to live? Isaiah Berlin thought not. He argued that fundamen...

Myles Burnyeat on Aristotle on Happiness

18 Nov 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What is happiness? Is it a matter of blissful mental states subjectively experienced, or is it, as Aristotle believed, more about a successful life? I...

Alain de Botton on Philosophy Within and Outside the Academy

11 Nov 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What is philosophy? Does academic philosophy squeeze the life out of some of the most important questions we can ask? Alain de Botton, author of the b...

Angie Hobbs on Plato on Erotic Love

04 Nov 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Plato's Symposium is the most famous philosophical discussion of love, its joys, risks and pleasures. In this episode of Philosophy Bites Angie Hobbs ...

Stewart Sutherland on Hume on Design

28 Oct 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Is there evidence of intelligent design in the Universe? In the Eighteenth Century David Hume presented a series of powerful arguments against the Arg...

Onora O'Neill on Medical Consent

21 Oct 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What do we mean by 'consent' in a medical context? Is it reasonable to ask for informed consent before performing medical procedures? Is consent even ...

Quentin Skinner on Hobbes on the State

15 Oct 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What is the state? How do individuals combine to lend legitimate authority to those who act on the state's behalf? These are fundamental questions in ...

Anthony Kenny on his New History of Philosophy

08 Oct 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Anthony Kenny has recently published a major new four-volume history of philosophy. Nigel Warburton interviews him about this project for this episode...

Tim Crane on Mind and Body

30 Sep 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What is the mind and how does it relate to our bodies? How can something physical think? These are fundamental questions in the philosophy of mind. Ti...

Jonathan Ree on Philosophy as an Art

23 Sep 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Some people see Philosophy as close to science. In this episode of the podcast Philosophy Bites Jonathan Rée explores the idea that Philosophy is an ...

Mary Warnock on Sartre's Existentialism

17 Sep 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What is existentialism? Is it still relevant to us? Sartre believed that we are free to choose what we make of our lives. Was he right?  In this inte...

Peter Adamson on Avicenna

10 Sep 2007

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's episode of Philosophy Bites Nigel Warburton interviews Peter Adamson about Avicenna (born in 973) whom he describes as the greatest phi...

Brad Hooker on Consequentialism

03 Sep 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What makes an action a good one? According to consequentialists this question is decided by the action's actual or likely consequences. In this episod...

Simon Blackburn on Moral Relativism

27 Aug 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Are moral choices simply relative, a matter of culture or taste? Are genuine moral disagreements possible? Should we just tolerate different ways that...

Jonathan Wolff on Disadvantage

19 Aug 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What is disadvantage? How can we identify the most disadvantaged in society and what should we or governments do about it? Jonathan Wolff, co-author o...

Timothy Williamson on Vagueness

13 Aug 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Philosopher Timothy Williamson explains how we can make sense of such vague concepts as 'heap' or 'red' or 'bald' in the process outlining his own sol...

David Papineau on Physicalism

07 Aug 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Are all our thoughts simply physical events in our bodies? Can we give a purely physical account of the conscious human mind?  David Papineau believe...

Anthony Grayling on Atheism

30 Jul 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Is belief in the existence of a God or gods the equivalent of believing that there are fairies at the bottom of the garden? Or can it be defended on t...

Adrian Moore on Infinity

24 Jul 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Infinity is a difficult concept to grasp and one that introduces several paradoxes. In this interview for Philosophy Bites, Adrian Moore, author of an...

Roger Crisp on Utilitarianism

16 Jul 2007

Contributed by Lukas

How should we live? John Stuart Mill, one of the great thinkers of the nineteenth century thought that we should maximise happiness. Here Roger Crisp,...

Edward Craig - What is Philosophy?

10 Jul 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Edward Craig, editor of the Routledge Encylopedia of Philosophy and author of Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction gives an interesting angle on the ...

Anne Phillips on Multiculturalism

03 Jul 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Should members of a minority group be left to lead their lives as they see fit, even where their values differ from those of the majority? Anne Philli...

Alain de Botton on The Aesthetics of Architecture

27 Jun 2007

Contributed by Lukas

How important is beauty in architecture? Is a concern with beauty mere asetheticism? Alain de Botton, author of The Architecture of Happiness, discuss...

Barry Smith on Wine

21 Jun 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Is wine tasting a purely subjective matter? Why should we value the experience of drinking wine? Philosopher Barry Smith, editor of a new book on the ...

Miranda Fricker on Epistemic Injustice

16 Jun 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Testimonial injustice occurs when others fail to treat you seriously as a source of knowledge. In this interview Miranda Fricker, author of a recent b...

John Cottingham on The Meaning of Life

12 Jun 2007

Contributed by Lukas

What is the meaning of life? This is a basic question for all of us. There is also the possibility that life has no meaning whatsoever. In this interv...