Philosophy Talk: Select Episodes
Episodes
Amy Coplan (2026) extended
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Best Tweak on a Classic That Raises Questions about Parents and Children. More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/the-2026-dionysus-awards.
Ray Briggs (2026) extended
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Best TV Show That Blows Up All Your Theories of Personal Identity. More at philosophytalk.org/shows/the-2026-dionysus-awards.
"Select Episodes" is ending
01 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
All episodes are now to free to listen at philosophytalk.org, so this feed will no longer be updated. Subscribe to the weekly podcast at https://philo...
This Week: Can Money Buy Well-being?
15 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This Week: Can Money Buy Well-being? by Philosophy Talk
Diogenes and the Honest Life
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/diogenes-and-the-honest-life. Diogenes of Sinope was a famous—or infamous—4th-century BCE Greek philosop...
The Examined Year: 2025
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/the-examined-year-2025. What happened over the past year that challenged our assumptions and made us think a...
Gilbert Ryle and the Map of the Mind
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/gilbert-ryle. Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) was a British philosopher of mind and language best known for his boo...
Narrative and the Meaning of Life
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/narrative-and-the-meaning-of-life. Humans are uniquely storytelling creatures who can narrate the events of ...
Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò (2025) extended
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/the-examined-year-2025.
Narrative and the Meaning of Life
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/narrative-and-the-meaning-of-life. Humans are uniquely storytelling creatures who can narrate the events of ...
This Week: Can Architecture Be Political?
07 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/can-architecture-be-political. It’s common to judge a piece of architecture based on its functional and ae...
Hypatia of Alexandria
16 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/hypatia-alexandria. Hypatia of Alexandria, late antiquity public figure and scholar, made significant co...
Philippa Foot
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/philippa-foot. Philippa Foot invented the thought experiment that famously became known as the Trolley P...
Mary Midgley
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mary-midgley. Mary Midgley became one of the best known public intellectuals in the UK, and was one of t...
Iris Murdoch
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/iris-murdoch. Iris Murdoch may be best known for her works of fiction, but her philosophical contributio...
Judith Jarvis Thomson
08 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/judith-jarvis-thomson. Judith Jarvis Thomson is best known for arguing that abortion is morally permissi...
Elizabeth Anscombe
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at thttps://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/elizabeth-anscombe. Elizabeth Anscombe made hugely influential contributions to contemporary action the...
Crisis and Creativity in Mayan Mythology
14 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/crisis-and-creativity-mayan-mythology. The Popol Vuh, written in 1702, was based on a Mayan oral traditi...
Emma Goldman
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/emma-goldman. Activist and anarchist philosopher Emma Goldman fought for human liberation in every realm...
American Futures (Ken Taylor Memorial Episode)
02 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/american-futures. When Ken Taylor passed away suddenly in 2019, he was working on a manuscript titled "F...
Emma Goldman
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/emma-goldman.
Simone Weil
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/simone-weil. French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil was also an activist whose goal was to elevate th...
Anna Julia Cooper
06 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/anna-julia-cooper. Born into slavery in the nineteenth century, Anna Julia Cooper received a classical e...
Hildegard von Bingen
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/hildegard-of-bingen. Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th century mystic, polymath, and composer whose work s...
Nísia Floresta
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/nisia-floresta. Nísia Floresta was a 19th-century writer and translator known as “the Brazilian Mary ...
Mary Wollstonecraft
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mary-wollstonecraft. Mary Wollstonecraft is often labeled as a “liberal feminist” because of her con...
Could Robot Be Persons?
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/could-robots-be-persons. As we approach the advent of autonomous robots, we must decide how we will dete...
Shakespeare's Outsiders
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/shakespeares-outsiders. Over 400 years after his death, Shakespeare is still widely regarded as the grea...
Mind Sharing
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mind-sharing. Mind reading might sound like the stuff of science fiction. But in philosophy and psychology, mind...
Margaret Cavendish
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/margaret-cavendish. Margaret Cavendish was a writer of poetry, philosophy, polemics, histories, plays, a...
Im Yunjidang
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/im-yunjidang. 18th-century Korean philosopher Im Yunjidang was the first Confucian to argue for women’...
20th Anniversary Quiz Show
20 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/20th-anniversary-quiz-night. Philosophy Talk made its radio debut on August 20, 2003 with a live pilot o...
Mary Astell
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mary-astell. Mary Astell (1666–1731) was an English philosopher and writer who advocated for equal rig...
Elisabeth of Bohemia
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/elisabeth-bohemia. Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–1680) is best known for her correspondence with René D...
Can Architecture Be Political?
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/can-architecture-be-political. It’s common to judge a piece of architecture based on its functional an...
Can Art Save Us?
09 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/can-art-save-us. The world is facing an unprecedented environmental crisis, and we urgently need good wa...
The Philosophy of Smell
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/philosophy-smell. When philosophers think about human perception, they tend to focus on vision and turn ...
Liberty and Justice For Who?
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/liberty-and-justice-who. Many democracies are founded on the ideals of 18th- and 19th-Century British Li...
The Changing Face of Antisemitism
18 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/changing-face-antisemitism. Antisemitism is an old problem with roots that reach back to medieval Europe...
What Can Virtual Reality (Actually) Do?
12 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/what-can-virtual-reality-actually-do. VR transports users into all kinds of different realities, some mo...
The Social Lives of Robots
13 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/social-lives-robots. Machines might surpass humans in terms of computational intelligence, but when it c...
Time for Summer Reading
14 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/time-summer-reading. When John and Ken began shopping around their idea for a philosophy-on-the-radio show nearl...
Ken Taylor Tribute
29 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/ken-taylor-tribute. The Philosophy Talk team is deeply saddened by Ken Taylor's untimely passing this month. Ken...
Foreign Aid – or Injury?
16 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/foreign-aid-or-injury. Many of us might think that developed nations should lead the effort to end globa...
Does Science Over-reach?
17 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/does-science-over-reach. We've all heard the phrase, "You can't argue with science." Appealing to scient...
Radical Markets: Solutions for a Gilded Age?
15 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/radical-markets. Many people think that growing inequality, the rise of populism and nativism, and the decay of ...
Repugnant Markets: Should Everything Be For Sale?
03 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/repugnant-markets. We might ban buying or selling horse meat in the US not for the protection of horses,...
Faith and Humility
23 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/faith-and-humility. Some would argue that faith requires that one blindly—rather than rationally— be...
Are We Alone?
20 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/are-we-alone. News that life might exist or have existed on Mars or somewhere else in our universe excit...
Trolling, Bullying, and Flame Wars: Humility and Online Discourse
12 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/trolling-bullying-and-flame-wars. Open up any online comments section and you’ll find them: internet t...
How To Humbly Disagree
04 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/how-humbly-disagree. People like to argue, especially Philosophy Talk listeners! But no matter how hard ...
Could the Laws of Physics Ever Change?
08 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/could-laws-physics-change. From airplanes flying overhead to the cellular activity inside us, all events...
Driverless Cars at the Moral Crossroads
30 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/driverless-cars-moral-crossroads. Autonomous vehicles are quickly emerging as the next innovation that w...
Cognitive Bias
09 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/cognitive-bias. Aristotle thought that rationality was the faculty that distinguished humans from other ...
Knowing What We Know (And What We Don't)
07 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/knowing-what-we-know. It seems like we know many facts about ourselves and the world around us, even if ther...
The Space-Time Continuum
21 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/space-time-continuum. Strange things are said about time: that it's illusory, that it has no direction. But ...
The Mystery of the Multiverse
29 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/mystery-multiverse. At the foundation of modern theoretical physics lie the equations that define our univers...
Matter and Energy: The Dark Side
27 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/dark-matter. All the matter we have ever observed accounts for less than 5% of the universe. The rest? Dark e...
The Big Bang: Before and After
26 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/big-bang-before-and-after. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing theory about the “birth” of the univers...
Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
21 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/why-something. The old metaphysical question – why anything exists at all – has perplexed and intrigued h...
The Ancient Cosmos: When the Earth Stood Still
04 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/ancient-cosmos. Even in ancient Greek society, philosopher-scientists engaged in heated debate about the orig...
Living On Through Others
28 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/living-through-others Imagine that the world will end in thirty days. Would your life have meaning anymore? W...
The Technology of Immortality
15 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/technology-immortality Some futurists believe we are not far from a time when technology and medicine will be...
Reincarnation: Past Lives, Future Selves
27 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/reincarnation-past-lives-future-selves. According to Buddhist tradition, all people must suffer illness, agin...
What's Next? Death and the Afterlife
09 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/whats-next-death-and-afterlife. The question of what happens to us after we die remains as mysterious now as ...
The Lure of Immortality
05 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/lure-immortality. Would you like to live forever? It is a tempting notion that has been explored and imagined...
Life as a Work of Art
18 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/life-work-art. We know what it means for a painting to be beautiful. But what about a life? Like great works ...
Finding Meaning in a Material World
04 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/finding-meaning-material-world. All there is in the world is physical stuff. That is the fundamental assumpti...
Freedom and Free Enterprise
20 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/freedom-and-free-enterprise. “Freedom” means the human capacity to choose among options, based on one’s...
Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times
07 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/ancient-wisdom-modern-times If the Ancients found themselves transported to the modern world, they would have...
Physics, Philosophy, and Theology
08 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/physics-philosophy-and-theology. The world disclosed by the physical sciences can seem depressing. Modern phy...
Faith, Reason, and the Art of Living
19 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/faith-reason-and-art-living It sounds plausible to require that all our beliefs be based on evidence and soun...
Good, Evil, and the Divine Plan
04 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/good-evil-and-divine-plan A theodicy is an explanation by a philosopher or theologian about why a world creat...
The Demands of Morality
28 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/demands-morality. We all want to lead a moral life. But even if we all agreed on what that would mean, we sti...
God and the Fine-Tuned Universe
16 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/god-and-fine-tuned-universe. If the precise value of many physical constants had been different, the universe...
The Self
23 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/self. What is a self? Merely a human being? Or perhaps a soul? Hume claimed he could not find a self when he ...
Unconditional Love
06 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/unconditional-love. According to Corinthians 13, “Love is patient, love is kind and envies no one.” But i...
Freedom, Blame, and Resentment
12 May 2012
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/freedom-blame-and-resentment. When someone acts without regard for our feelings or needs, a natural response ...
Pantheism
25 Feb 2012
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/pantheism. Pantheism is the doctrine that the world is either identical with God or an expression of His natu...
Forgive and Forget
10 Dec 2011
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/forgive-and-forget. At least forgive OR forget. Get things behind you. All good advice for those who don't wa...
Miracles
05 Nov 2011
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/miracles. Religions rely on miracles to demonstrate the authenticity of figures thought to have supernatural ...
Wisdom
24 Sep 2011
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/wisdom. Philosophy is the love of wisdom – or is it? Is this traditional definition outmoded? Is wisdom an ...
Time, Space, and Quantum Mechanics
13 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/time-space-and-quantum-mechanics. Quantum physics is regarded by many as the most powerful predictive theory ...
The Mind and the World
07 Jun 2009
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mind-and-world. What kinds of contact can the mind have with the world? Can we know how the world is in...
Worship
09 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/worship. Worship is the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for something. The attitude of wors...
Challenges To Free Will
07 Mar 2009
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/challenges-free-will. We seem to be able to decide our behavior for ourselves – what we do is up to us. Bu...
Creativity
24 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/creativity. What makes an idea or work of art creative? Can creativity be measured? Can a computer be creat...
Levels of Reality
23 Nov 2008
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/levels-reality. Are there levels of reality, with each level emerging from the other in a way that provi...
Dualism
08 Aug 2008
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/dualism. What is the relationship between the mind and the brain? Monists believe that there is only one sub...
Altruism
29 Jun 2008
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/altruism. Are people genuinely altruistic, or is altruism just a type of selfish-behavior? Are other an...
The Problem of Evil
06 Jun 2008
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/problem-evil. Many religions tell us that God is perfect: all-knowing, all-powerful, and beneficent. Why the...
Saint Augustine
27 Jan 2008
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/saint-augustine. The philosopher Saint Augustine of Hippo is one of the most important figures in the history...
The Concept of God
09 Dec 2007
Contributed by Lukas
More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/concept-god. What does "God" mean? Is God a concrete thing like a chair or a human; or is it an abstrac...
Faith, Reason, and Science
13 Oct 2007
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/faith-reason-and-science Does faith obscure reason? Does reason obscure faith? Or perhaps their subject matte...