Philosophy Talk Starters

195: Lincoln as a Philosopher

11 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/lincoln. More than any other President, Abraham Lincoln is known for his words, from the Lincoln-Douglass deb...

582: Can A.I. Help Us Understand Babies?

31 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/can-ai-help-us-understand-babies. Artificial intelligence is everywhere in our day-to-day lives and our ...

531: The Mysterious Timelessness of Math

20 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mysterious-timelessness-math. Math is a really useful subject—at least, that's what your parents and t...

533: Frege and the Language of Reason

14 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/frege-and-language-reason. At the end of the 19th Century, the German philosopher Gottlob Frege invented...

337: Simone de Beauvoir

07 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/simone-de-beauvoir. Simone de Beauvoir is often cast as only a novelist or a mere echo of Jean-Paul Sartre. B...

579: Impossible Worlds

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/impossible-worlds. Philosophers often speculate about possible worlds: ways that things could be. Some o...

525: Nonduality and the Oneness of Being

10 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/nonduality-and-oneness-being. Some branches of Hindu philosophy propose that reality is nondual in natur...

578: In Awe of Wonder

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/awe-wonder. René Descartes said that the purpose of wonderment is “to enable us to learn and retain in our me...

529: Microaggressions

26 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/microaggressions. Microaggressions are small comments or questions that may be insulting or hurtful to a...

577: Mary Astell

16 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...

576: Zhuangzi – Being One with Ten Thousand Things

05 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/zhuangzi. Zhuangzi, the 4th-century-BCE Chinese philosopher, was arguably the most important figure in Taoism. H...

528: Referring to the World – Ken's Final Work

29 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/referring-world. On December 2, 2019, Ken Taylor announced that he finally had “an almost complete dra...

575: Elisabeth of Bohemia

17 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/elisabeth-bohemia. Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–1680) is best known for her correspondence with...

524: The Lives and Ideas of the Vienna Circle

15 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/vienna-circle. The Vienna Circle was a group of early twentieth-century philosophers, mathematicians, lo...

574: Can Architecture Be Political?

04 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...

523: Disinformation and the Future of Democracy

01 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/disinformation-and-future-democracy. The 2020 election and startling events that followed show that the ...

520: What Is Masculinity?

24 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/what-masculinity. Strong, in control, and stoic—these are traits of the ideal masculine man. Men who f...

573: Are We Living in a Simulation?

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/are-we-living-simulation. With rapid advances in Virtual Reality technology and the like, it’s now pos...

453: Adorno and the Culture Industry

10 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/culture-industry. What's your favorite movie? Did you watch that season finale last night? No spoilers! Popular ...

568: Summer Reading List 2023

03 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What books should thoughtful people read this summer? Josh and Ray talk to the authors and editors of new and recent books as they compile their annua...

93: Georg Hegel

27 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/hegel. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is without doubt one of the most influential philosophers of all time. H...

572: Weird Wants

16 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/weird-wants. Philosophers from Thomas Aquinas to Elizabeth Anscombe have claimed that wanting something ...

571: Making a Better World

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/making-better-world. Some philosophers think that morality boils down to one idea: we should make the wo...

519: What Has Replaced Freud?

05 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/what-has-replaced-freud. Although the concept that we can have thoughts and desires hidden from consciou...

570: Hypatia of Alexandria

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/hypatia-alexandria. Hypatia of Alexandria, late antiquity public figure and scholar, made significant co...

514: The Arts For All?

16 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/arts-all. When we think of “real” art, we often think of expensive, highbrow pieces that are display...

517: Democracy By Numbers

01 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/democracy-numbers. The United States prides itself on being “the world’s greatest democracy,” whic...

518: The Rhetoric of Big Tech

10 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/rhetoric-big-tech. Big Tech is known for its "disruption" of established industries and changing fundame...

515: Minds and Matter

04 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/minds-and-matter. Everything that seems to have a mind also has a body made of flesh and blood. But if w...

513: Are We All to Blame?

14 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/are-we-all-blame. It’s easy to identify the pressing issues facing our world today, but it’s much mo...

213: Søren Kierkegaard

07 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at: http://philosophytalk.org/shows/kierkegaard. Philosophy usually suggests a striving for rationality and objectivity. But the Danish philosop...

564: The Power of Prediction

25 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/power-prediction. You’re standing at the top of a mountain, surveying the vast landscape below. The in...

511: Why We Hate

23 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/why-we-hate. The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that the number of hate groups operating in the U.S...

512: What's in a Game?

08 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/whats-game. Games have been an integral part of human society since the earliest civilizations. They are...

543: Why Poetry Matters

02 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/why-poetry-matters. Some people say they find poetry impenetrable. Yet readership is increasing: in a 20...

510: Science and Skepticism

19 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/science-and-skepticism. In recent decades, we’ve witnessed intense cultural wars waged on scientifical...

561: The 2023 Dionysus Awards

05 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/2023-dionysus-awards. What movies from the past year challenged your assumptions and made you think abou...

210: The Philosophical Legacy of Darwin

12 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/darwin. More than 200 years after his birth, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution continues to shape our thin...

509: Citizenship and Justice

29 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/citizenship-and-justice. Securing citizenship to a developed country could guarantee people enormous pri...

508: The Merits of Meritocracy

15 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/merits-meritocracy. For centuries, the promise of the “American Dream” has been that as long as some...

507: Can Streets Disciminate?

08 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/can-streets-discriminate. City streets play an important role in our everyday lives. We commute to work, walk ou...

558: The Examined Year – 2022

01 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/examined-year-2022. What happened over the last twelve months that challenged our assumptions and made u...

211: How Relevant Is Jesus?

25 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/how-relevant-jesus. Some people think Jesus was the son of God, though many who are skeptical about that stil...

551: Effective Altruism

17 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/effective-altruism. Most people agree that it's good to help others, but philosophers disagree about how...

506: The Ethical Jerk

11 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/ethical-jerk. Ethics philosophers are more ethical than the average person — right? Well, maybe not. Studies s...

499: (Why) Money Matters

27 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/why-money-matters. Money, they say, does not buy happiness; but having none can make life extraordinarily hard. ...

503: Covid Conundrums and Moral Dilemmas

20 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/covid-conundrums. In just months the world changed radically, and we have all had to adjust our lifestyles to st...

504: Pet Ethics

06 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/pet-ethics. Many of us, even the staunchest animal activists, usually take it for granted that keeping a pet is ...

498: Philosophy and the Superhero

23 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/philosophy-and-superhero. Philosophy is replete with thought experiments featuring characters like Descartes’ ...

496: Is the Self an Illusion?

09 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/self-illusion. Most of us think it’s obvious that we have a self, but famously, both Buddhism and British phil...

378: Heidegger

25 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/heidegger. Best known for his work "Being and Time," Martin Heidegger has been hailed by many as the gre...

491: Hobbes and the Ideal Citizen

11 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/hobbes-and-ideal-citizen. Seventeenth century philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that without government to cont...

548: Summer Reading List – Banned Books Edition

03 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/summer-reading-list-banned-books-edition. The American Library Association reports that last year 1,597 ...

495: Death of the Sentence

21 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/death-sentence. A child’s first sentence is a pivotal moment in her development when she is recognized as now ...

542: The 2022 Dionysus Awards

07 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/2022-dionysus-awards. What movies of the past year challenged our assumptions and made us think about th...

505: Walter Benjamin and the Re-Enchanted World

17 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/walter-benjamin. Walter Benjamin was a German Jewish critical theorist, essayist, and philosopher who di...

494: Comedy and the Culture Wars

03 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/comedy-and-culture-wars. Comedy can often give offense, especially when it concerns such sensitive topics as rac...

547: The Changing Face of Antisemitism

19 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...

396: Jean-Paul Sartre

12 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/sartre. Jean-Paul Sartre was one of the first global public intellectuals, famous for his popular existentialist...

490: Conscious Machiness

05 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/conscious-machines. Computers have already surpassed us in their ability to perform certain cognitive tasks. Per...

546: The Scandalous Truth About Memoir

30 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/scandalous-truth-about-memoir. A memoir is a personal narrative written about a pivotal time in the auth...

489: The Allure of Authoritarianism

22 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/allure-authoritarianism. In George Orwell’s 1984, the party’s “final, most essential command” was “to ...

482: J.S. Mill and the Good Life

15 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mill-and-good-life. John Stuart Mill was one of the most important British philosophers of the 19th cent...

492: Sanctuary Cities

01 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/sanctuary-cities. In the U.S. there are over 500 sanctuary cities—municipalities that limit their cooperation ...

488: Explanation at Its Best

24 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/explanation-its-best. In both everyday life and science, we often feel the pull of simpler, more elegant...

485: The Doomsday Doctrine

03 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/doomsday-doctrine. The doctrine of mutually assured destruction is supposed to deter both sides in a war...

486: Reading the Troubled Past

13 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/reading-troubled-past. Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe lambasted Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness...

484: Is Postmodernism Really to Blame for Post-Truth?

27 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/postmodernism-really-blame. Postmodernism is often characterized by its rejection of concepts championed...

437: Polyamory

13 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/polyamory. In most if not all modern Western societies, monogamy is the dominant form of romantic relati...

477: Hacking the Brain – Beyond the Five Senses

23 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/hacking-brain. Humans evolved to have a variety of senses—smell, sight, touch, etc.—that provide inf...

371: The Art of Non-Violence

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

More at philosophytalk.org/shows/art-non-violence. We all hope for peace. Yet in the face of violence, it often seems the only recourse is more viole...

537: The Examined Year – 2021

27 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/examined-year-2021. What happened over the past 12 months that challenged our assumptions and made us th...

481: The Limits of Tolerance

19 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/limits-tolerance. In order to reach compromise, people try to be tolerant of others with different belie...

480: What Is Religious Belief?

05 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/what-religious-belief. Many people profess to believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing, benevolent God. Y...

479: Is Philanthropy Bad for Democracy?

20 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/philanthropy-bad-democracy. In a liberal democracy, individuals should have the freedom to give money to...

237: The Occult Philosophy

31 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/occult-philosophy. The occult is routinely dismissed in our times as the province of quacks, the irrational, ...

476: Immigration and Multiculturalism

03 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/immigration-and-multiculturalism. Whether for economic reasons or to flee violence and persecution, immi...

177: Gandhi as a Philosopher

26 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/gandhi-philosopher. Gandhi is famous as the leader of the movement for Indian independence, which he based on...

474: What Do We Owe Future Generations?

19 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/what-do-we-owe-future-generations. We talk about owing future generations a better world. We might also ...

478: Authority and Resistance

12 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/authority-and-resistance. Authority can refer to people or institutions that have the political power to...

526: (End of) Summer Reading List 2021

05 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/summer-reading-list-2021. As some parts of our lives return to some kind of normal, Josh and Ray ask aut...

530: The Ethics of Awesomeness

29 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/ethics-awesomeness. The word “awesome” once meant inspiring extreme fear or dread. Nowadays it’s m...

473: Envy – Vice or Virtue?

22 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/envy-vice-or-virtue. Bertrand Russell said that envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness, a...

469: The Creative Life

08 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/creative-life. Parents and students alike often think that a college major defines possible career optio...

521: The 2021 Dionysus Awards

01 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/2021-dionysus-awards. After a year in which "entertainment" took on a whole new meaning, what were the m...

471: Foreign Aid – or Injury?

18 Jul 2021

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...

527: Your Brain on Literature

09 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/your-brain-literature. Cognitive science has revolutionized our understanding of the brain and how it fu...

470: Foucault and Power

04 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/foucault-and-power. Michel Foucault was a 20th century philosopher known for his work concerning power a...

468: Does Reputation Matter?

27 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/does-reputation-matter. We think about about our own reputation all the time, and we constantly referenc...

467: Can Reason Save Us?

13 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/can-reason-save-us. To an optimist, things are constantly getting better: disease and extreme poverty ar...

465: The Psychology of Cruelty

30 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/psychology-cruelty. Throughout history, people have committed all kinds of cruel, degrading, and evil ac...

464: The Athlete as Philosopher

16 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More as https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/athlete-philosopher. For the ancient Greeks, sport was an integral part of education. Athletic programs ...

461: Radical Markets - Solutions for a Gilded Age?

02 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/radical-markets. Many people think that growing inequality, the rise of populism and nativism, and the d...

522: Montaigne and the Art of the Essay

25 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/montaigne-and-art-essay. French thinker Michel de Montaigne invented a whole new genre in which to do ph...

463: The Ethics of Algorithms

18 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/morality-algorithms. Recent years have seen the rise of machine learning algorithms surrounding us in ou...

462: Does Science Over-reach?

04 Apr 2021

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...

458: Repugnant Markets – Should Everything Be For Sale?

28 Mar 2021

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,...

451: Misogyny and Gender Inequality

14 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/misogyny. With the recent #MeToo viral campaign, along with the wave of prominent male figures toppled f...

459: The Value of Care — Feminism and Ethics

06 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/value-care. We sometimes think of the domains of ethics and morality as divorced from feeling and emotion. You k...

180: John Rawls

21 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/john-rawls. John Rawls was one of the most influential political philosophers of the twentieth century. In hi...