Philosophy Talk Starters
Episodes
79: Legislating Values
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/legislating-values. To legislate is to choose, and choices are made for the sake of values. But what values s...
78: Philosophy of Science
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/philosophy-science. Is philosophy the queen of the sciences, with the job of synthesizing, interpreting and e...
77: Intelligent Design
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/intelligent-design. Is there any reason to think the cause or causes of order in the universe bear an even re...
76: Progress and the Environment
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/progress-and-environment Does the value of preserving our environment conflict with the development of a world c...
75: The Existence of God
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/existence-god The question of whether or not God exists is profoundly fascinating and important. What are the pr...
74: Immanuel Kant
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/kant Immanuel Kant introduced the human mind as an active originator of experience rather than just a passive...
73: Freedom of Speech in Times of War
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/freedom-speech The Constitution grants the freedom of speech to every citizen. Journalists value it more than an...
72: Friendship
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/friendship Who do we call friends? Do we need friends out of love for others or for ourselves? Is a life with fr...
71: The Language of Fiction
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/language-fiction What are we talking about when we talk about Sherlock Holmes or Santa Claus? Something that doe...
70: George Berkeley
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/george-berkeley. Berkeley founded and defended idealism, the doctrine that there is not a material world; rea...
69: The Willing Suspension of Disbelief
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/willing-suspension-disbelief Why don't we run out of the movie theatre when a monster shows on the screen? What ...
68: Reconciliation
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/reconciliation Justice, truth, and identity; race, society, and law—these all come into dramatic play as South...
67: The Strange World of Quantum Reality
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/strange-world-quantum-reality Quantum mechanics is an astoundly successful, mathematically elegant, explanatoril...
66: Ethics in War
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/ethics-war. After World War II the Nurenberg trials and the conventions that arose out of them codified the i...
65: The Language of Politics
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/language-politics. Politics, especially American politics, puts pressure on words like "liberal", "conservati...
64: Saints, Heroes, and Well-Lived Lives
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/saints-heroes-and-well-lived-lives. Some actions are right, and some are wrong. But aren't some even better than...
63: René Descartes
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/descartes The 17th Century philosopher Rene Descartes is often considered the father of modern philosophy. Hi...
62: The Indispensable Emotions
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/indispensible-emotions Where would we be without emotions? Many philosophers throughout history have thought the...
61: Moral Dilemmas and Moral Ambiguity
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/moral-dilemmas-and-moral-ambiguity It would be nice if we always knew the morally right thing to do, if our choi...
60: Zen Buddhism
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/zen. What is the sound of one hand clapping? Does Zen Buddhism provide a unique perspective on the world that...
59: Global Poverty and International Aid
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/global-poverty-and-international-aid Does a hungry child in a far away land have any less of a demand on your go...
58: The Ethics of Identity
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/ethics-identity What makes me who I am? Is it fair of me, or others, to take my race or ethnicity as part of who...
57: Intergenerational Obligations
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/intergenerational-obligations Parents have duties to their children. But do grown up children have obligations t...
56: Evolution of the Human Mind
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/evolution-human-mind Is the human mind a relatively inflexible program bequeathed to us by evolution, and cultur...
55: Prostitution
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at wwwphilosophytalk.org/shows/prostitution. Is prostitution morally objectionable? Should it be illegal? Or is it simply a market transaction, ...
54: Confucius
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/confucius. Confucius laid down a pattern of thinking followed by more people for more generations than any ot...
53: Forgiveness
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/forgiveness Justice is a virtue and so, many claim, is forgiveness. But they seem inconsistent. Is forgiveness r...
52: Propaganda
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/propaganda Allegedly independent radio commentators taking money to spout the government line! Fake news reports...
51: Genetic Determinism
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/genetic-determinism. Are there genes for practically everything? For being gay? For being mean? For being a phil...
50: Schopenhauer
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/schopenhauer. Arthur Schopenhauer, the great Nineteenth Century philosopher, had a pessimistic vision of the ...
49: Is Free Will An Illusion?
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/free-will-illusion We like to think of ourselves as enjoying unrestricted freedom of the will. But modern scienc...
48: Neurocosmetology
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/neurocosmetology Progress in neuroscience may soon make possible an age of neurocosmetology: the use of drugs to...
47: What Is Beauty?
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/what-beauty. Are there objective standards of beauty? Or is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Must art be beaut...
46: Religion and the Secular State
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/religion-and-secular-state. Can committed believers and committed non-believers share a common political life...
45: David Hume
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/hume. David Hume's was a superb essayist, a brilliant philosopher, and a world-class bon vivant. His philosop...
44: The Erotic vs The Pornographic
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/erotic-vs-pornographic. Erotic experience is a human good. Mature, consenting adults should be able to explor...
43: Ethics in Sport
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/ethics-sport. Once upon a time, student athletes were students first, athletes second; the Olympics was about...