Philosophy Talk
Episodes
Immigration and Citizenship
11 Nov 2007
Contributed by Lukas
What are the effects of immigration on culture in America?  Does it promote homogenization, diversity, or both?  Cultural enrichment, or ass...
Philosophy and Literature
27 Oct 2007
Contributed by Lukas
What can we learn from studying philosophy?  What can we learn from reading great (or not-so-great) literature?  Some philosophers and liter...
Predicting the Future
21 Oct 2007
Contributed by Lukas
People who predict the future well are sometimes said to be psychic. But we all make predictions about the future, with more or less success. We confi...
Faith, Reason, and Science
14 Oct 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Does faith obscure reason? Does reason obscure faith? Or perhaps their subject matters are different. Faith might address one area of our lives and re...
Love, Poetry and Philosophy
30 Sep 2007
Contributed by Lukas
For Plato, love and philosophy were closely related. Love of beauty causes one to contemplate the whole sea of beauties, including beautiful systems o...
Math and the Mind
16 Sep 2007
Contributed by Lukas
How does a bunch of grey matter in our skulls have the ability to solve mathematical problems? Are we the only species that can? Does catching a baseb...
The Value of Art
09 Sep 2007
Contributed by Lukas
An art lover will argue that art brings beauty to our surroundings and provides occasions for intellectual and emotional reflection. But those who don...
Postmodernism
19 Aug 2007
Contributed by Lukas
In art, architecture, music, film, literature, sociology, communications, fashion and philosophy there is a contrast between “the modern” ...
Flirting with Philosophy
12 Aug 2007
Contributed by Lukas
What is flirting? Can you flirt without intending to? Can you flirt by dressing a certain way, by walking a certain way? Is flirtatious behavior cultu...
Philosophy Through Humor
22 Jul 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Why did Nietzsche cross the road? To get beyond good and evil! How is a good joke like a good philosophical argument? Are philosophical tenets at the ...
Capital Punishment
08 Jul 2007
Contributed by Lukas
The death penalty: An effective deterrent? A just retribution for horrendous crimes? Or a racist, classist form of state-sanctioned murder? Join John ...
Where Does Morality Come From?
01 Jul 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Time is the most familiar thing in the world, and yet philosophically one of the most puzzling. Is the present what’s left when you subtract wha...
Summer Reading List 2007
10 Jun 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Are there philosophers, philosophies, or philosophical issues you want to read up on over the summer? Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason probably is...
Aging and the Well-Lived Life
27 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Aging is a physical process that will always be with us.  But conceptions of aging, views about the contributions older people can make to societ...
Artificial Intelligence
20 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
At least some versions of artificial intelligence are attempts not merely to model human intelligence, but to make computers and robots that exhibit i...
Science, Ethics, and Censorship
13 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Science is, on the one hand, a huge enterprise funded to a great extent by the government and by industry.  On the other hand, science is suppose...
Autonomy
06 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Philosophers call a person autonomous if she is responsible not just for what she does but also for the principles and rules that guide her. But does ...
Ethics in Journalism
29 Apr 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Freedom of speech tells us the government shouldn’t restrict the journalist.  But should anything restrict the journalist?  Should the...
Can Science Explain Consciousness?
15 Apr 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Humans are conscious, billiard balls are not, and computers aren’t either.  But all three are just collections of molecules, aren’t t...
A Philosophical Shout-Out
01 Apr 2007
Contributed by Lukas
On this special pledge-week episode, John and Ken open the phones and the inbox to their listeners, answering questions about art, politics, proof, an...
Skepticism
25 Mar 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Various forms of skepticism play important roles in the history of philosophy.  Do we really know there are external objects?  That there ar...
Immortality and the Afterlife
18 Mar 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Many religions contemplate some form of personal continued existence after death: reincarnation in another body, or continued being in some vastly dif...
Animal Minds
11 Mar 2007
Contributed by Lukas
People have strong but divergent opinions about the nature of animals’ minds.  Do dogs make plans?  Do they remember specific events?&...
Wittgenstein
04 Mar 2007
Contributed by Lukas
The Austrian/British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein exercised enormous influence over philosophy in the middle third of the last century, and his vie...
The Judiciary in Democracy
11 Feb 2007
Contributed by Lukas
In many democracies, the judiciary is protected, to one degree or another, from the voters.  Our federal judges, for example, though appointed by...
Mental Imagery
04 Feb 2007
Contributed by Lukas
In the Early Modern period many philosophers took ideas to be mental images of the objects they stood for.  During the 20th century, that notion ...
If Truth is so valuable, why is there so much BS?
28 Jan 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Everywhere we look — in the media, in our political campaigns, in the hallowed halls of the academy — we are confronted with an endless st...
Legal Ethics
21 Jan 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Lawyers are often thought to be hardly better than hired guns, who, in the words of Plato, are paid to “make the weaker argument the stronger...
We’ve Been Framed: How Language Shapes Politics
14 Jan 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Does the hijacking of words by political forces tell us something interesting about the nature of language and meaning?  Would liberals by some o...
The Promise and Perils of the New Genomics
07 Jan 2007
Contributed by Lukas
John and Ken welcome their special guest, noted scientist and entrepreneur, Craig Venter.  From the mapping of the human genome, to the patenting...
Philosophy and Film
17 Dec 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Despite the crass commercialism that drives the production of many movies, there’s no doubt that film is a distinctive and distinctively powerfu...
Philosophy and Neuroscience
10 Dec 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Philosophers have always been concerned with the mind.  What is consciousness? Representation?  Emotion?  Now that neuroscience is maki...
American Pragmatism
03 Dec 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Pragmatism is perhaps America’s most distinctive contribution to philosophy.  Developed by Pierce, Dewey, and James in the late 19th and ea...
What is a Child?
19 Nov 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Back in the middle ages, people thought of children simply as little adults. Modern psychology has destroyed that theory.  But then, what is a ch...
Dreaming
12 Nov 2006
Contributed by Lukas
A scary dream brings all the fears that a scary real situation can, and a happy dream can make us feel truly happy. But what are dreams? Where do they...
Separation of Powers
05 Nov 2006
Contributed by Lukas
In America, there’s not just one governing body, there are three: executive, legislative, and judicial. You might think that separating those po...
Believing in God
29 Oct 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Some have argued that there aren’t any good arguments for believing in God. Is belief in God just an act of faith without reason? Plenty of phil...
Language and Thought
22 Oct 2006
Contributed by Lukas
You might think our thoughts simply determine what we say. But maybe the language we speak is what really determines the thoughts we can have. As Witt...
Karl Popper
08 Oct 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Karl Popper is a landmark figure in the philosophy of science. His notion of “falsifiability” endures to this day and even appears in ar...
Jewish Philosophy
01 Oct 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Rabbis and Talmudic scholars have spent centuries puzzling over theology, texts, and life.  In the process they came up with many philosophical i...
The Philosophy of Music
19 Sep 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Most people enjoy music daily and have strong listening preferences. Music – along with love – is often thought of as a universal language.&#...
War Crimes
12 Sep 2006
Contributed by Lukas
In war, people do awful things to other people. But the concept of ‘war crime’ suggests that some things are worse than others. How do we ...
Liberty vs. Security
05 Sep 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Edward Gibbon and James Madison both noted how liberties in Rome were among the victims of its growing empire.  Is our society facing a similar p...
100th Episode
29 Aug 2006
Contributed by Lukas
It’s our anniversary!  Join the philosophers for a celebration of the program that questions everything – except your intelligence – with a...
Language in Action
22 Aug 2006
Contributed by Lukas
How do we communicate ideas with language? Where does the literal meaning of a word end and the subtle connotation begin? John and Ken tackle the sema...
Athletic Beauty
15 Aug 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Figure skating is athletic and beautiful.  How about a bone-crunching tackle?  Or a  spikes-high slide into second?  Or a slam-dun...
Race, Class, and Inequality
08 Aug 2006
Contributed by Lukas
The concept of equality is as important to America’s self-conception as it is confusing.  What sort of equality?  Equality before the ...
The Future of Philosophy
01 Aug 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Ken and John discuss the future of philosophy with three rising stars in American philosophy: Elizabeth Harman from New York University, Brian Weather...
Stoicism
25 Jul 2006
Contributed by Lukas
People who don’t seem affected by emotions are often called “stoic.”  But there’s a lot more to Stoicism than simply bein...
Leadership
27 Jun 2006
Contributed by Lukas
At certain crucial times, such as the American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II, America was blessed with great leaders.  But now?...
Hegel
06 Jun 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel is without doubt one of the most influential philosophers of all time. He has, however, been largely ignored by American...
The Nature of Imagination
30 May 2006
Contributed by Lukas
A lot of our thinking, and even our perception, has to do not only with what is, but what might be, and what would have been. That is, the imagination...
A Philosophical Summer Reading List
16 May 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Are there some philosophers, philosophies, or philosophical issues you want to bone up on over the Summer?  Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Sp...
Justice Across Boundaries
09 May 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Philosophical conceptions of justice have most often been directed at the nature of a just state. But many contemporary issues of justice reach across...
Existentialism
07 May 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Being and Nothingness, the for-itself and the in-itself, bad faith, and the existential predicament; these Existentialist concepts were central to the...
What Is Art?
25 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Anything someone wants to call art?  Or are there some objective criteria, that not every instance of paint smeared on canvas and not every murde...
Philosophy and the Law
11 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
With what right do governments make and enforce laws? To what extent are citizens obligated to obey the law, even if a law is unjust? John and Ken tal...
The Value of Truth
04 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
The pursuit of truth is often thought to be “intrinsically” valuable. Scientists and philosophers, who eschew religious rationales for the...
The Philosophy of Hoops
28 Mar 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Basketball, an American invention but a world-wide phenomenon, is sometimes characterized as the most athletic and aesthetic of sports. What makes a s...
Suicide
21 Mar 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Taking human life is wrong. But what if it is one’s own life? Is suicide worse or less bad than murder? Is it wrong at all? Can suicide be ratio...
What Are Numbers?
14 Mar 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Plato claimed that numbers exist in some mind-independent abstract heaven. Nominalists claim that there is no such heaven. Clearly, we can’t see...
The Science of Humor
28 Feb 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Being funny isn’t easy. Figuring out what makes things funny is even harder. Still, a number of psychologists (e.g., Freud) and philosophers (e....
Marriage and Monogamy
14 Feb 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Monogamy is traditional in most cultures, and it is the law throughout America since Utah gave up polygamy to acquire statehood. Is there any philosop...
W.E.B. Du Bois
07 Feb 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Sociologist, historian, philosopher, editor, writer, and activist, W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most influential intellectuals of the twentieth centu...
Legislating Values
31 Jan 2006
Contributed by Lukas
How should we decide what laws to pass? Should majority rule, even when they are legislating values? Ken thinks this results in tyranny. What kinds of...
Philosophy of Science
24 Jan 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Is philosophy the queen of the sciences, with the job of synthesizing, interpreting and evaluating the results of the particular sciences? Or should w...
Intelligent Design
17 Jan 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Is there any reason to think the cause or causes of order in the universe bear an even remote analogy to human intelligence? Even if they did, would t...
Progress and the Environment
03 Jan 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Does the value of preserving our environment conflict with the development of a world community in which all enjoy the fruits of human progress? Is th...
The Existence of God
20 Dec 2005
Contributed by Lukas
The question of whether or not God exists is profoundly fascinating and important. What are the proofs of the existence of God? How can one prove that...
Kant
13 Dec 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Immanuel Kant introduced the human mind as an active originator of experience rather than just a passive recipient of perception.  How has his ph...
Freedom of Speech in Times of War
06 Dec 2005
Contributed by Lukas
The Constitution grants the freedom of speech to every citizen.  Journalists value it more than anything else.  Should the freedom of speech...
Friendship
29 Nov 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Who do we call friends?  Do we need friends out of love for others or for ourselves?  Is a life with friends necessarily a better life? ...
Language of Fiction
22 Nov 2005
Contributed by Lukas
What are we talking about when we talk about Sherlock Holmes or Santa Claus? Something that doesn’t exist?  Something that exists only in t...
George Berkeley
01 Nov 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Berkeley founded and defended idealism, the doctrine that there is not a material world; reality is the orchestration of ideas in minds, not...
The Willing Suspension of Disbelief
18 Oct 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Why don’t we run out of the movie theatre when a monster shows on the screen? What kind of mental state is the willing suspension of disbelief? ...
Reconciliation
11 Oct 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Justice, truth, and identity;  race, society, and law—these all come into dramatic play as South Africa makes the tumultuous transition to a po...
The Strange World of Quantum Reality
04 Oct 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Quantum mechanics is an astoundly successful, mathematically elegant, explanatorily deep, even beautiful scientific theory.  Yet it reveals a tru...
Ethics in War
27 Sep 2005
Contributed by Lukas
After World War II the Nurenberg trials and the conventions that arose out of them codified the idea that there are right and wrong ways to wage war. ...
Language of Politics
20 Sep 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Politics, especially American politics, puts pressure on words like “liberal”, “conservative” and “values” as they...
Saints, Heroes, and Well-Lived Lives
30 Aug 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Some actions are right, and some are wrong. But aren’t some even better than right—the kinds of things that heroes and saints do? Yet some...
Descartes
02 Aug 2005
Contributed by Lukas
The 17th Century philosopher Rene Descartes is often considered the father of modern philosophy. His Meditations are a staple in introductory phil...
The Indispensable Emotions
26 Jul 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Where would we be without emotions?  Many philosophers throughout history have thought the emotions serve only to cloud our judgments and actions...
Moral Dilemmas and Moral Ambiguity
19 Jul 2005
Contributed by Lukas
It would be nice if we always knew the morally right thing to do, if our choices and commitments were painted in stark black and white.  Unfortun...
Zen
28 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
What is the sound of one hand clapping? Does Zen Buddhism provide a unique perspective on the world that transcends the wisdom in Western Philosophy...
Global Poverty and International Aid
21 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Does a hungry child in a far away land have any less of a demand on your good will and aid than a hungry child from your own family or neighborhood? ...
The Ethics of Identity
14 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
What makes me who I am? Is it fair of me, or others, to take my race or ethnicity as part of whom I am? How does the age-old virtue of standing up for...
Intergenerational Obligations
08 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Parents have duties to their children. But do grown up children have obligations to their parents? More generally, do the younger members of a society...
Evolution of the Human Mind
24 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Is the human mind a relatively inflexible program bequeathed to us by evolution, and culture just a veneer that gives age-old urges a respectable cove...
Prostitution
17 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Is prostitution morally objectionable? Should it be illegal? Or is it simply a market transaction, where one party sells a service for a price t...
Confucius
10 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Confucius laid down a pattern of thinking followed by more people for more generations than any other human being on the face of the earth. No matter ...
Forgiveness
03 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Justice is a virtue and so, many claim, is forgiveness. But they seem inconsistent. Is forgiveness really a virtue? Philosopher Charles Griswold discu...
Propaganda
26 Apr 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Allegedly independent radio commentators taking money to spout the government line! Fake news reports being produced and distributed by the Administra...
Genetic Determinism
20 Apr 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Are there genes for practically everything? For being gay? For being mean? For being a philosopher? Does modern science show that we are largely the p...
Schopenhauer
05 Apr 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Arthur Schopenhauer, the great Nineteenth Century philosopher, had a pessimistic vision of the world as “will and idea.” Our will to survive s...
Is Free Will an Illusion?
29 Mar 2005
Contributed by Lukas
We like to think of ourselves as enjoying unrestricted freedom of the will.  But modern science increasingly teaches us that our choices are...
Neurocosmetology
22 Mar 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Progress in neuroscience may soon make possible an age of neurocosmetology: the use of drugs to let people affect the way their brains work, so as to ...
What is Beauty?
15 Mar 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Are there objective standards of beauty? Or is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Must art be beautiful to be great art? What is the role of the exper...
Religion and the Secular State
08 Mar 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Can committed believers and committed non-believers share a common political life in the context of a secular state?  Committed believers ma...
Hume
01 Mar 2005
Contributed by Lukas
David Hume was a superb essayist, a brilliant philosopher, and a world-class bon vivant. His philosophical views in ethics, epistemology, aesthetics, ...
The Erotic vs. The Pornographic
15 Feb 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Erotic experience is a human good. Mature, consenting adults should be able to explore the erotic realm freely, without outside interference. Pornogra...