Podcasts by Philosopher
Further podcasts by ABC Radio
Podcast on the topic Philosophie
All episodes
Rupture and hope from 2022-05-01T17:30
In a world shaken by war, pandemic and climate crisis, hope is a precious resource. It can be fragile, fleeting and hard to find. But what exactly does hope mean? It has clear Christian overtones, ...
ListenSex, death and chilli sauce from 2022-04-24T17:30
This week, a conversation about death, and the ways in which our reluctance to face mortality results in the creation of “immortality constructs” – comforting symbolic fictions that when challenged...
ListenPhilosophy and myth from 2022-04-17T17:30
There was once a time when mythology and philosophy got along perfectly well together. But since the Enlightenment, philosophy has come to regard myth as something of an embarrassment – and today, ...
ListenThe predicament of existence from 2022-04-10T17:30
Most of us agree that pain is part of life, that none of us can escape it, and that death comes for all of us in the end. And yet many of us feel that life is worth it; that the pleasure of life ou...
ListenMoral beauty and art from 2022-04-03T17:30
Movies and TV series increasingly feature leading characters that are morally repugnant, and yet we respond positively to their charisma. Why do we like them so much on screen? And is our emotional...
ListenPhilosophers in love from 2022-03-27T17:30
Philosophy can sometimes be an exercise in abstract, "pure" reason, unsullied by the demands of the body or the contingencies of history. But this week we're placing history and corporeality front ...
ListenTrans-national adoption and"blending in" from 2022-03-06T17:30
At the end of the Korean War in 1953, the government launched an adoption program for orphans, most of whom went to white families in the USA and western Europe. Since then, an estimated 200,000 So...
ListenEfficiency, productivity, excess from 2022-02-27T17:30
These days we’re constantly pushed to be more efficient – at work, of course, but also in our leisure pursuits and even while we sleep (“hacking your sleep cycle” to extract maximum benefit from th...
ListenConsciousness and contemplation from 2022-02-20T17:30
Consciousness is one of those phenomena that combine the everyday with the ineffable. We experience consciousness intimately, and yet in many ways it remains ungraspable. What is consciousness? Why...
ListenArt and climate from 2022-02-13T17:30
Our current climate crisis is, as much as anything else, a crisis of communication. Artists have a unique opportunity to step in and deliver environmental messages in a way that speaks to the emoti...
ListenChina, Confucius and the courtyard from 2022-02-06T17:30
For more than three millennia, most buildings in China were configured around a central courtyard. This week’s guest believes that the courtyard helps us to understand Chinese society and culture, ...
ListenThe many worlds of David Lewis from 2021-12-19T17:30
Many believe that David Lewis had one of the finest minds of any modern philosopher. His concept of modal realism – the idea that infinite alternative worlds exist concretely in spacetime – was cel...
ListenMathematics and the good life from 2021-12-12T17:30
Mathematics is often understood as something technical – essential to making sure our buildings and bridges don’t fall down, but not offering much in the way of moral interest. This week we’re aski...
ListenBad thinking and good people from 2021-12-05T17:30
The sheer persistence of conspiracy theory and other forms of irrational thinking gets more baffling with each passing day. How did we get to this point? And how can we turn things around? This wee...
ListenThe individual and the collective from 2021-11-28T17:30
Climate change has landed us in a collective action dilemma – a situation where cooperation would benefit us all, but conflicting individual interests keep getting in the way. How can we, as indivi...
ListenPhilosophy and psychedelic experience from 2021-11-21T17:30
In some ways, you could say psychedelics and philosophy share a similar set of purposes. But does that mean they're different expressions of the same impulse - to know, to understand, to become wis...
ListenBuddhist logic from 2021-11-14T17:30
Logic in the Western philosophical tradition is often viewed as something abstract and universal – a bit like mathematics, involving formulas and equations that hold true in every circumstance, reg...
ListenCare ethics from 2021-11-07T17:30
If there's one thing the COVID-19 pandemic has underlined, it's the importance of looking out for each other. But these days the network of our relationships is so vast, so complex and so riddled w...
ListenPhilosophy and children from 2021-10-31T17:30
Children are sometimes perceived as "defective adults", empty epistemic vessels that need to be filled with the knowledge of their elders. In fact, children can teach adults a thing or two when it ...
ListenGender and gaming from 2021-10-24T17:30
Gender has long been an issue in the world of video games, but since the "Gamergate" online harassment campaign of 2014 - where women gamers, developers and journalists were doxxed and threatened b...
ListenWhat is dignity? from 2021-10-17T17:30
Dignity is something we recognise and respect in others, and we feel it deeply when our own is threatened or attacked. But what exactly is it? This week we're exploring different kinds of dignity, ...
ListenYan Fu: China meets Western liberalism from 2021-10-10T17:30
Yan Fu was a late 19th century naval officer and writer who was fascinated with Western philosophy. His translations of works by Thomas Huxley, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill and others were celebrat...
ListenThe trouble with our moral evolution from 2021-10-03T17:30
Morality is always evolving. But what if social evolution happened so fast and so radically that our moral evolution couldn’t keep pace? According to this week’s guest, that’s our current problem: ...
ListenRN Presents: This Much Is True from 2021-09-30T05:00
You might have noticed there's some bizarre stuff circulating out there these days, under the guise of "knowledge" or "fact". And we need to take it seriously, because even the most far-flung consp...
ListenAbout time, part 4: The insect clock from 2021-09-26T17:30
When a person dies under suspicious circumstances, it can be hard to determine exactly what happened and when. Enter the forensic entomologist, whose job it is to study the action of insects on the...
ListenAbout time, part 3: Time and perception from 2021-09-19T17:30
For something that we commonly consider to be as regular and predictable as clockwork, time sure can feel weird. Sometimes it drags, sometimes it rushes, sometimes it seems to stop altogether. We d...
ListenAbout time, part 2: Time in fiction from 2021-09-12T17:30
During the early 20th century, physicists and philosophers were discovering strange things about time. And these ideas were being picked up by nove...
About time, part 2: Time in fiction from 2021-09-12T17:30
During the early 20th century, physicists and philosophers were discovering strange things about time. And these ideas were being picked up by novelists, who wove them into such masterpieces as Joy...
ListenAbout time, part 1: Newton's exploding clock from 2021-09-05T17:30
Most of us think of time as something that divides neatly into seconds, minutes and hours, in a way that’s as regular and predictable at the farthe...
About time, part 1: Newton's exploding clock from 2021-09-05T17:30
Most of us think of time as something that divides neatly into seconds, minutes and hours, in a way that’s as regular and predictable at the farthest reaches of the cosmos as it is in our kitchens....
ListenHow should we treat insects? from 2021-08-22T17:30
Insect farming, we’re told by its proponents, is the next big thing in edible protein production, and it may just save the environment. But an insect “farm” is more like a manufacturing plant, wher...
ListenWas the market economy inevitable? from 2021-08-15T17:30
Today, market capitalism is so deeply woven into the fabric of everyday existence that it seems as natural and inevitable as the movement of the planets. But in fact, there was a moment in the earl...
ListenStructural injustice and individual responsibility from 2021-08-08T17:30
Who is responsible for structural injustice? The answer is “practically everybody” - but that can be just another way of saying “effectively nobody”. So what responsibility do individuals bear for ...
ListenWomen, the alt-right and the liberal centre from 2021-08-01T17:30
Why do women join white nationalist and other far-right movements? Misogyny is rampant on the alt-right, along with the notion that women's primary role is to be wives and child-bearers. But the li...
ListenNietzsche and transfiguration from 2021-07-25T17:30
Friedrich Nietzsche engaged closely with Christian themes and concepts, re-casting them for a secular age. One of these was transfiguration, the strange alchemical process by which human brokenness...
ListenTrust, risk and experts from 2021-07-18T17:30
Public trust in experts is on the wane. And when we consider that a key role of experts is the assessment and management of risk, this mistrust becomes worrying, given that life in an industrialise...
ListenMathematical objects from 2021-07-11T17:30
We all use numbers every day of our lives, and most of us fail to appreciate how mysterious they are. What exactly is a number? You can't trip over the number 4, it has no physical properties, so i...
ListenThe death of analytic philosophy? from 2021-06-20T17:30
The death of analytic philosophy has been confidently predicted for almost as long as analytic philosophy has been around. But today, with profound challenges posed by feminism, postcolonialism and...
ListenMarxism pt 2: Black Marxism from 2021-06-13T17:30
There’s an influential critique of Marx that accuses him of failure to take sufficient account of race in his analysis of capitalism. But is this a fair assessment? What happens when we bring racia...
ListenMarxism pt 1: Marx the philosopher from 2021-06-06T17:30
Karl Marx's interest in philosophy took an early swerve into journalism, and he famously wrote that "philosophers have only interpreted the world - the point is to change it". On one hand he was a ...
ListenEthics, philosophy and immigration from 2021-05-30T17:30
Does anti-racism require open borders? Should refugees be selected on the basis of the skills they offer? Can immigration restrictions conform to the demands of justice? Conventional wisdom says th...
ListenWhat can David Hume teach us? from 2021-05-16T17:30
Scottish philosopher David Hume was an amiable 18th century gentleman - cultured, generous, well liked by all who knew him. And yet he's become something of a "thinker's thinker", hugely admired by...
ListenChronomobilities from 2021-05-09T17:30
Going from one country to another is mostly thought of as a movement in space - a change of one physical location for another. But migration can also make profound changes in the everyday experienc...
ListenLogic in Indian philosophy from 2021-05-02T17:30
Logic in Western philosophy can have formal perfection, but limited epistemic value. "All chairs are 50 feet tall, my mother is a chair, therefore my mother is 50 feet tall" is a sound piece of log...
ListenEcocultural identity from 2021-04-25T17:30
Each of us is made up of a mix of identities - political, sexual, class, gender and so on. But how often do we stop to think of our ecocultural identity? This week we hear from the co-editors of a ...
ListenPhilosophy and ecology from 2021-04-18T17:30
What happens when we recognise non-human animals as sentient beings with rights? Why do women have a particular stake in environmental justice? What exactly do we mean when we talk about sustainabi...
ListenRestlessness from 2021-04-11T17:30
Feeling a little distracted lately? Most of us are, and not just lately. We tend to view withering attention spans and the compulsion to seek change for its own sake as curses of the social media e...
ListenNeurophenomenology and embodied sensemaking from 2021-04-04T17:30
“Making sense” of something is often understood as a rational, purely mental process – an understanding based on the Cartesian separation of mind and body. But what about the role of the senses in ...
ListenThe problem with"moral machines" from 2021-03-28T17:30
There’s a lot of talk these days about building ethics into artificial intelligence systems. From a philosophical perspective, it’s a daunting challenge – and this has to do with the nature of ethi...
ListenIdentity politics from 2021-03-14T17:30
Identity politics is grounded in the appeal to a stable, unified self and the authority of testimony. But this week we’re asking whether that foundation is solid, and if deconstructing it might all...
ListenLiving like a Stoic from 2021-03-07T17:30
What does it mean to live according to Stoic philosophical principles - and what do the ancient Greeks and Romans have to tell us in the modern world?
ListenWhat we talk about when we talk about race from 2021-02-28T17:30
The 19th century notion of race as something rooted in biology and genetics is a well-debunked idea whose time has passed. But the more recent liberal conception of race as a social construct fails...
ListenCultural appropriation from 2021-02-21T17:30
In an increasingly connected, globalised world, borrowing freely between cultures can draw moral condemnation. Cultures have fuzzy edges, and it can be hard for the unwary artist to know exactly wh...
ListenCivilisation and the salon from 2021-02-14T17:30
What is civilisation? A place, an ideal, a culture? Is civilisation under threat - and if so, who are the barbarians? Also, the art of the salon, a refined 18th century tradition that bridged the g...
ListenDerrida and difficulty from 2021-02-07T17:30
In the late 1960s Michel Foucault, on being asked to grade an undergraduate dissertation written by Jacques Derrida, remarked “Well, it’s either an F or an A+” The philosophy community’s verdict on...
ListenFree will, retribution and just deserts from 2021-01-31T17:30
Is free will an illusion? If so, it’s a very useful one. Belief in moral responsibility can keep us from behaving in ways that are anti-social or criminal. But if free will and moral responsibility...
ListenIn the wild from 2020-12-20T17:30
For centuries, “the wild” has been thought of as the place where humans rarely or never go. Our cities are meant to be refuges from the wild, and the policies that govern our lives are intended to ...
ListenThe inside of anger from 2020-12-13T17:30
Anger is a normal human emotion, we seem to be hard wired for it. And there's a body of ethical opinion that says anger can be useful - as a means of communication, as a means of appreciating injus...
ListenPhenomenology from 2020-12-06T17:30
What if even the most ordinary experience could reward close and detailed analysis, revealing fascinating insights into the structures of consciousness and the world? This is the question asked by ...
ListenAnti-social media from 2020-11-29T17:30
What can social media platforms deliver in the way of genuine personal connection and moral truth? And how good - or bad - are Facebook and Twitter for the philosophy community?
ListenScience, misinformation and dissent from 2020-11-22T17:30
Science welcomes dissent. Scientific progress depends on challenging and dismantling theories as well as verifying them. But how should we deal with misinformation about science, and the ways it ca...
ListenRefugees and moral obligation from 2020-11-15T17:30
Refugees have been with us for millennia, but the modern refugee exists under a distinctively modern set of circumstances. Moral philosophers addressing the refugee issue often fail to take these c...
ListenPhilosophy in a nutshell pt 6: Becoming a woman from 2020-11-08T17:30
Simone de Beauvoir wrote that “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”. It’s a much-quoted phrase that appears to speak presciently to modern concerns around sex and gender. But how well is B...
ListenPhilosophy in a nutshell pt 5: Ubuntu from 2020-11-01T17:30
Ubuntu is an African tradition of thought whose ethical orientation is captured in the well-known aphorism “I am, because we are”. But what gets lost when Ubuntu is framed as a philosophical discou...
ListenPhilosophy in a nutshell pt 4: Nietzsche and nihilism from 2020-10-25T17:30
"God is dead, and we have killed him" — a statement that's fuelled the popular misapprehension of Nietzsche as a crusading atheist, or militant nihilist. In fact, he was neither of those things, an...
ListenPhilosophy in a nutshell pt 3: Derrida and the text from 2020-10-18T17:30
In 1967, French philosopher Jacques Derrida wrote "There is nothing outside the text". Or did he? It's a bad translation that's launched a thousand bad interpretations - but it's gone on to become ...
ListenPhilosophy in a nutshell pt 2: Confucius, wealth and politics from 2020-10-11T17:30
In the Analects, Confucius is recorded as saying "When a country is well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. When a country is badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of". It...
ListenPhilosophy in a nutshell pt 1: The aphorism from 2020-10-04T17:30
First program in a series exploring famous philosophical fragments. Philosophy is often thought of as proceeding via elaborate conceptual systems. But sometimes, a choice phrase is all you need to ...
ListenPRESENTS — Ideas from 2020-09-22T02:00:05
Ideas is a program from CBC Canada and it's about... well, ideas. Each episode takes a concept and dives deep into its past, present and possible future. Whether you're interested in the meaning ...
ListenProgressive Islam from 2020-09-20T17:30
Progressive Muslim thought seeks to establish an Islam that's equipped for the modern world - and still embedded within the Islamic intellectual tradition.
ListenThe abominable heretic from 2020-09-13T17:30
In July 1656, the young philosopher Baruch Spinoza was cast out of his Jewish community for "abominable heresies". We don't know what those crimes were, but we do know that Spinoza has remained a p...
ListenShifting the frame on COVID-19 from 2020-09-06T17:30
When we think about COVID-19 as a medical issue first and foremost, what are we missing? This week we explore the ways in which legal, economic, cultural and ethical perspectives on COVID-19 could ...
ListenLev Shestov: staying awake in the dark from 2020-08-30T17:30
Lev Shestov is one of the great forgotten modern philosophers, and now could be the time to rediscover him. His was a philosophy of hope in the face of hopelessness, and the parallels between his t...
ListenMoral grandstanding from 2020-08-23T17:30
Moral grandstanding is not a harmless pastime. It’s insidious and corrosive, eating away at the foundations of public discourse and deepening the divisions between us. But how to stop it?
ListenAI home devices: A feminist perspective from 2020-08-16T17:30
Smart home devices make life easier, and they're increasingly popular. But are they gender-neutral entities, or "smart wives"?
ListenInhumanity from 2020-08-09T17:30
Our capacity to do terrible things to each other seems boundless. But we'd find it a lot more difficult without recourse to a neat conceptual trick: dehumanisation.
ListenWhat are we doing when we argue? from 2020-08-02T17:30
Argument and debate don’t need to be blood sports. Done properly, argument can be about beneficial mutual exchange and trust.
ListenNihilism and utopia from 2020-07-26T17:30
COVID-19 has exposed a streak of nihilism in 21st century capitalist societies. How do we move forward without succumbing to despair on one hand, or utopian thinking on the other?
ListenMontesquieu and despotism from 2020-07-12T17:30
Montesquieu was the 18th century French philosopher who introduced the term "despotism" into our political vocabulary. Today, his analysis is as relevant as ever.
ListenThe digital dead from 2020-07-05T17:30
When we die, our digital selves sometimes live on. The line between death and life — already blurred by medical technology — is even blurrier in the digital domain. How should we prepare for our el...
ListenPhilosophy by postcard from 2020-06-28T17:30
A fascinating public philosophy project, celebrating a major figure whose work deserves greater recognition — not just as a philosopher, but as a pioneering woman in a very male world.
ListenThe ethics of uterus transplantation from 2020-06-21T17:30
If a woman wants to experience pregnancy but can't, the answer could be a uterus transplant. The technology is promising, if still very new — but how ethically sound is it?
ListenRace in America pt 2: Lewis Gordon from 2020-06-14T17:30
Any conversation about racial justice has to go back to basics: questions about the nature of humanity and the meaning of freedom. Philosopher Lewis Gordon explores these questions in the light of ...
ListenRace in America pt 1: George Yancy from 2020-06-07T17:30
Speaking out against racism by insisting on the collusion of white people — even well-meaning ones — in a system that's racist to the core can bring serious consequences. George Yancy knows this well.
ListenChoosing a personal philosophy: Existentialism from 2020-05-31T17:30
Tired of having a casual, abstract flirtation with philosophy? It might be time to commit. A personal philosophy of life can be hugely helpful — but which one to choose?
ListenDriverless cars, inequality and the'trolley problem'in a high-tech world from 2020-05-24T17:30
The road has always been a great social leveller — we all get stuck in the same traffic jams. But with the advent of driverless cars, that could all be about to change, with troubling ethical conse...
ListenCitizens and urban planning from 2020-05-17T17:30
Consensus among citizens in the development of cities is always the goal — but it's rarely achieved. This week we explore the philosophical foundations of a more realistic model for citizen partici...
ListenThe big snore from 2020-05-10T17:30
Boredom hasn't received a lot of philosophical attention — which isn't surprising, given that it suggests a radical absence of anything to talk about. But even the most tedious things can prove on ...
ListenWhat can genes tell us? from 2020-05-03T17:30
Can our genes tell us if we're gay? Or intelligent? Science says the answer is complex, and that genetic determinism — the idea that we're genetically hardwired for certain outcomes — shouldn't be ...
ListenBorder patrol from 2020-04-26T17:30
Refugees are often spoken and written about as victims: people on the far side of a border that separates them from all the things we citizens know and love about our homeland. But what if the refu...
ListenThinking a pandemic from 2020-04-19T17:30
We're told that COVID-19 is an unprecedented event, one that's upended all our old certainties — so it's perhaps strange that we're thinking about it in very familiar ways. Considering the history,...
ListenTime in a time of excess time from 2020-04-12T17:30
Many of us have extra time on our hands at the moment, and for many of us that time can feel like a burden. But what is this mysterious relationship between what time feels like and what it really is?
ListenHonour in the institution from 2020-04-05T17:30
Institutions shape every aspect of our lives, yet they can be strangely amorphous things, operating according to norms and conventions that often undermine each other. For women, this can result in...
ListenAI and moral intuition: use it or lose it? from 2020-03-29T17:30
Artificial intelligence is helping us to make all sorts of decisions these days, and this can be hugely useful. But if we outsource our moral intuition to AI, do we risk becoming morally de-skilled?
ListenLGBT elders, isolation and loneliness from 2020-03-22T17:30
As LGBT people grow old, they can become particularly vulnerable to social isolation and loneliness. Simone de Beauvoir had a keen appreciation of the challenges of ageing – “old age exposes the fa...
ListenDangerous minds from 2020-03-15T17:30
Heidegger was an unrepentant Nazi. Nietzsche's later work contains passages that openly advocate slavery and genocide. Today, with far-right extremism on the rise around the world, how concerned sh...
ListenThe many and the one from 2020-03-08T17:30
We casually talk about "Australia" as though it were a single entity. But what exactly is such a collective? And how can it be held responsible for its deeds - or misdeeds? This week we're talking ...
ListenThe why of philosophy from 2020-03-01T17:30
Is philosophy experiencing an unprecedented crisis? And are universities becoming a hostile environment for philosophers?
ListenIs reason enough? from 2020-02-23T17:30
These days it seems that critical thinking could be failing us – and we’re not sure why. Have too many people strayed from the path of reason? Or is reason insufficient – ever overrated – as an ing...
ListenPlato's woman problem from 2020-02-16T17:30
In The Republic, Plato outlines a role for women in his ideal society that seems revolutionary, i.e. that they should occupy the highest position in public life. In Athenian society at the time, wo...
ListenIn praise of mortality from 2020-02-09T17:30
Ever since we humans became conscious of the fact that we’re all going to die, we’ve dreamed of immortality. Life is good, so wouldn't eternal life be even better? Today's guest offers a robust cri...
ListenRemembering Roger Scruton from 2020-02-02T17:30
An avowed conservative of a kind mistrusted by both modern-day left and right, Scruton remained steadfast in his first principles. He pitted his intellect against what he saw as the encroachments o...
ListenUluru and the heart of the liberal state from 2020-01-26T17:30
The fundamental challenges for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia are systemic, they run much deeper than any single issue – education, health, rates of incarceration – can c...
ListenThe Bonhoeffer moment from 2019-12-15T18:30
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian whose involvement in the plot to kill Hitler has given rise to the term "Bonhoeffer moment" - a crisis point where morally repugnant acts migh...
ListenPhilosophy in the wake of Empire part 5: Tracks of thought from 2019-12-01T17:30
As a young girl, Aileen Moreton-Robinson learned to track in the bush, and this was the beginning of her philosophical education, as she learned how all things are connected. Today she sees Western...
ListenPhilosophy in the wake of Empire part 4: Africa from 2019-11-24T17:30
Africa has a history of rich and ancient philosophical traditions. Those traditions were rendered invisible by European colonisers, who sought to overlay Africa's past with the values of the Enligh...
ListenPhilosophy in the wake of Empire pt. 3: Missionary feminism from 2019-11-17T17:30
Feminist arguments in the West have been used to advance imperialist projects that inflict suffering on women in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the Western feminist focus on individual rights can be dis...
ListenPhilosophy in the wake of Empire pt. 2: Migrants and other Others from 2019-11-10T17:30
As refugees from the former colonies make their way to Europe, notions of “European life” and “European values” are facing unprecedented challenges. As postcolonial subjects, how should these migra...
ListenPhilosophy in the wake of Empire pt. 1: The white way to think from 2019-11-03T17:30
The West has a history of colonisation and empire-building. How has this shaped the discipline of philosophy? This week – first in a five-part series – we look at racism and the unfortunate legacy ...
ListenThe problem with humanism from 2019-10-20T17:30
How well does humanism's account of itself hold up in philosophical terms?
ListenFeminism, ecology, motherhood from 2019-10-13T17:30
The climate debate isn't just about science; it's also about gender and power. Ecofeminism takes this seriously - but does it also perpetuate negative stereotypes about women's supposedly "natural"...
ListenGenetically obsolete from 2019-10-06T18:30
The prospect of human genetic enhancement raises moral concerns. Will a genetically enhanced human in 2060 will be rendered “obsolete” by technological advances that come along in 2070? What happen...
ListenRichard Rorty and transcendence from 2019-09-29T17:30
A professional academic philosopher, the American neo-pragmatist Richard Rorty was also a provocative critic of his own discipline. He had little time for what he saw as the pretensions of analytic...
ListenClassical ethics, modern problem from 2019-09-22T17:30
Plato and Aristotle were acute observers and analysts of the world around them, but they never had to deal with climate change. Trust, virtue and reason seem to be in short supply today. Can the an...
ListenPhilosophy on the couch from 2019-09-15T17:30
Sigmund Freud had mixed feelings about philosophy – he thought that philosophers and people experiencing psychosis had a lot in common. So how has contemporary philosophy come to owe such a huge de...
ListenGloomy Sunday from 2019-09-08T17:30
Our reactions to suicide often depend on the era in which it takes place: when practised by ancient philosophers, it has a noble lustre. When practised by modern celebrities, it’s an emblem of the ...
ListenPolitics at the extremes from 2019-09-01T17:30
Politics has never been a gentle pursuit - but these days the gloves are well and truly off. How did we get here? What are the implications for political philosophy, and for politics in general? As...
ListenDementia and deception from 2019-08-25T17:30
If you’re caring for a person with dementia, what do you do if they demand to see their spouse, who in fact died long ago? If you resort to telling the person that their spouse has just gone to the...
ListenWhy the Humanities? from 2019-08-18T17:30
In an era of university funding cuts, economic rationalism and the creeping perception that human progress comes to us principally via science and technology, who needs the Humanities?
ListenThe (other) melancholy Dane from 2019-08-11T17:30
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is perhaps the most famous Danish depressive, but Soren Kierkegaard gives him a run for his money. He wrote uncompromisingly difficult philosophical works, so it’s not surprisi...
ListenRemembering Agnes Heller from 2019-08-04T17:30
Hungarian philosopher Agnes Heller was a Holocaust survivor, a dissident under Hungary’s communist regime, and one of the great modern political thinkers. She was also a wonderfully engaging speake...
ListenRock star philosopher, and rocks from 2019-07-28T17:30
Early 20th century French thinker Henri Bergson was a celebrity. Today he’s a more obscure figure, but we're asking if his ideas should be restored to the intellectual map of the 20th century. Also...
ListenWomen and the Dhamma from 2019-07-21T17:30
Buddhist teaching is radically egalitarian, and yet the need for a Buddhist feminism is pressing. Is gender irrelevant to Buddhist teaching? And for women who have been denied agency or a sense of ...
ListenThe world in a different light: Iris Murdoch’s philosophical vision from 2019-07-14T17:30
In a century that produced a dizzying array of philosophers and philosophical approaches, few philosophers were as distinctive, and stood out quite so conspicuously, as Iris Murdoch (1919-1999).
ListenThinking the country from 2019-07-07T17:30
What constitutes a "philosophical" conversation? You might reasonably expect such a conversation to be conceptual, exploring abstract notions of self, time, being, ethics and so on. For indigenous ...
ListenWitnessing and translating from 2019-06-30T17:30
What happens when we take philosophy into the field? This week we’re talking archaeology, with focus on feminism, tensions between indigenous and Western scientific knowledge, and the principles of...
ListenPublic health and the open society from 2019-06-23T17:30
Karl Popper's idea of "the open society" promoted values of inclusivity, transparency and democratic freedom. Today, some fear that the open society is under threat, with negative consequences for ...
ListenDrone homicide, jiggling brains and neurobionic revenge porn from 2019-06-09T17:30
The march of technology never stops, and sometimes institutions have trouble keeping up with the changes. This week we’re looking at possible future crimes committed via technology that’s already w...
ListenAnalytic philosophy: the leading brand from 2019-06-02T17:30
A quick scan of leading philosophy journals reveals that what passes for "philosophy" is selectively screened, with analytic philosophy clearly the dominant style. We look at the history of this ph...
ListenMind, matter and motherhood from 2019-05-26T17:30
When Nicola Redhouse had each of her two children, she experienced shattering post-natal anxiety that sent her deep into the mystery of the self, and the relationship between mind and body. A long ...
ListenThe blind spot from 2019-05-19T17:30
Can science potentially reveal everything, giving us a "God's eye view" of the world? Some hope that the answer is (or will one day be) Yes - other more cautious observers wonder if science can eve...
ListenIrrationality from 2019-05-12T17:30
In 1944, Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer published their famous claim that "Enlightenment reverts to mythology" - meaning that any rational order sooner or later collapses into irrationality. Sev...
ListenMugged by reality from 2019-05-05T17:30
Reality TV draws increasing concern from observers who fear that cast, producers and audiences alike could be participating in something morally reprehensible - and that serious consequences for so...
ListenPolitics and the sacred from 2019-04-21T17:30
According to Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, modern secular politics is theological from the ground up – which may come as a nasty surprise to the many people who believe, often for very good ...
ListenNutting it out from 2019-04-14T17:30
How are your critical thinking skills? Fine, you say. Everybody sees themselves as a competent critical thinker. But when you break critical thinking down to its component skills, it turns out to b...
ListenArtificial intelligence, real emotions from 2019-04-07T17:30
Artificial intelligence is pretty impressive these days. An AI robot can interact with humans in ways that give a strong impression of empathy, intellectual engagement and independent thought. A ro...
ListenThe ecology of torture from 2019-03-31T17:30:32
Who is responsible for acts of torture? Individual perpetrators, certainly. But focusing on the guilt of individuals can lead us to miss the significance of context - social, political, cultural, t...
ListenTechne-logy from 2019-03-24T17:30
The ancient Greek root of our word "technology" is techne, which means "craftsmanship" or "art". In a world where technology today is thought of in mechanistic terms - consumer items that simply ap...
ListenAre we enlightened? from 2019-03-17T17:30
Most of us think of the European Enlightenment as a historical period during which society cast off the shackles of mythic thinking. Today, mythic thinking is alive and well in the era of neo-liber...
ListenFree speech crisis on campus? from 2019-03-10T17:30
With freedom of speech at Australian universities currently under governmental review, we explore the notion of free speech on campus. Should what gets said at universities - and who gets to say it...
ListenExistentialism and crisis from 2019-03-03T17:30
Existentialism entered the popular consciousness after World War 2, and for many it still has a mid-century ring to it. But how does it look look today, especially in an age where the unfolding env...
ListenOn the way from 2019-02-24T17:30
John Kaag is a philosopher who travelled to the Swiss Alps with the aim of putting into practice some of Nietzsche's recommendations for "becoming who you are". In his memoir Hiking With Nietzsche,...
ListenWalter Benjamin: multimedia prototype? from 2019-02-17T17:30
As an intellectual oddball in the early 20th century, Walter Benjamin appears to have been a precursor of the cross-disciplinary hybrid thinkers we celebrate today. Was he the first multimedia jour...
ListenDevotion, democracy and Duterte from 2019-02-03T17:30
Is religious language incompatible with democratic politics, as philosopher Richard Rorty believed? Not in the Philippines, where religion and democracy are working together as close allies—with tr...
ListenDisability and dignity from 2019-01-27T17:30
Philosophers have been slow to address disability - which is odd, because disability raises a host of fascinating and challenging issues around justice, rights and fairness.
ListenReparation from 2018-12-09T17:30
When individuals and communities today still suffer the consequences of past wrongs — slavery, dispossession, invasion, the theft of land and resources — what exactly is owed to them, and who shoul...
ListenThe vice of fear from 2018-12-02T17:30
Is fear such a bad thing? Nobody likes to experience it, but fear can be a spur to virtuous action, and overcoming fear is the essence of courage. But not everyone takes such a benign view.
ListenPlato, Buddhism and storytelling from 2018-11-25T17:30
At a glance, Platonic philosophy and Buddhism might seem to have little in common. But their ideas on moral development and "turning the soul" towards reality have fascinating congruences.
ListenAre we getting anywhere? from 2018-11-18T17:30
Is philosophy more about questions than answers? Not necessarily. It all depends on how you conceive of philosophy in the first place, particularly with regard to its institutional setting.
ListenPlaying around from 2018-11-11T17:30
Video games helps us to engage philosophically with issues of ethics, identity and more. This makes them potentially useful as a classroom learning tool — but what about all that violence?
ListenThink global from 2018-11-04T17:30
Writing a global history of philosophy is a tricky business - but that hasn't stopped this week's guest from taking it on.
ListenLearning Confucius from 2018-10-28T17:30
How's your Confucianism? If the answer is "a little rusty", then you're not alone. Confucianism and Chinese philosophy are niche subjects in Australia, even among students of Chinese background.
Listenalt-Nietzsche from 2018-10-21T17:30
Few serious Nietzsche scholars today regard him as having been any sort of proto-Nazi. But that hasn’t stopped alt-right extremists today from "rediscovering" Nietzsche and claiming him as a philos...
ListenHospital ethics from 2018-10-14T18:30
What happens when doctors and ethicists get together – particularly when the patient under discussion is a young child? And how can philosophy help?
ListenAfrican philosophy and the West from 2018-10-07T18:30
How do you articulate African philosophy in a Western academic environment? And what gets lost in the project of “translating” the former into the categories of the latter?
ListenEvolution is evolving from 2018-09-30T17:30
For 160 years now, Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection has been baffling and blowing minds - and it’s not done yet. Evolution is still evolving, carrying us into an age of post-intelligent...
ListenForgiveness from 2018-09-23T17:30
“To err is human, to forgive divine” – a popular notion, but what are we really doing when we forgive? Operating at the highest level of human sensibility? Or denying the wrongdoer an opportunity f...
ListenDignity and enhancement from 2018-09-16T17:30
Human dignity is one of those ideas that seem to have been around for as long as humans themselves, and few people would take issue with it. But like most ideas, human dignity has a philosophical p...
ListenProof and beauty from 2018-09-09T17:30
Mathematicians routinely refer to complex proofs in aesthetic terms, citing their 'elegance' or 'beauty'. This has partly to do with the social aspect of such proofs—far from being a hermetic or ex...
ListenKeeping them out from 2018-09-02T17:30
Most people agree that nation states don’t have any moral right to control the movement of citizens within their borders, or to prevent citizens from travelling beyond those borders. If states do s...
ListenWomen, autonomy and social justice in China from 2018-08-26T17:30
Women in China have better access to education and job opportunities than ever before—yet a woman’s identity and value is still strongly linked with her role in the family, as wife and mother.
ListenEthics and absolutes in the classroom from 2018-08-19T17:30
The trouble with morality is that reasonable people keep disagreeing on what’s right and wrong. The science, as they say, isn’t settled. So that being the case, how can we argue for fixed moral sta...
ListenThe Pragmatists from 2018-08-12T17:30
Should philosophy be the attempt to articulate truth? If you’re a pragmatist, the answer is No. William James wrote of truth as a subset of expediency, and of truth’s 'cash value'. Richard Rorty sa...
ListenTelling the story from 2018-08-05T17:30
Philosophy is usually thought of as the province of ideas and abstract thought. But this week’s guest is taking philosophy in a slightly different direction, yet makes perfect sense. US academic Ba...
ListenRemembering Stanley Cavell from 2018-07-29T17:30
Stanley Cavell, who died on June 19, was one of the world’s foremost contemporary thinkers, yet he always considered himself something of a philosophical outsider. His work ranged across the philos...
ListenWhen work stops working from 2018-07-22T17:30
Why do we work? According to Judaeo-Christian tradition, work is the result of a divine curse—and for many people in today’s labour market that comes as no surprise. And as more and more jobs becom...
ListenNo laughing matter from 2018-07-08T17:30
Philosophers tend not to be funny—Nietzsche is a notable exception, and Plato had his moments—but philosophy can have a humorous side.
ListenBackyard ethics: defending the NIMBY from 2018-07-01T17:30
Suppose a new hospital or drug rehabilitation centre needs to be built. If you’re a NIMBY, then you’ll be fine with the project—as long as it doesn’t negatively affect your property value. NIMBYism...
ListenGuilty or not guilty from 2018-06-24T17:30
Second in a two-part series on Indian philosophy. Buddhism teaches that the self is an illusion—so what do we do with self-conscious emotions like guilt and shame, which can put useful brakes on et...
ListenThe oblivion of India from 2018-06-17T17:30
Indian philosophy has thousands of years of history behind it, yet Western philosophers have largely ignored it—and their assumptions about Indian philosophy may have influenced the Western philoso...
ListenKnud Loegstrup and The Ethical Demand from 2018-06-10T17:30
Danish philosopher Knud Loegstrup was a contemporary of Sartre, Arendt and Levinas—but his influence outside the world of Nordic philosophy has been limited. Scott Stephens speaks with Loegstrup’s ...
ListenMaking differences from 2018-06-03T17:30
We're all keen on diversity these days—as long as it stays within proper boundaries. When it comes to moral values though, diverse perspectives can make us uncomfortable—so how do we manage it, and...
ListenMorals and the market from 2018-05-27T17:30
Neoliberalism and human rights are often portrayed as standing in opposition to each other, with the fat cats at the big end of town pulling the economic levers. But neoliberalism and the discourse...
ListenThe freedom of the City from 2018-05-13T17:30
May 1968 was a watershed moment in political philosophy, and its ripple effect continues. We follow the long trajectory of May '68—from the universities and streets of Paris fifty years ago, via th...
ListenThe fate of the Common Good from 2018-05-06T17:30
The idea of the common good drove some of the most important social developments of the 20th century. Today, nations seem to be losing faith in the idea.
ListenWho are you? from 2018-04-29T17:30
The question of exactly what constitutes identity is an old and much-contested one. Is personhood located in a community? A culture? A race? Or is it something singular and immanent, located somewh...
ListenThe beauty imperative from 2018-04-22T17:30
What does it mean when beauty moves from aesthetic choice to ethical ideal? The age-old belief that true beauty lies within is ever harder to sustain today. It was once sidelined as a 'women’s issu...
ListenMartin Luther King: political philosopher from 2018-04-15T17:30
We don’t routinely think of political figures as philosophers, but when but comes to Martin Luther King maybe we should. King was a deep thinker with a remarkably coherent vision of the moral life ...
ListenHeads up for a philosophy event—Thinking Out Loud from 2018-04-09T16:00
Thinking Out Loud: The Sydney Lectures in Philosophy and Society aims to bring a leading international thinker to Western Sydney University annually to present a series of public lectures. This yea...
ListenThe shadow of eugenics from 2018-04-08T17:30
Eugenics is a science that seems to belong back in the darkest days of the 20th century. But today, 'newgenics' has people worried, as reproductive technologies make it increasingly possible to fil...
ListenOh, the Humanities from 2018-04-01T17:30
We often hear that the academic Humanities and social sciences are in crisis—underfunded, out of touch with the job market, hamstrung by political correctness and moral relativism. So why study phi...
ListenThinking small from 2018-03-25T17:30
Understanding the human condition has been the province of many disciplines, but you wouldn’t necessarily expect microbiology to be among them. Think again!
ListenPhilosophy for children: the why and the how from 2018-03-18T17:30
Children are natural philosophers — so why don’t we routinely teach them how to do philosophy? Some issues around that debate were aired at a recent public panel hosted by the Philosophy of Educati...
ListenSteve Fuller on post-truth from 2018-03-11T17:30
For many of us, 'post-truth' means a culture where appeals to prejudice and emotion trump rational policy discussion. But for Steve Fuller, post-truth is just a by-product of the institutionalisati...
ListenExtended minds, predictive processes, and Andy Clark from 2018-03-04T17:30
Andy Clark is a big name in what’s known as embodied and extended cognition. The theory positions the mind beyond the brain. If accurate, his ideas will have radical practical consequences well bey...
ListenThe philosophy of parenting—part 4 from 2018-02-25T17:30
An authentic life will risk heartbreak for the highs—sounds like parenting. Matt Beard presents his final foray into the bewildering modern world of children, parents and families.
ListenThe philosophy of parenting—part 3 from 2018-02-18T17:30
Every parent knows the guilt that comes from being a ‘bad parent’—after you’ve lost your temper, given in to a tantrum and spoiled your precious little angel! It might affect how the child grows up...
ListenThe philosophy of parenting—part 2 from 2018-02-11T17:30
Brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, those weird second cousins you never talk to… how might we define family—and why it matters.
ListenThe philosophy of parenting—part 1 from 2018-02-04T17:30
Should you have kids? Don’t look for sage advice—part 1 of a 4-part series.
ListenThe value of thought experiments from 2018-01-28T17:30
Drop those test tubes, take off your lab coat, pull up a comfy chair and think your way to scientific truth.
ListenFuelling free will from 2018-01-21T17:30
Alfred Mele has four years and four million dollars trying to get to the bottom of free will. He learnt that it was like petrol.
ListenStones rolling and the joy of ordinary objects from 2018-01-07T17:30
The structure of the universe is written in stone—maybe. Dana Goswick talks metaphysics.
ListenAwesome ethics and the art of mushroom blading from 2017-12-31T17:30
Forget the meaning of life; an ethical definition of awesome is far more important.
ListenRobot dogs dream of consciousness from 2017-12-17T17:30
What makes the human mind so distinctive? Perhaps the answer is in your dreams.
ListenParental guidance recommended from 2017-12-10T17:30
The nature of Family could be more than a Christmas puzzle.
ListenEnvy has its reasons from 2017-12-03T17:30
When and why might it be ok to hate your colleague’s promotion?
ListenA tale of two universes from 2017-11-26T17:30
Philosophy and modern physics: a case of the irrelevant versus the impractical?
ListenAutonomy, self, and substances from 2017-11-19T17:30
Substance abuse lets you say ‘it wasn’t me’. Then who was it?
ListenGetting stuck: The midlife mess from 2017-11-12T17:30
Your midlife crisis: it’s more than you think.
ListenThe Reformation: What's not to like? from 2017-11-05T17:30
Is it just a coincidence that the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation falls on the same year that Britain is trying to 'Brexit'?
ListenAnimals and the philosophy of friendship from 2017-10-29T17:30
Some of our best friends are animals. So where does that leave some humans we know?
ListenBots, bankers and big brother from 2017-10-22T17:30
Would you trust a killer robot more than a banker? This philosopher does, and has his reasons.
ListenFacts and trust in a post-truth world from 2017-10-15T17:30
We’re told it’s a post-truth world—so what’s left of the philosophy of knowledge?
ListenPersonal identity: a primer from 2017-10-08T17:30
Who am I? Glad you asked; now for two millennia of thinking.
ListenAnother concept of race from 2017-10-01T17:30
Race is the hot button term of our era. But perhaps the time has come to update it with a more accurate concept.
ListenVirtue, vice, sex, and robots from 2017-09-24T17:30
The robots have given rise to a distinctly modern dilemma: is there such a thing as an immoral fantasy?
ListenTell me one thing that's absolutely true from 2017-09-17T17:30
Truth: a simple word that’s spawned a cosmos of theories, and caused a world of trouble.
ListenTranscendence and the moderns from 2017-09-10T17:30
People claim to find modern transcendence in sport, at raves, or on Amazonian hallucinogens. But is it the real thing?
ListenTranscendence and the ancients from 2017-09-03T17:30
If there's one subject you could write 800 pages on it would be Transcendence. But is it philosophy?
ListenThree things you should know about time from 2017-08-27T17:30
Confused about time? Let’s give presentism, eternalism, and the growing block a brisk work out.
ListenRemembering wars, lest we forget from 2017-08-20T17:30
The rituals of remembrance can be powerful and moving, but what moral lesson lies beneath?
ListenOn being vulnerable from 2017-08-13T17:30
It’s a promise as old as Buddha: make the right choices and you can put an end to your suffering. But is it the wrong end of the stick?
ListenCauses, effects, and hidden powers from 2017-08-06T17:30
If there’s anything you can bank on it’s cause and effect; Stephen Mumford on an indispensable first principle.
ListenWine: a matter of taste? from 2017-07-30T17:30
What a good quaffing can reveal about being objective about the subjective; raise a glass to the philosophy of wine.
ListenFree speech, campus protests, and the right to silence from 2017-07-23T17:30
University students calling for deplatforming are making a curious claim about free speech. But what is it exactly?
ListenRemembering Zygmunt Bauman and Hubert Dreyfus from 2017-07-16T17:30
Bauman and Dreyfus: remembering two greats who engaged deeply with powerful forces of our time.
ListenEnid Blyton—the moral of the story from 2017-07-09T17:30
She might not be in vogue these days, but for one Cambridge philosopher Enid Blyton is serious moral business.
ListenAn answer for Carlo Rovelli and his quantum problem from 2017-07-02T17:30
Carlo Rovelli is a physicist in need of a philosopher, and we’ve found one who's happy to help.
ListenThe military, moral injury, and Nancy Sherman from 2017-06-25T17:30
This year’s Alan Saunders Memorial Lecturer—Nancy Sherman—has something to say about the military.
ListenOn prison sentencing: what matters? from 2017-06-18T17:30
A philosopher receives a 12-year jail sentence for having sex with someone who can’t speak. Then things get interesting. Peter Singer and Marcia Baron on suffering as a guide to sentencing.
ListenCarlo Rovelli and his quantum problem from 2017-06-11T17:30
Carlo Rovelli on the desperate need for some conceptual engineering to dig quantum thinking out of a deep black hole.
ListenWilliam Godwin: rebel for love, happiness, and anarchy from 2017-06-04T17:30
The Utilitarians have given us a big idea to live by, transforming life in ways we take for granted today. One of their number challenges us to tak...
Mottainai: a philosophy of waste from 2017-05-28T17:30
Mottainai combines elements of Buddhism and Shinto to create a nuanced approach to the environment and wasteful practices.
...
A deathly conversation: Part 3 from 2017-05-07T17:30
When I die will I be dead? Sam Baron with a final look at the ultimate mystery