Episodes

  • How To Use This Podcast

    How To Use This Podcast
    Dec 7 2023

    This brief introductory episode gives the listener advice about how to use the podcast. The episode opens with a clip of the philosopher Cornel West concisely stating a few of the main goals of the next fourteen episodes of the podcast.


    Thanks to Galen Curry (of folk-rock band The Currys) for the theme music!


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    4 mins
  • Philosopher Citizens

    Philosopher Citizens
    Dec 7 2023
    In this episode, I discuss what you're supposed to be learning in Problems of Philosophy. Then, Dr. Justin Bernstein of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (but of Florida Atlantic University at the time of recording) tells us about the philosopher Alex Guerrero's idea that using a lottery to select our political representatives would be more effective--and indeed more democratic--than voting.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    42 mins
  • Argumentation and Philosophical Conversation

    Argumentation and Philosophical Conversation
    Dec 7 2023
    In this episode, I draw on remarks by the philosophers Iris Murdoch and Susan Stebbing to discuss the art of philosophical conversation, with an emphasis on how it revolves around argumentation. Then, a couple of non-philosophers model an attainably successful submission for the philosophical conversation assignment you'll complete this semester.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    29 mins
  • Two Analyses of Bullshit

    Two Analyses of Bullshit
    Dec 7 2023
    In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Lindsey Fiorelli of Minerva University to discuss two analyses of bullshit: Harry Frankfurt's view that bullshitting involves indifference to truth, and G.A. Cohen's view that bullshit is unclarifiably unclear.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Socrates: Bullshit Detector or Bullshit Artist?

    Socrates: Bullshit Detector or Bullshit Artist?
    Dec 7 2023

    In this episode, I ask one of the most confounding questions in the study of ancient philosophy: was Socrates a bullshitter?


    There won't be another episode of this podcast for a couple weeks. In the meantime, go check out Peter Adamson's episodes on Socrates, the Meno, and the Phaedo, over at his superb podcast on the History of Philosophy without any Gaps.


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    13 mins
  • Doubt

    Doubt
    Dec 7 2023
    In this episode, I invite you, the listener, to meditate with me on reasons to doubt everything you thought you knew.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    9 mins
  • None of your Beeswax

    None of your Beeswax
    Dec 7 2023
    In this episode, I discuss the Aristotelian worldview that Descartes attempted to overthrow, and introduce the listener to the Cogito: Descartes's famous, purportedly indubitable claim that "I think, therefore I am".

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    20 mins
  • Cartesian Interaction

    Cartesian Interaction
    Dec 7 2023
    In this episode, I discuss Descartes's truth rule--that everything he clearly and distinctly perceives is true--and how he leverages that rule (along with the existence of a non-deceiving God) to establish a metaphysical distinction between mind and body. I then discuss the Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia's incisive critique of Descartes's substance dualism, as well as the more nuanced dualism that Elisabeth prefers.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show more Show less
    27 mins