MeaningofLife.tv: Sophia
105 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingKnowledge, Reality, Truth, Morality … Daniel Kaufman, David Ottlinger, Robert Gressis, and their guests explore the rich universe of philosophical investigation and inquiry.
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Episodes
Realism, Anti-Realism and "Rabbity Moments" (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
May 07, 2019 00:52 - 1 hour - 40 MBRealism vs. anti-realism ... Is reality the sum of human senses? ... Why Crispin is allergic to idealism ... “Rabbity moments” and Quine’s radical translation scenario ... What does it mean to say someone lives “in another world”? ... Davidson’s closet analogy for conceptual schemes ... What makes a given statement true? ...
Analytic vs. Continental Philosophy (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
April 11, 2019 01:54 - 1 hour - 30.8 MBWhat explains the sharp divide between analytic and continental philosophy? ... Continental philosophy’s association with romanticism and fascism ... How Richard Rorty, Crispin’s dissertation advisor, bridged the gap between the two schools ... Heidegger’s skepticism of science ... Crispin articulates the divide in terms of substance and style ... How continental philosophy challenges the primacy of argument ...
The Truth about "Truth" (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
February 12, 2019 22:48 - 1 hour - 32.9 MBCrispin’s book chapter on the nature of truth ... Do different uses of the word “truth” have a family resemblance? ... The challenge of connecting truth with reality ... Where does linguistics enter the picture? ... How Crispin bucks expectations of academic philosophical writing ... Dan: Analytic philosophy misses the forest for the trees ... What’s missing from Crispin’s exploration of truth? ...
Identitarianism in Academic Philosophy (Daniel Kaufman & Oliver Traldi)
January 19, 2019 22:50 - 1 hour - 41.1 MBWhy Oliver quit law school ... Is it professionally risky to express heterodox views in philosophy? ... Philosophy as handmaiden to progressive politics ... Dan’s essay on philosophy’s abuse of the harm principle ... The chicken-or-egg question of students or faculty ... Is leftism corrupting scholarship? ... What politics can learn from the field of philosophy ... The irony of a leftist discipline that exploits labor ...
Is Punk Dead? (Daniel Kaufman & E. John Winner)
December 31, 2018 20:41 - 1 hour - 42.1 MBJohn’s personal history with punk rock ... Why was punk more political in the UK than in NYC? ... The far reach of capitalism into counterculture ... How the NYC punk scene fizzled out ... The early importance of record shops and FM radio stations ... Punk and suburban oppression ... Is punk dead or perennially youthful? ... John: Gender expression is the new embodiment of the punk ethos ...
What Is Action? (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
December 06, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 40.9 MBWhat distinguishes “action” from simple motor movement? ... Can animals take deliberate action? ... Why narrative has a place in science and physics ... Biology, evolution, and the emergence of action ... Why does Massimo want a beer? ... Dan: The “free will problem” is ill-formed ... How the evolution of language brought meaning to human behavior ... Massimo and Dan's latest projects ...
Gun Control and the Social Contract (Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)
November 09, 2018 17:25 - 1 hour - 39.6 MBWhat role should guns play in a liberal society? ... What American deference to police says about authority and force ... Why we leave justice in the government’s hands ... Defining modern conservatism: Is Matt Lewis a “liberal”? ... Do pro-gun arguments consider the social contract? ... David: Do open-carriers want to live in a Mad Max movie? ... Dan: Grover Norquist’s model citizen isn’t a citizen at all ...
The Aesthetics of Politics (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
September 26, 2018 22:04 - 1 hour - 32.7 MBCrispin’s essay on the politics of geography and representation ... Why did rural Americans feel that Trump’s victory was their victory? ... Is “one person, one vote” a wrong-headed view of political representation? ... Where political representation meets art and aesthetics ... Can Americans' interests be represented accurately? ... Is being from a rural area akin to being a racial minority? ... What does our current system of political representation get right or wrong? ...
On the Profession of Philosophy (Daniel Kaufman & Justin Weinberg)
August 15, 2018 02:15 - 1 hour - 40.3 MBJustin's website about the philosophy profession, Daily Nous ... What philosophers actually do when they do research ... Will we ever solve the big philosophical questions? ... What the American Philosophical Association does ... Is this a golden age for public philosophy? ... Are philosophy departments in danger? ... Dan wonders whether there should be a moratorium on new philosophy PhDs ...
Has Marxism lost its way? (Daniel Kaufman & Brian Leiter)
August 01, 2018 03:04 - 1 hour - 41.2 MBTo understand Marx, start with Hegel’s dialectics ... Why Marx emphasized economic production over Hegelian idealism ... Dan: Was Marx’s concept of labor too narrow? ... What will happen if technology eliminates most jobs? ... Marxism post-WWII: More than college activism and Jefferson Airplane? ... Brian: Marx’s predictions were right, but his predicted timeframe was all wrong ... Why “diversity blather” is a capitalist wolf in Marxist clothing ...
Ontology and Materialism (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
June 27, 2018 03:25 - 1 hour - 35.4 MBDan and Massimo on ontology: What exists and what doesn’t? ... What, if anything, do Saturn’s rings have in common with virtue? ... Materialism as a product of scientism ... The immaterial features of human life and society ... The most important philosopher you’ve never heard of ... What does Daniel Dennett mean by “self,” anyway? ... Massimo: A single ontology isn’t enough to describe reality ...
Thoughts on Sex and Gender (Daniel Kaufman & Richard Thompson)
May 24, 2018 00:42 - 1 hour - 44.2 MBRichard, a.k.a. miceelf88, joins Dan to talk gender politics ... The difference between sex and gender identity ... The ontological (and legal) issues with fluid gender identity ... Dan: Social identities like gender aren’t “self-made” ... What trans identity means for the civil rights coalition ... Jordan Peterson and gender as the essence of self ... Empathy vs. sympathy in coalition building ...
America's Children: Our Treasure, Our Target (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
April 26, 2018 03:47 - 1 hour - 36.8 MBIs masculinity treated as a pathology? ... Why girls are outperforming boys in class ... Disentangling gender and sex, culture and biology ... “Girl power” was a success, but at what social cost? ... Crispin’s years as a teen revolutionary ... The modern school as a totalitarian institution ... What really explains high-security schools? ... How safe can we reasonably expect to be in society? ... Is the media distorting our narratives of crime and danger? ...
Why Michelangelo sucks (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
March 02, 2018 03:56 - 1 hour - 32.1 MBCrispin’s “Why They Suck” essay series ... Why in particular does Michelangelo suck? ... The contrasts in humanism represented in Italian and Northern Renaissance art ... The “ennobling quality” of human emotion in early Renaissance art ... Why Dan is a humanist and Crispin is not ... Identifying the internal incoherence of Michelangelo’s work ... Dan: Judaism’s approach to moral agency begins in the Garden of Eden ... Crispin questions emphasizing human endeavors over all others ...
Philistinism and philosophy (Daniel Kaufman & Daniel Tippens)
February 23, 2018 01:10 - 1 hour - 42.4 MBWhat does Dan K. mean by Philistinism? ... How philistines reduce the irreducible in all walks of life ... Philistinism’s creeping control in philosophy and the academy ... When we invest in arts and letters, what do we get in return? ... What good are refined senses, anyway? ... Dan T. explains how refinement can prevent us from being duped ...
Eudaimonia, Stoicism, and "the good life" (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
January 05, 2018 03:33 - 1 hour - 31.4 MBDan and Massimo’s dueling essays on the Greek concept of eudaimonia ... Who can claim to be truly satisfied with life? ... What Kant and the Stoics have in common ... Are humans more than their internal moral lives? ... Dan: Building moral character requires interaction with society ... Is philosophy going corporate? ...
A Multicultural Manifesto (Daniel Kaufman & Bryan Van Norden)
December 12, 2017 02:33 - 1 hour - 35.6 MBJust how Euro-centric are American philosophy departments, anyway? ... Is racism baked into Western philosophy? ... A brief account of Western dalliances with Eastern thought ... Why new movements in philosophy must kill their ancestors ... Why do philosophy departments stay white? Subtle self-selection, Bryan says ... Is philistinism killing philosophy as a discipline? ...
What art is (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
November 01, 2017 00:20 - 1 hour - 94 MBHow philosopher Arthur Danto attempted to define art ... Danto’s preoccupation with Warhol’s Brillo Boxes ... Is art just “aboutness”? ... Crispin: Danto’s historicity constrained his concept of art ... Dan questions Hegel on art’s inherent purpose ... Why common crafts may come to replace high art ...
The scope of morality (Daniel Kaufman & Daniel Tippens)
October 10, 2017 02:37 - 1 hour - 97.4 MBWhat is the “morality everywhere” problem? ... Hume on “the cautious, jealous virtue” of justice ... The moral responsibility of comedians ... What moral universalists get wrong about everyday choices ... A critique of Daniel Tippens’ concept of moral production ... Daniel Tippens explains what it takes to be morally courageous ... Can moral activists win? ...
Does "the self" exist? (Daniel Kaufman & Robert Wright)
August 01, 2017 21:41 - 1 hour - 76.5 MBDan and Bob debate the Buddhist idea that the "self" doesn’t exist ... Bob’s brush with a “not-self” experience ... Is it bad to transcend human nature? ... What is “the self”, anyway? ... Do our moral intuitions mislead? ...
ENTANGLEMENTS, PART 2 (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
July 21, 2017 22:38 - 1 hour - 134 MBWhat is knowledge? ... What are values made of? ... Free will and moral responsibility ... Imagining stateless, coercion-free politics ... What’s wrong with the left-right dichotomy ... The purpose of political philosophy ...
Entanglements, Part 1 (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
July 16, 2017 20:31 - 1 hour - 87.1 MBCrispin’s new book Entanglements: A System of Philosophy ... Individuals as knots on a thread ... Crispin’s materialism: The world is real, but it is "all the ways" ... A materialist’s way of understanding social reality ... Perception as being penetrated by the world ... How distinct from the rest of the world are we? ... Knowledge, power, and politics ...
The Evolution of TV Shows (Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)
June 25, 2017 20:40 - 1 hour - 82.9 MBDavid’s essay Medium, Message, and Effect ... What sitcoms owe to small TV screens ... HBO brings film techniques to television ... Theatrics in movies ... When cinematics on TV became too much ... The new model: Binge-watching ... Why streaming shows are anti-social ...
“Purpose” in science & morality (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
June 06, 2017 22:52 - 1 hour - 72.3 MB“Purpose” in science and morality ... What Aristotle thought about purpose in nature ... Why asking “what is it for?” makes sense in biology but not other sciences ... Does form dictate function? ... Is there a “law” of morality? ... The paths to human flourishing ... Why a “scientific” approach to ethics à la Sam Harris doesn’t work ...
How to Be a Stoic (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
May 15, 2017 22:21 - 1 hour - 92.9 MBMassimo’s new book How to Be a Stoic ... Why we all need a philosophy of life ... Why Stoicism can appeal to Christians, Buddhists, and atheists alike ... Stoic virtues, disciplines, and areas of study ... Cynics—the monks of Stoicism ... Things within and outside your control ... Massimo’s Stoic version of a Dear Abby column ...
Existentialism & Stoicism: compare & contrast (Daniel Kaufman, Massimo Pigliucci, & Skye Cleary)
April 05, 2017 15:03 - 1 hour - 80.5 MBFundamentals of Stoicism… ... …and existentialism ... The roles we play ... Seasickness and other things we can’t control ... Contributions to psychotherapy from Stoics and existentialists ... Suicide, "the only serious philosophical problem" ... Stoicism as a philosophy of love ... When being virtuous is close to impossible ...
The Scientific Image of Man (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
March 26, 2017 17:10 - 1 hour - 61.1 MBThe underappreciated philosopher Wilfrid Sellars ... The “manifest image” vs. the “scientific image" ... Why scientism bothers Massimo ... Don’t blame me, my brain made me do it! ... What Daniel Dennett gets wrong in his new book ... The limits of science ...
Can evolution explain ethics? (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
February 06, 2017 21:00 - 1 hour - 71.7 MBJoin the hordes clamoring for Massimo’s forthcoming book! ... The science of ethics ... Is morality baked into our biology? ... Can primates tell us where morality comes from? ... How Kant and moral psychology complement each other ... Nietzsche’s moral philosophy ... Warning: Chimps and bonobos are not hairy proto-humans! ... The trouble with studying morality in infants ...
Classical Liberalism, Part 2 (Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)
January 24, 2017 01:55 - 1 hour - 103 MBJohn Stuart Mill on social shaming ... Was the U.S. envisioned as a classical liberal polity? ... Why the New Deal was not a break with liberalism ... Is there such a thing as personal autonomy? ... Why the social justice movement is illiberal ... Future prospects of liberalism ...
Classical liberalism, part 1 (Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)
January 18, 2017 00:51 - 1 hour - 93.3 MBDan’s definition of classical liberalism ... Locke’s Second Treatise of Government and Mill’s On Liberty ... Mill and Locke on the individual ... The social contract and political authority ... The group and the individual in the modern world ... How much of a liberal was Mill really? ... Social censorship and the PC debate ... Is Mill’s utilitarianism at odds with his liberalism? ... Classical liberalism in America ...
Ancient vs. modern philosophy (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
December 06, 2016 00:24 - 1 hour - 77.9 MBHow do ancient and modern philosophy differ? ... Philosophy as a way of life ... How the scientific revolution changed philosophy ... Has modern ethics gone down the wrong path? ... Why did ethicists turn away from virtues and toward moral rules? ... Do universal ethical principles exist? ... What Sam Harris gets wrong about ethics ...
David Hume on reason and feelings (Daniel Kaufman & Robert Wright)
October 31, 2016 00:22 - 1 hour - 59 MBHume: Reason is a slave of feelings ... Feelings and reason in evolutionary psychology ... Why Kant wanted ethics to be rational ... The evolution of moral intuitions ... Morality is subjective, but it's in our nature ... Why seeing purpose in evolution freaks scientists out ... Hume’s Buddhist view of the self ...
The Skepticism of David Hume (Daniel Kaufman & Robert Wright)
October 24, 2016 01:27 - 1 hour - 48.2 MBBerkley, Hume, and Elon Musk on whether the world is real ... Hume’s view of causality ... The metaphysics of Kant and Hume ... Does it matter if we live in a simulation? ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
September 19, 2016 19:55 - 1 hour - 69.1 MBDavid Hume’s life and work ... How Hume influenced Massimo’s thinking ... What Hume got right about causality, and what he got wrong ... What shapes our moral instincts? ... Why Dan regards Arthur Danto so highly… ... …and what he thinks Danto got wrong ... The end of art history? ...
(Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)
August 28, 2016 17:08 - 1 hour - 102 MBPutting Kant's work in context ... Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Prolegomena ... Kant's radical innovations in the Critique ... Defining different kinds of thought ... Active and passive faculties of the mind ... Are there two worlds, or two aspects of one world? ... Consequences of intertwining the world and the mind ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
August 15, 2016 22:57 - 1 hour - 83 MBIs a “theory of everything” possible? ... Dan and Massimo recap their previous discussions on progress ... In what sense has philosophy gotten “better” over time? ... How the “realists” v. “anti-realists” debate shows that philosophy progresses ... Comparing early utilitarianism to modern utilitarianism ... Why science has become increasingly segmented ... Is epistemology dead or is it advancing? ... Why philosophy matters ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
July 04, 2016 01:20 - 1 hour - 79.6 MBMassimo’s new book on the nature of philosophy ... The distinctive way philosophy makes progress ... Are philosophers really more like artists? ... Has philosophy “gotten better”? ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
May 31, 2016 22:04 - 1 hour - 63.1 MBMassimo's new book, The Nature of Philosophy ... Two ways that philosophy and science progress ... Logic, mathematics, and the physical world ... Does physics depend on mathematics too much? ... Comparing mathematics to games and fiction ... Why does mathematics describe the real world so well? ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
May 01, 2016 17:11 - 1 hour - 66.5 MBThe ethics of eating ... Why Massimo changed his eating habits ... The problem with utilitarianism ... Morality from a virtue-ethics perspective ... Considering ethical obligations ... Are some virtues more important than others? ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Daniel Tippens)
March 25, 2016 18:20 - 1 hour - 108 MBRationalism, its virtues and ideals ... Manifestations of rationalism in epistemology ... ... ... in ethics ... ... ... and in political philosophy ... Critique of rationalism: It can't be reasons all the way down ... Dan K. claims rational ethicists don't really exist ... ... ... and if they did, you wouldn't like them ... How philosophy turned to rationalism, and Dan K. turned away from it ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
February 13, 2016 19:54 - 1 hour - 72.5 MBWhat constitutes an explanation in the natural sciences? ... Looking for a categorical difference between natural and social sciences ... Biological and social explanations of human behavior ... The difference between the narratives of social and physical sciences ... Does social science explain events or their interpretations? ... Must a science have “laws”? Are there social scientific laws? ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Robert Wright)
February 12, 2016 21:53 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBA quick look at the life of Wittgenstein ... The misunderstood philosopher ... How does language represent reality (if at all)? ... Wittgenstein the Mystic ... Why your private thoughts are public ... Cognitive science's big Wittgensteinian problem ...
(Massimo Pigliucci & Daniel Fincke)
February 02, 2016 16:52 - 1 hour - 90.3 MBStoicism: a philosophical alternative to religion ... Adapting an ancient philosophy of life to modern times ... Accepting harsh truths ... Confronting regret, fear, and death ... Applying Stoicism to the social sphere ... Interpreting the concept of radical self-sufficiency ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Barbara Block)
January 11, 2016 22:42 - 1 hour - 53.4 MBWhat does it mean to be Jewish? ... The development of different Jewish movements ... Barbara: God doesn't change; our understanding of God changes ... The Torah, the Talmud, and the Jewish canon ... Bringing the old ways into modern times ... Why moral philosophy alone isn’t enough ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
November 28, 2015 22:30 - 1 hour - 68.2 MBDan questions the rationale for a liberal arts education ... Massimo defends the liberal arts ... Does studying the humanities make you a better citizen? ... Campus protesters with a little learning ... Valuing the liberal arts for their own sake ... Massimo: The humanities are dangerous ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Leslie Baynes)
November 17, 2015 02:40 - 1 hour - 62.7 MBDigging into C. S. Lewis's "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord" argument ... Did Jesus assert his own divinity? ... Unpacking "son of God" and "son of man" ... The Jesus of John vs. the Jesus of Mark ... How to use the New Testament as a historical document ... Why Leslie, a Christian, wants to rebut Lewis's apologetic ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Daniel Tippens)
October 31, 2015 22:45 - 1 hour - 87.2 MBWhat guides our moral decision-making? ... Dealing with conflicting moral obligations ... Distinguishing feelings from beliefs ... What makes an expert? ... What a moral theory does ... Why “effective altruism” isn’t compelling ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
October 03, 2015 22:20 - 1 hour - 67.7 MB“Virtue ethics” vs. typical modern understandings of morality ... What do you need to live a “flourishing” life? ... How to tell the difference between a Cynic and a Stoic ... When our moral intuitions and our moral systems conflict ... What Massimo finds appealing about a Stoic lifestyle ... Why you shouldn’t focus on external outcomes ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Glenn Loury)
September 18, 2015 22:05 - 1 hour - 63.1 MBHow scientific are the social sciences? ... Glenn defends the reliability of economic predictions ... The strengths and weaknesses of "natural experiments" ... How much does culture affect economic behavior? ... New insights from behavioral economics ... Dan: We trust the social sciences too much ...
(Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
August 28, 2015 20:55 - 1 hour - 68.3 MBHow Bertrand Russell changed Massimo's life ... Russell's waning influence on philosophy ... The legacy of Russell's "Why I Am Not a Christian" ... How Gilbert Ryle turned Dan away from Platonism ... Category errors and "knowing how" vs. "knowing that" ... Why history is more important in philosophy than in science ...