Philosopher's Zone
243 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 155 ratingsThe simplest questions often have the most complex answers. The Philosopher's Zone is your guide through the strange thickets of logic, metaphysics and ethics.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Philosophy for children: the why and the how
March 18, 2018 06:30 - 49 minutes - 44.9 MBChildren 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 Education Society of Australasia.
Steve Fuller on post-truth
March 11, 2018 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBFor 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 institutionalisation of knowledge—including scientific knowledge.
Extended minds, predictive processes, and Andy Clark
March 04, 2018 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBAndy 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 beyond the philosophy of mind.
The philosophy of parenting—part 4
February 25, 2018 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBAn 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.
The philosophy of parenting—part 3
February 18, 2018 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBEvery 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, but how to work that out?
The philosophy of parenting—part 2
February 11, 2018 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBBrothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, those weird second cousins you never talk to… how might we define family—and why it matters.
The philosophy of parenting—part 1
February 04, 2018 06:30 - 37 minutes - 34.4 MBShould you have kids? Don’t look for sage advice—part 1 of a 4-part series.
The value of thought experiments
January 28, 2018 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBDrop those test tubes, take off your lab coat, pull up a comfy chair and think your way to scientific truth.
Fuelling free will
January 21, 2018 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBAlfred Mele has four years and four million dollars trying to get to the bottom of free will. He learnt that it was like petrol.
Carlo Rovelli and his quantum problem
January 14, 2018 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBCarlo Rovelli on the desperate need for some conceptual engineering to dig quantum thinking out of a deep black hole.
Stones rolling and the joy of ordinary objects
January 07, 2018 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBThe structure of the universe is written in stone—maybe. Dana Goswick talks metaphysics.
Awesome ethics and the art of mushroom blading
December 31, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBForget the meaning of life; an ethical definition of awesome is far more important.
Enid Blyton—the moral of the story
December 24, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBShe might not be in vogue these days, but for one Cambridge philosopher Enid Blyton is serious moral business.
Robot dogs dream of consciousness
December 17, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBWhat makes the human mind so distinctive? Perhaps the answer is in your dreams.
Parental guidance recommended
December 10, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 23.6 MBThe nature of Family could be more than a Christmas puzzle.
Envy has its reasons
December 03, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBWhen and why might it be ok to hate your colleague’s promotion?
A tale of two universes
November 26, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBPhilosophy and modern physics: a case of the irrelevant versus the impractical?
Autonomy, self, and substances
November 19, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBSubstance abuse lets you say ‘it wasn’t me’. Then who was it?
Getting stuck: The midlife mess
November 12, 2017 06:30 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MBYour midlife crisis: it’s more than you think.
The Reformation: What's not to like?
November 05, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBIs it just a coincidence that the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation falls on the same year that Britain is trying to 'Brexit'?
Animals and the philosophy of friendship
October 29, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBSome of our best friends are animals. So where does that leave some humans we know?
Bots, bankers and big brother
October 22, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBWould you trust a killer robot more than a banker? This philosopher does, and has his reasons.
Facts and trust in a post-truth world
October 15, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 23.6 MBWe’re told it’s a post-truth world—so what’s left of the philosophy of knowledge?
Personal identity: a primer
October 08, 2017 06:30 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MBWho am I? Glad you asked; now for two millennia of thinking.
Another concept of race
October 01, 2017 06:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBRace is the hot button term of our era. But perhaps the time has come to update it with a more accurate concept.
Virtue, vice, sex, and robots
September 24, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBThe robots have given rise to a distinctly modern dilemma: is there such a thing as an immoral fantasy?
Tell me one thing that's absolutely true
September 17, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBTruth: a simple word that’s spawned a cosmos of theories, and caused a world of trouble.
Transcendence and the moderns
September 10, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBPeople claim to find modern transcendence in sport, at raves, or on Amazonian hallucinogens. But is it the real thing?
Transcendence and the ancients
September 03, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBIf there's one subject you could write 800 pages on it would be Transcendence. But is it philosophy?
Three things you should know about time
August 27, 2017 07:30 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBConfused about time? Let’s give presentism, eternalism, and the growing block a brisk work out.
Remembering wars, lest we forget
August 20, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBThe rituals of remembrance can be powerful and moving, but what moral lesson lies beneath?
On being vulnerable
August 13, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBIt’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?
Causes, effects, and hidden powers
August 06, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBIf there’s anything you can bank on it’s cause and effect; Stephen Mumford on an indispensable first principle.
Wine: a matter of taste?
July 30, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBWhat a good quaffing can reveal about being objective about the subjective; raise a glass to the philosophy of wine.
Free speech, campus protests, and the right to silence
July 23, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBUniversity students calling for deplatforming are making a curious claim about free speech. But what is it exactly?
Remembering Zygmunt Bauman and Hubert Dreyfus
July 16, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBBauman and Dreyfus: remembering two greats who engaged deeply with powerful forces of our time.
Enid Blyton—the moral of the story
July 09, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBShe might not be in vogue these days, but for one Cambridge philosopher Enid Blyton is serious moral business.
An answer for Carlo Rovelli and his quantum problem
July 02, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBCarlo Rovelli is a physicist in need of a philosopher, and we’ve found one who's happy to help.
The military, moral injury, and Nancy Sherman
June 25, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBThis year’s Alan Saunders Memorial Lecturer—Nancy Sherman—has something to say about the military.
On prison sentencing: what matters?
June 18, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBA 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.
Carlo Rovelli and his quantum problem
June 11, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBCarlo Rovelli on the desperate need for some conceptual engineering to dig quantum thinking out of a deep black hole.
William Godwin: rebel for love, happiness, and anarchy
June 04, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBThe 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 take it further.
Mottainai: a philosophy of waste
May 28, 2017 07:30 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBMottainai combines elements of Buddhism and Shinto to create a nuanced approach to the environment and wasteful practices.