Philosophy Talk Starters
595 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago - ★★★★ - 54 ratingsBite-size episodes from the program that questions everything... except your intelligence. Learn more and access complete episodes at www.philosophytalk.org.
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Episodes
306: The Psychyology of Partisan Politics
October 17, 2015 00:46 - 9 minutes - 9.12 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/psychology-partisan-politics. Are you a tax-raising, soy latte-drinking, Prius-driving, New York Times-reading, Daily Show-watching, corporation-hating liberal? Or a gun-toting, Bible-loving, Walmart-shopping, homophobic, climate-change-denying, immigrant-hating conservative? Why does it seem like all of American politics often boils down to these two absurd positions? Is it because of our particular political system, our culture, or deeper psychologic...
307: God and the Fine-Tuned Universe
October 17, 2015 00:45 - 10 minutes - 9.37 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/god-and-fine-tuned-universe. If the precise value of many physical constants had been different, the universe would not have supported life, human life, consciousness, philosophy and us. Is it just luck – without which we wouldn't even be here to worry about it? Or is there a Creator who wanted things to turn out the way they did, and fine-tuned the universe to get that result? What if there were many universes, with many combinations of values for the...
308: Truth and Other Fictions
October 17, 2015 00:44 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MBMore at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/truth-and-other-fictions. Most of us think we know the truth when we see it. But what exactly is truth, anyway? Philosophers have offered a blizzard of different answers, ranging from truth as correspondence or coherence all the way to the view that truth is a matter of pragmatic utility or just a compliment we pay to the things we're prepared to believe or to say. But what is the truth about truth? Is there really such a thing? Or is truth its...
309: Dance as a Way of Knowing
October 17, 2015 00:43 - 12 minutes - 11.1 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/dance-way-knowing. Be it rhythmic or shuffling, athletic or pedestrian, erotic or just social, dance is an art form that utilizes movement of the body through space. Could the aesthetic experience of being physically present and embodied in the world be considered a way of knowing? Is there something in particular we can come to know by watching or performing dance? And are there broader lessons that dance can teach us about human perception and action...
310: The Demands of Morality
October 17, 2015 00:42 - 11 minutes - 10.3 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/demands-morality. We all want to lead a moral life. But even if we all agreed on what that would mean, we still have to balance our own self-interest with the competing demands of morality. This becomes even more challenging when the decks are stacked against us, or when everyone around us is only looking out for themselves. So in the real world, what does it mean to live a moral life? Do we have a responsibility to act morally when others around us ar...
311: Good, Evil, and the Divine Plan
October 17, 2015 00:41 - 10 minutes - 9.39 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/good-evil-and-divine-plan. A theodicy is an explanation by a philosopher or theologian about why a world created by a kind and all-powerful God contains so much suffering. It forces us to think about the nature of good and evil, whether the kind of knowledge an all-knowing God has leaves room for human freedom. Why do people who suffer often find their faith in God growing stronger? Is evil an illusion? Does God really need a defense attorney? John and...
313: Summer Reading List 2013
October 17, 2015 00:38 - 7 minutes - 6.93 MBSummer is the perfect time to dig in to deep reading. Heidegger's "Being and Time" may be a bit much to take to the beach, but there are lots of readable classics that could make your summer reading a transformative experience. John and Ken ask a few of their favorite past guests about the book that has most transformed their life and thinking, and they take more recommendations for philosophically-rich summer reading from listeners around the country. More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows...
314: Physics, Philosophy, and Theology
October 17, 2015 00:37 - 10 minutes - 9.47 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/physics-philosophy-and-theology. The world disclosed by the physical sciences can seem depressing. Modern physics, for example, has undermined the religious idea that the universe has a spiritual dimension. Quantum physics in particular seems to present the world as more paradoxical than rational. Is there room within – or in addition to – the world presented to us by the physical sciences for ideas such as freedom, dignity, justice, and even God? Or s...
315: Education and the Culture Wars
October 17, 2015 00:37 - 10 minutes - 9.74 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/education-and-culture-wars. In contemporary democracies, the state is responsible for providing children with an education. But parents surely have both the right and responsibility for instilling appropriate morals and values in their children. How should we reconcile conflicts between the state’s responsibility to properly educate minors and the parents’ rights to influence their children's values and ideals? Should the government’s approach to educ...
322: Tenth Anniversary Special
October 14, 2015 01:12 - 6 minutes - 5.96 MBPhilosophy Talk debuted on KALW 91.7 FM in San Francisco on August 20, 2003, with regular broadcasts beginning a few months later. Over the course of a decade the Philosophers, their guests, and their listeners have discussed and debated everything from the meaning of life to pre-emptive military strikes and baseball. To celebrate ten years on the air, John and Ken listen back to some of their favorite conversations with the writers and thinkers who have joined them on the program, and they l...
324: Ancient Cynicism
October 14, 2015 01:10 - 9 minutes - 9.01 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/ancient-cynicism. Today, the term ‘cynic’ brings to mind a person who has little or no faith in the goodness of the human race. In ancient Athens, however, it meant something quite different: one who rejects all social conventions in order to live in accordance with nature. The Cynics believed that such a life was necessary for freedom and virtue. Why did they think so? What are the most important tenets of Cynic philosophy? And are there any reasons t...
331: Trust and Mistrust
October 14, 2015 00:39 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/trust-and-mistrust. If we couldn't trust each other, our lives would be very different. We trust strangers not to harm us, we trust our friends to take care of our most prized possessions, we even trust politicians (sometimes) to come through on their campaign promises. But trust may also come at a high cost: it can leave us vulnerable to lies, deception, and blackmail. So is it reasonable for us to be so trusting? And how should we treat those who tru...
332: The Examined Year - 2013
October 14, 2015 00:38 - 6 minutes - 6.07 MBA new year offers an opportunity to reflect on the significant events of the previous year. But what ideas and events took shape over the past twelve months that have prompted us to question our assumptions and to think about things in new ways? Join John, Ken, and their special guests as they celebrate the examined year with a philosophical look back at 2013. More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/examined-year-2013
333: Moral Luck
October 14, 2015 00:37 - 10 minutes - 9.39 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/moral-luck. It seems reasonable to believe that we can only be blamed or praised for actions that are under our control. Nevertheless, in many concrete scenarios, we're inclined to base our moral assessment of people on circumstances that are ultimately beyond their control. Blind chance, or “moral luck,” as philosophers call it, may determine the difference between, say, murder and attempted murder. But do we think that a would-be murderer whose attem...
335: The Legacy of Freud
October 14, 2015 00:34 - 10 minutes - 9.34 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/legacy-freud. Did you really want to eat that last piece of cake, or were you secretly thinking about your mother? Sigmund Freud, who might have suggested the latter, established the unconscious mind as a legitimate domain for scientific research. He was the first to seriously study dreams and slips of the tongue, and he proposed that neurotic behavior could be explained by beliefs and desires that we repress. However, many of Freud’s theories have bee...
338: Acting Together
October 14, 2015 00:31 - 10 minutes - 9.97 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/acting-together. Many goals are too complex for one person to accomplish alone. Every day, we pool together our planning abilities with those around us to get things done. It’s clear that without shared agency, none of our familiar social institutions could exist. However, philosophers are in disagreement about what shared agency actually entails. What is it about collective action that's unique, and why does it come about? How is acting together somet...
339: Weapons of Mass Destruction
October 14, 2015 00:30 - 9 minutes - 8.98 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/weapons-mass-destruction. The United States recently threatened military action against Syria in response to the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons. Similar threats have been made against states suspected of trying to develop nuclear arsenals such as North Korea and Iran. Yet the U.S., the U.K., France, Russia, and China have thousands of active nuclear weapons of their own. Is there a morally significant difference between nuclear or ...
340: Conspiracy Theories
October 13, 2015 23:41 - 10 minutes - 9.51 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/conspiracy-theories. Some claim that the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 was actually caused by a controlled demolition orchestrated by the U.S. government. Dramatic conspiracy theories of this kind are all over the place, but they are often dismissed as crazy. Sometimes, however, they turn out to be true: the NSA, as we have learned, conducted secret surveillance of millions of people for more than ten years. Does this show that we s...
341: Risky Business - The Business of Risk
October 13, 2015 23:40 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/risky-business-business-risk. There is an element of risk – either to ourselves or to others – in almost everything we do. By deciding to go to the grocery store, for example, we take a (very small) risk of getting into a car accident. Many risks are acceptable, of course, but how do we know when a risk is worth taking? The most important decisions, after all, are often risky ones. What about risks to others' welfare? How do we, and should we, take ris...
344: Am I Alone?
October 13, 2015 23:37 - 10 minutes - 9.49 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/am-i-alone. A popular theme in science fiction is the eerily lifelike robot: a piece of machinery so well engineered that its outputs pass for genuinely human behaviors. Technology is not yet so advanced, but these robots might cause us to wonder how we could possibly justify our belief in the minds of others. You’re most likely sure that your family, friends, and boss are really people just like you, with similarly rich inner mental lives. But how can...
345: Summer Reading List 2014
October 13, 2015 23:34 - 7 minutes - 7.19 MBWhat philosophers, philosophies, or philosophical issues would you like to read up on over the summer? John and Ken discuss one of this year's most talked-about books, "Capital in the 21st Century" by Thomas Piketty, with political scientist Shannon Stimson. They also get summer reading suggestions from author Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, whose new book is "Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away," and Yale University philosopher Jason Stanley, author of the forthcoming "Why Pro...
346: Art and Obscenity
October 13, 2015 23:33 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/art-and-obscenity. What do Marcel Duchamp, Damien Hirst, and Andres Serrano have in common? They’ve all created modern works of art that have shocked and outraged the general public, causing many to question whether these works have any artistic value at all. But isn’t it the purpose of art to incite inquiry and question conventional moral wisdom? If so, then a strong public reaction would seem to prove the artistic merit of these works. So, is there a...
347: Anatomy of a Terrorist
October 13, 2015 23:31 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/anatomy-terrorist. Since George W. Bush first declared a "war on terror," the US has been engaged in a global campaign to rid the world of terrorists. But what exactly is a “terrorist,” and how do we distinguish illicit terrorist organizations from legitimate freedom fighters? Do terrorists exhibit particular psychological patterns of behavior, or are there some tactics that only terrorists use? And what is the most effective way to combat terrorism – ...
348: Tainted By the Sins of Our Fathers?
October 13, 2015 23:30 - 10 minutes - 9.17 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/tainted-sins-our-fathers. Imagine discovering that your grandfather was a serial killer. Would you feel guilty about it? Would you be at all tempted to contact the families of his victims? Philosophers have long thought that we can only be responsible for what is under our voluntary control, but sometimes we feel guilty about events we didn’t bring about, simply because we are connected in some way to those who did. Many Germans, for instance, feel gui...
349: The New Surveillance Society - Big Brother Grows Up
October 13, 2015 23:28 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/new-surveillance-society-big-brother-grows. Recent revelations confirm what many already suspected: not only is Big Brother watching you, he is also potentially reading your emails, listening to your phone calls, mapping your personal networks, and tracking your every move. While many see whistleblowers as heroes, others see them as criminals who ought to be severely punished. So, how should we treat whistleblowers who break the law for moral or politi...
385: The Technology of Immortality
October 07, 2015 22:15 - 9 minutes - 9.07 MBMore at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/technology-immortality. Some futurists believe we are not far from a time when technology and medicine will be so advanced that humans need no longer die of old age or other natural causes. Eventually, not only will we be able to replace our natural body parts, but we might even be able to “download” our selves into a new cybernetic body. But is this a realistic possibility or just a confused fantasy? Is the self the kind of thing that can be downloaded a...
355: Second-Guessing Ourselves
October 07, 2015 20:12 - 10 minutes - 9.55 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/second-guessing-ourselves. We like to think of ourselves as self-aware, reflective beings, but psychological studies demonstrate that we’re usually overconfident in the accuracy of our own beliefs. Memory, for example, can be extremely unreliable, even when we feel certain we know what happened. Surprisingly, when we’re made aware of this, we adjust our level of confidence in ourselves only slightly. How, then, can we doubt ourselves in a rational and ...
357: Philosophy as Therapy
October 07, 2015 20:09 - 10 minutes - 9.95 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/philosophy-therapy. From Plato and Sextus Empiricus to Wittgenstein, many important thinkers have thought of philosophy as a type of therapy. By looking at our way of life through a philosophical lens, we can achieve a particular kind of understanding that can bring us peace of mind. But can philosophy really help those who experience mental anguish? Don’t we have shrinks and medication for that? If philosophy is more likely to raise more questions tha...
358: The Fairness Fixation
October 07, 2015 20:06 - 10 minutes - 10.1 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/fairness-fixation. Imagine that your eight-year-old son arrives home boasting that he won the race that day in gym class. Right as your heart begins to swell with pride, he reveals that he wasn’t the only winner—the whole class won the race. The gym teacher, it turns out, thought that naming just one winner would be unfair. If our obsession with fairness leads to absurdities like this, why should we be so committed to being fair? Why not reserve the be...
359: Transformative Experiences
October 07, 2015 20:04 - 10 minutes - 9.45 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/transformative-experiences. We are faced with decisions all the time in life. Normally, we think about the possible outcomes and chose a course of action that matches what we take to be of most value to us. However, one might think that some decisions—like whether or not to have a child—can so profoundly transform our lives that we cannot possibly know what the outcome will be like until it actually happens. Are these the kind of decisions in which our...
360: The Lure of Immortality
October 07, 2015 20:02 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/lure-immortality. Would you want to live forever? It's a tempting notion that has been explored and imagined for centuries. Immortality may be desirable, but it may also be that death is a significant part of what gives meaning to life. So what would a society of immortal individuals look like? What might some of the challenges or rewards of an immortal life be? How would living forever affect our relationships with one another, our life goals, or simp...
361: Humanity Violated
October 07, 2015 19:59 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/humanity-violated. People tend to treat other people who differ from them, even in seemingly small and insignificant ways, as less than fully human. Our tendency to dehumanize the "other" has sometimes led to great atrocities like the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, and the slave trade. It is arguably responsible for such widespread social ills as racism, sexism, and xenophobia. Where does our tendency to dehumanize others come from? Is it based on ...
362: The Examined Year - 2014
September 29, 2015 01:14 - 4 minutes - 4.35 MBThe unexamined year is not worth reviewing. But what ideas and events that took shape over the past year have prompted us to question our assumptions and to think about things in new ways? What significant events – in politics, in science, and in philosophy itself – have called into question our most deeply-held beliefs? John and Ken celebrate the examined year with a philosophical look back at the year that was 2014. More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/examined-year-2014
364: Anarchy - Utopian Dream or Dystopian Nightmare?
September 29, 2015 01:07 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/anarchy-utopian-dream-or-dystopian-nightmare. Anarchists say there's no need for a state, that it would be better to have a society without central government. Anarchists dislike the often heavy-handed authority that government brings. Yet the dream of the stateless society is not a simple one. How can we have law and order without government? What's involved in a self-governed society, free from authority? And how could we ever peacefully transition f...
365: Food Justice
September 29, 2015 01:04 - 10 minutes - 9.98 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/food-justice. The number of chronically hungry people in the world is over 800 million, yet developed countries are facing health challenges from rising rates of obesity. The growing problems of food security and water scarcity seem an issue of distribution rather than availability. But other factors also influence the status of food and water security worldwide. So where does the problem with food and water security lie? Do developed countries – or an...
366: Cyber-Activism
September 29, 2015 01:01 - 10 minutes - 9.89 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/cyber-activism. Whether it's making donations and signing petitions online, or using social media to highlight political causes, cyber-activism has never been easier. With a few clicks, we can make our voices heard around the globe. But who's listening, and is anything actually changing? Does cyber-activism mobilize real-world action on the ground, or does it reduce political engagement to simple mouse-clicking and ultimately threaten the subversive na...
370: Morality in a Godless World
September 29, 2015 00:41 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/morality-godless-world. Belief in God is thought by many to be the only possible source of morality, such that without a God, “everything is permitted.” Yet godlessness is on the rise in the West, with figures like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Lawrence Krauss leading the “New Atheism” movement. But if atheism is defined by its lack of belief, where do these non-believers find their guiding moral principles? Are there any positive beliefs or values ...
373: Reincarnation - Past Lives, Future Selves
September 29, 2015 00:40 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/reincarnation-past-lives-future-selves. According to Buddhist tradition, all people must suffer illness, aging, and death. Yet the universe is seen as a vast living entity, in which cycles of individual life and death are repeated without cease. Therefore death is a necessary part of the process of life, making renewal and new growth possible. So what does this view mean about the eternality of the self? Is there a single subject or consciousness that ...
374: How Words Work - from Noise to Meaning
September 29, 2015 00:40 - 10 minutes - 9.84 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/how-words-work-noise-meaning. Humans have an amazing capacity to communicate. By uttering sounds we are able to convey meaning to those around us. These noises we make take on properties – they mean certain things, they are true or false, etc. Some animals also use forms of language: bees, for example, use dances and pheromones to communicate with each other. What gives these signals – words and movements – their linguistic meaning? How is it possible ...
375: Why Propaganda Matters
September 29, 2015 00:40 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/why-propaganda-matters. Governments and other political institutions employ propaganda to sway public opinion, instill ideas, and exert a degree of control over people. While totalitarian regimes have been known to do this explicitly, democratic governments often disguise their propaganda with persuasive rhetoric. So what exactly constitutes propaganda and how does it work? Does it always involve lies or falsehoods? Can propaganda ever be morally justi...
377: Summer Reading List 2015
September 29, 2015 00:39 - 4 minutes - 3.95 MBSummer is here – what philosophers, philosophies, or philosophical issues do you want to read up on? Heidegger's Being and Time may not be the obvious choice to take on vacation, but there are lots of readable, beach-friendly classics and non-classics to add philosophical depth to your summer reading. John and Ken take suggestions from listeners and special guests: Lars Iyer, author of "Wittgenstein Jr (A Novel)"; Berit Brogaard, author of "On Romantic Love: Simple Truth About a Complex Emoti...
379: Edward Snowden and The Ethics of Whistleblowing
September 29, 2015 00:39 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/snowden. You might think we each have a moral duty to expose any serious misconduct, dishonesty, or illegal activity we discover in an organization, especially when such conduct directly threatens the public interest. However, increasingly we are seeing whistleblowers punished more harshly than the alleged wrongdoers, who often seem to get off scot-free. Given the possibility of harsh retaliation, how should we understand our moral duty to tell the truth and...
381: The Power and Peril of Satire
September 29, 2015 00:39 - 10 minutes - 9.62 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/power-and-peril-satire. Satire is everywhere – in conversations with friends, in books, on television, and online. When used effectively, it can be a very powerful form of social commentary. But what happens when someone goes too far, or even worse, when some publication repeatedly goes too far? Aside from taking offense, can we reasonably demand that they pull their article from publication or issue an apology? Are there topics we should never satiriz...
384: The Changing Face of Feminism
September 29, 2015 00:37 - 10 minutes - 9.74 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/changing-face-feminism. Reactions to the word ‘feminist’ today range from staunch rejection or ambivalence to fervent endorsement and activism. While many young women claim not to need feminism in their lives, others believe these women are simply confused about the meaning of the term. So is feminism as we knew it dead? Have women already achieved equal rights? What are the basic tenets of the most recent wave of feminism, and how does it differ from ...
376: Science and Politics - Friends or Foes?
September 28, 2015 23:16 - 12 minutes - 11 MBMore at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/science-and-politics-friends-or-foes. The ideal of science is objectivity in the service of advancing knowledge. We tend to assume that to be objective, scientists must keep their politics from influencing their work. But time and time again we see that science, even some of our best science, is awash in political influences. Could politics sometimes have a positive effect on objectivity in science? If so, which kinds of politics might have a positive ...