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Thales’ Well

55 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago - ★★★★★ - 5 ratings

A podcast exploring Philosophy, Politics, Current Affairs, Literature and Film.

Philosophy Society & Culture Education
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Episodes

On Secular Gurus with Chris Kavanagh

March 22, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 75.1 MB

I talk to psychologist Dr Christopher Kavanagh about the phenomenon of secular gurus. We discussed the secularism of latter day gurus, how they differ and compare to traditional cult leaders, what traits it takes to be a secular guru (galaxy brainedness, cultishness, anti-establishmentarianism), psychopathy/sociopathy, narcissism and techniques for avoiding manipulation. Here is a link to the "Gurometer" where you can find out more about how to spot your latter day gurus. Chris is an Assoc...

On Writing with Lars Iyer

December 22, 2023 09:42 - 1 hour - 57.4 MB

Lars Iyer is back! On this episode I talk to novelist Lars Iyer about the fiction, the writing process, the relation between literature and the world, a writers compulsion to write. We speak about a whole range of writers like Plato, Samuel Beckett,  Maurice Blanchot, Paul Celan, Margaret Duras, Thomas Bernhard. One of the things Lars suggests is that the value of literature is it utter uselessness. Like all good things! Lars is a  Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. He i...

On Richard Rorty with Chris Voparil

October 27, 2023 08:00 - 1 hour - 55.9 MB

On this episode I talk with Chris Voparil from Union Institute & University about American philosopher Richard Rorty. We discuss Rorty’s biography, his complicated relation with American Pragmatist philosophy and both analytic and continental philosophy, how Rorty dealt with accusations of relativism, his epistemological and moral pluralism, what Rorty has to say about solidarity and community building, how the academic left neglected economics  and forgot to talk about poor people, and what...

On Spiritual Freedom with Martin Hägglund

June 10, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 65.4 MB

On this episode of the podcast, I talk to Swedish philosopher Prof. Martin Hägglund from Yale University about his book This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free. The dominant theme of our conversation was  the meaning of freedom. Martin has a distinct notion of the demands of being free and we got into a detailed discussion about what freedom really means, how to think about it, how freedom is tied up with our social activities and just why our mortality is exactly the thing that makes us free...

On Bruno Latour with Joost van Loon

April 27, 2023 09:45 - 1 hour - 64.6 MB

On this episode I talk to Prof. Joost van Loon about French philosopher and sociologist Bruno Latour. We talked about a lot! Joost taught me about Latour’s actor network theory and while we were doing that we ended up chatting about the importance of concrete controversies, how objectivity works, the production of science, conspiracy theories, vaccine science, relativism, new materialism and Latour’s late turn to politics and ecology. Joost van Loon is the Chair of General Sociology and Soc...

On Alexandre Kojève with Hager Weslati

April 02, 2023 18:52 - 1 hour - 67.5 MB

On this podcast I talk to Dr Hager Weslati about the philosopher Alexandre Kojève. Kojève is a hugely influential but not very well-known philosophers. Here Hager and I talk about his life, his philosophy, and his famous lectures on Hegel. Kojève was a philosopher,  entrepreneur, diplomat, architect of the European Union and possible spy! Hager Weslati is a lecturer in media philosophy and political PR at Kingston University. She translated Alexandre Kojève’s Notion of Authority (2014) and ...

On the Truth of Snuff with Mark McKenna

April 02, 2023 18:45 - 1 hour - 60 MB

A podcast with my colleague Dr Mark McKenna who is an Associate Professor at Staffordshire University. We talked about horror films. Specifically, we talked about the the snuff movie as a form of horror. We also talked about the cultural mythologies that have grown up around the concept of snuff, how this mythology transformed in the technological age as well issues pertaining to distribution, marketing and desensitization. Please note we discuss extreme violence and sexual violence in this ...

On the Embrace of Capital with Don Milligan

October 13, 2022 09:26 - 1 hour - 75.7 MB

Don Milligan is back to discuss his new book The Embrace of Capital  (Zero Books: 2022). In this , Don recounts and analyses his history of social and political activism interrogating the reasons he thinks working people have a love-hate relationship with capitalism but ultimately embrace it. But equally, Don tells us how working people hate insecurity, inequality, greed and love civic and political freedom. In our discussion, we chatted about royal weddings, royal funerals, rule of law, ega...

On Architecture with Graham Harman

September 09, 2022 08:40 - 1 hour - 42.6 MB

On this episode Professor Graham Harman returns to talk about architecture and philosophy. We had a fascinating conversation discussing architecture in relation to the history of philosophy. Graham has tackled just this topic in new book Architecture and Objects  (2022), which has recently come out with University of Minnesota Press. We discuss a whole host of topics including the role of the ‘big three’ philosophers – Heidegger, Derrida and Deleuze –how their thought informs architecture, a...

On Nietzsche’s Socialism with Robert Miner

September 02, 2022 07:54 - 1 hour - 47.8 MB

Friedrich Nietzsche is usually considered a staunch critic of socialism. My guest on this episode thinks this picture is a lot more complicated than we suspect. Professor Robert Miner suggests Nietzsche offers a very complex picture of what socialism entails, and we should consider Nietzsche as a critic and proponent of socialism. Robert Miner is a Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University. You can find a link to his university website here. Robert’s article, which we based this discussio...

On Simone Weil with Tiff Thomas

August 26, 2022 10:49 - 1 hour - 57 MB

This episode I am talking to Dr Tiff Thomas. We discuss the philosophy, ideas and politics of activist, mystic, worker and educator Simone Weil.  Tiff is a lecturer in Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University and specializes in Spinoza. He is also interested in the work of Gilles Deleuze and Simone Weil. You can find out more about Tiff here. Tiff is a co-leader of the AHRC Funded UK Simone Weil Research Network which you can follow on Twitter here. You can also find links to his wr...

On Michel Serres with David Webb

July 02, 2022 14:27 - 56 minutes - 91.2 MB

On this podcast I am talking to my colleague Prof. David Webb a philosopher at Staffordshire University. David is the author of Heidegger, Ethics and the Practice of Ontology (Continuum: 2011) and Foucault's Archaeology: Science and Transformation (Edinburgh U.P. 2013). He has published several articles on Michel Foucault, Michel Serres, modern French philosophy. He is especially interested in epistemology and philosophy of science. We talked specifically about French Philosopher Michel Serr...

On the Formation of the Modern Self with Felix O’Murchadha

May 13, 2022 04:00 - 59 minutes - 94.6 MB

On this episode of Thales’ Well I talk to Prof. Felix O’Murchadha who returns to talk about his new book The Formation of The Modern Self (Bloomsbury, 2022). Felix’s book provides a genealogy of the emergence of the self in the early modern period. We had a very wide-ranging discussion moving from ancient accounts of the self to contemporary versions. We discussed Montaigne, Descartes, Spinoza, Hume and Kant. Felix is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Galway. You can find more ...

On Propaganda with Colin Alexander

July 06, 2021 10:22 - 1 hour - 124 MB

This episode I had a fantastic discussion with Dr Colin Alexander about propaganda. We discussed the nature of propaganda, how to identify it, its ubiquity, as well as things we might do to mitigate the effect of propaganda on ourselves and society. More specifically, we focussed on a particular case study, with Colin explaining how propaganda is deployed by charitable organisations, companies and governments. In addition, we spoke about representations of charity in culture with reference t...

On David Lewis and Possible Worlds with Ben Curtis

April 21, 2021 08:34 - 58 minutes - 93.9 MB

On this episode, I discuss analytic philosopher David Lewis' concept of possible worlds with Dr Benjamin Curtis. Ben is  colleague at Nottingham Trent University. We talked about possible worlds, actual worlds, probability, causation and time. Ben Curtis lectures in Philosophy at Nottingham Trent University. He has published on a wide-variety of themes including epistemology, bioethics, time as well as the philosophical status of antiques. You can find out more about Ben on his university w...

On Camus and 'The Plague' with Robert Zaretsky

May 06, 2020 18:49 - 57 minutes - 131 MB

I had an amazing conversation with Robert Zaretsky who is a Professor of Humanities at the Honors College, University of Houston. We spoke about French novelist and philosopher Albert Camus and his great pandemic novel The Plague. The Plague is currently receiving renewed critical attention due to the Covid-19 pandemic and is set to be re-issued by Penguin. Thus, I thought it would be a good time to discuss the novel. We touched on the background to Camus' novel, the influence of Thucydides ...

On Character with Christian Miller

April 24, 2020 07:00 - 49 minutes - 23.4 MB

I am talking with Prof. Christian Miller about the nature of character. We discuss different types of character,  character psycholgoy, forms of character virtue as well as forms of character vice, the difference between moral habits and instincts, Aristotle's contribution to the theory of character, and the ever-present gap between who we are and who we should be. Christian outlines valuable strategies for helping us achieve virtue and avoiding vice.  Christian B. Miller is the A. C. Reid ...

On Plato with Keith Crome

April 05, 2020 17:53 - 1 hour - 59.1 MB

This time we turn to Ancient Philosophy, and I discuss Plato with Dr Keith Crome. We speak about the pedagogical dimension of Plato's work, and focus specifically on Plato's Republic. Keith argues that to understand Plato, it is essential to understand Plato's account of education and how it relates to Socrates, the Sophists, the myth of the cave, the theory of forms, democratic politics as well as Plato's lesser known more playful side. Keith Crome is scholar of ancient philosophy, postmod...

On Blockchain with Peter Howson

April 04, 2020 13:50 - 46 minutes - 46.8 MB

I am talking with Dr Peter Howson from Nottingham Trent University about blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Peter is a Human Geographer, so we talk about the environmental impact of crypto-currency as well as it’s distribution in space. Largely, Peter explains to me the technological, economic, financial and geopolitical ramifications of these new forms of currency. Unfortunately, we only had a short window to record this, and the only room available was one with a high ceiling and a loud fan...

On Online Learning with David Webster

March 22, 2020 12:29 - 51 minutes - 40.9 MB

This time I thought it would be useful to try to do something slightly different. Given that many teachers and lecturers have had on-line learning foisted about them due to the Covid-19 crisis, I thought it would be helpful to talk to an expert about ways of delivering on-line learning. I spoke with Dr David Webster who is the Director of the Centre for Innovation in Learning & Teaching at SOAS, University of London.  Dave and I discussed the benefits and pitfalls of on-line learning, synchr...

On Difference and Repetition with David Deamer

February 21, 2020 12:27 - 1 hour - 152 MB

Dave is back! We speak again about French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. This time we try to crack one of his most famous works Difference and Repetition. We talked about some very abstract concepts such as space, time, motion, representation and identity, and Deleuze’s three syntheses of time, but Dave does a brilliant of job of coherently explaining this very challenging book and the ‘sheet of black night’ that confronts us all. Dr David Deamer is a writer and free scholar associated with Ma...

On Cormac McCarthy with Julius Greve

February 17, 2020 17:56 - 48 minutes - 55.3 MB

I discuss American novelist Cormac McCarthy with literary scholar Dr Julius Greve. Cormac McCarthy is known for his often bleak and unwavering take on the Western. He has written over ten novels, as well as plays and screenplays in the Southern Gothic literary tradition. Less discussed is the philosophical dimension of McCarthy’s novels. With Julius I discussed how philosophy is present in the  Blood Meridian, Suttree, The Orchard Keeper, The Road, Child of God, No Country for Old Men, The B...

On Nietzsche with Lars Iyer

January 14, 2020 10:41 - 59 minutes - 136 MB

I had tremendous fun talking to philosopher and novelist Lars Iyer. We discussed Nietzsche in light of Lars' new novel Nietzsche and the Burbs. We discussed many of Nietzsche's famous concepts such as übermensh, amor fati and suffering, affirmation, nihilism and eternal recurrence. As well, we touched on Maurice Blanchot, Simone Weil, The Invisible Committee and disco! Lars is a  a Reader in Creative Writing and Subject Head of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. He is the author of s...

On Religion and Violence with Felix O'Murchadha

January 03, 2020 15:56 - 1 hour - 153 MB

This month I spoke to Prof. Felix O’Murchadha of the National University of Ireland at Galway about religion and violence. We discussed the nature of religious experience, and more specifically the relation between violation, witnessing and perpetration. This led on to a further discussion of temporality, sexual violence and forgiveness.  Our discussion revolved around Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Amery, Susan Brison and Hannah Arendt You can find more about Felix here, and you can find a sample ...

On Social Work with Joe Smeeton

November 29, 2019 06:30 - 55 minutes - 126 MB

This month I am talking to Joe Smeeton. We had a brilliant chat about the nature of social work, anxiety, risk, child protection, the political backdrop to social working in the UK, and just what it is like to be a social worker. Joe provided an impassioned defence of the value of social work, as well as an honest account of the challenges and pitfalls social workers face in their day to day existence.  Joe is a qualified social worker and academic. He works at the Department of Sociologica...

On Levinas with Will Large

October 29, 2019 11:21 - 1 hour - 157 MB

I spoke with Will Large about the Jewish philosopher Emmanual Levinas.  Levinas is a philosopher who had a unique conception of ethics, one resistant to many of the traditional ways we approach ethics in Philosophy. Many of Levinas' writings were composed during his time in a prisoner of war camp, and his work unsurprisingly embraces notions of escape, otherness, subjectivity and anti-totalitarianism.  Also, many members of his immediate family were murdered by fascists. Levinas' entire care...

On Shame with Luna Dolezal

September 28, 2019 18:55 - 55 minutes - 127 MB

This month I am talking with Dr Luna Dolezal from the University of Exeter. Luna is Senior Lecturer in Medical Humanities, with a particular interest in applied phenomenology, philosophy of embodiment, philosophy of medicine and medical humanities (esp. through literature and philosophy). I chatted to Luna about the notion of shame, medicine, Sartre, Nussbaum and Channel 4's TV show Embarrassing Bodies. Luna is about to begin a major research project with the Wellcome Trust. You can find out...

On Denial, Conspiracy and Post-Truth with Keith Kahn-Harris

November 30, 2018 06:30 - 55 minutes - 127 MB

This week I discuss the nature of denial, post-truth, and conspiracy theories with Dr Keith Kahn-Harris. We ended up talking about Holocaust denial, anti-vaxxing, climate change, and the resurgence of flat-earth theory. Keith tries to unpick the similarities and differences between all these different types of discourse. He argues that there are many types of denialism. Rather than classifying these phenomena as irrational and nonsensical, he argues that they are secretly are in love with th...

On Dirt with Olli Lagerspetz

November 23, 2018 06:15 - 57 minutes - 65.8 MB

This week I am talking to Olli Lagerspetz about his recent book A Philosophy of Dirt (Reaktion, 2018). This book is a fascinating exploration of what we mean by dirt, how we can use Philosophy to examine it, and whether dirt is an objective or subjective phenomenon. We talked about how dirt is conceived in science, art, politics, anthropology and how we might think of dirt in the context of the environment. As usual in a philosophy conversation, we ended up talking about Plato. Olli Lagersp...

On Metaphysics, Objects and Decent Politics with Graham Harman

November 16, 2018 06:00 - 1 hour - 82.5 MB

This week I had a fantastic conversation with Prof. Graham Harman about his unique theory of Object-Oriented Philosophy. Our discussion was wide-ranging, we discussed Graham’s background, metaphysics, HP Lovecraft, art, architecture, Bruno Latour, contemporary Marxism, and Graham's views on the current politics of the United States. Graham is a Professor of Philosophy at Sci-Arc in Los Angles. He has authored several articles and over 15 books. Most recently his work includes Object-Oriente...

On the Geography and Politics of Light with Tim Edensor

November 09, 2018 06:00 - 57 minutes - 133 MB

I had a fascinating discussion with Tim Edensor this week on the geography and politics of light. Tim has a brilliant talent for making us think  differently about something we take for granted. During our chat we talked about our changing perceptions of light, the politics of light, the aesthetic appreciation of light, and how one's willingness to decorate your house at Christmas might be a key factor in the Brexit vote. Most importantly we talked about Tim's great affection for  the Blackp...

On Forensic Linguistics with David Wright

November 02, 2018 06:30 - 57 minutes - 132 MB

This week I am talking about forensic linguistics with Dr David Wright from Nottingham Trent University. We chatted about how forensic linguistics is used in crime detection, authorship analysis, expert witnessing, aiding policing investigation as well as some of the landmark cases where forensic linguistics has been used. We also spoke about David's research on the language of sexual violence in online forums.  David Wright is a forensic linguist. His research applies methods of corpus lin...

Horror, Ghosts and Monsters with Sorcha Ní Fhlainn

October 26, 2018 06:30 - 1 hour - 142 MB

This week, as we approach All Hallows Eve, we turn to the ghastly, the monstrous,  the shocking, the ghoulish, the spooky and the downright eerie. I am talking to Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn who is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies and American Literature. She is a founding member of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. We spoke about all things Gothic, the endless fascination with vampires, working class werewolves, ghosts, zombies, as well as how Gothic ho...

On US Politics, Edmund Burke and Trump with Michael Baranowski

October 19, 2018 06:00 - 1 hour - 139 MB

With the upcoming US elections I thought it would be a good time to see what a political philosopher has to say about it all. I am joined by Michael Baranowski who is a political scientist from Northern Kentucky University. We talked about Mike’s intellectual origins, the political philospher Edmund Burke, the legacy of John McCain, the possibility of socialism in America, and of course President Donald Trump, as well as the forthcoming elections. You can find out more about Mike here.  Mike...

On the Law, Consent and MeToo with Heidi Matthews.

October 12, 2018 06:00 - 1 hour - 79.6 MB

  This week I had a really interesting discussion with Prof. Heidi Matthews about law, consent, and the MeToo movement. Heidi is an Assistant Professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. She co-directs the Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security. Her research area is international criminal law, the law of war, political theory and law and sexuality, with a specific focus on global regulation of political violence in relation to history and gender. You c...

On Sex Robots and Personhood with Kathleen Richardson

October 05, 2018 06:00 - 1 hour - 78.6 MB

This week I talk to Dr Kathleen Richardson about sex robots and notions of personhood, consent, loneliness and inter-dependence between humans. Kathleen is  a professor of Ethics and Culture of Robots and AI at De Montfort University. She completed her PhD at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge. Her fieldwork was an investigation of the making of robots in labs at MIT.  She is the author of, amongst others. An Anthropology of Robots and AI: Annihilation Anxiety and...

On Emile Zola with Dan Rebellato

September 28, 2018 06:00 - 1 hour - 163 MB

This week I am talking about the great French novelist Emile Zola with Prof. Dan Rebellato of Royal Holloway University. We talk about Zola's life, his novels, the place of philosophy in his work, and Zola's famous "J'accuse...!" which is celebrating it's 120th anniversary this year.  Dan is an academic and playwright whose expertise focusses on post-war and contemporary British theatre.  He is the author of 1956 and All That (Routledge, 1999). He also has composed a short monograph called ...

The Philosophy of Football with Stephen Mumford.

September 21, 2018 06:00 - 1 hour - 73.4 MB

This week I am talking about football with Prof. Stephen Mumford. We talk about how football makes you think, the role of causes, dispositions, luck, space and of course victory. Stephen also explain why football is a far superior game to rugby. Stephen is a Professor of Metaphysics at the University of Durham. He is the author of, among other things, Dispositions (Oxford, 1998), Russell on Metaphysics (Routledge, 2003), Laws in Nature (Routledge, 2004), David Armstrong (Acumen, 2007), Watch...

On the Mind and Panpsychism with Philip Goff

September 14, 2018 06:00 - 59 minutes - 68.1 MB

This we talk about all things mind. Philip Goff is a philosopher and consciousness researcher at Durham University. He works mainly on the problem of how to integrate consciousness into our scientific worldview. Goff’s 2017 book Consciousness and Fundamental Reality (Oxford University Press) argues against materialist accounts of consciousness and defends panpsychism as the best account of the place of consciousness in nature. Panpsychism is the view that consciousness is a fundamental and u...

A Cultural History of Gay Rights in Britain with Don Milligan

September 07, 2018 06:30 - 1 hour - 140 MB

Dr Don Milligan gives us a cultural history of the gay rights movement in Britain.  Don taught a course on the theory and practice of anti-capitalism at Manchester Metropolitan University. His researches examines how commercial society gives rise to political movements. He has campaigned for the gay liberation movement for many years.  Here he dicusses the cultural, legal and economic context which created the conditions for the progress of gay rights activism in the UK.   You can find a co...

Introducing Byung-Chul Han with Austin Hayden Smidt

August 31, 2018 06:30 - 1 hour - 138 MB

This week I am talking to Austin Hayden Smidt about the German-Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han. Han is not well know in the Anglophone world, so we took this opportunity to try and introduce some of the key themes of his philosophy. This interview in El Pais offers a useful starting point to Han's thought and work. Also, Han writes relatively accessible and pithy texts. The books this podcast are based on are Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power, The Burnout Society,...

Jessica Jones, Sexual Violence and Overcoming Trauma with Anna Dawson

August 24, 2018 04:00 - 50 minutes - 115 MB

Anna Dawson is an award winning teacher and lecturer in Film and TV studies at Nottingham Trent University. She has worked in the film industry, as a film journalist, and  written study guides about the Lord of the Rings and The Matrix. She researches genre, gender, the British film industry and British cinema. We talked about our mutual admiration for the Netflix streaming series Jessica Jones (2015).  Jessica Jones offers a very strong depiction of sexual violence, and Anna spoke about how...

BONUS - Nietzsche and Dr Who with David Deamer

August 18, 2018 04:00 - 29 minutes - 68.3 MB

 Dave and I like to talk. And we did. Here we are talking about Nietzsche, and Dr Who.

Deleuze and Cinema with David Deamer

August 17, 2018 04:00 - 1 hour - 154 MB

Here I talked with my friend Dr David Deamer about French Philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Dave explains to me what Deleuze was about, and then we go on to talk about how Deleuze is important for understanding cinema, and what Deleuze teach us about film, or what film can do for philosophy. Dave is the author of Deleuze, Japanese Cinema, and the Atom Bomb: The Spectre of Impossibility [Bloombsury, 2014], as well as Deleuze's Cinema Books: Three Introductions to the Taxonomy of Images [Edinburgh, ...

Will Large teaches Patrick about Heidegger

August 10, 2018 04:00 - 56 minutes - 65.1 MB

Here Dr William Large from the University of Gloucestershire talks about one book, Martin Heidegger's magnum opus, Being and Time. Here we try to get to the bottom of this endlessly fascinating book, looking at some of the key moments from the text such as death, anxiety, authenticity and how we are beings in the world. Will is the author of, among other things Heidegger's Being and Time: A Philosophical Guide. You can find out more about Will here.

Social Justice and Cooperation with Cilla Ross

August 03, 2018 04:00 - 57 minutes - 132 MB

In 1844 the Rochadale Pioneers established the principles of the cooperative movement. This was the spark that created the development and growth of the cooperative movement. Coops can be found in all parts of the world today, from business to housing, from education to transport,  from credit unions to workers cooperatives. Dr Cilla Ross is Vice-Principal of the Manchester Co-operative College, we spoke about her background, the relevance of the co-operative movement, the meaning of social ...

Vitalism and Bergson with Mark Sinclair

July 27, 2018 04:00 - 38 minutes - 88.7 MB

Mark Sinclair is a philosopher and scholar at Roehampton University. He specialises in the history of modern philosophy, especially in it's French incarnation. We spoke about about the history of vitalism in Philosophy, looking at some of it's key figures: de Biran, Ravaisson and Bergson. You can find out more about Mark here.   

Trump, Lyotard and_Education with Keith_Crome

July 20, 2018 07:00 - 55 minutes - 127 MB

Keith Crome is scholar of ancient philosophy, postmodernism and education. He is a Philosophy lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan Univeristy.  He is a specialist in the 20th Century thinker Jean Francois Lyotard, and has composed a monograph on this topic entitled Lyotard and the Greeks. I spoke with Keith about why he thinks Lyotard is still important, the nature of language, rhetoric in the age of Trump, and his reflections on the philosophy of education. You can find out more about Keith...

Transhumanism, Technology and Apocalypse with Mark O'Connell

July 13, 2018 05:00 - 1 hour - 71.6 MB

I spoke with Mark O'Connell about the impact of the philosophy of transhumanism. Mark is the author of a lovely book called To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers -which I reccommend you all read. This book blends philosophy, literature, travelogue in order to look at one of the most influential but least discussed trends in Philosophy: Transhumanism. Transhumanism is basically the idea that consiousness is not restricted to our physical or material body, and we can syn...

Consciousness, Humanism and the NHS with Raymond Tallis

July 06, 2018 05:00 - 1 hour - 142 MB

I had this conversation with Raymond Tallis before Christmas. Raymond Tallis is one of Britain's leading philosophers. His career was in medicine, which he studied at Oxford Univeristy. He became a Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester.  His primary research was in clinical  neuroscience. As well as being a philosopher, doctor, poet and novelist, Raymond is a campaigning activist for the National Health Service, as well as a strong advocate for Assisted Dying. He re...

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