Latest Elucidations Podcast Episodes
Episode 149: Lainie Ross and Christos Lazaridis talk about defining death
Elucidations - April 14, 2024 15:53 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsIn this episode, we are joined by Lainie Ross (University of Rochester Medical Center) and (once again!) Christos Lazaridis (UChicago Medicine), this time to talk about the different ways of defining death. In our previous episode with Christos, we talked about death and the vexed history of at...
Episode 148: Christos Lazaridis discusses brain death
Elucidations - October 20, 2023 15:32 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsIn this episode, Matt sits down with Christos Lazaridis (University of Chicago Medicine) to chat about what brain death is and whether brain death should count as, like, death death. Modern life support technology really hits its stride in the 1960s, allowing doctors to buy themselves more time...
Episode 147: Gabriella Gonzalez discusses the intersection of algebra and programming
Elucidations - July 15, 2023 17:05 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsIn this episode, Matt talks to Gabriella Gonzalez about how basic concepts from the branch of math known as abstract algebra can help us simplify our computer programs and organize our thoughts. Algebra. That thing they make us do in school. What was that again? Oh yeah, that’s right; it’s wh...
Episode 146: Gaurav Venkataraman discusses memory in DNA and RNA
Elucidations - March 30, 2023 13:58 - 39 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsIn this episode, Matt sits down with Gaurav Vankataraman (Trisk Bio) to talk about how human memory is physically realized. Where do your memories live? In the brain, right? They’re, like, imprinted there somehow? We often think of memories as analogous with recordings, like when you do an audi...
Episode 145: Andrew Sepielli discusses quietism and metaethics
Elucidations - January 21, 2023 15:40 - 39 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis episode, Matt and Joseph sit down with Andrew Sepielli (University of Toronto) to talk about metaethical quietism. His new book on the topic, Pragmatist Quietism, is out now from Oxford University Press. Click here to listen to episode 145 of Elucidations. Metaethical quietism is the view ...
Episode 144: Christopher Beem discusses democratic virtues
Elucidations - November 20, 2022 20:30 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis episode, Matt talks to Christopher Beem (Penn State University) about how we can cultivate those skills that conduce to having a functioning democracy. His book on the topic, The Seven Democratic Virtues, is out now from Penn State University Press. The storming of the US Capitol Building ...
Episode 143: Mark Linsenmayer discusses alternative models of education
Elucidations - October 05, 2022 12:31 - 44 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis episode, Matt Teichman talks to Mark Linsenmayer about alternative models of education. Mark is creator and host of the Partially Examined Life, Nakedly Examined Music, Pretty Much Pop, and Philosophy vs. Improv podcasts. He is also the author of the recent book, Philosophy For Teens. Ther...
Episode 142: Emily Dupree discusses the rationality of revenge
Elucidations - August 02, 2022 22:24 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsIn this episode of Elucidations, Matt sits down with Emily Dupree to learn about whether it’s rational or irrational to try to seek revenge. As a culture, we kind can’t decide what we think about revenge. Out of one side of our mouths, we talk a big game about letting bygones be bygones, about ...
Episode 141: Rob Goodman discusses eloquence
Elucidations - June 13, 2022 21:48 - 35 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis time around, Matt sits down with Rob Goodman to talk about political eloquence. Goodman is the author of a new book on this topic called Words on Fire, which you can pick up a copy of wherever you like to get books. Can you think of the last time you saw someone give a rousing speech? The...
Episode 140: Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko discuss the good life
Elucidations - April 10, 2022 13:22 - 43 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsIntro philosophy classes often get stuck in a rut. Some philosophy classes go through a list of old dead people and try to understand excerpts from some of their most influential writings, over the course of a semester. Could be something like: Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Mill, and ...
Episode 139: Jessica Tizzard discusses the philosophy of pregnancy
Elucidations - February 13, 2022 16:44 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, Jessica Tizzard (University of Tuebingen) makes her second appearance on Elucidations to talk to Matt about pregnancy. Human pregnancy is weird. Try talking to a reproductive endochrinologist about it, and you’ll soon find that there’s a lot we don’t really understand about it even ...
Episode 138: Toby Buckle discusses Mill's liberty principle
Elucidations - January 23, 2022 01:49 - 43 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, Toby Buckle, host of the Political Philosophy Podcast, returns to talk about John Stuart Mill’s liberty principle! (Also sometimes called the ‘harm principle’.) The occasion for the episode is the recent release of Toby’s cool new book, What is Freedom?, which is out now from Ox...
Episode 137: Bryan Caplan discusses open borders
Elucidations - January 02, 2022 20:55 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, I talk to Bryan Caplan (George Mason University) about what a world without immigration restrictions could look like. The work discussed in this episode comes out of Bryan’s incredible non-fiction graphic novel, Open Borders, which I highly recommend checking out. Don’t let the com...
Episode 136: Christian Miller discusses virtue and character
Elucidations - October 25, 2021 18:13 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, Yuezhen Li and I sit down with Christian Miller (Wake Forest University) to talk about how to be virtuous. Also known as how to be good. ‘Virtue’ is sort of an old-timey word. But the concept is still alive and well today, even though we tend to use different words for it. The idea ...
Episode 135: Sara Protasi discusses the philosophy of envy
Elucidations - July 15, 2021 14:20 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, Charlie Wiland and I sit down with Sara Protasi to talk about envy. Which she just came out with a whole book about! Awesome. Click here to download episode 135 of Elucidations. You might think that it’s pretty clear what envy is. Isn’t envy just when someone else has something you ...
Episode 134: Claire Kirwin discusses value realism
Elucidations - May 29, 2021 15:03 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, Josh Kaufman and I talk to Claire Kirwin about whether things are objectively good or bad, or whether it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Professor Kirwin is a fan of peanut butter cup ice cream, and Josh and I are fans of mint chocolate chip. Is there an objective fact of the mat...
Episode 133: Aristotle discusses his philosophy
Elucidations - April 04, 2021 15:30 - 45 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, Agnes Callard and I talk to Aristotle about his philosophy, including his work on physics, biology, and ethics. Featuring an introduction by our awesome intern, Noadia Steinmetz-Silber! Click here to download Episode 133 of Elucidations. Not everyone is familiar with Aristotle’s wor...
Episode 132: Rebecca Valentine discusses queer hackerspaces
Elucidations - March 02, 2021 01:22 - 46 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, we sit down with Rebecca Valentine (co-founder of Queerious Labs) to talk about anarchism, feminism, tech culture, and creative hacking. Hack this, hack that. What is a hacker, anyway? In pop culture, it’s common to use the term ‘hacker’ as a synonym for ‘cybercriminal’—that is, a ...
Episode 131: Greg Salmieri discusses egoism and altruism
Elucidations - January 03, 2021 00:30 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, Greg Salmieri (University of Texas at Austin) returns for his third appearance on Elucidations, this time to talk about doing right by yourself. What was the last thing you did? The last thing I did was pull a shot of espresso. I wouldn’t say I made coffee as an end in itself, even ...
Episode 130: Jessica Tizzard discusses weakness of the will
Elucidations - November 22, 2020 22:15 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, Long Dang and I sit down to talk to Jessica Tizzard (University of Connecticut, Storrs) about weakness of the will. You’re at a party hosted by a close friend. It’s been three hours since you got there, and the evening thus far has been chock full of scintillating conversation, a fu...
Episode 129: Nethanel Lipshitz discusses discrimination
Elucidations - September 27, 2020 13:14 - 51 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThis month, Ben Andrew and I are joined by Nethanel Lipshitz (Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University) to talk about discrimination. If someone treats me unequally--that is, if they give other people a relative advantage but not me--am I the victim of discrimination? Our guest says yes. That i...
Episode 128: Melissa Fusco discusses free choice permission
Elucidations - August 16, 2020 15:44 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsOne of the foundational ideas behind philosophical logic is that when you say something, that has further implications beyond the single thing you said. Like, if I think ‘every single frog is green’ and ‘Fran is a frog’, then I am committed to thinking that Fran is green. I don't have to have ac...
Episode 127 - Nic Koziolek discusses self-knowledge
Elucidations - July 15, 2020 02:55 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsIn this episode, Nic Koziolek (Washington University in St. Louis) returns to talk to me and Nora Bradford about self-consciousness. Self-consciousness, as philosophers use the term, is a word for when you know something about one of your own mental states. Like when I really enjoy some pizza a...
Episode 126 - Listener Q&A with Agnes Callard and Ben Callard
Elucidations - June 11, 2020 14:40 - 47 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsThree philosophers. Eight head-scratchers. 50 minutes. In this episode, Agnes Callard, Ben Callard and I respond to the world's most awesome listener-recorded questions. A lot of people have the impression that philosophy is, first and foremost, an enterprise in which college professor types re...
Episode 125: James Koppel discusses counterfactual inference and automated explanation
Elucidations - April 17, 2020 12:47 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsEpisode link here. In this episode, James Koppel (MIT, James Koppel Coaching) joins me and Dominick Reo to talk about how we can write software to help identify the causes of disasters. These days, there's often a tendency to think of software primarily as a venue for frivolous pleasures. Mayb...
Elucidations Episode 124: Graham Priest discusses Buddhist political philosophy
Elucidations - March 21, 2020 15:00 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsEpisode link here: https://elucidations.now.sh/posts/episode-124/ In this episode, Graham Priest returns to discuss Buddhist political philosophy with me and Henry Curtis. (Last month, we talked with him about Buddhist metaphysics.) Last month, we discussed the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism:...
Episode 123: Graham Priest discusses Buddhist metaphysics
Elucidations - February 15, 2020 16:16 - 48 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsIn this episode, Matt Teichman and Henry Curtis talk to Graham Priest (CUNY Graduate Center) about the philosophical foundations of Buddhism. Buddhism isn't just a religion--it's an entire family of philosophical traditions that took root all over the Asian continent for thousands of years. The...
Episode 122: Frithjof Bergmann and David Helmbold discuss new work, new culture
Elucidations - January 17, 2020 13:02 - 39 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsIn this episode, Frithjof Bergmann and David Helmbold make the case for a different approach to working in the modern world. A lot of us experience our day to day work as a 'mild disease'--not terrible, not excruciating, but also not our #1 choice about how to spend weekdays. Instead, they argue...
Episode 121: Aaron Ben Ze'ev discusses the arc of love
Elucidations - December 05, 2019 13:34 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsIn this episode, Matt Teichman and Julia Liu talk to Aaron Ben Ze'ev (University of Haifa) about lifelong romantic love. What is love? Is it just a private feeling that each individual person experiences, or is it something that crucially involves multiple people? Our guest argues that although i...
Episode 120: Robin Dembroff on going beyond the gender binary
Elucidations - November 10, 2019 17:50 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 161 ratingsEver wonder what 'gender non-binary' means? Don't worry--Robin Dembroff (Yale University) is here to walk us through the relevant terminology, along with the everyday moral issues that are tied up with the gender concepts we use. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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