Philosophy

Philosophy

episodes

Interviews with philosophers about their new books.

Vanessa Christina Wills, "Marx's Ethical Vision" (Oxford UP, 2024)

October 21, 2024

Marx's Ethical Vision

Vanessa Christina Wills
Hosted by Sarah Tyson

Does Marx have a coherent ethical vision? How does that square with his sometimes-scathing dismissal of morality? What does his critique of capital ha…

Roberta L. Millstein, "The Land Is Our Community: Aldo Leopold’s Environmental Ethic for the New Millennium" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

October 10, 2024

The Land Is Our Community

Roberta L. Millstein
Hosted by Carrie Figdor

Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic has been both hugely influential in the environmental conservation movement – and also often misinterpreted. In The Land is …

Samuel Ely Bagg, "The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy" (Oxford UP, 2023)

October 1, 2024

The Dispersion of Power

Samuel Ely Bagg
Hosted by Robert Talisse

We commonly think of democracy as a social order governed by the people’s collective will. Given the size of the modern states, this picture is typic…

Soraj Hongladarom et al., "Philosophies of Appropriated Religions: Perspectives from Southeast Asia" (Springer, 2024)

September 21, 2024

Philosophies of Appropriated Religions

Soraj Hongladarom, Jeremiah Joven Joaquin, and Frank J. Hoffman
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

The open-access edited volume Philosophies of Appropriated Religions: Perspectives from Southeast Asia (Springer, 2023) collects philosophical approac…

Wendy Salkin, "Speaking for Others: The Ethics of Informal Political Representation" (Harvard UP, 2024)

September 1, 2024

Speaking for Others

Wendy Salkin
Hosted by Robert Talisse

We are familiar with the idea of a formal representative, and perhaps the idea of a formal political representative readily comes to mind. Roughly, t…

Devonya N. Havis, "Creating a Black Vernacular Philosophy" (Lexington Books, 2022)

August 20, 2024

Creating a Black Vernacular Philosophy

Devonya N. Havis
Hosted by Sarah Tyson

What can philosophy do? By taking up Black American cultural practices, Devonya N. Havis suggests that academic philosophy has been too narrow in its …

Alan C. Love, "Evolution and Development: Conceptual Issues" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

August 10, 2024

Evolution and Development

Alan C. Love
Hosted by Carrie Figdor

It was an astounding discovery in the early 1980's that the same genetic sequence, the homeobox, controlled the development of basic body plans across…

Oliver Traldi, "Political Beliefs: A Philosophical Introduction" (Routledge, 2024)

August 1, 2024

Political Beliefs

Oliver Traldi
Hosted by Robert Talisse

The idiom of contemporary politics is a kind of philosophical hodge-podge. While there’s plenty of talk about the traditional themes of freedom, just…

Stephen Harris, "Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path: Santideva on Virtue and Well-Being" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

July 20, 2024

Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path

Stephen Harris
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

An influential eighth-century Buddhist text, Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra, or Guide to the Practices of Awakening, how to become a supremely virtuous …

Shannon Vallor, "The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking" (Oxford UP, 2024)

July 10, 2024

The AI Mirror

Shannon Vallor
Hosted by Carrie Figdor

There's a lot of talk these days about the existential risk that artificial intelligence poses to humanity -- that somehow the AIs will rise up and de…

Alexandre Lefebvre, "Liberalism as a Way of Life" (Princeton UP, 2024)

July 1, 2024

Liberalism as a Way of Life

Alexandre Lefebvre
Hosted by Robert Talisse

In political philosophy, “liberalism” is not the name of a particular social platform. Rather, it refers to a framework for thinking about politics. …

Johanna Oksala, "Feminism, Capitalism, and Ecology" (Northwestern UP, 2023)

June 20, 2024

Feminism, Capitalism, and Ecology

Johanna Oksala
Hosted by Sarah Tyson

Can capitalism be made ecologically sustainable? Can it be good for women? What theoretical approaches help us to grapple with these questions in ways…

Cameron J. Buckner, "From Deep Learning to Rational Machines: What the History of Philosophy Can Teach Us about the Future of Artificial Intelligence" (Oxford UP, 2023)

June 10, 2024

From Deep Learning to Rational Machines

Cameron J. Buckner
Hosted by Carrie Figdor

Artificial intelligence started with programmed computers, where programmers would manually program human expert knowledge into the systems. In sharp …

Ronald R. Sundstrom, "Just Shelter: Gentrification, Integration, Race, and Reconstruction" (Oxford UP, 2024)

June 1, 2024

Just Shelter

Ronald R. Sundstrom
Hosted by Robert Talisse

It is widely acknowledged that the United States is in the grip of an enduring housing crisis. It is less frequently recognized that this crisis amou…

Christine Abigail L. Tan, "Freedom's Frailty: Self-Realization in the Neo-Daoist Philosophy of Guo Xiang's Zhuangzhi" (SUNY Press, 2024)

May 21, 2024

Freedom's Frailty

Christine Abigail L. Tan
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Christine Tan argues that the most fruitful way to read the Zhuangzi, if one is seeking political and ethical insight, is through the Jin Dynasty comm…

Luis H. H. Favela, "The Ecological Brain: Unifying the Sciences of Brain, Body, and Environment" (Routledge, 2024)

May 10, 2024

The Ecological Brain

Luis H. H. Favela
Hosted by Carrie Figdor

Ecological psychology holds that perception and action are best explained in terms of dynamic interactions between brain, body, and environment, not i…

J. P. Messina, "Private Censorship" (Oxford UP, 2024)

May 1, 2024

Private Censorship

J. P. Messina
Hosted by Robert Talisse

When we think of censorship, our minds might turn to state agencies exercising power to silence dissent. However, contemporary concerns about censors…

Emily S. Lee, "A Phenomenology for Women of Color: Merleau-Ponty and Identity-In-Difference" (Lexington Books, 2024)

April 20, 2024

A Phenomenology for Women of Color

Emily S. Lee
Hosted by Sarah Tyson

How can we understand the changing power of race and gender to shape our reality? How shared is reality? Can narratives of experience help us develop …

Eric Schwitzgebel, "The Weirdness of the World" (Princeton UP, 2024)

April 10, 2024

The Weirdness of the World

Eric Schwitzgebel
Hosted by Carrie Figdor

"What's life for if there's no time to play and explore?" In The Weirdness of the World (Princeton UP, 2024), Eric Schwitzgebel invites the reader to…

Stephen Phillips, "The Metaphysics of Meditation: Sri Aurobindo and Adi-Sakara on the Isa Upanisad" (Bloombury, 2024)

March 20, 2024

The Metaphysics of Meditation

Stephen Phillips
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

In The Metaphysics of Meditation: Sri Aurobindo and Ādi Śaṅkara on the Īśā Upaniṣad (Bloomsbury 2024), Stephen Phillips argues that the two titular Ve…