New Books Network Podcast

Philosophy December 10, 2023

Why? The Purpose of the Universe

Philip Goff

Hosted by Carrie Figdor

Does the universe have a purpose? If it does, how is this connected to the meaningfulness that we seek in our lives? In Why? The Purpose of the Universe (Oxford …

Philosophy November 10, 2023

The Modal Future

A Theory of Future-Directed Thought and Talk

Fabrizio Cariani

Hosted by Carrie Figdor

What does “will” mean? A standard view is that it is a tensed mirror-image of “was”, and that the truth-conditions of past and future sentences – “He was late to …

Philosophy November 1, 2023

The Darkened Light of Faith

Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought

Melvin L. Rogers

Hosted by Robert Talisse

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Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” is notoriously fiery. No doubt part of what’s gripping about it is its internal tension. Douglass begins …

Philosophy October 20, 2023

Late Classical Chinese Thought

Chris Fraser

Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Late Classical Chinese Thought (Oxford University Press, 2023) is Chris Fraser's topically organized study of the Warring States period of Chinese philosophy, the third century BCE. In addition to well-known …

Philosophy October 1, 2023

On Taking Offence

Emily McTernan

Hosted by Robert Talisse

A lot of work in moral, political, and legal theory aims to define the offensive. Surprisingly, relatively little attention has been paid to the affectively intoned practice of taking offense …

Philosophy September 20, 2023

Vatsyayana's Commentary on the Nyaya-Sutra

A Guide

Matthew R. Dasti

Hosted by Malcolm Keating

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In Vatsyayana's Commentary on the Nyaya-Sutra: A Guide (Oxford University Press, 2023), Matthew Dasti unpacks a canonical classical Indian text, the Nyayabhasya, while simultaneously demonstrating its relevance to contemporary philosophy …

Philosophy September 12, 2023

Mind As Metaphor

A Defence of Mental Fictionalism

Adam Toon

Hosted by Carrie Figdor

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Folk psychology (on a standard reading) is the way we attribute contentful mental states to others in order to explain and predict their behavior – for example, saying that John …

Philosophy August 10, 2023

On the Temporality of Emotions

An Essay on Grief, Anger, and Love

Berislav Marusić

Hosted by Carrie Figdor

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When someone close to us dies, intense grief is an expected and reasonable response. But while the reason for our grief – the loss of the person who is the …

Philosophy August 1, 2023

Choosing Well

The Good, the Bad, and the Trivial

Chrisoula Andreou

Hosted by Robert Talisse

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It is common to think that rational agency involves acting in ways that, given one’s options, maximize the satisfaction of one’s preferences. This intuitive understanding has generated a wide-ranging literature …

Philosophy July 10, 2023

The Matter of Consciousness

From the Knowledge Argument to Russellian Monism

Torin Alter

Hosted by Carrie Figdor

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Frank Jackson’s "Knowledge Argument" introduced the philosophical world to Mary the brilliant neuroscientist, who knows everything there is to know about the physical world while living in a completely black …

Philosophy July 1, 2023

Democracy for Busy People

Kevin J. Elliott

Hosted by Robert Talisse

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John Dewey and Jane Addams are both credited with the claim that the cure for democracy’s ills is more democracy. The sentiment is popular to this day among democratic theorists …

Philosophy June 20, 2023

Sikh Philosophy

Exploring Gurmat Concepts in a Decolonizing World

Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair

Hosted by Malcolm Keating

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In his new contribution to the Bloomsbury Introductions to World Philosophies, Sikh Philosophy: Exploring Gurmat Concepts in a Decolonizing World (Bloomsbury, 2022), Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair introduces readers to a tradition …

Philosophy June 14, 2023

A Philosophy of Beauty

Shaftesbury on Nature, Virtue, and Art

Michael B. Gill

Hosted by Carrie Figdor

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The third Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713) was a troubled soul – negative, misanthropic, and deeply troubled by his negativity and misanthropy. In A Philosophy of Beauty: Shaftesbury on Nature, Virtue …

Philosophy May 10, 2023

Realism for Realistic People

A New Pragmatist Philosophy of Science

Hasok Chang

Hosted by Carrie Figdor

For a certain kind of standard realist, science aims at getting the absolute truth about the universe. For Hasok Chang, this view is unrealistic because we have no way of …

Philosophy May 1, 2023

Mobilizing Hope

Climate Change and Global Poverty

Darrel Moellendorf

Hosted by Robert Talisse

The news concerning climate change isn’t good. The warming of our planet now threatens to trap millions of people in extreme poverty while destabilizing the global order in ways that …

Philosophy April 20, 2023

An Indian Theory of Defeasible Reasoning

The Doctrine of Upādhi in the Upādhidarpaṇa

Eberhard Guhe

Hosted by Malcolm Keating

An Indian Theory of Defeasible Reasoning: The Doctrine of upādhi in the Upādhidarpaṇa (Harvard University Press, 2022) is the first translation of this anonymous Navya-Nyāya treatise predating Gaṅgeśa. Eberhard Guhe’s …

Philosophy April 10, 2023

Distracted from Meaning

A Philosophy of Smartphones

Tiger C. Roholt

Hosted by Carrie Figdor

Social scientists have long studied the ways in which smartphone use can distract us from the proper performance of means-ends tasks, such as driving or medical procedures. In Distracted from …

Philosophy April 1, 2023

Who Should We Be Online?

A Social Epistemology for the Internet

Karen Frost-Arnold

Hosted by Robert Talisse

The Internet plays a central role in how we communicate, share information, disseminate ideas, maintain social connections, and conduct business. The Internet also exacerbates existing problems regarding irrationality, bias, wrongful …

Philosophy March 10, 2023

Grief Worlds

A Study of Emotional Experience

Matthew Ratcliffe

Hosted by Carrie Figdor

The grief we feel when someone close to us dies is characterized by a complex and profound experience of loss. But what is this experience? In Grief Worlds: A Study …

Philosophy March 1, 2023

Bias

A Philosophical Study

Thomas Kelly

Hosted by Robert Talisse

The concept of bias is familiar enough, partly because it is deployed frequently and in different contexts. For example, we talk about biased jurors, biased procedures, biased laws, biased decisions …