Philosophy Talk

Tribal societies lived in a world of the sacred and profane, ritual and taboo. Is there anything left of this structure in the modern world? Is anything really taboo, or are things just inadvisable, problematic, unhealthy, unwise, and less than optimal under the circumstances? John and Ken consider what, if anything, is still sacred with Cora Diamond from the University of Virginia, author of The...

Religions rely on miracles to demonstrate the authenticity of figures thought to have supernatural powers.  Many people feel that key events in their lives were literally miracles.  Many even claim to have witnessed miracles.  But what counts as a miracle?  Is it true, as Hume argued, that it is always more rational to disbelieve the testimony of a miracle than to believe in the miracle itself?  J...

Speaking to the National Association of Broadcasters in May 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minow famously introduced the characterization of television as a “vast wasteland.” And that wasteland has only become vaster – though occasionally a flower will bloom, from “The Twilight Zone” and “Star Trek” to “South Park” and “Lost.” With help from listeners, critics, and past guests, John and Ken try to teas...

The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a problem studied in game theory that shows how two people might not cooperate even if it’s in both their best interests to do so. It highlights the inherent tension between individual interests and a larger society. Should you pick up your trash at the lunch table? Should you push in your chair after getting up? Should you take performance-enhancing drugs? Should you pre...

Social psychologists have discovered that our self-images play a surprising role in our thinking about everyday moral matters. People who feel they have already proven themselves to be morally good feel less pressure to do the right thing than someone whose moral credentials are still in question. And people often resent, rather than applaud, the morally admirable actions of others if those action...

Philosophy is the love of wisdom – or is it? Is this traditional definition outmoded? Is wisdom an anachronism, an elitist concept deployed by old learned people with nothing of practical value to say? Do the professors of philosophy around the world (or on this program) love wisdom any more or less than anyone else? John and Ken wise up with Valerie Tiberius from the University of Minnesota, auth...

Latin American Philosophy began centuries before anything of much philosophical consequence happened in North America.  Yet in our own time, Latin American Philosophy is undergoing a protracted identity crisis.  Is it just transplanted European philosophy?  A reaction to analytical philosophy?  A reflection of the themes of liberation theology?  John and Ken explore Latin America’s philosophical t...

America’s elite colleges and universities spend millions of dollars to generate thousands of applicants, the vast majority of whom they reject. High school students – and their parents – work hard to gain entry to such institutions, and can be devastated by the rejection. Is there a purpose to this rat race? What values are implicit in the American college admissions process? John and Ken offer ad...

Quantum physics is regarded by many as the most powerful predictive theory science has produced.  But there is no interpretation of what the theory means that all knowledgeable scientists and philosophers agree on.  For example, quantum mechanics delivers no very clear message about the difference between past, present and future. What are the implications for our everyday experience of space and...

In the 18th and 19th Century, philosophers and intellectuals were immersed in politics and popular culture.  Even in the early 20th Century some of the leading academic figures of the time, like Betrand Russell, also wrote for a broader public.  Where have the public philosophers and public intellectuals gone?  Can philosophers and intellectuals still speak to a broad public?  If they speak will t...

Philosophy isn’t just about cosmic issues.  Every day is full of events that raise philosophical questions: why do we eat the things we eat, work the way we work, go to the places we go?  What ideas underlie our most basic activities?  John and Ken look for depth in the daily grind with Robert Rowland Smith, author of Breakfast With Socrates: An Extraordinary (Philosophical) Journey Through Your O...

True evil seems easy to recognize: the killing of innocent children; assigning whole populations to death by gassing, or napalm, or aerial bombing. These acts go beyond the criminal, the mean, the bad. But what is the psychology of evil-doers? Are they monsters among us — just like the rest of us, with one screw a little loose, or are they radically unlike us? John and Ken probe the evil mind with...

Atheists don’t believe in God – does that mean they don’t find life meaningful?  Are atheists doomed to be grouchy nihilists, finding meaning only in criticizing theists?  Or does a world without God offer its own meanings and values to structure a well-lived life?  John and Ken search for a meaningful atheism with Louise Antony from UMass Amherst, editor of Philosophers Without Gods: Meditations...

Who is responsible for the broken vase in the foyer? How harshly should criminals be punished for their crimes? Did Justin Timberlake mean to disrobe Janet Jackson during her infamous ‘wardrobe malfunction’? Cognitive scientists have recently discovered some surprising ways in which the language we use influences how we think about responsibility and agency. John and Ken are joined by Stanford psy...

The question of gay rights has become a hot button issue, with opposition taking on the air of a moral panic and support taking on the air of a righteous crusade. John and Ken attempt to dispassionately examine the competing scientific, religious, and philosophical visions of the nature of gayness. They explore the consequences of those competing arguments for and against gay rights with cultural...

Summer’s just around the corner – what philosophers, philosophies, or philosophical issues do you want to read up on?  Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason 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.  Not to mention new and classic fiction books with a philosophical bent.  J...

In the 1960s, as many American cities burst and burned, the upper and middle classes fled to the suburbs, leaving behind a decaying infrastructure and a socially isolated urban underclass.  In more recent times, many urban centers have undergone re-gentrification, and with it the return of the upper classes, safer neighborhoods, and better services.  But gentrification often drives poor and workin...

State-sanctioned marriage has long been regarded as one of the bedrocks of a stable society.  But in recent times, this venerable institution has become the focus of intense debate, as those long denied the right to marry clamor to be let in and those determined to keep marriage the way it’s always been threaten to amend the constitution in “defense” of marriage.  In the heat of battle, few have s...

The question of gay rights has become a hot button issue, with opposition taking on the air of a moral panic and support taking on the air of a righteous crusade. John and Ken attempt to dispassionately examine the competing scientific, religious, and philosophical visions of the nature of gayness. They explore the consequences of those competing arguments for and against gay rights with cultural...

In the Middle Ages, people married, had children, went off to war and took on all the traditional trappings of adulthood by their early teens.  But today many people put off those trappings until well into their thirties.  Some have even suggested that we need a new vocabulary to describe the variety of life stages experienced by 21st century humans.  John and Ken explore the new adulthood with Et...

We’ve all heard a disenchanted teenager claim that everything is relative and that there is no absolute morality or truth.  Of course, there seems to be something wrong with that; isn’t the relativity of everything then an absolute?  Relativism has appeared throughout philosophy since the ancient Greek Sophists.  Proponents of relativism argue that some central element of thought, experience, eval...

Thomas Jefferson identified John Locke as one of “the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception.” Many debates in modern political theory have their roots in the writings of John Locke, and Locke’s work on other philosophical issues, particularly identity and selfhood, have also influenced generations of philosophers. What was Locke’s influence on contemporary political theory...

It’s the third annual Philosophy Talk Dionysus Awards show!  With the help of listeners and special guests, John and Ken turn a philosophical eye to the past year’s cinematic offerings, and present their Dionysus Awards for the most philosophically-rich films of the past year.

Everyone procrastinates – academics are especially prone to it.  But why do we procrastinate?  Is it lack of will-power?  Or is procrastination more like a disease, something that might be cured?  Can we structure our priorities in such a way so as to accomplish more even while procrastinating?  John and Ken can no longer put off the discussion with Tim Pychyl, Director of the Procrastination Rese...

Jacques Derrida was one of the most influential and also one of the most polarizing philosophers of the twentieth century.  With his method of “deconstruction,” Derrida provided critiques not only of literary trends and philosophical ideas but also political institutions.  He won many followers among humanists, but analytical philosophers tended to be skeptical that Deconstructionism was anything...