Philosophy Talk

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...

Nothing stirs up controversy like abortion.  To some, it carries the steep moral cost of destroying human life, while to others, it represents an inviolable bastion of women’s rights over their own bodies.  Despite the polarizing nature of the debate, it covers broad philosophical ground, and touches on religious, political, social and moral considerations.  Ken and John seek a dispassionate and r...

We live in a market-driven society – our day-to-day lives consist of buying and selling goods and services, and to some, our ability to do so without government regulation is the underpinning of democratic freedom itself. Everything has a price, and pretty much everything is for sale, from concert tickets to political influence. But should it be this way? Ken and John explore the moral costs of fr...

Because of their innocent approach to things, do children make good philosophers?  Or do they lack the equipment for clear-thinking?  Is exposure to philosophy good for children?  Or will it undermine their sense of security?  John and Ken welcome Jana Mohr Lone, founder and director of the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children at the University of Washington. Together they’ll put some clas...

Human thought is an amazing thing. It has given us not only science, literature, and morality, but also superstition, slavery, and war.  Thought has the power to uncover the deepest mysteries of the universe.  Or to create new realities – social realities.  But what makes human thought so powerful?  John and Ken put this question and more to renowned cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, author of th...

Sometimes people who seem to be your epistemic peers – that is, people as experienced, as well trained, as thoughtful, and as intelligent as you – disagree with you.  Should this shake your confidence in your own beliefs?  When, how much, and under what conditions?  Ken and John search for common ground with Jennifer Lackey from Northwestern University, author of Learning From Words: Testimony as...

Reading is a lot of fun, especially narrative fiction – everyone loves a good story. But maybe there’s more to it than that. Maybe everyone is, or at least tries to be, a good story themselves. Perhaps our very personal identities rest on narratives we form about ourselves, narratives that give our lives meaning, continuity, and coherence. Will the younger generation fashion lives based on the cha...

The occult is routinely dismissed in our times as the province of quacks, the irrational, and the superstitious.  But during the Renaissance, many of the best minds in Europe studied the philosophy and science of the occult.  The period witnessed an outpouring of systematic philosophical and scientific treatises on the occult.  References to the occult pervade the works of Shakespeare and other li...

Compromise is the condition of peace and progress.  But there are times when we should not compromise – when compromise would undermine integrity and amount to cooperating with evil.  How do we distinguish between when are we ‘bargaining with the devil’ and when are we simply trying to be tolerant of alternative lifestyles and political positions?  Is it OK to ‘bargain with the devil’ in the name...

Scholars from Berkeley and from Stanford have played a big role on Philosophy Talk.  Sure, John and Ken are from Stanford, but many of our most frequent and most brilliant guests are from Berkeley: Alison Gopnik, John Searle, Geoff Nunberg, George Lakoff, and many others. But who supports KALW more, Berkeley or Stanford?  We’ll rely on our Stanford- and Berkeley-connected guests to charge up the C...

The American Revolution was saturated with meaning and ambiguity, from the words of the Declaration of Independence, to the beliefs of the founding fathers, to the vagueness, hedges, and contradictions of the Constitution on which the possibility of union between slave and free states rested.  Ken and John examine the personalities, philosophies, and documents of the American Revolution with Pulit...

Socrates was executed for corrupting the youth. In America, youth below college age are usually not exposed to philosophy in the classroom. Is philosophy all that dangerous? Should it be taught to teenagers? Or would this lead to a generation of self-absorbed and skeptical young people, shirking their duties in order to worry about the meaning of life? John and Ken are joined by Jack Bowen, author...

Self-deception sounds like a contradiction: intentionally convincing yourself of something you know to be untrue.  But it is a pervasive aspect of human nature.  What is the nature of self-deception, and what are its main patterns?  Does it serve any purpose?  Ken and John confront the truths of self-deception with Neil Van Leeuwen from the University of Johannesburg.

Humanism as a movement arose with the Renaissance.  It took powerful expression with the Enlightenment, and deeply influenced the founding of the United States.  But now “secular humanism” is widely decried and even derided.  What was Humanism, and what has it become?  In an age of appreciating the interconnectedness of all nature, is the Humanist enterprise out of date?  Ken and John are joined b...

Few things affect our lives as much as the fact that we are citizens of one country rather than another.  The government of, the economy of, and the rights recognized and opportunities provided by the country we live in shape our lives.  But how real are any of these facts and things?  Without human beliefs, and societies of humans, there would be no states, no facts of citizenship, no money, and...

Loyalty is usually reckoned to be an important virtue; even loyalty to lost causes is often admired.  But loyalty to evil causes is no virtue.  To whom and what should one be loyal?  When is loyalty a virtue?  When is it wrong?  And when is it stupid?  Ken and John welcome back poet and philosopher Troy Jollimore, author of Friendship and Agent-Relative Morality.