Philosophy Talk

What does it mean to be normal? And abnormal? Who gets to decide, and what are the repercussions? When do we applaud deviations from the norm, when do we condemn them, and why? Ken and John take a look at the uses and abuses of making judgments about normality with Charles Scott from Vanderbilt University, author of Living With Indifference.

Movies play a large role in modern life. We enjoy watching them; we idolize the actors and actresses who appear in them; we analyze the directors. But how well do movies tackle bigger philosophical questions? With the help of listeners, John and Ken present their second annual Dionysus Awards for the most philosophically-rich films of the past year.

We base many decisions every day not only on the belief that other people have minds, but on detailed beliefs about what is going on in those minds: what these other people believe, feel, hope, and fear. The basis of our ability to “read” the minds of others is a lively area of research in psychology and the philosophy of psychology. Ken and John discuss mind-reading with Shaun Nichols from the Un...

Philosophers think a lot about fiction. But do novelists think about philosophy? Do philosophers make good fictional characters? Can good stories be built around philosophical problems? When awarding its Genius prize to philosopher-novelist Rebecca Goldstein, the MacArthur Foundation said “[her] writings emerge as brilliant arguments for the belief that fiction in our time may be the best vehicle...

A paradox is a persuasive argument that something, which we judge must be false, is true. Zeno’s Paradox, for example, is a convincing argument that it’s impossible to move. Paradoxes are valuable in philosophy because they help us become aware of forms of argument that are deceptively convincing yet logically fallacious. John and Ken are joined by Roy Sorensen from Dartmouth College, author of A...

The ancients believed in an enchanted universe – a universe suffused with meaning and purpose. But with the dawn of modernity, philosophy and science conspired together to disenchant the universe, to reveal it as entirely devoid of meaning and purpose. Must any rational and reflective person living in the 21st century accept such nihilism? Or is there a way to re-infuse the disenchanted universe w...

Philosophy usually suggests a striving for rationality and objectivity. But the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard advocated subjectivity and the leap of faith—his conception of how an individual would believe in God or act in love. Kierkegaard, whose best-known work is Fear and Trembling, is often considered the father of Existentialism. Ken and John explore the life and thought of this passion...

There are too many people, doing too much damage to the ecosystem, essentially guaranteeing that future generations will have a damaged Earth, and will have to invest incredible amounts of time, money and labor to repairing what can be repaired. But future generations are made up of people who don’t yet exist – what obligations do we have to them? And what obligations, if any, do we have to our fe...

Some people think Jesus was the son of God, though many who are skeptical about that still think he was a great moral teacher. But if we really knew what Jesus would think about moral issues that he didn’t confront while he lived – abortion, terrorism, euthanasia, gay marriage or the destruction of old-growth redwoods – would it be that helpful? Would his moral vision have any implications for the...

More than a century and a half after On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution continues to shape our thinking, not only in biology, but also in psychology, economics, and all other attempts to understand human beings including philosophy. Ken and John delve into Darwin’s theory and its implications for philosophy with Daniel Dennett from Tufts University, author of Darwin’s D...

Consciousness, morality, meaning and truth have perplexed and puzzled generations upon generations of philosophers. But could it be that we have been looking in all the wrong places to solve these imponderable mysteries? Could the minds of babies hold the key to philosophical progress? John and Ken are joined by renowned developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik, author of The Philosophical Baby: W...

The program that questions everything – except your intelligence – started off questioning the conventional wisdom that there would be no audience for a radio show about philosophy.  One hundred and ninety-nine programs later, Ken and John are hanging in there with large loyal audiences in the Bay Area and Oregon, outposts at over fifty stations across North America, and a huge internet following....

Do we have a right to healthcare, and to good high quality healthcare, in any precise and defensible sense?  Or is the “right to healthcare” just a nice way to say it would be very nice if everyone had healthcare?  John and Ken take a philosophical lens to the alleged right to healthcare and health insurance with Laurence Baker from the Center for Health Policy at Stanford University.

To be human, philosophers have often said, is to be rational. But many people, for biological reasons, are clearly not rational. Schizophrenia is not only a malady, it is also a window on how the human mind works, and what it means to be human. Ken and John examine schizophrenia and its lessons for philosophers with John Campbell from UC Berkeley, author of Reference and Consciousness.

The media often present a sanitized and one sided narrative of war, torture and other forms of violence that blots out the faces and silences the voices of many of the main victims: the refugees, the victims of unjust imprisonment and torture, and the immigrants virtually enslaved by their starvation and legal disenfranchisement.  John and Ken probe the limits of the media representations of war a...

How do words shape our minds?  Do the French suffer because they have no word for berry or cozy?  Do we suffer because we have no word for schadenfreude?  Why do we adopt new words, or give old words new meaning?  Can we eliminate a concept by renaming it, or eliminating the word for it?  Ken and John welcome back Geoff Nunberg, author of The Years of Talking Dangerously, for a program recorded in...

It’s a Philosophy Talk highlight reel for the membership drive. In this special episode, John and Ken relive some favorite moments from the Philosophy Talk archives. Listen to cognitive scientist Margaret Boden on creativity, computers, and the emotions, Stanford University’s Kara Dansky on the nature of crime and punishment, Georgetown Provost James O’Donnell on the contemporary relevance of Sain...

What is a family, and what distinguishes it from other kinds of associations?  Is the traditional role of the family merely grounded in custom and habit, or is there a deeper philosophical justification for it?  How has the structure of families changed over the ages, and how does it differ across cultures?  John and Ken examine the structure and function of the family in relation to morality, val...

Is pornography an art form, or simply anything that depicts genitals in action?  Where does mere eroticism end and pornography begin?  In the internet age, pornography appears to have become not only more accessible but also more acceptable in American society – is this a welcome loosening up of a conservative tradition, or is it the path to moral degradation?  John and Ken probe the philosophical...

Does our system of credit and money make upward social mobility possible for anyone willing to work hard?  Or is it just a big Ponzi scheme?  Are corporations the essential structures necessary to harness the capital, energy, intelligence, and leadership on a scale large enough to make and market the inventions that define modern life?  Or are they just devices for evading responsibility and rewar...

As of June 30, 2007, the prisons and jails in the land of the free held 2,299,116 inmates; one in every 31 American adults is in prison, on parole, or on probation.  The state of California has more people in jail than China does, and this year expects to spend more on prisons than on higher education.  Is something wrong with this picture?  John and Ken explore the nature of incarceration and reh...

From online bulletin boards at the dawn of the internet to the modern mammoths of Facebook and MySpace, people have used communications technology to associate in innovative ways.  How do our old-fashioned values fit in to our new digital playgrounds?  John and Ken network with Malcolm Parks from the University of Washington, author of Personal Relationships and Personal Networks, for a program re...

Even if you’re not going to Biarritz for the summer as usual, you can relax in the sun and read.  There are a lot of readable, beach-friendly classics and non-classics to add philosophical depth to your Summer Reading.  Join Ken and John to share some of the philosophically-minded reading on your list for this summer.

What kinds of contact can the mind have with the world?  Can we know how the world is in itself, or can we only know shadows of the world in our own minds?  Are we trapped behind a veil of our own mental states?  Is there a world outside my mind – or our minds – at all?  John and Ken tackle the big questions of perception, the external world, and the nature of reality, with Howard Robinson from th...

More than any other President, Abraham Lincoln is known for his words, from the Lincoln-Douglass debates to the second inaugural address, as well as his deeds.  What was Lincoln’s basic philosophy, and did it change over the course of his Presidency?  Ken and John welcome back Chicago Public Radio’s Resident Philosopher, Al Gini, to celebrate the bicentennial of Lincoln, the man and his ideas.