Philosophy Talk

Once upon a time, student athletes were students first, athletes second; the Olympics was about amateurism and the pursuit of excellence, not the pursuit of endorsements; and professional athletes enhanced the physics through rigorous work-outs, not through performance enhancing substances. No doubt athletic excellence is at an all time high, but are ethics in athletics at an all time low? John an...

Is there such a thing as pure evil in the world? How should we confront evil? Can evil ever be finally overcome? If the universe was created by a supremely good, supremely powerful, supremely loving deity, why is there evil in the world to begin with? On the other hand, if there is no God and everything is permitted, what distinguishes the truly evil from the purely good? John and Ken weigh good a...

Aristotle’s philosophical doctrines have permeated and helped shape Western Culture in spheres as disparate as cosmology, biology, ethics, physics, politics, and logic. John and Ken take a tour of some of the greatest hits of one of the greatest philosophers of Antiquity with Chris Bobonich from Stanford University.

Modern science tells us that the mind is just the brain working. But science cannot yet tell us how consciousness, rationality, free will, autonomy, or even our sense of self arises out of the merely material processes of the brain. Could our confidence that mind is just the brain working possibly be misplaced? John and Ken delve into the mystery of the mind with UC Berkeley philosopher John Searl...

Are gender roles and differences fixed, once and for, all by biology? Or is gender socially constructed and culturally variable?  How does gender differ from sex? John and Ken explore whether men and women are really from different planets after all with Anne Fausto-Sterling from Brown University, author of Myths of Gender: Biological Theories about Women and Men.

The philosopher John Locke thought we had no innate ideas; our minds are blank slates, upon which experience writes.  Nurture is everything, nature nothing.  Modern popular genetics gives the impression that we are nothing but the stage on which a play written by our genes is performed; nature is everything, nurture nothing.  What are the facts, and what are the philosophical principles that are u...

The Americans with Disabilities Act recognizes that people with disabilities are often prevented from leading productive and satisfying lives because social, school and work environments are often thoughtlessly and unnecessarily designed with only people with the standard set of abilities in mind. In many cases “reasonable accommodation” to the ways people with disabilities need to do things is re...

Is love just a (second-hand) emotion?  Is it a feeling?  A disparate group of feelings, glandular responses, and ill-considered commitments called by a single word so that poets will have something to write about?  A poor substitute for true friendship imposed upon us by lust?  Or the deepest and most satisfying of human conditions? John and Ken question their love with Noel Merino from Humboldt S...

Is there such a thing as absolute truth, independent of who is doing the thinking, and where? Or is truth relative to backgrounds, cultures, creeds, times, and places? Can it be true that what is right for me isn’t right for you? John and Ken search for truth with Helen Longino, Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies at the University of Minnesota.

Time is the most familiar thing in the world, and yet philosophically one of the most puzzling. Is the present what’s left when you subtract what has already happened, and what is yet to happen? Then it seems to vanish into a mere instant. Are future events completely unreal? Or are they just the things we can’t know yet? Is time unreal, as many philosophers have thought? Columbia’s Dave Albert jo...

America prides itself on being the oldest continuous democracy in the world. But criticisms of the America system are widespread. Our system is tailored to narrow interests and wealthy elites. Our two parties lock out alternative voices. Our voting procedures discourage participation and lead to unrepresentative outcomes. Is this really the best way to run a democracy? Join John and Ken as they ex...

The ideas of Karl Marx vie with those of Rousseau, Locke and Jefferson for shaping the politics of the twentieth century. Are Marx’s ideas of real philosophical value and interest, or simply relics of interest only in trying to understand the benighted century we have left behind? John and Ken divide their labor with Jonathan Wolff from University College London, author of Why Read Marx Today?

Some feminists hold that there are specially feminine ways of knowing, and the current scientific research is flawed for not recognizing them. Some hold that philosophy itself is a thoroughly phallocentric enterprise, and deeply flawed. Other feminists vigorously reject these views. Join John and Ken as they discuss the philosophies of feminism with Barrie Thorne from UC Berkeley, co-author of Fem...

Our current way of life is unsustainable. Depletion of the ozone layer, the dwindling of the rain forest, the loss of animal habitat, and toxic runoff into lakes, streams and rivers are just a few of the environmental challenges we face. The environment is a global problem that no one nation can address on its own. Something must give, somewhere. But who will pay what costs for improving the globa...

Corporations are recognized as persons in the eyes of the law. But if they are persons, they would seem to be pathologically self-interested persons, driven by nothing but the desire for their own further aggrandizement. John and Ken ask how we can cope with such persons in our midst with Lawrence Mitchell from the George Washington University Law School.

From his theory of the Forms, to his views about morality, justice, and the soul Plato was one the greatest and most influential philosophers of all time. Indeed, it has been said that all of philosophy is but a footnote to Plato. Find out why as John and Ken dig into the philosophical views of Plato, with their guest, Chris Bobonich, author of Plato’s Utopia Recast.

Is happiness a mere psychological state? And if so, what’s so important about it? Is there anything more to being happy than just thinking you’re happy? Or is happiness a way of life? John and Ken get happy with Robert Solomon from the University of Texas at Austin, author of True to Our Feelings: What Our Emotions Are Really Telling Us

Rolling the dice in a game you’re rigged to lose sounds like a bad idea. So why is it so much fun? Is gambling an exciting pastime, or a vicious addiction? John and Ken take their chances with Will Barrett from the University of Melbourne, author of “Luck and Decision.”

Is affirmative action a way of balancing out inequality? Or is it just another form of bias in admissions and hiring practices? And where’s the line between fostering diversity and lowering standards? John and Ken affirmatively welcome Elizabeth Anderson from the University of Michigan, auhor of The Imperative of Integration.

You can own a car or a bicycle. But what about an idea? If you invent a program it seems like you should have some say about its use. But can you really own the idea itself? Listen in and steal an idea or two from Larry Lessig, author of The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World.

Paternalism and Health: Some diseases such as Alzheimer’s inhibit our abilities to make decisions and lessen our quality of life. In cases like these, we often think that others are justified in stepping in and making decisions for that person. But what about the case where the person in question is relatively healthy but suffers, perhaps, from minor depression, or an anxiety disorder? When (if ev...

Some psychologists claim to have demonstrated that humans are systematically, deeply and perhaps irredeemably irrational in their reasoning and decision making. But what is rationality and why does it matter? If we are really so irrational, how have we managed to get this far as a species? Maybe rationality isn’t such a big deal after all. Tune in as Ken Taylor and guest host Nadeem Hussain size u...

What is virtue? Is virtue the key human happiness and flourishing, as the ancients held, or a quaint notion of at best secondary interest for ethics, as many modern theorists hold? Does the return of virtue ethics to contemporary philosophy mark an advance in our thinking about morality or is it just a nostalgia for morally simpler times? John and Ken sing the praises of Julia Driver from Dartmout...

Is physician assisted suicide morally okay? What about active euthanasia for patients suffering terminal illnesses? If we begin traveling down this path, how do we put a break to our slide down the slippery slope toward a world in which we license physicians to kill or assist the suicide of severely depressed but not terminally ill patients? John and Ken have a dignified discussion with Margaret B...

We like to think that terrorism is always wrong. But what if the cause is just? Do the ends ever justify the means? And how do we define “terrorism” anyway?