Episodes
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Questioning the Practice of Grading in Schools (Robert Gressis & Kevin Currie-Knight)
Rob and Kevin make small talk ... Kevin describes and laments the grade economy ... What's the relationship between grades and learning? ... Bryan Caplan's "The Case Against Education" and how it has traumatized Rob ... Unschooling ... If schools suck so much, how did Rob and Kevin learn? ...
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Free Speech and Academic Freedom in 2020 (Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)
A new home for Sophia ... The (latest) defenestration of Kathleen Stock ... How sincere are pro-trans rights public intellectuals? ... Justin Weinberg's essay on the Kathleen Stock incident ... David: "It's the squishy middles that are gonna kill us" ... Dan: deplatforming people on social media…
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The Cultural Contradictions of Conservatism (Daniel Kaufman & Kevin Currie-Knight)
Kevin's book, Education in the Marketplace ... Dan and Kevin's concern for Coleman Hughes' intellectual freedom ... How young is too young for movement conservatism? ... What was the Intellectual Dark Web? ... The IDW's central contradiction ... How Dan got involved with the conservative movement...
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Is Philosophy of Religion Still Necessary? (Daniel Kaufman & Megan Fritts)
Megan: philosophy of religion shouldn't focus on "proofs for God" ... Determining rational grounds for supernaturalism ... Why Dan rejects epistemic foundationalism ... Megan's Christian agnosticism, Dan's Jewish atheism ... Wittgenstein's engagement with philosophy of religion ... What kind of...
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The Decline of Great Philosophers (Daniel Kaufman & Robert Gressis)
Robert's essay, "The Philosophy Rapture" ... What counts as "relevant" philosophy? ... Philosophy's "dirty insider game" ... Why are great philosophers overrepresented at elite universities? ... Generational decline, intellectual and attitudinal ... Do intellectual celebrity cultures produce...
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How to Make a Comic Book (Daniel Kaufman & Milton Lawson)
The new issue of Milton's comic book, Thompson Heller: Detective Interstellar ... Christopher Hitchens' influence on Milton's comic ... The anxieties of robot personhood ... The economic determinants of comic book production ... How a new comic writer finds an artist ... The comic book art…
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Justifying Our Beliefs (Daniel Kaufman & Joshua Rasmussen)
Joshua’s views on basic beliefs ... How do we get from experience to justified belief? ... The connection between knowledge and awareness ... Is Dan actually a foundationalist? ... Where the chain of warrant ends ... Joshua’s engagement with the big questions in philosophy ... Running up against...
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Lesser Evils (Daniel Kaufman & Kevin Currie-Knight)
Why Kevin chose not to vote ... The two-party system vs. a multiparty parliamentary system ... Dan accuses Kevin of not confronting what the election was about ... Is Kevin acting like a spoiled brat? ... The logic of straight-ticket voting ... Kevin accuses Dan of having a pessimistic view of...
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Debating Standpoint Theory (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
The origins of "standpoint theory" ... Are Dan and Crispin white? ... Defining standpoint theory ... Dan: Standpoint theory presents an irrefutable hypothesis ... Crispin: "All knowledge is from some standpoint" ... Dan: There is no single black perspective on race ... Why don't people trust...
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Who Is Entitled? (Daniel Kaufman & Robert Gressis)
A review of Kate Manne's book Entitled sparks an online philosophy feud ... Is America systematically misogynistic? ... How Twitter incentivizes bad behavior ... The professional norms around book reviewing ... Dan sees "no honor all the way down" on the other side ... Self-immolating…
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The Microfoundations of Marxism (Robert Gressis & Jaime Edwards)
Jaime explains how Marx understood ideology ... Our tendency to get facts wrong in a self-serving way ... Cognitive biases that lead the working class astray ... Why do we have reason? ... "Thank God for the ruling class!" ... How do the elite get what they want? ... Imagining the meetings of the...
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Persons, Minds, and Thingy Things (Daniel Kaufman & Joshua Rasmussen)
How can there be persons? ... Against hypostatic ontological commitment ... Things vs. thingy things ... Mind over matter, or vice versa? ... Are there minds? Dan isn't sure. ... Have philosophers gone beyond their ambit? ... Philosophy as service to people ...
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The Past and Future of Marvel Movies (Daniel Kaufman & Milton Lawson)
The incredible achievement of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ... The choices that led to the MCU's greatness... ... ...and the choices that didn't quite work out ... Critiquing Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Dr. Strange ... Milton foresees future "Has Marvel Lost Its Way?" thinkpieces ......
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Prolegomena: Ontological Commitments (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
Explaining Crispin’s position on explanatory unity ... Dan: Meaning is part of social reality, it’s not all in our heads ... What is the substance of our ontological commitments? ... Why Dan thinks philosopher W.V.O. Quine is almost right ... The conspicuous absence of philosophers from the…
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The Lacanian Principle of Special Effects (Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)
Why does bad CGI make us feel weird? ... Where digital effects work (The Avengers) vs. where they don't (CATS) ... Gollum vs. Thanos, Roger Rabbit vs. Jar Jar Binks ... The tragic digital miscues of The Irishman ... Are practical effects dead? ... The closing of aesthetic diversity ...
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The Tyranny of Opinion (Daniel Kaufman & Russell Blackford)
Russell’s book, The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism ... Preserving the liberal tradition ... Can the genie of stakes-inflation be put back in the bottle? ... Dan: Woke illiberalism is a kind of luxury ... Russell’s recommendations for keeping the liberal tradition…
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Prolegomena: What Are Persons? (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
What are persons? ... Why don't we say "my legs went to the store"? ... Actions and intentions ... The case of the robot who voted ... Are addicts in control of their actions? ... The moral culpability of a naughty dog ...
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Philosophy and Professional Wrestling (Robert Gressis & Douglas Edwards)
Doug's new book, Philosophy Smackdown ... Plato's Cave and the three layers of wrestling reality ... What it means when wrestlers break the fourth wall ... Real life can be "just as scripted as wrestling, if not more so" ... How and why moral virtue changed in wrestling ... The only performance...
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Objectivity and Realism (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
Are we really as social as the Stoics believed? ... Distinguishing between the “objective” and the “real”... ... ...and between the “real” and representations of the “real” ... Dan: It makes no difference whether or not values are objective ... Massimo’s solution to the omnivore’s dilemma ......
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To Boldly Go (Daniel Kaufman & Milton Lawson)
Spoiler alert! Critiquing Star Trek: Discovery and Picard ... Serial vs. episodic storytelling ... Why Dan hated Discovery's main character ... Is the show too woke? ... Debating the big twist in Picard ... Dan: Two things screw up Picard as a Star Trek show ... Throwing science out the window…
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Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
Dan's in-progress book, Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics ... Avoiding the "crazy positions" ... A stereoscopic view of the "scientific" and "manifest" images ... Dan: A world with people in it is only explainable in fragmentary terms ... Crispin sees the leading edge of the new dualism ......
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Gender Critical (Daniel Kaufman & Jesse Singal)
The continuing battle over gender in philosophy ... Harm avoidance vs. competing interests ... Jesse: There's disagreement within the trans community over what it means to be trans ... Dan: "This is madness to everyone other than the people inside the tent" ... The social dynamics of philosophy…
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Epidemiological Modeling, Policy, and Covid-19 (Daniel Kaufman, Eric Winsberg, and John Symons)
How to model an epidemic ... The costs and benefits of cost-benefit analysis ... Turning coronavirus models into coronavirus policy ... Eric: Your intuitions about the virus’s spread are "useless" ... The use and abuse of epidemiological models ... Pandemic models and failures of political...
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Consciousness, Panpsychism, and Illusionism (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
Will the pandemic forever change college education? ... Laying out the "hard problem" of consciousness ... Why panpsychism is not a solution to the problem ... The battle between radicals and conservatives in physics ... Physicalism vs. idealism ... Massimo explains "scientific metaphysics" ...…
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Overdoing Democracy (Daniel Kaufman & Robert B. Talisse)
Robert's new book, Overdoing Democracy ... The revealing differences between Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts ... The diminishing importance of place in American culture ... How homogeneity distorts groups ... Partisan identity has become the core of our social selves ... Is this the inevitable…
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Gender Trouble (Daniel Kaufman & Helen Joyce)
Helen's forthcoming book on gender ... Why are younger women attracted to novel gender theories? ... Social constructivism vs. self-constructivism ... Did feminists bring this upon themselves? ... Helen: Immigration caused Britain's political realignment ... Helen's narrative of the evolution of...
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Is Pansexuality Obligatory? (Daniel Kaufman & Robert Gressis)
Robert's essay examining whether pansexuality is obligatory ... Orientation vs. desire ... Is the push for trans rights undermining gay and lesbian rights? ... Dan: Sexual attractions can't be subject to moral scrutiny ... Kant and the malleability of sexual consciousness ... Dan fears the...
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"Uncut Gems" and "Dolemite Is My Name" (Daniel Kaufman & Milton Lawson)
In praise of Uncut Gems ... Why does Adam Sandler's dirtbag character evince such sympathy? ... Punishment and forgiveness in narrative storytelling ... In praise of Dolemite Is My Name ... Eddie Murphy's triumphant return to SNL ... Is offensive comedy coming back? ... Why were these two films...
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Debating Moral Realism (Daniel Kaufman & Spencer Case)
Spencer describes being quarantined in Wuhan, China ... What is "moral realism"? ... Can you be a moral realist and a moral subjectivist at the same time? ... Revisiting Plato's Ring of Gyges ... Dan: There's no evidence of morality beyond performances ... The trouble with giving advice ... "All...
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Philosophy and the City (Daniel Kaufman & Joseph Biehl)
Why Joe left academia ... Bemoaning the apathy of today's college students ... Joe's nonprofit, the Gotham Philosophical Society ... How can philosophers help improve a place like New York City? ... Should philosophy be parochial or universalist? ... Philosophical anti-realism and parochialism…
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What Is Philosophy For? (Daniel Kaufman & Spencer Case)
In praise of non-elite institutions ... Spencer’s journey from Mormonism to professional philosophy ... Does philosophy matter? ... The role of temperament in shaping philosophers’ views ... Does moral philosophy contribute to moral progress? ... Dan: It doesn’t matter whether God exists ... Dan...
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Are Philosophers Experts? (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
Are philosophers experts? ... Socrates didn't have a PhD ... Massimo hates when teachers claim to learn "just as much" from their students ... What does philosophers' expertise actually consist of? ... How much is philosophy like mathematics? ... What philosophers of science can teach scientists...
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On Social Censorship (David Ottlinger & J.P. Messina)
How should we define censorship? ... The sort of censorship that has no inherent moral valence ... Various ways non-state actors can censor ... When private censorship has moral stakes ... Examining moral grandstanding ... A changed heart vs. a false front ... Could we ever resolve all our...
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The Problem with Everything (Daniel Kaufman & Meghan Daum)
Meghan’s new book, The Problem with Everything ... The premature obsolescence of Generation X ... Meghan’s positive reaction to negative reviews of her book ... Joan Didion’s critique of the Women’s Movement ... The effect of online porn on Millennials ... Why do institutions capitulate to…
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Is Wittgenstein Overrated? (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
Why Crispin loves writing takedowns of cultural icons ... Crispin: Ludwig Wittgenstein is overrated ... Dan objects to people who try to live their lives philosophically ... Hume and the limits of human reason ... Wittgenstein's critique of representationalism ... Did Wittgenstein debunk...
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Natural Kinds (Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci)
What are “natural kinds”? ... What the former planet Pluto can teach us about natural kinds ... Massimo’s changing views on theoretical entities ... Is there a paradigm shift on the horizon in evolutionary biology? ... Is skepticism toward natural kinds the same as skepticism toward essential...
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The Ethics of Boycotts (David Ottlinger & Carson Young)
Our era of boycotts, from Jimmy Johns to Uber to Nike ... The ethics and political philosophy of boycotts ... "Society is not a person" ... Waheed Hussein's concept of social change economic consumerism ... Group power and coercion ... Why boycotts usually fail ... How can we judge the worthiness...
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Activism and Philosophy (Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)
The fight, and meta-fight, in philosophy over trans issues ... David's essay on philosophy and activism ... The admonition to "go read the literature" ... Dan: The profession needs to push back against the mob ... Should philosophers avoid signing petitions? ... David regrets the "neglect of the...
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Postmodernism in Life and Literature (Daniel Kaufman & E. John Winner)
A brief history of 20th-century literary criticism ... John's battles against radical feminists as a grad student at SUNY Albany ... Post-structuralism and "how modernity failed itself" ... English department politics ... John: "Postmodernity is all around us" ... Postmodernity in the world vs.…
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Western Philosophy as White Supremacism (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
Crispin's recent essay, "Western Philosophy as White Supremacism" ... Dan accuses Crispin of ahistorical revisionism ... Descartes as a product of his age ... Privileging the intellectual over the physical ... Is "the conquest of nature" a good or bad thing? ... Crispin: Metaphysics and racism…
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The Great Disintegration (Daniel Kaufman & Oliver Burkeman)
Journalism, from information scarcity to attention scarcity ... Is it harder to find “good” information these days? ... Oliver: Reliance on social media creates false controversies ... Has the mainstream media really drifted towards partisanship? ... How to dismantle the partisan divide ... Dan:...
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"Stranger Things" and Generation X (Daniel Kaufman & Milton Lawson)
Why Dan and Milton love Stranger Things ... How does the new season measure up? ... Is "the Upside Down" a coherent idea? ... Is Generation X about to have its moment in pop culture? ... Dan fears wokeness is ruining pop culture ... The risks of a fourth Stranger Things season ... Pop culture in…
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Gender Noncomformity and Feminism (Daniel Kaufman & Jane Clare Jones)
Where have all the feminists gone? ... The feminist tradition in philosophy ... How does second-wave feminism distinguish sex from gender? ... Jane: Patriarchy hurts men, too ... On the present controversy around gender non-conformity and identity ... Was Prince genderqueer? ... Gender, feminism,...
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Should the Humanities Strike? (Daniel Kaufman & Nathan Eckstrand)
Nathan’s recent essay, "Is it Time for the Humanities to Strike?" ... The attack on the humanities goes international ... Are non-college graduates deficient voters? ... Why the educated elite aren’t the most ethical people ... Could a strike re-engage the public with the humanities? ... How to…
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Morality's Limit (Daniel Kaufman & Robert Gressis)
Is the “Morality Everywhere Problem” really a problem? ... Why Robert finds the moral question difficult to dispel ... Peter Singer’s “drowning child” thought experiment ... Is weakness of will keeping Robert from volunteering at the soup kitchen? ... Dan: “Embrace the normal” ... What do those...
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Is Philosophy OK? (Daniel Kaufman & Robert Gressis)
Robert: Is it permissible to remain a philosophy professor? ... Why Dan opposes the “morality everywhere” approach to life ... Can professors really leave a lasting impact on students? ... “First world problems” and moral obligation in the classroom ... What is the “White Paper” of philosophy…
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Realism, Anti-Realism and "Rabbity Moments" (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
Realism vs. anti-realism ... Is reality the sum of human senses? ... Why Crispin is allergic to idealism ... “Rabbity moments” and Quine’s radical translation scenario ... What does it mean to say someone lives “in another world”? ... Davidson’s closet analogy for conceptual schemes ... What…
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Analytic vs. Continental Philosophy (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
What explains the sharp divide between analytic and continental philosophy? ... Continental philosophy’s association with romanticism and fascism ... How Richard Rorty, Crispin’s dissertation advisor, bridged the gap between the two schools ... Heidegger’s skepticism of science ... Crispin...
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The Truth about "Truth" (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)
Crispin’s book chapter on the nature of truth ... Do different uses of the word “truth” have a family resemblance? ... The challenge of connecting truth with reality ... Where does linguistics enter the picture? ... How Crispin bucks expectations of academic philosophical writing ... Dan…
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Identitarianism in Academic Philosophy (Daniel Kaufman & Oliver Traldi)
Why Oliver quit law school ... Is it professionally risky to express heterodox views in philosophy? ... Philosophy as handmaiden to progressive politics ... Dan’s essay on philosophy’s abuse of the harm principle ... The chicken-or-egg question of students or faculty ... Is leftism corrupting...
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About this show
Knowledge, Reality, Truth, Morality … Daniel Kaufman, David Ottlinger, Robert Gressis, and their guests explore the rich universe of philosophical investigation and inquiry.
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