Sutras & Stuff: A Philosophy Podcast
by Malcolm Keating
In this informal bite-sized podcast, we'll talk about a range of ideas found in Indian philosophy, along with their connections to the modern day. Your host is a philosopher who reads Sanskrit texts and thinks about how the modern and premodern are intertwined.
Episodes
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S3 E4: Christine Tan
In this episode, I talk with Catherine Tan, Philosophy Lecturer at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, about Indian materialism, skepticism, and overlaps with Chinese Philosophy. April 11, 2026: This is a revised version of the original podcast. The episode now includes spoken credit for Kevin…
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S4 E3: Mantra
It seems like everyone, from companies to online influencersto fitness coaches, talk about having mantras. But what are mantras,anyway? In this episode, we'll talk about how they compare to birdsong, Tibetansinging bowls, and spells at Hogwarts, as well as some ancient debates aboutwhether they...
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Announcement - Season 4 Episode 3
Just keep swimming! Title Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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S4 E1: Karma
Does what goes around always come around? And is instant karma gonna get you? In the first episode of a season devoted to Sanskrit-to-English loanwords, we’ll examine how three groups of Indian philosophers understand karma: Jains, Buddhists, and Naiyayikas (or Nyaya philosophers). Sounds and…
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S4 Teaser
Taylor Swift says karma is her boyfriend, and Boy George sings about karma chameleons. In addition to “karma,” there are lots of other Sanskrit terms which have made their way into English: yoga, dharma, mantra, guru, Buddha, swastika, and more. In this season, we’ll focus on one word an episode…
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S3 E10: Tom Davies
In this episode, I talk with Tom Davies, Seymour Reader in Ancient History and Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, about how understanding Indian philosophy in relationship with the rest of the ancient world helps us reflect on what philosophy is, as a human activity, in different cultural...
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S3 E9: Robin Zheng
In this episode, I talk with Robin Zheng, Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, about connections between social practices and knowing in premodern Indian philosophy and contemporary feminist philosophy. April 11, 2026: This is a revised version of the original podcast. The episode now...
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S3 E8: Cathay Liu
In this episode, I talk with Cathay Liu, Senior Lecturer at the National University of Singapore, about philosophical systems and both Indian and European philosophy in the 17th century. April 11, 2026: This is a revised version of the original podcast. The episode now includes spoken credit for...
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S3 E7: Neil Mehta
In this episode, I talk with Neil Mehta, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Yale-NUS, about what exists and what we can say about it. April 11, 2026: This is a revised version of the original podcast. The episode now includes spoken credit for Kevin MacLeod’s music, “Brittle Rille,” which I use...
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S3 E6: Matt Walker
In this episode, I talk with Matthew Walker, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Yale-NUS, about ancient philosophy, therapeutic arguments, reading practices, and the Bhagavad Gita. April 11, 2026: This is a revised version of the original podcast. The episode now includes spoken credit for…
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S3 E5: Jay Garfield
In this episode, I talk with Jay Garfield, Professor of Philosophy at Smith College, about the Buddhist philosopher Candrakirti and how teaching Indian philosophy at Yale-NUS impacted his understanding of Western philosophers like Hume. April 11, 2026: This is a revised version of the original...
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S3 E3: Kathryn Muyskens
In this episode, I talk with Kathryn Muyskens, Philosophy Lecturer at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, about the Buddhist philosopher Shantideva and bioethics, health care, and compassion. April 11, 2026: This is a revised version of the original podcast. The episode now includes spoken credit for...
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S3 E2: Andrew Bailey
Content note: There's one instance of the "F-word" in English towards the end of the interview. In this episode, I talk with Andrew Bailey, Associate Professor of philosophy at Yale-NUS College in Singapore about the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna and analytic metaphysics, Gandhi on technology…
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S3 E1: Bryan Van Norden
In this episode, I talk with Bryan Van Norden, Professor of philosophy at Vassar College in the United States about how he came to Indian philosophy, what he enjoys about teaching it, as well as connections between ideas about knowing in Indian and Chinese philosophy. April 11, 2026: This is a...
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Much Ado about Religion: Part 2
How does a 9th century Nyaya philosopher addresses the intersection of religious conflict and ruling power in India? Are feelings of offense reason to exclude certain religious practices? What lessons can we take from Nyaya philosophers on religious toleration, and are they internally consistent...
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Episode 9: Much Ado about Religion, Part 1
Join our hero Sankarshana as he travels around the kingdom, vanquishing foes...with reason. Part 1 of 2. To read the whole play, get the Clay Sanskrit Library translation of Much Ado about Religion by Csaba Dezsö, published 2005 by NYU Press....
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Episode 8: Equivocating and other ways to lose
When is a door not really a door? When it's ajar! That old joke equivocates on two meanings of "ajar" In this episode we look at how equivocation can impact our reasoning, like when we ask, When is a doctor not really a doctor? We explore a few other ways that reasoning can go wrong and force us…
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Season 2 Announcement
Quick announcement about Episodes 8 through 10.
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Announcement about Episode 4
Sutras (and stuff) will return next week for a new episode. Apologies for the delay and thanks for your patience!
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Knowing
We can’t directly see it but we know it exists by extending our vision with special tools. We can reason about when it’s present based on associations. We can share facts about it with each other. And we can learn its name by comparing it to other similar kinds of things. I’m talking about the...
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Announcement: Season One Ending
When I started this podcast in February 2020, I envisioned a first season of ten episodes. I wrote, recorded, and scheduled the most recent episode (Episode 8) before the nationwide protests against police brutality began in the United States, which is my country of origin and my current home…
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Episode 8: Binging
Binge-watching. You sit down, popcorn and soda at the ready, and before you know it, three hours have gone by and Netflix pops up with a message: “Are you still watching?” While binge-watching is a fairly new English phrase (attested by the OED back to 1998 in verb form) in the sense of...
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Episode 7: Craving
Do you wish things were different right now? Is there some experience you used to have that you miss? Are you having unpleasant feelings? If so, you've got a lot in common with Buddhist practitioners and philosophers from the 4th century CE. In this episode, I speak with Bryce Huebner, Provost's...
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Episode 6: Expertise
Who should you listen to? Now, more than ever before, we have access to advice from a range of self-proclaimed experts. Anyone with a webcam and an Internet connection can dole out advice. But how do we tell if someone is trustworthy? In this episode, I test some so-called experts based on the...
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Teaser: Episode 6
Who should you listen to? Now, more than ever before, we have access to advice from a range of self-proclaimed experts. Anyone with a webcam and an Internet connection can dole out advice. But how do we tell if someone is trustworthy? In the next episode, I test some so-called experts based on…
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Episode 5: Contagion (part two)
Love, happiness, and disease. These are a few things that today we call "contagious." But how did thinkers in the Indian subcontinent, before the discovery of viruses, understand diseases and their treatment? This podcast is part two of a two-part interview with Patricia Sauthoff, an expert in…
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Episode 4: Contagion (part one)
Love, happiness, and disease. These are a few things that today we call "contagious." But how did thinkers in the Indian subcontinent, before the discovery of viruses, understand diseases and their treatment? This podcast is part one of a two-part interview with Patricia Sauthoff, an expert in…
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Announcement: Opening up the "phone lines"
I want to hear from you. Send me a voice message through Anchor or email me at [email protected] and I might use your messages on an upcoming episode. Be well, everyone.
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Episode 3: Reclining
If you’re going to recline your seat on an airplane, you should do it gently. And if you’re going to kill your enemy with the shyena ritual, you should build a brick altar. But should we do either of these things? Mimamsa and the logic of troubling commands. Sources and Links BBC clip from…
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Episode 2.1: Disease and debate
What does an ancient Sanskrit text have to tell us about reasoning about the coronavirus and debating with people about its treatment? Caraka’s Compendium, a medical treatise, gives some guidelines for when to bother debating with people, and whom we should trust with our health. Sources & links...
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Episode 2: The Man
Taylor Swift does it, and so does Kalidasa. How does figurative speech work and why do we enjoy it so much? In this episode, I talk about how figurative language from Sanskrit poetry to William Shakespeare to Taylor Swift. Sources and Links Taylor Swift, “The Man” music video...
About this show
In this informal bite-sized podcast, we'll talk about a range of ideas found in Indian philosophy, along with their connections to the modern day. Your host is a philosopher who reads Sanskrit texts and thinks about how the modern and premodern are intertwined.
Hosted by
Malcolm Keating
Categories