Discussion of fanaticism, devotion, and nihilism with⁠ Paul Katsafanas⁠ of Boston University. When someone becomes a fanatic about their worldview is that always a bad thing? Should fanatics moderate themselves to become better and more civil?

Veganism and Free-riding

May 7th, 2024 42m 7s

Do you have a moral obligation to go Vegan? If so, why? If not, why not? Brad and Tristram McPherson (Ohio State) discuss a new argument that we are obligated to go Vegan in order to avoid wrongful free-riding. Additional discussion of other ar

How to Do Things with Emotions: Owen Flanagan

Apr 5th, 2022 55m 25s

Are our emotional reactions natural or malleable? Which moral emotions are useful in our increasingly secular and multi-cultural environment? What kinds of anger should we give up? Does shame get a bad wrap? -- Interview with Owen Flanagan ab

Confucianism, Morality, and Well-being

Mar 15th, 2022 1h 3m

What different views on human nature inform ethical theory in the Confucian tradition? What kinds of rituals do Confucians think we need to engage in to achieve flourishing lives or high levels of well-being? What kinds of rituals today might

Ethics of Gamete Donation and the Value of Genetic Knowledge

Feb 16th, 2022 1h 1m

If you conceive a child with a donated egg or sperm (gamete), are you morally required to tell the child how they were conceived? Do children need knowledge of their genetic parents to develop a healthy self-understanding or identity? Or is t

Prophetic Pragmatism: Cornel West, Hope, and the Philosophy of Race

Feb 1st, 2022 54m 13s

What is Cornel West's Prophetic Pragmatism? How can we be honest about the legacy of racism in the USA and not lose hope? What role can and should philosophers play in promoting progress and democratic values? Interview with Brad Elliott Stone

Grief: A Philosophic Guide

Jan 13th, 2022 56m 14s

For whom do we grieve? When we grieve, what are we grieving about? Is there any benefit we should aim to get from grieving? Is grieving sometimes morally required? And what additional questions about grief are philosophers exploring? -- Inter

Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals

Apr 21st, 2021 1h 7m

Would the discovery that determinism is true undermine moral responsibility? Should it? In this episode I interview Pamela Hieronymi about her new book Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals, which offers a new interpretation of P

Religion and Human Development (Jennifer Herdt)

Jul 8th, 2020 59m 30s

Humanists argue that there is something special about human beings and that to live well we must grow up, overcome our childish and brutish temptations, and become fully human. Secular Enlightenment humanists think this is something human bein

Virtue and Meaning -- an Interview with David McPherson

May 5th, 2020 1h 13m

Interview with David McPherson, Associate Professor at Creighton University. We discuss his new book, Virtue and Meaning, which develops and defends a new theory of human nature – the human being as the meaning seeking creature – and explores

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