Philosophy in a nutshell pt 1: The aphorism

FromPhilosopher's Zone

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Philosophy in a nutshell pt 1: The aphorism

FromPhilosopher's Zone

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Length:

29 minutes

Released:

Oct 4, 2020

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

First program in a series exploring famous philosophical fragments. Philosophy is often thought of as proceeding via elaborate conceptual systems. But sometimes, a choice phrase is all you need to get you thinking.

Released:

Oct 4, 2020

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

The simplest questions often have the most complex answers. The Philosopher's Zone is your guide through the strange thickets of logic, metaphysics and ethics.

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Animals and the philosophy of friendship: Some of our best friends are animals. So where does that leave some humans we know? by Philosopher's Zone
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Enid Blyton—the moral of the story: She might not be in vogue these days, but for one Cambridge philosopher Enid Blyton is serious moral business. by Philosopher's Zone
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Extended minds, predictive processes, and Andy Clark: Andy Clark is a big name in what’s known as embodied and extended cognition. The theory positions the mind beyond the brain. If accurate, his ideas will have radical practical consequences well beyond the philosophy of mind. by Philosopher's Zone
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Fuelling free will: Alfred Mele spent four years and four million dollars trying to get to the bottom of free will. He learnt that it was like petrol. by Philosopher's Zone
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The value of thought experiments: Drop those test tubes, take off your lab coat, pull up a comfy chair and think your way to scientific truth. by Philosopher's Zone
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A tale of two universes: Philosophy and modern physics: a case of the irrelevant versus the impractical? by Philosopher's Zone
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Getting stuck: The midlife mess: Your midlife crisis: it’s more than you think. by Philosopher's Zone
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Ethics and absolutes in the classroom: The trouble with morality is that reasonable people keep disagreeing on what’s right and wrong. The science, as they say, isn’t settled. So that being the case, how can we argue for fixed moral standards to which everyone should sign up? And how should we by Philosopher's Zone
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Bots, bankers and big brother: Would you trust a killer robot more than a banker? This philosopher does, and has his reasons. by Philosopher's Zone
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Envy has its reasons: One of the seven deadly sins—which is sometimes excusable. by Philosopher's Zone
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The Reformation: What's not to like?: Is it just a coincidence that the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation falls on the same year that Britain is trying to 'Brexit'? by Philosopher's Zone
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Philosophy for children: the why and the how: Children are natural philosophers — so why don’t we routinely teach them how to do philosophy? Some issues around that debate were aired at a recent public panel hosted by the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia. by Philosopher's Zone
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Proof and beauty: Mathematicians routinely refer to complex proofs in aesthetic terms, citing their 'elegance' or 'beauty'. This has partly to do with the social aspect of such proofs—far from being a hermetic or exclusively cerebral practice, mathematics has never strayed by Philosopher's Zone
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On the way: John Kaag is a philosopher who travelled to the Swiss Alps with the aim of putting into practice some of Nietzsche's recommendations for "becoming who you are". In his memoir Hiking With Nietzsche, what he finds is that following in the footsteps of the g by Philosopher's Zone
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Autonomy, self, and substances: Substance abuse lets you say ‘it wasn’t me’. Then who was it? by Philosopher's Zone
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Devotion, democracy and Duterte: Is religious language incompatible with democratic politics, as philosopher Richard Rorty believed? Not in the Philippines, where religion and democracy are working together as close allies—with troubling implications for justice and human rights. by Philosopher's Zone
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The philosophy of parenting—part 2: Brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and those weird second cousins you never talk to… how might we define family—and why it matters. by Philosopher's Zone
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Thinking small: Understanding the human condition has been the province of many disciplines, but you wouldn’t necessarily expect microbiology to be among them. Think again! by Philosopher's Zone
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Morals and the market: Neoliberalism and human rights are often portrayed as standing in opposition to each other, but they can actually be seen as close philosophical cousins. by Philosopher's Zone
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Carlo Rovelli and his quantum problem: Carlo Rovelli on the desperate need for some conceptual engineering to dig quantum thinking out of a deep black hole. by Philosopher's Zone
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Existentialism and crisis: Existentialism entered the popular consciousness after World War 2, and for many it still has a mid-century ring to it. But how does it look look today, especially in an age where the unfolding environmental crisis calls for something more than radical hu by Philosopher's Zone
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Awesome ethics and the art of mushroom blading: Forget the meaning of life; an ethical definition of awesome is far more important. by Philosopher's Zone
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African philosophy and the West: How do you articulate African philosophy in a Western academic environment? And what gets lost in the project of “translating” the former into the categories of the latter? by Philosopher's Zone
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Public health and the open society: Karl Popper's idea of "the open society" promoted values of inclusivity, transparency and democratic freedom. Today, some fear that the open society is under threat, with negative consequences for a lot of things we've come to take for granted - including by Philosopher's Zone
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On Evil: 'Evil' is one of those words that seem to convey moral clarity—we all feel we know evil when we see it. But there was once a time when 'evil' simply referred to mundane mischance or wrongdoing; its transformation into something almost metaphysical is a relatively recent turn. by Philosopher's Zone
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The beauty imperative: What does it mean when beauty moves from aesthetic choice to ethical ideal? The age-old belief that true beauty lies within is ever harder to sustain today. It was once sidelined as a 'women’s issue' but beauty is now taking its place as a subject for serious philosophical scrutiny. by Philosopher's Zone
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The shadow of eugenics: Eugenics is a science that seems to belong back in the darkest days of the 20th century. But today, 'newgenics' has people worried, as reproductive technologies make it more possible to filter out certain genetic disorders. Does this colour our notion of what constitutes a 'desirable' or 'undesirable' human subject? by Philosopher's Zone
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Stones rolling and the joy of ordinary objects: The structure of the universe is written in stone—maybe. by Philosopher's Zone
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The fate of the Common Good: The idea of the common good drove some of the most important social developments of the 20th century. Today, nations seem to be losing faith in the idea. by Philosopher's Zone
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Who are you?: The question of exactly what constitutes identity is an old and much-contested one. Is personhood located in a community? A culture? A race? Or is it something singular and immanent, located somewhere in the deepest recesses of the individual? by Philosopher's Zone
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Hegel, nature and the Anthropocene: Modernity has us in a terrible bind. We know that our Western habits of growth and consumption are destroying the planet, and that we need to stop exploiting the natural world for our benefit. But at the same time, our very identity as modern humans is grounded in the notion of endless growth, self-determination and the domination of nature. The work of the 18th century German philosopher GWF Hegel provides a fascinating diagnosis of our condition. Can it also offer a cure? by Philosopher's Zone
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The phenomenology of love: There’s a venerable philosophical tradition devoted to explaining what love is, and it stretches back to the ancient Greeks. What philosophy hasn’t had so much to say about is the phenomenology of love – the question of what love feels like. This week we’re getting inside the experience. by Philosopher's Zone
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Conspiracy theories, anti-Semitism and fun: You don’t have to be stupid to be a conspiracy theorist. Many people who buy into paranoid fantasies about stolen Presidential elections and sinister global Jewish cabals are perfectly sane, well-educated individuals. So why do they fall for these myths? This week we consider the possibility that the attraction is primarily aesthetic, and that the experience is fun. As for why the perennial focus on Jews: the answer can be found in a peculiar tension between philosophical monism and the worldview of the TV series Curb Your Enthusiasm. by Philosopher's Zone
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Identity politics: Identity politics is grounded in the appeal to a stable, unified self and the authority of testimony. But this week we’re asking whether that foundation is solid, and if deconstructing it might allow for a more flexible approach to social justice. by Philosopher's Zone
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The ethics of uterus transplantation: If a woman wants to experience pregnancy but can't, the answer could be a uterus transplant. The technology is promising, if still very new — but how ethically sound is it? by Philosopher's Zone
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Extremism: Extremism is a slippery concept. Its connotations are perjorative but at a glance, it can be difficult to see what differentiates extremism from more acceptable forms of fringe belief such as radicalism. Is it possible to be an extremist in the name of a morally worthy cause? and how should we deal with extremists in our midst? by Philosopher's Zone
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Philosophy in a nutshell pt 1: The aphorism

Philosophy in a nutshell pt 1: The aphorism

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Philosopher's Zone