2020 — why does the future look so much like the past?

Is literary fiction necessary for the moral life?: What does a society lose when it neglects the moral discipline of reading literary fiction? by The Minefield

46 min listen

2019 — the year where nothing really mattered?: What stands out to you about 2019? This week, for the last show of 2019, Waleed and Scott discuss the year that was, what it all meant, and what it means for the future of our common life. by The Minefield

41 min listen

2020 — why does the future look so much like the past?: Back in 2008, newly elected prime minister Kevin Rudd convened a summit of Australia’s "best and brightest" to discuss what kind of nation they wanted Australia to be in 2020. Now that we’re here, 2020 doesn’t look very much like the future at all. What happened? Is there a lesson here about the importance of adopting a sceptical posture, a profound reticence to claim to know, much less predict, our political future? Or are we just reading the wrong signs? by The Minefield

48 min listen

The dangers of 'clipification': The media has always been in the business of isolating and mass circulating 'newsworthy' pieces or slivers of reality. But we are living in an age of 'clipification', where reality itself is broken up into highlights tailor-made to be shared and viewed again and again. What does democracy look like in an age of 'clipification'? by The Minefield

51 min listen

Can we avoid cruelty in the face of COVID-19?: As societies, we are having to grapple with the question of whether some will be made to bear a disproportionate amount of the cost of our collective response to COVID-19. by The Minefield

37 min listen

Is it time to end simulated sex on television and film?: Why, in the light of the #MeToo movement, have we not questioned the aesthetic, much less moral, justification for the disproportionate amount of nudity and simulated sex required of female actors? Do we really need to prolong this puerile reliance on sex to attract viewers? by The Minefield

46 min listen

Can we overcome terminal disagreement in our politics and morality?: If the recent glut of "democracy in crisis" books is anything to go by, there is a sense that something has gone wrong in our common life. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has diagnosed the increasing 'tribalism' in and of our civic and political life particularly acutely, and he joins Waleed and Scott to discuss whether and how we might break free from its Manichean absolutism. by The Minefield

45 min listen

Why does democracy demand transparency?: Does representative democracy depend on practices of public scrutiny, or exercises of 'popular sovereignty' between elections? by The Minefield

48 min listen

False necessities: Is 'taste' enough to morally justify the mass slaughter of animals?: Is our culinary enjoyment enough to justify a complicity in cruelty which our fellow citizens find reprehensible? by The Minefield

48 min listen

After the fires, are we invited to moral community with trees?: Over the summer months, Australia has witnessed the devastation of forests and the immolation of wildlife on an unimaginable scale. The emotional or even the tragic content of the bushfires has been — understandably — reserved for the loss of human life and home and livelihood, and for the loss of some non-human animals. But why do we grieve fauna and not flora? What if these fires present to us an invitation we refuse to heed: an invitation to rediscover moral companionship, moral community with trees? by The Minefield

44 min listen

False necessities: Is economic growth a moral good?: Is economic growth a virtuous circle or a Faustian treadmill that benefits some and immiserates others (human and not)? by The Minefield

48 min listen

Ordinary vices: Impatience: The vice of impatience reflects a particular relationship to time: the notion that time is a finite commodity that ‘must be made the most of’, not an opportunity for encounter or an invitation to attentiveness and mutual discovery. Better put, impatience is ultimately about control. by The Minefield

50 min listen

What if the greatest threat to a free media was from within?: Our lives are saturated with 'news'; but far from creating informed citizens, this is producing forgetful, inattentive citizens. Megan Le Masurier joins us to discuss whether "slow journalism" could help us remember what matters. by The Minefield

43 min listen

Should the police be abolished?: Following the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks, there are serious calls to defund or even "abolish" the police in the United States. It’s a serious proposal, and it deserves to be taken seriously. But what does it mean, and how can it be done? Yale Law School Professor Tracey Meares joins us to discuss what police abolition looks like. by The Minefield

40 min listen

How can we live with coronavirus uncertainty?: In little more than a month, the coronavirus has exploded the sense of certainty, confidence, optimism and control on which so much of modern life, the economy and politics are predicated. Were these always just illusions? by The Minefield

38 min listen

Can we cultivate social solidarity in a time of physical distancing?: Any meaningful recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will require imagination, risk, solidarity and vulnerability; it will mean refusing to ‘free-ride’ and a willingness to sacrifice. How can we cultivate this capacity for social solidarity in our time of social fragmentation and mutual distancing? by The Minefield

45 min listen

What (new) forms of living might the coronavirus produce?: What new forms of life together — of modesty, prudence, simplicity, mutuality, sociality and cooperation — might we discover under the conditions of scarcity and social isolation imposed by the coronavirus, that perhaps we didn’t envision in more 'normal' times? by The Minefield

39 min listen

Should children be given the vote?: Cambridge historian and host of the Talking Politics podcast, David Runciman, has put forward a radical proposal to extend the vote to children as young as six. Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens discuss whether this is just what is needed to recover a healthy democratic culture. by The Minefield

47 min listen

Why do we want celebrities to be 'authentic'?: Why it is that we want to know the 'truth' about celebrities? What happens when the very promise of transparency, of authenticity — of intimacy, even — becomes part of the carefully cultivated appearance of celebrity itself? by The Minefield

46 min listen

In the aftermath of the Iowa caucus …: Every four years, a disproportionate amount of attention is focused on the unlikely midwestern state of Iowa. In a very real way, the Iowa caucuses encapsulate the profound political and ethical challenges that confront the Democratic Party in its bid to defeat Donald Trump in November — challenges that continue to bedevil democratic politics in other countries: How to mobilise voters around a common cause, without tipping over into either absolutism or unprincipled, 'whatever-it-takes' pragmatism? by The Minefield

50 min listen

How to acknowledge the debt of historical injustice?: What does it mean for a nation - whether it be the United States, Germany, or Australia - fully to acknowledge the truth of its past, to drag its moral debts into the light of day? Should a sense of guilt play any role in that acknowledgement? by The Minefield

52 min listen

What’s wrong with swearing?: These days, mass culture, movies, commercial television, music, novels are awash with language that once would have been deemed beyond the pale. Does it still make sense to speak of 'obscene language'? What makes words 'obscene'? Can obscene language be used in such a way that removes the taint from what they refer to? by The Minefield

46 min listen

What does the coronavirus reveal about us?: Is there a way of responding to the coronavirus that is both effective and ethical? That contributes to the tasks of social cohesion and mutual concern? by The Minefield

41 min listen

Is COVID-19 bringing the best, or worst, out of our politics?: Is the pandemic having a chastening effect on our politics, bringing voters back to the real-world consequences of political decisions, or is the pandemic in fact playing right into the hands of populist politicians, creating ideal conditions in which to fan the flames or fear, resentment and mutual suspicion? by The Minefield

54 min listen

Ordinary vices: What’s wrong with lying?: This week on The Minefield, we explore what Montaigne referred to as "that accursed vice" — the most corrupt and all-corrupting of them all: lying. by The Minefield

44 min listen

Ordinary vices: Is pride an affront to, or the basis of, dignity?: Can pride be ‘redeemed’, and form the basis of human dignity, or is pride as such a form of moral corruption, a debased form of moral vision? by The Minefield

41 min listen

International Women’s Day – cause for celebration, or commiseration?: The corporate rebranding of International Women’s Day (IWD) couldn’t be further from the day’s revolutionary roots, or any meaningful discussion of women’s liberation. It negates any discussion of the nature of power under patriarchy, and how relations of power between women and men might be genuinely transformed. by The Minefield

39 min listen

Free riding: Why act, when acting is likely to make no difference?: Are there reasons to act in a particular way, to willingly make some sacrifice, do something which may be good, and which we may even be committed to, when our actions (or lack of action) are likely to be of no consequence? Is size detrimental to democratic community? Professor Roger Crisp joins us to discuss whether the free rider problem highlights the limitation of moral philosophy. by The Minefield

44 min listen

Is there a moral imperative to wear masks?: The COVID-19 pandemic presents us with an all-too concrete situation in which seemingly minor, individual actions can have dire consequences for thousands of others. Is the pandemic an extreme situation that makes unusual demands of us, or does it simply make visible the kinds of moral demands which are upon us even in more 'normal' times? by The Minefield

50 min listen

Could COVID-19 make inequality worse?: The coronavirus pandemic has exposed, rather than alleviated, the nature and extent of inequality in many modern societies. As the recent federal budget demonstrated, Australia is a case in point. What is ‘inequality’, and why is it problematic? by The Minefield

47 min listen

Discover this podcast and so much more

2020 — why does the future look so much like the past?

2020 — why does the future look so much like the past?

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from The Minefield

Related podcast episodes