Neglected Practices: Attentiveness

FromThe Minefield

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Neglected Practices: Attentiveness

FromThe Minefield

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Length:

54 minutes

Released:

Apr 15, 2021

Format:

Podcast episode

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With the proliferation of digital distractions and addictive technologies, many of us live in a state of perpetual half-attention. We tend to move from one “sugar-hit” to the next — stimuli which elicit strong if transitory emotions, but discourage us from being present, entirely, to one person, one text, one idea. What is the lack of attentiveness doing to our moral lives?

Released:

Apr 15, 2021

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

In a world marked by wicked social problems, The Minefield helps you negotiate the ethical dilemmas, contradictory claims and unacknowledged complicities of modern life.

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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 (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
Is "cancel culture" really constricting free speech?: How does liberal democracy manage incommensurable disagreement? Do the moral and political demands for justice and inclusion trump the principles of free expression and open debate? What is the moral status of "opinion"? by The Minefield
50 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
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
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
Is capitalism inimical to ethics?: Does capitalism cultivate an ethos, an understanding of the nature of social relations and mutual obligation that is inimical to what might be called the demands of "democratic morality"? by The Minefield
20 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Ordinary vices: Ingratitude: Many of us are prone to express our sense of having hardship inflicted upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic — only to be reminded that someone else, somewhere else, has it much worse than we do. Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens discuss when we are permitted to complain, without being guilty of ingratitude. by The Minefield
48 min listen
The ethics of second chances: We have become increasingly interpersonally punitive and unforgiving, believing this to be a sign of our moral seriousness or our commitment to justice. But perhaps Shakespeare’s late plays — especially Cymbeline and Winter’s Tale — hold out a different moral vision. by The Minefield
38 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
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

More Episodes from The Minefield

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If chatbots are polluting the commons of human communication, what are the moral consequences?: It’s 18 months since the technology company OpenAI made its wildly popular interface with an advanced large language model — GPT-4 — available to the public. What has ChatGPT done to the habits of thought and consideration that produce distinctly human expression? by The Minefield
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What are the ethical, and legal, limits of protests at Australian universities?: Protests are, by their nature, unequivocal and univocal. They tend to avoid nuance or fine distinctions, and most often do not invite dialogue. They make demands. Does the particular vocation of universities place ethical limits on the forms of expression available to protestors? by The Minefield
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The decency of everyday life — are unwritten rules enough to sustain a good society?: Reciprocity, cooperation, kindness, turn-taking, forbearance, empathy, experimentation — can these counter the decidedly illiberal, impatient, anti-pluralistic, well-nigh apocalyptic energies that now seem resurgent in parts of the West? by The Minefield
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What will endure? The ethics of “Groundhog Day”: During the pandemic, there was a sudden renewal of interest in Harold Ramis’s 1993 film “Groundhog Day” — especially its bleaker aspects. But this missed its sophistication and humanity, to say nothing of its acute depiction of moral growth. by The Minefield
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After the stabbings in Sydney — Grief? Anger? Revenge?: Residents of Sydney have found themselves understandably overwhelmed by the compound traumas of two stabbing attacks in three days. How are we to make sense of the cycling-through of emotions in response to shocking public violence? by The Minefield
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Ramadan — the rediscovery of society: It is important to remember that Thoreau’s motivation for withdrawing was neither escapism nor apolitical quietism. The fact that he departed on 4 July signals an invitation to discover a different way of living together. by The Minefield
54 min listen
Ramadan — the importance of friendship: If Thoreau regards withdrawal and solitude as means by which we learn to escape self-deception, then they may well be little more than preparation for the moral demands friends make of one another. by The Minefield
53 min listen
Ramadan — the discipline of solitude: Solitude is neither alone-ness nor idleness. It is strenuous and takes practice. Solitude does not simply happen in the way that isolation or loneliness does — it must be inhabited. by The Minefield
53 min listen
Ramadan — the necessity of withdrawing: Are periodic bouts of withdrawal from life’s urgent demands and heated debates necessary to regain a sense of our shared humanity, and to renew the commitments that sustain the moral life? by The Minefield
54 min listen
Q+A on “the wisdom of crowds”: Waleed Aly, Scott Stephens and philosopher Stephanie Collins field questions from a live studio audience on crowd-behaviour, conformity and the importance of dissent. by The Minefield
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How much credence should we give to “the wisdom of crowds”?: Ever since Plato, “crowds” have been associated with irrationality, emotivism, conformism, short-term thinking, and herd-like behaviour. But what if it turns out that crowds are collectively more intelligent than their individual members? by The Minefield
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When is it right to call some act – or someone – “evil”?: What are we trying to convey when we reach for a word like “evil”? Is it something about a person’s actions or character? Is it what they do or the manner in which they do it? by The Minefield
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From Beyoncé to Taylor Swift — what’s behind the mass appeal of live music events?: It is worth reflecting, not just on what is singular about Taylor Swift at this particular cultural moment — why she attracts both the loyalty and the animus that she does — but on what it is about live music events that now draw millions of people to them. by The Minefield
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What is the harm in “deepfakes” — and what are they doing to democracy?: Over the last 18 months, enormously powerful generative AI tools have been placed in the hands of anyone who wants them; as a consequence, the internet and our social media feeds have been inundated with wholly or partially synthetic content. by The Minefield
54 min listen
How can trust be cultivated in a time of pervasive suspicion?: Because it is sustained by nothing more substantial than a weave of trusted institutions, shared habits and moral commitments, democracies are highly susceptible to the corrosive effects of distrust; Jedediah Purdy joins Waleed and Scott to discuss the necessary conditions for democratic life. by The Minefield
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What do we lose by succumbing to conspiracy-mindedness?: Ours is a time when institutional distrust, digital disinformation and mutual suspicion have become pervasive — but can democracy withstand epistemic and social fragmentation of this kind? by The Minefield
53 min listen
In a screen saturated age, is literacy under threat?: Professor Maryanne Wolf joins Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens to discuss whether we are entering an age of widespread moral illiteracy — an incapacity to engage in the processes that make up the habit of deep reading. by The Minefield
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What do we lose when we lose the capacity for boredom?: It is fair to say that boredom is a distinctly modern terror. But, as Stan Grant discusses with Waleed and Scott, what if existential boredom points us to our deeper need? by The Minefield
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Goya’s “Saturn” and its moral challenge: Spanish painter Francisco de Goya’s depiction of Saturn eating his son is a haunting portrait of lust and the fear of one’s own finitude. Christos Tsiolkas joins Waleed and Scott to look into that darkness, and discover what looks back. by The Minefield
54 min listen
Politics, farce ... and Fawlty Towers: Now that John Cleese has announced that the iconic series will return, it’s worth examining what made Fawlty Towers a masterpiece — and whether its interaction with the political climate of the 1970s had anything to do with it. by The Minefield
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What are playlists doing to our ability to listen to music?: Platforms like Spotify have transformed the way people listen to music through their use of recommendation algorithms and customised playlists designed to cater to either a particular activity or a particular mood. by The Minefield
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Dickens’s philosophy of generosity: Revisiting “A Christmas Carol”, 180 years on: Australian novelist Briohny Doyle joins Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens to examine Charles Dickens’s unforgettable tale of misanthropy and remorse, and discover how its aesthetic techniques and ethical vision continue to speak to us today. by The Minefield
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Should drivers of electric vehicles be taxed more to use the roads?: If we are not careful, the use of incentives to encourage people to purchase electric vehicles could backfire by offending our sense of fairness. by The Minefield
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Neglected Practices: Attentiveness

Neglected Practices: Attentiveness

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from The Minefield

Related podcast episodes