Philosophy For Our Times
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Philosophy For Our Times
Philosophy for our Times is a free philosophy podcast bringing you the latest talks and debates from the world’s leading thinkers. We host weekly episodes on today’s biggest ideas in news, society, culture, politics, science and arts. Subscribe today to never miss an episode.
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531 episoder
Analytic or Continental philosophy | Christoph Schuringa, Genia Schönbaumsfeld, Babette Babich
The future of European thought
What is analytic philosophy and what is continental philosophy? And, perhaps most importantly, does this distinct...
How Words Warp Reality | Nick Enfield
Language shapes how we think, remember, and reason. But does it help us to uncover the fundamental nature of reality? Join the author of Language vs....
Consciousness and psychedelics: In conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
Philosophers cannot stop talking about consciousness - what are its limits? What is it made of? What does it allow us? This podcast is part of that co...
The philosophy of religion and love with Alain de Botton and Alex O'Conner
Why we worship without knowing it
What should be included within the remit of philosophy? Religion? Love? Hair?
Join well-known public sp...
Mazes of the mind: The philosophy of neuroscience | Iain McGilchrist, Colin Blakemore, Bryan Appleyard
Over the past decades, neuroscience has blossomed, positioning itself as a kind of master discipline over everything else. For who understands the bra...
In search of nothing | David Deutsch, Amanda Gefter, Lee Smolin
What is nothing? Can it be defined, either philosophically or scientifically? Or will the exploration of nothing bring, ultimately, to nothing?
...
Halloween SPECIAL | The philosophy of the apocalypse
Why are we fascinated by apocalyptic stories?
Join the team at the IAI for a reading of four Halloween-themed articles, written by historian and...
The importance of giving up | Adam Phillips
Einstein was called “slow” at school, J. K. Rowling collected a dozen rejections, and Walt Disney was once fired for “lacking imagination.” We love st...
Slavoj Žižek on the madness of reality
Slavoj Žižek is back in a new interview where he takes us through his thoughts on the role of philosophy, the future of sex, his fear and love of AI a...
How to fathom timelessness | Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes
What should time mean to us?
Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes is a philosopher of mind who specialises in the thought of Alfred North Whitehead, Friedrich...
After postmodernism | Hilary Lawson, Robin van den Akker, Abby Innes, Sophie Scott-Brown
Hugely influential in the latter decades of the 20th century, postmodernism transformed many academic disciplines and culture at large. Associated wit...
The language of the unconsciouos: Pyschoanalysis and AI | Alenka Zupančič
As ChatGPT and AI increase their presence in our lives, have we interrogated enough what this means for, and about, our collective psyche?
In on...
The Enlightenment is racist (and why) | Kehinde Andrews
The Enlightenment has faced a lot of criticism in recent years - its defenders and detractors often come head to head, scrambling to articulate its ul...
The struggle for the good life | Massimo Pigliucci on ancient philosophy for the modern era
We all want to live the good life. But how many of us can claim to be truly content? Join philosopher and evolutionary biologist Massimo Pigliucci as...
Psychedelics and the structure of reality | Julian Baggini, Eileen Hall, and James Rucker
Truth, delusion and psychedelic reality
Do psychedelics reveal hidden layers of reality, or are we simply tripping?
Psychedelics are back...
The unconscious mind: Is the unconscious real?
The unconscious has become a well-known feature of our human lived experience since Freud. We often refer to unwanted impulses, suppressed thoughts, u...
A landscape of consciousness | Robert Lawrence Kuhn and Hilary Lawson
Will we ever reach a conclusive, agreed-upon theory of consciousness?
Over the millennia of recorded history, countless stories, theories, and a...
Will psychedelics revolutionize mental health treatment? | Matthew Johnson, Shayla Love, and Kevin Sabet
The psychedelic revolution
Will LSD, Psilocybin, MDMA, and Ketamine treatments live up to the hype?
For decades, psychedelics were derided...
The illusion of separation | Jessica Frazier on the Monism of Hindu philosophy
Indian philosophy and the search for unity
In our everyday lives we act as though we are all separate individuals, but is this really the case?...
The limits of nothingness | Peter van Inwagen
From philosophy to science, metaphysics to psychology, the idea of 'nothing' is central to the universe, existence and experience as a whole. But the...
Is free will an illusion? The chemistry of freedom | Patrick Haggard, George Ellis, Jennifer Hornsby
The question of free will - and whether we have it or not - is age-old across philosophy, religion, and human thought in general. Having free will all...
Has the world gone to Hell? | Slavoj Žižek on fascism, shame, and dirty jokes
Žižek: "Trump did what The Left couldn't"
As we look around at the state of the modern world, it's very easy to get disheartened - and that's pu...
Video games and the meaning of life | James Tartaglia
Video games are changing how we think. Many are so realistic that some argue they are becoming reality. In this talk by philosopher James Tartaglia, h...
The philosophy of literature SPECIAL | George Orwell, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Aldous Huxley, and more
How literature helps us to understand morality, totalitarian politics, and the life of Jesus Christ.
Join the team at the IAI for four articles...
How other species challenge our idea of consciousness | Peter Godfrey-Smith
In this IAI Studio interview, philosopher and science writer Peter Godfrey-Smith explores the evolution of consciousness and the enduring mystery of t...
Utopia and human nature | Paul Bloom
Human nature and the possibility of utopia
The idea of utopia - of a perfect society devoid of suffering and inequality - is planted firmly in t...
More choice means less freedom | Psychologist Barry Schwartz
Why more is less
We're surrounded by choice - an endless sea of possible paths we might take. However, does the overwhelming range of choices le...
The limits of logic: Should we embrace the irrational? |Iain McGilchrist, Beatrix Campbell, Simon Blackburn
Our culture prizes logic and rationality, if not above all else, as two of the most fundamental social traits. But are we missing out by overlooking t...
Consciousness begins in the body | Antonio Damasio
We tend to believe consciousness is purely mental. And since Descartes' "I think therefore I am", we've privileged the mind as the centrepiece of thou...
The Selfish and The Selfless SPECIAL | JD Vance, Pope Francis, and the 10 Commandments
What can JD Vance's arguments with Pope Francis teach us about selfishness, altruism, and the morality of the modern world?
Join the team at the...
Being mindful in a mindless world | Ellen Langer
The mindful body with Ellen Langer
Can mindfulness be contagious?
Ellen Langer's research certainly seems to suggest that's the case. As P...
The beautiful in philosophy | Babette Babich, Paul Ernest, Ankhi Mukherjee, Sarah Wilson
The good, the bad, and the beautiful
What is beauty? Why are we so drawn to it? And should we be - or is it a distraction?
The philosophy...
A world without values | Janne Teller, Dale Turner, Robin van den Akker, Isabel Hilton
Once values such as justice and equality were agreed upon by all. Now they are identified by some as vehicles to entrench or overturn power. On the le...
The challenge to optimism | Angus Deaton
The economy is a vital part of the way we understand our lives and our politics more generally. But after years of growth, development, and progress,...
Searching for the purpose of life |Babette Babich, Frank Tallis, Jonathan Webber, Sandra Laugier
The journey in search of the destination
Does life have a purpose? Is that what gives life meaning? Or is it the journey that matters the most?<...
Nietzsche, the birth of tragedy, and the technology trap | Babette Babich
Nietzsche, the birth of tragedy, and the technology trap with Babette Babich
Babette Babich discusses Nietzsche, the importance of tragedy, and...
The philosophy of fun | Myriam François, Freya India, James Tartaglia
The essential philosophy of fun
Do we need to have fun or is it an unnecessary excess? Are we living in an age of fun's decline, what with the m...
Neoliberalism: A Soviet nightmare | Abby Innes
There is an old Soviet joke, ‘Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Communism is its exact opposite.’ On the surface, neoliberalism, with its...
The dark side of chasing rewards | Paul Bloom, Nancy Sherman, and Dan Ariely
Something for nothing
Do rewards and incentives damage our humanity?
In much of our personal and professional lives, we receive rewards fo...
Rethinking the Enlightenment | Historian Aviva Chomsky
The spectre of the Enlightenment
What the Enlightenment a net positive or a net negative? Or is that the wrong question, and should we look at i...