Philosophy Talk

The United States has prided itself on being “the world’s greatest democracy,” which adheres to the principle, “one person, one vote.” Despite this, its elections are often highly contentious—presidents can be elected after losing the popular vote, there is widespread gerrymandering and voter purging, and not everyone has equal representation in the Senate. So what can we do to make elections in the US more fair? And how do we decide what counts as fair in the first place? Is there some test or algorithm we can use to determine equal representation? Josh and Ray watch the polls with Moon Duchin from Tufts University, co-editor of Political Geometry: Rethinking Redistricting in the US with Math, Law, and Everything In Between.

Nachman of Breslov was an 18th-century spiritual rabbinic leader, mystic, and storyteller, known particularly for his creative parables. His religious philosophy involved fostering an individual, conversational relationship with God. And he believed that being happy was not just a nice thing but a positive requirement. If you don’t feel happy, he said, you should pretend to be; genuine joy will follow. But is it really possible to make yourself happy, from the outside in? And even if it is, should we really be doing that, rather than facing a sometimes painful reality? Josh and guest-host Yonah Schiller get happy with Ariel Burger, founding director of the Witness Institute.

Part of the Jewish Thinkers series.

Michel Foucault was a 20th century philosopher known for his work concerning power and knowledge. Foucault is often cited for his theory of knowledge and power, which are inextricably linked. But what exactly is Foucault's philosophy of power? Is it a universal theory intended to be applied in any context, or was Foucault simply responding to the specific power dynamics of his time? Josh and Ken share power with Gary Gutting from the University of Notre Dame, author of Thinking the Impossible: French Philosophy Since 1960.

Many democracies are founded on the ideals of 18th- and 19th-Century British Liberalism: the idea that human beings deserve the right to self-government because we are born free, equal, and capable of rationality. Yet Liberalism was used to justify colonialism, which deprived people around the world of the right to govern themselves. How could a political philosophy that claims to be pro-freedom be used to take freedom away from so many people? Was Liberalism misunderstood, or were its moral flaws built-in from the beginning? How can we design a political philosophy that liberates everyone, not just the citizens of a few wealthy and powerful nations? Josh and Ray talk liberally with Uday Singh Mehta from the CUNY Graduate Center, author of Liberalism and Empire: A Study in Nineteenth-Century British Liberal Thought.

Judith Jarvis Thomson is best known for arguing that abortion is morally permissible, even granting the fetus the status of person. Her colorful thought experiments illustrate that a right to life does not mean the right to use another person’s body to survive. So, what exactly is a right to life and what does it permit or prohibit? Does pregnancy come with certain moral obligations to the fetus? And how can thought experiments, like the Trolley Problem, shed light on these questions? Josh and Ray explore Thomson’s life and thought with Elizabeth Harman from Princeton University, author of When to Be a Hero (forthcoming).

Part of the Wise Women series, which was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Some of the many topics discussed in Islamic philosophy are the Qur’an, knowledge, dreams, justice, poetry, reality, prophethood, peace, and the State. How has Islamic philosophy interacted historically with other philosophical traditions? How has philosophy influenced the popular practice and interpretation of Islam? When has Islamic philosophy melded with or clashed with Islam’s religious teachings? John and Ken are joined by Mashhad Al-Allaf from the University of Sharjanh, author of The Essential Ideas of Islamic Philosophy.

Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th century mystic, polymath, and composer whose work spanned visionary theology, philosophy, cosmology, medicine, botany, and music. Her extraordinary intellectual accomplishments belie her humble claim to be “just a woman”. Was her humility justified in the face of the divine, internalizing misogynistic stereotypes, or a strategic decision to get her voice heard? What can mystical experience teach us about the world? And how can we understand ourselves in relation to the divine? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Jennifer Bain from Dalhousie University, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen.

Part of the Wise Women series, which was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Moses Maimonides (also known as the Rambam) was a 12th century rabbi and scholar, most famous as the author of The Guide for the Perplexed. He thought that understanding the world through science and logic would lead you to knowledge, and that this in turn would lead you to love God. But is the world in fact something lovable? What do we do with all the pain and suffering? And is faith something you can prove using reason? Josh and guest co-host Yonah Schiller get good with Ross Brann from Cornell University, author of Moses Maimonides: A Very Short Introduction.

The Philosophers talk to the authors of recent and forthcoming books that speak to our dangerous times:

• Christopher Star from Middlebury College, editor of How to Face the End of the World: An Ancient Guide for Apocalyptic Times
• Christian Miller from Wake Forest University, author of The Honesty Crisis: Preserving Our Most Treasured Virtue in an Increasingly Dishonest World
• Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us

“You’re being unreasonable.” “Reasonable doubt.” The “reasonable person” standard. Talk of reasonableness is everywhere we turn, but what does it actually come to? What makes something reasonable, as opposed to unreasonable? And why does it matter? Could we hope for a society full of reasonable people, or is that an unreasonable thing to ask? Josh and guest-host Lanier Anderson get sensible with their Stanford colleague Krista Lawlor, author of Being Reasonable: The Case for a Misunderstood Virtue.

Argentinian writer Jorge Luís Borges wrote some of the world’s most brilliant, mind-bending, and philosophical stories. Drawing on sources from Europe, India, China, and Persia, these stories tackled topics like time, reality, selfhood, and art. Yet Borges also said “I don’t think ideas are important.” So what can we get out of philosophical stories that don’t try to teach us what to think? And how can Borges help us grapple with our mortality, our confusion, our doubts? Josh and Ray explore the labyrinth with Héctor Hoyos from Stanford University, author of Beyond Bolaño: The Global Latin American Novel.

Game theory is a set of mathematical techniques for thinking about how people should choose when their choices interact. But real people aren’t exactly rational actors. Can a mathematical model explain real-world decisions? How can game theorists account for the fact that we don’t always know each other—or ourselves? Josh and Ray play no games with economist Jonathan Levin, President of Stanford University.

French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil was also an activist whose goal was to elevate the lower classes. But she was opposed to the kind of revolution where the oppressed overthrow their oppressors. So, how did she think we could achieve peace and justice? Is it enough to pay the right kind of attention to each other’s suffering? And how does this connect to her conversion to a mystical form of Christianity? Josh and Ray attend to the life and thought with Rebecca Rozelle-Stone from the University of North Dakota, editor of Simone Weil and Continental Philosophy.

Sometimes, we struggle to tell the truth—especially when it's the truth about ourselves. Why did James Baldwin, a prominent Civil Rights-era intellectual and novelist, believe that telling the truth about ourselves is not only difficult but can also be dangerous? How can truth deeply unsettle our assumptions about ourselves and our relations to others? And why did Baldwin think that this abstract concept of truth could play a concrete role in social justice? The Philosophers seek their own truth with Christopher Freeburg from the University of Illinois, author of Counterlife: Slavery after Resistance and Social Death.

What movies of the past year challenged our assumptions and made us think about things in new ways? Josh and guest co-host Jorah Danenberg present our annual Dionysus Awards for the most thought-provoking recent movies:

• Best Future-Facing Fantasy That Asks What Makes Us Human (and Whether That’s Even a Good Thing)
• Best Tweak on a Classic That Raises Questions about Parents and Children
• Best TV Show That Blows Up All Your Theories of Personal Identity

We’re all learning about the world all the time—not just as small children but all the way into old age. But how do we learn how to learn? How much depends on the circumstances of our birth, our upbringing, and our formal education? How can we get better at learning and teaching? And how do we figure out what’s valuable to retain and what’s important to ignore? Josh and guest-host Blakey Vermeule learn from NYU psychologist Catherine Hartley, Director of the Hartley Lab.

The Popol Vuh, written in 1702, was based on a Mayan oral tradition encompassing creation myths, history, and cosmology. These stories were written in a time of crisis: European colonialism had decimated the Mayan population and destroyed much of their cultural knowledge. How do stories help a society survive and thrive? Can they console us in times of crisis? How much of a culture can historians save in times of devastation? Josh and Ray rewrite history with Edgar Garcia from the University of Chicago, author of Emergency: Reading the Popol Vuh in a Time of Crisis.

Activist and anarchist philosopher Emma Goldman fought for human liberation in every realm of life. While she opposed the women’s suffrage movement, she was a staunch advocate for women’s rights. So why did she think the right to vote was so unimportant? What did she think was required to achieve her anarchist goals? And how ahead of her time was she on labor, prison abolition, and sexual liberation? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Candace Falk, editor of Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years.

The Philosophers talk to the authors of recent and forthcoming books that speak to our dangerous times:

• Christopher Star from Middlebury College, editor of How to Face the End of the World: An Ancient Guide for Apocalyptic Times
• Christian Miller from Wake Forest University, author of The Honesty Crisis: Preserving Our Most Treasured Virtue in an Increasingly Dishonest World
• Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us

Jean-Paul Sartre was one of the first global public intellectuals, famous for his popular existentialist philosophy, his works of fiction, and his rivalry with Albert Camus. His existentialism was also adopted by Simone de Beauvoir, who used it as a foundation for modern theoretical feminism. So what exactly is existentialism? How is man condemned to be free, as Sartre claimed? And what’s so hellish about other people? John and Ken speak in good faith with Thomas Flynn from Emory University, author of Sartre: A Philosophical Biography.