Philosophy For Our Times19 Apr 2022

Was Richard Dawkins wrong about memes? | Massimo Pigliucci, Hilary Lawson, Joanna Bryson

What do memes really mean? Listen to find out!

Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes

Memes are everywhere. But the term was coined only a few decades ago by Richard Dawkins to describe ideas and cultural behaviour that can be passed on from one individual to another. He argued that memes are a stage in evolution, and just as humans are carriers for genes, we are also carriers for memes. We don't so much choose our memes as they choose us. Its critics however argue that meme theory upends all human agency and thought. Is meme theory an exciting new framework that moves evolution forward to account for concepts and culture? Or is the very idea of a meme a misguided and reductionist account of what it is to be human?

Post-postmodern philosopher Hilary Lawson, Professor of Ethics and Technology at Hertie School Joanna Bryson and Professor of Philosophy at City College of New York Massimo Pigliucci discuss whether or not it is useful to think about sharing mimetic information like genetic information. Gunes Taylor hosts.

There are thousands of big ideas to discover at IAI.tv – videos, articles, and courses waiting for you to explore. Find out more: https://iai.tv/podcast-offers?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_campaign=Memes-all-the-way-down

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(568)

Rehumanising science | Carlo Rovelli - Part 1

Are electrons real? What is the connection between physics and Buddhism? Is now the time to rehumanise science?Eastern philosophies have been an integral part of scientific thought and the development...

15 Sep 38min

Taking down the cultural elite | Catherine Liu

What is managerialism? Why is the meritocracy sliding into technocracy? Does suffering make us seem more pure?We tend to think that today’s progressive politics advances equality through moral awarene...

8 Sep 37min

The chains of freedom | Daniel Markovits, Elizabeth Anderson, Yaron Brook

Is freedom always an absolute good? For freedom to be beneficial and practical, does it need constraining? Are attacks on freedom really the first step to tyranny?From freedom from tyranny and poverty...

1 Sep 47min

The secret history of cool | Joel Dinerstein

Who was the first person to be cool? What connects the civil rights movement and Albert Camus' 'The Rebel'? How has the coopting of black terminology impacted American society more broadly?From James ...

25 Aug 29min

Rebalancing the global order | Kishore Mahbubani

Is it truly the beginning of the end of Western dominance? Where did it all go wrong? And is this more than just an upheaval of the status quo?For centuries, Western powers dominated the global order ...

18 Aug 33min

The future of the right | Sohrab Ahmari, Gawain Towler, Rachel Maclean, Mark Littlewood

Is the populist right opposed to liberalism and the free market? Does this mark a change in what it is to be right-wing, or was it a mistake to see populism as far right in the first place? Or is ther...

11 Aug 44min

Love is more than magic | Alain de Botton

What do voyeurs want? What can the Greeks teach us about love? Why do we pursue those who we now are going to hurt us?Despite our longing for lasting connection, love often falters on the rocks of mis...

4 Aug 35min

In the name of reason | Steve Fuller, Miriam Schoenfield, Dan Sperber

Is the future one where we accept tribalism and conflict as inherent in the human condition, where moral and scientific beliefs based on reason are badges, shaped by class, nation, ethnicity and cultu...

28 Jul 40min