250 - Norman Finkelstein: Trump, Israel, Gaza, and the Criminalization of Dissent

Gabriel Greenberg is a professor of philosophy at the University of California Los Angeles, and currently a visiting professor at Stanford University. He works widely across the philosophy of mind, but in particular studies iconic representation, modality, and computation. Gabe and Robinson talk about the rough divide between representation and consciousness studies in the philosophy of mind before going into the distinction between signs and symbols, and how the brain interprets them. They finish with a departure into the world of philosophy, film, and cognitive science, discussing how our minds stitch together the scenes of a movie and integrate them into a whole. linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 00:39 Introduction 5:17 Gabe’s Taste in Comics 9:53 Gabe’s Interest in Philosophy of Mind 18:14 What is a Representation? 26:02 Gabe’s Dialogue with Linguistics 27:51 Aboutness in the Philosophy of Mind 34:21 The Iconic-Symbolic Spectrum 59:48 A Semantics for Signs and Icons 1:09:33 A Course on Visual Narrative 1:11:20 Film and The Norms of Spatial Coherence 1:15:43 Film Spaces as Abstract Spatial Graphs 1:46:20 Film, Semantics, and Pragmatics 1:51:38 On Scott McCloud Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

17 Feb 20231h 58min

Scott Shapiro is the Charles F. Southmayd Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at Yale Law School, where he is also the founding director of the Yale CyberSecurity Lab. Robinson and Scott talk about studying at Columbia University under the auspices of the legendary Isaac Levi, Sidney Morgenbesser, and Haim Gaifman before discussing the philosophy of law, one of Scott’s areas of expertise. Among the topics they touch on are the distinction between analytic and normative jurisprudence, the problem of the chicken and the egg, and progress in legal thought from Austin to Hart and beyond. Then they turn to Scott’s upcoming book, Fancy Bear goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks, where Scott explores the intersection of cybersecurity, hacking, and legal philosophy. Scott is also the author of Legality and the host of the Jurisprudence Course podcast, the latter of which will soon have a second season. You can keep up with Scott on Twitter at @scottjshapiro, and preorder Fancy Bear Goes Phishing on Amazon. Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: https://a.co/d/aPv2zpY Legality: https://a.co/d/1qYg0OY Jurisprudence Course: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOIMnVASRLN2nPLlBL0Dn?si=0de8b550346942d6 Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottjshapiro Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 00:20 Introduction 3:35 Scott the Jurisprude 7:49 War Stories From Columbia 18:36 Analytic Versus Normative Jurisprudence 22:23 The Chicken And The Egg Problem For Jurisprudence 28:03 Austin, Hart, and Progress in Legal Philosophy 44:43 Fancy Bear Goes Phishing 43:23: Cybersecurity and Legal Philosophy 59:02:40 Hacking Paris Hilton’s Cell Phone 1:05:07 The Psychology of Hackers Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

13 Feb 20231h 12min

Jonathan Schaffer is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University. He is an acclaimed metaphysician with a unique mind and approach to philosophy (and who has exquisite taste in epigraphs). Jonathan is best known for his work on monism, in which he contends that the cosmos is the lone fundamental object in reality, and on the grounding relation. He and Robinson begin by exploring monism, including its relationship to contemporary developments in physics, and then move on to the grounding relation, explicating just what this is and how it marks a departure from the dominant Quinean view of metaphysics. linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 1:07 Introduction 4:54 Jonathan’s Epigraphs 10:02 What Is a Monist? 14:11 How Jonathan Became a Monist 17:06 Breeds of Monism 24:09 Mereological Nihilism 39:14 Have Jonathan’s Views Shifted Over The Years? 41:25 The Ontological Priority of the Whole 48:16 Monism and Quantum Entanglement 54:42 Occam’s Laser 59:40 Modal Considerations for Monism 1:03:17 Jonathan’s Interest in Grounding 1:06:33 Quinean Metaphysics and Grounding 1:15:22 The Aristotelian View of Metaphysics 1:18:21 Carnap and Grounding 1:21:33 What Grounds What? 1:26:32 Debunking Metaphysical Intuitions With Cognitive Science 1:39:38 Ground Functionalism 1:48:58 Grounding in Feminist Metaphysics 1:55:30 Jonathan’s Philosophical Program Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

9 Feb 20231h 58min

Stephen Darwall is Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and John Dewey Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. He is a world-renowned moral philosopher who has worked broadly across the ethical landscape, making important contributions to Kant scholarship, legal philosophy, deontology, and countless other areas. Steve and Robinson discuss the history of modern ethics, beginning with Hugo Grotius and traveling up through Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Bentham, and Smith before ending with Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche’s attack on morality. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 00:22 Introduction 4:04 Steve’s Time at Yale 12:39 Ethics and Normativity 19:56 Hugo Grotius and the Birth of Modern Ethics 30:18 Hobbes on Morality 39:33 Hume on Morality 45:56 Kant on Morality 54:59 Jeremy Bentham on Morality 58:31 Adam Smith on Morality 1:10:51 A Brief Diatribe on Google 1:16:28 The Continental/Analytic Divide 1:23:17 Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche’s Attack on Morality 1:35:21 Are Moral Philosophers Moral?

6 Feb 20231h 39min

Patricia Churchland is UC President’s Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of California, San Diego. She is among the most well-known and impactful figures working in the philosophy of mind, and a prominent early neurophilosopher who advocated the importance of neuroscience in the philosophy of mind. Pat and Robinson discuss three broad topics: neurophilosophy and ethics—particularly with reference to two of her recent books, Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality and Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition—what neuroscience has to say about the problem of free will, and the neurophilosophical approach to consciousness. You can keep up with Pat’s work at patriciachurchland.com, as well as on Twitter, @patchurchland. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 00:36 Introduction 3:07 A Family of Neuroscientists 12:27 What Is Neurophilosophy? 15:44 Neuroscience and Morality 22:13 Evolution and Morality 33:00 Mirror Neurons and Imitation 38:56 Neuroscience and Metaethics 47:58 Neurophilosophy, Free Will, & The Self 1:05:24 Neuroscience & David Chalmers’ Hard Problem of Consciousness

2 Feb 20231h 24min

Achille Varzi is the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and Bruno Kessler Honorary Professor at the University of Trento. He is a world-renowned metaphysicist and logician, and widely regarded as the greatest living mereologist. Yet despite all this Robinson asks Achille about his sleep habits, though afterward they discuss some more important philosophical questions: What is ontology? What is metaphysics, and how is it different from physics? After some tangents on nominalism and truthmakers, the conversation ends with a reflection on some of the late Saul Kripke’s contributions to philosophy. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 How Kangaroos Got Their Name 00:52 Introduction 4:54 Achille’s Start in Philosophy 11:24 Some Thoughts on Wittgenstein 16:57 Writing Philosophy in a Second Language 23:01 Achille’s Absurd Sleeping Habits 30:41 What is Metaphysics? 43:01 Distinguishing Physics From Metaphysics 50:48 Ontology, Metaphysics, and Truthmakers 01:23:37 Saul Kripke's Contributions to Philosophy Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

30 Jan 20231h 43min

Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU. Before that, he did his undergraduate work in philosophy and physics at Yale and received his PHD from Pittsburgh in the History and Philosophy of Science. Tim is renowned as one of the leading philosophers of physics, and he also works in the philosophy of science and metaphysics. Among other things, Robinson and Tim talk about whether metaphysics should come prior to or after physics, the debates over absolute time and space, free will, the nature of physical laws, and David Lewis’s views on the Humean supermosaic. You can find out more about Tim and his work on his website, www.tim-maudlin.site. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 Introduction 2:35 Studying Physics and Philosophy 8:38 Theoretical Physics, Foundations, and Metaphysics 15:54 Physics and Free Will 26:17 The Mathematical Structure of the Universe 37:49 Hume, Lewis, and the Supermosaic 49:16 Laws of Nature 1:04:02 Moral facts 1:18:03 Absolute and Relative Space 1:34:27 Space and the Ether 1:39:31 The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence 1:46:08 Absolute Space, Time, and Relativity 1:53:07 The Infinity of Time and Space

26 Jan 20231h 59min

Jody Azzouni is a professor of philosophy at Tufts University. While Jody is best known for his nominalist stance in the philosophy of mathematics, he is also an author of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. He and Robinson talk about his love of writing and how his interest in mathematics bloomed during in his time spent at NYU and CUNY. They then move on to the debate between nominalists and platonists in the philosophy of mathematics, Jody’s own deflationary stance, and some adjacent concerns about ontological commitment in both formal and informal languages. Outline: 00:00 Introduction 3:16 Jody’s Writing Background 9:05 Jody’s Poetry 21:20 The Relationship Between Jody’s Philosophy and Everything Else 32:33 Jody’s Interest in the Philosophy of Mathematics 40:02 The Platonist/Nominalist Opposition in the Philosophy of Mathematics 49:29 The Platonist Conception of Mathematical Objects 52:50 A Nominalist Argument Against Mathematical Realism 1:09:41 Varieties of Mathematical Nominalism 1:18:55 Nominalism in Mathematics and Metaphysics 1:24:39 Ontological Commitment in the Vernacular 1:35:30 A Poetry Reading Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson's Podcast): youtube.com/@robinsonspodcast Apple (Robinson's Podcast) : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/robinsons-podcast/id1636469402 Spotify (Robinson's Podcast): https://open.spotify.com/show/1yYNtEI6kpemLJMlYHVi2d Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinsonerhardt/ Twitch (Robinson Eats): https://www.twitch.tv/robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robinsonerhardt

23 Jan 20231h 47min