Lani Watson on the Power of Questions
What is a question? It seems obvious, but perhaps it isn't. Lani Watson has just published a book on the topic. She thinks that true questions can be identified by their function, not by their form. S...
22 Aug 16min
Peter Singer on Ending Innocent Lives
The utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer has controversial views about when it is acceptable to end a human life. In conversation with David Edmonds he explains his approach, using examples from a ran...
30 Juli 23min
Jing Hu on Songzi on Insults and Shame
The Chinese philosopher Songzi (382 BCE – 305 BCE) maintained that the appropriate response to insults was indifference, not aggression. Jing Hu, a philosopher at Concordia University, Montreal puts h...
21 Juli 17min
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein on Mattering
We are the kind of creature that cares whether or not we matter and how. What follows from this? Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Mattering, discuses this with David Edmonds.
5 Juni 22min
Monima Chadha on Responsibility Without Selves
Buddhist philosophy rejects the idea of the self. How then can there be any moral responsibility? Monima Chadha, Professor of Indian Philosophy at Oxford University, explains. This episode was suppor...
18 Maj 17min
Carissa Veliz on Prophecy
Predictions aren't quite what they seem to be, according to Carissa Véliz, author of the book Prophecy. They often are intended to persuade you of the inevitability of a certain outcome, and may be se...
11 Maj 17min
Chike Jeffers on Douglass and Du Bois
Frederick Douglass and W.E.B Du Bois were two prominent African-Americans who made a significant impact on the civil rights movement in the US. Douglass is particularly associated with the 19th Centur...
20 Apr 26min
Alexander Guerrero on Lottocracy
Democracy isn't working so well, so why not use a lottery system to choose representatives instead? Alexander Guerrero discusses his version of this old idea in this episode of the Philosophy Bites po...
24 Mars 15min
