Descartes Before the Horse

By UQ Critical Thinking Project

Do you want to approach the world like a philosopher? To be both curious and rational? Dr Luke Zaphir and Dr Liam Miller show you how! Together they discuss issues in contemporary philosophy such a

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FAQs about Descartes Before the Horse:

How many episodes does Descartes Before the Horse have?

The podcast currently has 16 episodes available.

Descartes Before the Horse episodes:

July 20, 2025 S02E2 - A trolley full of werewolves
How many people would you sacrifice to save a loved one? Liam puts his moral consistency to the test in Luke's oddly bloodthirsty version of the trolley problem. It's not trolleys that Liam has to contend with though - it's werewolves!

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59min
October 17, 2024 S201 - I just Kant deal with this Cave
On this new season of Descartes Before the Horse, Dr Liam Miller takes on the role of dungeon master and throwing an unwitting Dr Luke Zaphir up against Plato's Cave. Can he escape the cave and gain true knowledge of things? And while role playing as the folksy Immanuel Kant no less! It's a tough job to escape the Cave to perceive the truth of the universe while still maintaining his rigid morality? Or will he throw Plato out of a window and not bother?

Theme music:
"Aquarium" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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1h 9min
April 25, 2023 EP14 - Should we welcome our new AI overlords?
Should we be worried about ChatGPT? What is it good at? What should we let it do? Should we let AI make decisions for us?
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43min
January 02, 2023 EP13 - Which personality tests work?
In order to how we can best discover ourselves, Dr Zaphir and Dr Miller explore a variety of psychological and philosophical tests and their value for self-reflection.

The mini IPIP test for the big five personality traits everyone has (Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, Extraversion)
The Myers-Briggs test for 16 personalities
The RIASEC career and personality test
The Kinsey Scale for sexual orientation
The Autism Test (should not be taken as indicative or diagnostic)
Goofy tests for fun like Lord of the Rings
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55min
December 06, 2022 EP12 – does the alt-right make any good points about men?
What is masculinity anyway? Is gender identity is under siege from an onslaught of feminist propaganda? We take a charitable look at Jordan Petersen, Andrew Tate, Matt Walsh, Ben Shapiro – and examine the stated beliefs and rhetoric of some of the most influential speakers in the conservative movement. Where is it that men should go from here?

To see the sources used in this episode:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5jN8c8UEChWYcPUJ7LjiNrSGSgTBObus

If you have questions, comments, or a topic you'd like to share, email us at [email protected]
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1h 10min
November 09, 2022 Ep11 - Should we be teaching students how to protest?
Should we be teaching students how to protest? Should a teacher get involved in political discussions with students and reveal their biases? Is it better to teach practical skills that will be of immediate tangible benefit to students? Or perhaps it’s better to teach controversy, not values? All of these ideas, good and bad are discussed with Dr Peter Ellerton from the Critical Thinking Project.
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58min
October 21, 2022 EP10 - Are we required to love our families?
Luke and Liam explore what love is. Are we obliged to love our parents? Must declarations of love be met with actions of love? What do we owe to our children? To our parents? Must we be grateful for being born? We didn’t ask for it after all.
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41min
September 20, 2022 EP9 - Being a zombie is underrated
Dr Peter Ellerton joins Luke and Liam in this discussion about zombies, both literal and philosophical. Is it possible for a human to be alive and functioning but without consciousness? What about dogs? Are mushrooms the next evolution in human development and should we bow to their fungal supremacy?
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46min
September 08, 2022 EP8 - Should we use gendered pronouns?
Liam and Luke explore whether there are any good reasons to (not) call someone by their preferred gender pronouns.
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40min
September 07, 2022 EP7 – Is it immoral to be rude?
Luke and Liam look at whether disobeying social etiquette is a form of unethical behaviour. They explore some philosophically dense and problematic questions such as ‘are we bad people if we don’t return a shopping trolley to the corral?’, ‘are we obligated to delete someone’s search history?’, and ‘is it rude to leave our headphones on to discourage talking to people?
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42min

FAQs about Descartes Before the Horse:

How many episodes does Descartes Before the Horse have?

The podcast currently has 16 episodes available.