In this episode, the connection between ideology and religious identity in India is discussed. Understanding practices of historicization, biased translation, and temple desecration as contributing to the religious ideological state apparatus can enhance our understanding of how ideology operated alongside identity in religion across India. Applying philosophy to historical concepts aids all students of knowledge in their pursuits of developing a robust understanding of what we ought to deduce about the world’s past development and what the potential is for helping in its future progression.

In this episode, a crash course in bioethics is presented. Everything from argument (re)construction to moral theories and case studies is discussed.

In this episode, Denmark’s “Free Town” is discussed. Christiania is reflected on as a potential implementation of ideal libertarian principles, and thus, may be able to be analyzed as a real-life minimal state. Is Nozick correct in his argument about the positives of creating and maintaining of, and operating in a minimal state? In what ways do ideal libertarian principles characterize important aspects of Christiania?

In this episode, the Barbie movie is discussed. I have a discussion with my mother about four core philosophical themes portrayed in the movie. These themes include existentialism, feminist political philosophy, the role of testimony in feminist epistemology, and questions of personal identity in relationship to others’ identities (especially within a unified and identity-centric community).

In this episode, the philosophical justification for the permissibility of race-blind affirmative action is discussed. Specifically, it is held that race-blind affirmative action in selective college admissions is not a racist institution. This argument is supported by the virtue ethics theory of racism put forth in J.L.A. Garcia’s “The Heart of Racism.” An AI Thought Experiment is presented on behalf of the argument. Two critical objections are discussed —one of an epidemiological nature, and the other concerned with the application of Garcia’s morally insufficient care route condition. Garcia’s framework is ultimately held supportive, and the thesis valid.

In this episode, ideology and U.S. law is discussed. It is held that we must understand the current U.S. system of laws as an Ideological State Apparatus, and that education can work to eliminate the racist ideology it perpetuates.

In this episode, Paul W. Taylor’s Principle of Compensatory Justice is discussed in the context of Rawls’s principles of justice. Moreover, its compatibility with Rawls’s framework is evaluated, and it is argued that it is incompatible. This incompatibility is held to be derived from the necessary violation of Rawls’s first principle (Greatest Liberty Principle) —more specifically, by undermining the Social Basis of Self Respect.

In this episode, market share liability is analyzed through a philosphical lens. It is argued that market share liability ought to be rejected as a legal doctrine. The deontological context for this rejection is presented as three pillars: (1) Predictability Is Not Causation, (2) The Concern of the Nonspecific Actor, and (3) A Kantian Objection: Adherence to the Formula of Humanity. A secondary argument is put forth from a consequentialist foundation. Objections are considered, and the conviction is maintained.

In this episode, solidarity is discussed. An argument is put forth that the innate orientation to others (that the virtue of solidarity calls for) is one essence of pur character, that as a collective, we have lost. This deficiency is attributed to (1) a misunderstanding of the tripartite duty of solidarity (that is, we reduce it to one dimension) and (2) that misunderstanding being perpetuated through ideology. It is suggested that critical thought and institutions that are invested in maintaining avenues that inspire individuals to cultivate their own moral conscience will potentially remedy the deficiency and eliminate the ideological illusions.

In this episode, slavery as an adaptive preference in the Ottoman empire is discussed. An argument is presented for how the role of slavery in the Ottoman Empire supported adaptive preferences among its constituents and how this philosophical interpretation can offer insight into a novel dimension of the historical context by demonstrating that the empire had an active role in dictating the desires and preferences of its population.