Ethical Theory Review

Ethical Theory Review episodes:

• 05.28.2024

  Fanaticism, Devotion, and Nihilism

  Discussion of fanaticism, devotion, and nihilism with⁠ Paul Katsafanas⁠ of Boston University. When someone becomes a fanatic about their worldview is that always a bad thing? Should fanatics moderate themselves to become better and more civil? Or is fanaticism sometimes...

  
• 05.07.2024

  Veganism and Free-riding

  Do you have a moral obligation to go Vegan? If so, why? If not, why not? Brad and Tristram McPherson (Ohio State) discuss a new argument that we are obligated to go Vegan in order to avoid wrongful free-riding. Additional...

  
• 04.05.2022

  How to Do Things with Emotions: Owen Flanagan

  Are our emotional reactions natural or malleable? Which moral emotions are useful in our increasingly secular and multi-cultural environment? What kinds of anger should we give up?  Does shame get a bad wrap?  -- Interview with Owen Flanagan about his...

  
• 03.15.2022

  Confucianism, Morality, and Well-being

  What different views on human nature inform ethical theory in the Confucian tradition?  What kinds of rituals do Confucians think we need to engage in to achieve flourishing lives or high levels of well-being?  What kinds of rituals today might...

  
• 02.16.2022

  Ethics of Gamete Donation and the Value of Genetic Knowledge

  If you conceive a child with a donated egg or sperm (gamete), are you morally required to tell the child how they were conceived?  Do children need knowledge of their genetic parents to develop a healthy self-understanding or identity?  Or...

  
• 02.01.2022

  Prophetic Pragmatism: Cornel West, Hope, and the Philosophy of Race

  What is Cornel West's Prophetic Pragmatism? How can we be honest about the legacy of racism in the USA and not lose hope? What role can and should philosophers play in promoting progress and democratic values?  Interview with Brad Elliott...

  
• 01.13.2022

  Grief: A Philosophic Guide

  For whom do we grieve?  When we grieve, what are we grieving about? Is there any benefit we should aim to get from grieving? Is grieving sometimes morally required? And what additional questions about grief are philosophers exploring?  -- Interview...

  
• 04.21.2021

  Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals

  Would the discovery that determinism is true undermine moral responsibility?  Should it?  In this episode I interview Pamela Hieronymi about her new book Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals, which offers a new interpretation of P.F. Strawson's influential argument...

  
• 07.08.2020

  Religion and Human Development (Jennifer Herdt)

  Humanists argue that there is something special about human beings and that to live well we must grow up, overcome our childish and brutish temptations, and become fully human.  Secular Enlightenment humanists think this is something human beings can and...

  
• 05.05.2020

  Virtue and Meaning -- an Interview with David McPherson

  Interview with David McPherson, Associate Professor  at Creighton University.  We discuss his new book, Virtue and Meaning, which develops and defends a new theory of human nature – the human being as the meaning seeking creature – and explores its...