Four Cubits

In this episode, Eli tells the story of a recent personal encounter he had with antisemitism and the intersectional bigotry that followed from it before he and Jeff discuss the meaning of patriotism. They then wade into the contemporary culture wars on race using Ross Douthat's recent OpEds in the New York Times as an access point to the controversies and dig a little deeper into the work of Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi. Jeff levels a withering critique against DiAngelo's concept of white fragility which to Eli's ears sound an awful lot like the tenets of Nonviolent Communication. They then discuss Kendi's insistence that there is no middle ground between racism and antiracism.

Show Notes:

To read Ross Douthat's June 26th OpEd, click/tap here.

To read Ross Douthat's July 3rd OpEd, click/tap here.

In this episode, Jeff and Eli discuss the Derek Chauvin verdict and its implications for the country and the criminal justice system. They then continue their deep dive into racism with an examination of  Lawrence Blum's concept of the moral asymmetries inherent in different kinds of racism.

Show Notes:

To read Lawrence Blum's "I'm Not A Racist But..." click/tap here.

In this episode, Jeff and Eli continue their discussion on the metaphysics of race with a quick review of Hardimon's biological realism and a discussion of social realism/constructionism and anti-realism. They examine the metaphysics of Sally Haslanger, Paul C. Taylor, and Joshua Glasgow as they discuss the merits and problems posed by social realism and anti-realism.

Show Notes:

To read Sally Haslanger and Joshua Glasgow argue about race, click/tap here.

To read Paul C. Taylor's excellent book, click/tap here.

In this episode, Jeff and Eli begin by discussing a controversial SNL joke about Israel’s vaccination program. Next they discuss the devastating empirical problems faced by the classical racialist view of race before launching into a discussion of the different metaphysical camps in the philosophy of race. They start with Biological Realism using Michael Hardimon’s work as a model and talk about the pros and cons of holding on to a minimalist concept of biological race. 

Show Notes:

To watch the controversial SNL joke, click/tap here.

To read Richard Lewontin’s 1972 population study click/tap here. 

To read Noah Rosenberg’s 2002 population genetics study click/tap here. 

To read Hardimon’s defense of Biological Realism click/tap here.

In this episode, Jeff and Eli examine different definitions of racism. They look at Robin DiAngelo, Ibram X. Kendi, and Paul C. Taylor’s definitions and talk about the strengths and weaknesses of each before talking about the way in which Jeff thinks racism should be redefined.

Show Notes:

To read Robin DiAngelo’s book White Fragility, click/tap here. 

To read Ibram Kendi’s book How To Be An Antiracist, click/tap here.

To read Paul C. Taylor’s book Race: A Philosophical Introduction, click/tap here.

In this episode, Jeff and Eli wrap up their non-comprehensive stroll through the history of racial thinking and move on to talk about the role that religion played in the history of racism and slavery. Eli then argues for the centrality of racism to the Enlightenment project, while Jeff defends its honor.

Show Notes:

To read about the Curse of Ham, click/tap here. 

For an excellent series of essays on Philosophers and Race, click/tap here. 

For Ibram Kendi’s history of racial thinking in the United States, click/tap here.

In this episode, Jeff and Eli take a moment to reflect on the end of the Trump era before jumping into a discussion on race. They talk about their personal connection to race and then talk about the history of racial thinking using Paul C. Taylor’s account as a guide.

Show Notes:

To watch The New Yorker’s video from inside the Capitol attack on January 6th, click/tap here.

To see the cover of Time Magazine with Eli’s terrorist doppelgänger, click/tap here.

To read Paul C. Taylor’s “Race: A Philosophical Introduction” click/tap here.

In this episode, Jeff and Eli conclude their conversation about the empirical study of emotions by talking about the fall of the triune model of the brain and the developments in neuroscience that brought it about. They delve into Lisa Feldman Barrett’s model of emotions and talk about its metaphysical implications.

Show Notes:

To read about Paul MacLean, the inventor of the triune theory, click/tap here.

To learn more about Gerald Edelman and his contributions to immunology and neuroscience, click/tap here.

To learn more about Lisa Feldman Barrett’s work, click/tap here.

In this episode, Jeff and Eli continue their exploration of the empirical study of emotions. They track the public battle between Margaret Mead and Paul Ekman before making their way into Neuroscience where they meet Joseph Ledoux, Antonio Damasio, and finally begin a discussion of Lisa Feldman Barrett’s work.

Show Notes:

To read about the rivalry between Margaret Mead and Paul Ekman, click/tap here. 

To read Margaret Mead’s edition of Darwin’s Expression click/tap here.

To read Paul Ekman’s commentary on Darwin’s Expression click/tap here.

To read about the fMRI of the dead salmon click/tap here.

To read Joseph LeDoux’s The Emotional Brain click/tap here.

To read Antonio Damasio’s The Feeling of What Happens click/tap here.

To read Lisa Feldman Barrett’s How Emotions Are Made click/tap here.

After a short discussion about the upcoming presidential election in the United States and the new data about how Jewish Americans will be voting, Jeff and Eli dive into their next topic which is the empirical study of emotions. Starting with the foundational 19th century texts by Charles Darwin and William James, they move into the 20th century and discuss the two dominant ways of thinking about emotion and their adherents in Experimental Psychology, Anthropology, and Evolutionary Psychology.

Show Notes:

To read about Jewish Americans voting preferences in the upcoming election, click/tap here. 

To read Darwin’s book The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animals, click/tap here.

To read James’s essay What is An Emotion? click/tap here.

To learn about Paul Ekman’s work click/tap here.