Just Questions

Today, we’re talking about change, big and small, and how philosophy can help us better handle it when it comes.

Timestamps:

Heraclitus – 1:59

Epictetus – 7:46

L.A. Paul – 14:12

Sources:

The fragments of the work of Heraclitus of Ephesus on nature

The Internet Classics Archive | The Enchiridion by Epictetus

What You Can't Expect When You're Expecting

FOMO, or fear of missing out, pervades modern life. But does constantly creating, experiencing, and doing actually create a fulfilled life? In this episode, we look at all the ways missing out can actually be the best thing we can do for ourselves. 

Timestamps:

Seneca – 3:29

Berlin – 9:49

Agamben – 15:37

Sources:

“On the Shortness of Life”

Seneca, On the Shortness of Life

Isaiah Berlin (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Isaiah Berlin, “TWO CONCEPTS OF LIBERTY,” Four Essays On Liberty, (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1969)

Bartleby, The Scrivener

Giorgio Agamben - Bartleby, or On Contingency

Reviewing everything we’ve explored over the past season of episodes.

Traveling is informative, relaxing, and fun. But there’s a dark side to the tourism industry, that’s rife with opportunities for abuse – how can we then make sure to be good tourists? In this episode, we examine what moral responsibilities people have while traveling, and we question what role businesses should play in tourism ethics.

Timestamps:

Henry Shue — 3:14

Holmes Rolston III — 15:42

David Fennell — 23:20

Milton Friedman — 25:56

Sources:

Who drank all the matcha? How tourism drained a Japanese town

Hawaii's Governor Asks Tourists To Stay Away Because Of COVID

Hawaii's 'overtourism' becomes growing debate as West Maui reopens for visitors - ABC News

Henry Shue on the Dahrendorf Symposium 2013

Basic Rights by Henry Shue

The Father of Environmental Ethics | 225 Years | University of Pittsburgh

Rolston Interview

rolston-holmes-iii-environmental-ethics.pdf

Tourism Ethics

Milton Friedman on Donahue

The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits

Classic summer blockbusters like Jaws, ET, and Stand by Me are a great way to kick off summer — but underneath the summer fun, these movies illustrate fascinating philosophy concepts. This episode, we’ll analyze clips from these movies and use them as a jumping off point to talk about three philosophical concepts. No need to watch them beforehand, and each portion of this episode is self-contained, so use the timestamps to start at whichever movie you’d like.

Timestamps:

Jaws — 1:16

Stand by Me — 9:12

ET — 14:50

Sources:

Anthropocentrism | Human-Centered Philosophy & Ethics | Britannica

Memento mori | Meaning, Symbols, & Facts | Britannica

The meditations of Marcus Aurelius

Theory of Mind | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

What does it mean to watch real-life suffering for entertainment? In this episode, we examine the ethics of true crime to determine when true crime is justice, and when it veers into voyeurism.

Timestamps:

Nussbaum — 6:25

Catharsis — 13:00

Sontag — 17:26

Sources:

The True Crime Consumer Report by Edison Research and audiochuck

JonBenet Ramsey's dad hopes for answers as new documentary puts pressure to solve 1996 murder

Poetic justice : the literary imagination and public life : Nussbaum, Martha C. (Martha Craven), 1947- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Monster: Jeffrey Dahmer: Did TV go too far in 2022?

​​The Poetics of Aristotle, by Aristotle

REGARDING THE PAIN OF OTHERS Susan Sontag

Karen Read jury remains at 16 people, selection to continue for 10th day

Virtue signaling is a term that continues to be thrown around in a variety of contexts — from people’s bumper stickers to companies’ social media logos — but what really is virtue signaling, and is it something worth critiquing? We take a pause to look closer at virtue signaling, from unpacking definitions of virtue signaling and virtue to evaluating whether virtue signaling is a virtue or a vice.

Timestamps:

Aristotle — 2:57

Kant — 13:29

Westra — 20:36

Sources:

Meet the man who made six figures selling anti-Elon Musk Tesla stickers

Tesla owner tells why she hands out anti-Elon Musk bumper stickers 

Aristotle (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Aristotle's Ethics

Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Books 1-5

Immanuel Kant - German Philosopher, Enlightenment, Critique of Pure Reason | Britannica

Kant: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, First Section

Evan Westra (Purdue University) - PhilPeople

Virtue Signaling and Moral Progress

From doctors to lawyers, nearly every profession has an ethical code—but what about influencers? This week, we look at the philosophical literature out there on influencers to see if there’s any limit to what an influencer can post. Along the way, we’ll build the beginnings of an ethical code for influencers, and we’ll get a better idea of who we want to follow — and even how we want to lead — on social media.

Timestamps:

Other Professions — 3:18

Authenticity — 7:48

Social Good — 11:16

Sources:

I Became the Most HATED Body Positivity Influencer – My Side of the Story

YouTube punishes Logan Paul over Japan suicide video 

The Ethics of Influencer Marketing: Authenticity and Disclosure

The Ethical Tightrope: Navigating Authenticity in Influencer Marketing - Life360

Constructing Authenticity: Social Media Influencers and the Shaping of Online Identity

Research Perspectives on Social Media Influencers and their Followers

New Directions in the Ethics and Politics of Speech

Famine, Affluence, and Morality

Tax season is officially behind us, but was the government just doing its job, or were the taxes you paid theft? In this episode of Just Questions, we dive into the ethics of taxation to answer this question. Using John Rawls’ veil of ignorance and Robert Nozick’s Wilt Chamberlain argument, we explore a famous philosophical debate on taxation and cover two radically different views on fairness, ownership, and what a just state looks like.

Timestamps:

Rawls — 1:56

Nozick — 10:18

Sources:

The Myth of Ownership

A Theory of Justice

John Rawls

Anarchy, State, and Utopia

Robert Nozick

As self-driving cars take over our roadways, a pressing question still remains: when a crash is unavoidable, who should they protect? In this episode, we’ll navigate the toughest ethical dilemmas autonomous vehicles face in life-or-death scenarios, exploring the leading philosophical theories on how these cars should be programmed to react.

Timestamps:

Minimizing harm — 4:22

Protecting the passenger — 7:13

Protecting the public — 9:04

Consent — 10:58

Equality — 12:30

Risk — 14:50

Sources:

Men harass woman taking driverless Waymo car in San Francisco

Why Ethics Matters for Autonomous Cars

The ethics of crashes with self‐driving cars: A roadmap, I

Why Everyone Has It Wrong About the Ethics of Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous Driving Ethics: from Trolley Problem to Ethics of Risk