Philosopher's Zone

With liberal democracy in crisis around the world, we're talking about Confucianism and how Confucian political theory addresses such problems as economic inequality and rampant individualism. This week's guest is interested in developing a reconstructed Confucianism that incorporates aspects of American pragmatist philosophy — in particular the work of John Dewey, who visited China in the 1920s and made a huge intellectual and cultural impact there.

This episode is fourth in a five-part series.

Guest: Sor-hoon Tan, Professor of Philosophy at Singapore Management University

Producer: David Rutledge

Confucian Democracy: A Deweyan Reconstruction of Confucianism by Sor-hoon Tan (SUNY Press 2004)

The crisis of liberal democracy and the Confucian challenge: a pragmatist response by Sor-hoon Tan in Journal of Social and Political Philosophy (2022)

Toward Confucian economic democracy: a relational alternative to possessive individualism by Sor-hoon Tan in Democratic Theory: An Interdisciplinary Journal (2026)

01 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026

02 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 2026

03 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche - The Philosopher's Zone, October 18 2026

Friedrich Nietzsche is a difficult figure to pin down politically. He's popularly known as the favourite philosopher of the architects of the Holocaust, and of today's neo-Nazis and far-right ideologues who venerate strength, domination and the exercise of traditionally male-coded virtues. But then there's the other Nietzsche, the Nietzsche who was a fierce critic of German nationalism and antisemitism, and whose work has gone on to become central to feminism and queer theory. What can Nietzsche tell us about today's febrile climate of state and gender politics?

This episode is third in a five-part series.

Guest: Adrian Daub, Professor of Comparative Literature and German Studies at Stanford University, co-host of the podcast In Bed With the Right

Producer: David Rutledge

The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession Went Global by Adrian Daub (Stanford University Press 2024)

What Tech Calls Governing by Adrian Daub (Stanford University Press 2026)

Episode 1 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026

Episode 2 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 2026

Episode 4 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis - The Philosopher's Zone, October 25 2026

What can Antarctica teach us about statehood and sovereignty?

The continent has no government, no citizens, no permanent human population. Its native inhabitants are mostly seals and penguins who, as far as we know, take little interest in politics.

But according to this week's guest, Antarctica offers a remarkable political experiment, one that challenges some of our most basic assumptions about territory and political community.

Since the Antarctic Treaty came into force in 1961, the usual question of who owns the territory has been set aside. Instead, Antarctica is governed according to a model of 'joint guardianship', raising the intriguing possibility that this remote frozen continent might have something crucial to teach us about how politics could work elsewhere.

This episode is second in a five-part series.

Guest: Alejandra Mancilla, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oslo, Norway

Producer: David Rutledge

From Sovereignty to Guardianship: Governing Antarctica, Governing the World by Alejandra Mancilla (Oxford University Press 2026)

Episode 1 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026

Episode 3 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche - The Philosopher's Zone, October 18 2026

Episode 4 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis - The Philosopher's Zone, October 25 2026

What if your government decided what 'the good life' looks like, then rewarded you for living it and penalised you for straying?

In a growing number of countries, that's already happening.

Liberal democratic theory has long held that the good life is for each citizen to define for themselves, and that the state should stay out of it. But some governments are now rejecting that idea, defining the good life for their citizens and using a mix of incentives and penalties to bring people into line.

Many liberals call this authoritarianism, and accuse the leaders behind it of being driven by greed or a desire for power.

But this week we're asking if the picture is more complex, and if liberals are making a dangerous mistake in misunderstanding the appeal of the 'good life state'.

This episode is a recording of the 2026 Alan Saunders Lecture, produced in collaboration with the Australasian Association of Philosophy.

Guest: Alexandre Lefebvre, Professor of Politics and Philosophy at The University of Sydney

Producer: David Rutledge

Liberalism as a Way of Life by Alexandre Lefebvre (Princeton University Press 2024)

Episode 2 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 2026

Episode 3 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche - The Philosopher's Zone, October 18 2026

Episode 4 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis - The Philosopher's Zone, October 25 2026

One of the more utopian promises of technology has always been that it will free us from the necessity of work - but not having to work poses its own problems. What will we do instead? how will we make money? and what might a leisure-oriented society look like? Technophiles - from the early cybernetics enthusiasts to today's AI promoters - have looked to ancient Athens as an example of a society where citizens were free to engage in culture, reflection and political participation. But was ancient Athens really such a place? and how likely is it that today's tech lords will deliver 'the good life' to us all?

Guest: Michele Kennerly, Associate Professor Communication Arts and Sciences, and Classics and Mediterranean Studies, Pennsylvania State University

Producer: David Rutledge

Automated Athens: Ancient Greek Ideals in the Early Age of Automation by Michele Kennerly (University of Chicago Press 2026)

Australian feminist philosopher Kate Manne memorably coined the term "himpathy" to describe what happens when a man commits a crime against a woman and finds himself the object of disproportionate sympathy. But as useful as this description is, the psychological mechanism behind himpathy remains unexplored in Manne's account. To remedy this, we're turning this week to Catharine Macaulay, a fascinating late 18th century English philosopher whose work on sympathy provides some valuable psychological insights.

Guest: Elena Gordon, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University College Dublin

Producer: David Rutledge

Catharine Macaulay on cultivating our sympathetic potential - Elena Gordon in Journal of Modern Philosophy Volume 7 (2025)

About Catharine Macaulay

If someone's behaving badly, it can be hard to know how much of their behaviour stems from a deep character flaw, and how much of it is incidental - the stuff we might charitably filter out as unreflective of their true self. And the same goes for achievement: how much credit for a Nobel prize should go to the person themselves, and how much to their fortunate circumstances, or to the people who helped them? This week we're asking if philosophy can help us discern the signal from the noise.

Guest: Mark Schroeder, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California

Producer: David Rutledge

When Things Get Personal: A Philosophical Guide to Conflict by Mark Schroeder (Princeton University Press 2026)

Western feminists often express support for women in Muslim majority countries, but sometimes that support is couched in the language of pity, as though Muslim women were held captive by their religion and culture, and in need of 'rescue'. This week, a conversation about how to offer cross-cultural support without paternalism, and how the insight of Simone de Beauvoir can illuminate the issue.

Guest: Sameema Zahra, psychotherapist and Lecturer in Philosophy, Australian Catholic University Brisbane

Producer: David Rutledge

Simone de Beauvoir demonstrated how to show solidarity across radical differences - Sameema Zahra essay for ABC Religion & Ethics

Philosophers in the Therapy Room - podcast with Sameema Zahra and Hora Zabarjadi Sar

If I pick up a tree branch and smash your window with it, you're going to be angry, and your anger will rightly be directed at me. But if a tree branch smashes your windscreen during a cyclone whose intensity has been caused by global warming, you're still going to be angry — but who or what exactly should you be angry with? This week, a conversation about responsibility for systemic injustice.

Guest: Stephanie Collins, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Monash University Melbourne

Producer: David Rutledge

Cultural Marxism is many things to many people — at one end of the political spectrum, it's the hidden force behind political correctness, identity politics and 'wokeness', while at the other end it's a shopworn conspiracy theory that explains nothing much at all. So what is Cultural Marxism? Did a group of Marxist intellectuals in the mid-20th century really set out to reshape Western culture? And if they did, how convincingly does their story stack up as a tale of secret plots and calculated ideological subversion?

Guest: Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer in English and Writing, University of Sydney

Producer: David Rutledge

'Cultural Marxism' is a conspiracy theory for our time - Alexander Howard in The Conversation July 2026

The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West by A.J.A. Woods (Verso 2026)

Conspiracy theories, anti-Semitism and fun - The Philosopher's Zone, December 2022