Philosophy Bites

Frederick Douglass and W.E.B Du Bois were two prominent African-Americans who made a significant impact on the civil rights movement in the US. Douglass is particularly associated with the 19th Century abolitionism, and Du Bois with 20th C. pan-Africanism. In this interview Chike Jeffers puts them in their context and introduces some of their key ideas.

This episode was supported by the Ideas Workshop, part of the Open Society Foundations.

Democracy isn't working so well, so why not use a lottery system to choose representatives instead? Alexander Guerrero discusses his version of this old idea in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast.

Narendra Modi has spoken of "decolonising" India including its post-colonial constitution Are philosophical criticisms of this constitution well-founded? Tarun Khaitan of the London School of Economics discusses.

This episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast was supported by the Ideas Workshop, part of the Open Society Foundations.

Philosophers argue endlessly about what philosophy is. Janet Radcliffe Richards suggests that a simple way to approach this question is to examine what we think about inconsistencies. She uses an example from medical ethics, the question of whether selling of organs should be permitted, to make her point.

David Edmonds talks to Chike Jeffers of Dalhousie University about Africana Philosophy.

This episode was supported by the Ideas Workshop, part of the Open Society Foundations.

Grief is affected by the passage of time in a way that some attitudes and emotions aren't. Samuel Scheffler explores why this might be so in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast.

Philosophers who use thought experiments often believe their own intutions in response to them are unviersal. But that's not always so. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Edouard Machery discusses his research on this topic, and some of his surprising conclusions.

This episode was made in association with the Institute of Philosophy and supported by the Ideas Workshop which is part of the Open Society Foundations

Frantz Fanon, who was born in Martinique, died aged 36. He nevertheless made very significant contributions to the discussion of racism and colonialism, influenced strongly by the existentialist tradition. In this episode of the Philosphy Bites podcast David Edmonds discusses Fanon, his ideas, his cultural background, and his impact, with Lewis Gordon, author of What Fanon Said.

In this interview of the Philosophy Bites podcast Nigel Warburton interviews David Edmonds about Peter Singer's famous thought experient about what you would do if you saw a child at risk of drowning in a shallow pond, and what the moral implications of that. David has recently published a book about this thought experiment called Death in a Shallow Pond.