Philosophy Talk: Select Episodes

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/dostoevsky-and-doubting-faith.

Best Tweak on a Classic That Raises Questions about Parents and Children. More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/the-2026-dionysus-awards.

Best TV Show That Blows Up All Your Theories of Personal Identity. More at philosophytalk.org/shows/the-2026-dionysus-awards.

All episodes are now to free to listen at philosophytalk.org, so this feed will no longer be updated. Subscribe to the weekly podcast at https://philosophytalk.org/get-the-podcast.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/can-money-buy-well-being.

Governments and central banks set economic policies that affect us all. But how do those policies influence our quality of life? And how can that quality even be measured? Gross Domestic Product (GDP) includes many factors that have little to do with the regular person’s happiness. What do people really need, beyond enough to live on? And how can we make sure they get it? Josh and Ray spend some quality time with Jayati Ghosh from UMass Amherst, co-author of" Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/anna-julia-cooper.

Born into slavery in the nineteenth century, Anna Julia Cooper received a classical education, attended the Sorbonne, and became the fourth African American in history to be awarded a PhD. Her first book, A Voice from the South, offered one of the first articulations of how Black women are impacted by race, gender, and socioeconomic class. She believed that uplifting Black women through higher education would improve life for all Black people. Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Kathryn Sophia Belle, author of "Beauvoir and Belle: A Black Feminist Critique of The Second Sex."

Part of the "Wise Women" series, generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/schopenhauer-living-your-worst-life.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) is considered one of the great European philosophers of the nineteenth century. His most famous work, The World as Will and Representation, presents a pessimistic view of a world filled with endless strife and suffering, where happiness can only be but fleeting. So, how did Schopenhauer think we ought to live with one another in such a world? Did he believe there was ultimately a way to overcome the pain of the human condition? Or are we all doomed to live frustration-filled lives? Josh and Ray keep a sunny disposition with David Bather Woods from the University of Warwick, author of "Arthur Schopenhauer: The Life and Thought of Philosophy’s Greatest Pessimist."

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/diogenes-and-the-honest-life.

Diogenes of Sinope was a famous—or infamous—4th-century BCE Greek philosopher. Reportedly, he lived in a jar, performed many bodily functions in public, and wandered public spaces with a lit lantern in broad daylight. But what was the broader social critique advanced by Diogenes and his followers? What did they believe was needed for a life of freedom and virtue? And how does Diogenes continue to serve as a symbol of defiance to authority and artificial values? Josh and Ray defer to Inger Kuin from the University of Virginia, author of "Diogenes: The Rebellious Life and Revolutionary Philosophy of the Original Cynic."

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/the-examined-year-2025.

What happened over the past year that challenged our assumptions and made us think about things in new ways? Josh and Ray talk to philosophers and others about the events and ideas that shaped the last twelve months.

• The Year in Shamelessness with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò from Georgetown University, author of “How Can We Live Together?”

• The Year in A.I. Hype with Arvind Narayanan from Princeton University, co-author of "AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference"

• The Year in Philosophy (Bowls) with Eli Yetter-Bowman, Founder of Ethereal Films and Director of "The Bowl"

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/gilbert-ryle.

Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) was a British philosopher of mind and language best known for his book The Concept of Mind. He developed a novel argument against Cartesian dualism, which he called “the doctrine of the ghost in the machine”—the idea that our minds and bodies are separate substances. Ryle introduced a new term for the problem with this argument: Descartes was making a “category mistake.” But what exactly is a category mistake, and how bad is it to make one? If Cartesian dualism is false, what is the relationship between our minds and our bodies? And what does it have to do with the distinction between “knowing-how” and “knowing-that”? Josh and Ray turn their minds to Michael Kremer from the University of Chicago, author of “The Development of Gilbert Ryle’s Concept of Knowledge.”