Philosophy? WTF??

This week everything changes, or does it? Is change inevitable? What do we build on that might provide a solid foundation for our identity and understanding of the world? Join Mike and Danny as they turn and face the strain. Enjoy a relaxing trip through Miletus noting, as we go, Thales and the Pre-Scratics on our left. You know what? This time we are going to stop and get out, actually spend some time with these guys, grab a glass of wine and chill. After all, what else have we got to do?

This week we are just never satisfied are we? There is always some itch that needs scratching, some desire yet to be fulfilled, some patch of grass just ever so slightly more green. Never fear, join Mike and Danny as they seek out new vistas - this time it will work, this time we will discover the promised land, settle down with our partner(s) of choice, grow goats and herd root vegetables. What do you mean “what’s the wifi like?”??? No, there won’t be Netflix and it won’t be a convenient walk to the nearest shopping mall! This is gods damn utopia we are talking about here, who are you to question it?? What the hell do you people want? Danny and I have worked very hard to help create an ideal world for you to inhabit and now you say it’s not good enough? Right, well, get out, go on, sod off out of it and form your own utopia - good luck to you. Er… will yours have beer and snacks? Room for two more?

This week join Danny and Mike. That’s it, just join Danny and Mike, nothing more, just hangout in the world we have carved out for ourselves. Sacrifices will have to be made, you will have to ditch some of your baggage and adapt to our way of life but it’s a small price to pay for the sense of belonging we offer. Of course some of you will find it difficult to adjust, some of you might even nurse a rebellious spirit, perhaps even have some ideas of your own. No matter, everybody has to learn, a few days alone in the “happiness box” will soon rid you of those antisocial tendencies. All this and Danny mentions Wittgenstein - listen out for it, it’s the best bit.

This week, what is our ultimate destination? Join Mike and Danny as they set out along the path of natural order to identify our individual fate. But wait, who says we can’t stop and smell the roses? In fact, why don’t we turn off destiny highway and follow this rough unbeaten track to gods know where? Yes, once again Mike and Danny reveal their penchant for flared jeans, reasonably priced, if not free, love and the sounds of the Grateful Dead. Don’t harsh our buzz man, we are sticking it to the essentialists and setting out as sailors on the sea of fate. But what is it that we want to do? Well, we want to be free, we wanna be free to do what we wanna do and we wanna get loaded and we wanna have a good time. Yes join us once again on a journey to your density! All this plus Star Trek and Henri Bergson for the price of a few megabytes of bandwidth - and what can you buy with that these days?

This week Danny is fed up and miserable but the sun is starting to shine and a new day is dawning! Tune in and join Mike and Danny, the merry philosonauts, on a magical mystery through the realms of possibility. Yes, this week we are talking revolution… or are we? Is it time to re-engage with normality or are we on the frontiers of the new normal? What, exactly, IS the normal way to be? What are the standards for identifying normal human existence? Is it essence or is it existence? Where is our instruction manual? Where does this washer go? Is it important?? All we can say is that all right thinking people will be joining us this week and that people who agree with what we have to say will be the kind of people who find this sort of thing agreeable.

This week, join Mike and Danny, after a year of lockdown, as they stare into the face of the other and ask “who the hell are you people?” Yes, what do we do with the other after so long with only the Cartesian cogito for company? Will we finally emerge from pandamic isolation desperate for human contact or having developed an antipathy for human connection? Has all this time, huddled with our families, simply rendered us intensely tribal to the detriment of the body politic? Perhaps it’s time to explore alternative communalities, to go Further? Yes, it’s time to get onboard the WTF bus and head on out towards the philosophical highway as Mike and Danny squeeze back into their tye dyed shirts, give away their kids and go in search of free love and a different way to be. We’ll fly our astral plan, take you trips around the bay, bring you back the same day…

This week we are family, I got all my siblings with me! Yes join Mike and Danny as they continue their exploration into the murky depths of family life. Should Danny beat his children? Would this contribute to the dialectical development of the universal spirit? Do philosophers give us the families their philosophies deserve? Just how natural is the family? Does “speaking as a parent” give one greater access to epistemic certainty or simply render as opinionated elitists? Can any one person or group provide us with everything we need for an existentially satisfying life? Are Mike and Danny deliberately trying to undermine your confidence in the ideal status of the nuclear family and and reveal your nearest and dearest as nothing more than self-serving parasites? You decide. All this and a secret message from Dr Mike. Remember folks, you are our family - whether you like it or not.

This week, we didn’t ask to be born, right? Who is responsible for dragging us into this whole situation? Listen with mounting existential dread as Mike and Danny inform you that this is not your fault but your are stuck with it, there is nothing you can do about it, you just have to suck it up. Be dumbfounded with the revelation that as a parent you are empowered to grab the epistemic crayons and scrawl all over your children psyche. Yes! Go ahead! knock yourselves out and join in the pedagogic graffiti fest that is your child's upbringing in a world they were never invited into. Come to the awful realisation that Kant is staring at you and shaking his head in judgment. All this and Mike mistaking John Stuart Mill for John Locke. I mean, you’d totally pay for this stuff, right?

This week listen in as Mike and Danny tell you that you aren’t bringing your kids up properly. Yes, in this offensive episode we upset both parents and the entire education industry by suggesting that one doesn’t know what it’s doing and the other is simply in it for the money. That’s right folks, here at WTF we play no favourites and know no fear in our quest to usher in a glorious utopian future. We built this city, we built this city on ideal forms and not on children reared on TV, celebrity gossip or even rock ’n’ roll. If this cast causes you to reconsider your parenting obligations please feel free to contact "WTF and Sons and Daughters and Non-Binary Progeny (The Old Firm) est 2018” where a bed can be found under the counter for a hardworking youngster with ambition.

It’s 2021 and we are back to bring philosophy to the masses! Join Mike and Danny as they emerge blinking from the darkness of 2020 bloated with the excesses of the festive season. Listen in with mild disappointment as Mike stuffs his face with leftover Christmas cake and Danny confesses, to his enduring shame, that he consumes sell-by mince pies behind closed doors to the everlasting embarrassment of his family and amidst the sound of his crying children. Yes, families, what are they for exactly? You can choose your friends so they say, but your family is part of the un-negotiated thrownness of being. Can philosophy help us understand the nature and purpose of family? Which of the major philosophers would provide us with the most useful dating advice? Is there an ideal form of the perfect partner or do we simply have to leap into the dating game and trust to faith? Check out this weeks cast and swipe right.