Sophia

Sophie Grace Chappell (Open University) talks with Kevin (East Carolina University) about her book Epiphanies: An Ethics of Experience. They talk about what epiphanies are, why they should count as a type of reason (often more persuasive than more formal conceptions of reason), and why philosophers should better appreciate their role in everyday moral life.

00: Intros, and Why Sophie Teaches at the Open University
5:37 - What Are Epiphanies and Why Are They Important to Philosophy?
16:06 - How Moral Experience and Thinking Work in the Real World
21:08 - Epiphanic Experience, Empathy, and the Debate Over Abortion Rights
29:03 - Epiphanies and Moral Monism, Relativism and (Sophie's Preference) Pluralism
47:18 - Why Are Most Philosophers Reluctant to Acknowledge "Noncognitive" Factors in Moral Life?

Moti Gorin (Colorado State) talks with Holly Lawford-Smith (University of Melbourne) about her new book, "Gender Critical Feminism" (Oxford University Press).

Sheena (SUNY Oneanta) and Kevin (East Carolina University) continue an ongoing conversation about the idea of race and Sheena's arguments about racelessnes. This episode gets more personal about Sheena's and Kevin's respective connections to "transracial" families. Sheena was adopted into a "transracial" family and Kevin is adopting a daughter who is differently raced than he. What does all of this mean for how we should think about race, racism, and the idea of racelessness?

:009 - Sheena's book on racelessness will be out soon
10:33 - Kevin and Sheena get personal about racialization and their connections to "transracial" adoption.
31:24 - Different ways that different people experience and talk about racialization. Kevin talks about 'the wrong kind of colorblindness."
41:13 - All the ways in which race is a clunky signifier 53:08 - The ways race unavoidably limits us. Can racelessness liberate us?
1:13:13 - Kevin talks to his son about race with the help of a t-shirt and a children's book.

Kevin's article ("Race Talk") that is referred to in the middle of the show: https://theelectricagora.com/2022/04/19/race-talk/

Robert Gressis (Cal State Northridge), Dan Kaufman (Missouri State) and Kevin Currie-Knight (East Carolina) discuss what is and isn't realistic to expect of philosophy. Topics include Realism (Rob) and Anti-Realism (Dan and Kevin), Foundationalism (maybe Rob) and anti-Foundationalism (Dan and Kevin), and what we do when we attempt to ground and justify our positions to others. The conversation sprang from a set of articles at the Electric Agora. In one, Dan argued that philosophy is largely incapable of making sense of even basic moral considerations; in two others, Kevin argued that individual temperament plays a significant role in forming our philosophies.

Robert, Kevin and I inaugurate a new feature at EA: a New Year's Contributors' Roundtable. Publication was delayed due to my father's death, so please excuse the discussion's lateness. Most if not all of what we discussed remains relevant -- Covid-19,  though of course, this was recorded well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Kevin Currie-Knight (East Carolina University) chats with Wendy Syfret (VICE Asia) about her new book The Sunny Nihilist: How a Meaningless Life Can Make You Truly Happy. They talk about such things as why the modern world relentlessly seeks meaning in everything, whether nihilism is a viable or liberating response, and whether/how nihilism is reconcilable with strong belief and activism.

3:00 - What is nihilism?
10:35 - When did Wendy come to nihilsm and find it liberating?
16:48 - Why do we in the modern world "find" meaning in everything?
25:41 - Why does "finding" objective meaning satisfy more than creating subjective meaning?
30:38 - Are the young generally more nihilistic than their elders? Where is nihilism in pop culture?
38:59 - How to reconcile nihilism with activism (another thing that Wendy cares about)?

In this episode, Robert Gressis (philosophy, California State University, Northridge) and David Leitch (political science, California State University, Northridge) discuss the work of aspiring conservative public intellectual, Richard Hanania.

01:01 - Let’s talk about sex, baby!
04:44 - Hanania’s master idea—give the right a policy program.
15:57 - Wokeness and civil rights law.
27:05 - Who is Hanania’s audience?
32:46 - Are HR departments progressive?
40:51 - What Hanania does and doesn’t try to explain
56:29 - Hanania and Caesarism: will they or won’t they?
1:13:32 - Two more criticisms of Hanania: children and churches.
1:20:58 - Hanania’s weaknesses and strengths as a public intellectual.

Sheena Mason (SUNY Oneonta) and Kevin Currie-Knight dialogue about the perils and promises of discussion on social media. (Sheena is more optimistic about the potential than Kevin is.) Along the way, they talk about perspectives on truth and whether humans are capable of getting it in an objective way, the postmodern-y fiction of Percival Everett, and the incentive structure of social and legacy media.

0:41 - Some online heat Sheena is getting about an article she published at Free Black Thought (link below).
9:43 - Why Kevin is Increasingly Pessimistic About Conversation on Social Media (and Why Sheena Isn't).
36:24 - Is (Constantly) Defending Positions in Public Forums Overrated?
47:21 - Is Social Media as Great When You Have Increasingly Less Faith in Objective Moral/Political Truths?
1:07:06 - Was Postmodernism Too Liberal in Its Assumptions? Do People Need to Feel Like Their Beliefs are Grounded and Objective?

Sheena Mason's recent article on Free Black Thought; https://freeblackthought.substack.com/p/theory-of-racelessness-a-case-for
CONNECT WITH SHEENA:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/queenshe
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theory-of-racelessness
Website: https://www.theoryofracelessness.org

EA's own Kevin Currie-Knight and I discuss our respective essays, Growing up Metal and Growing up Grunge. We talk about the appeal of heavy music and different conceptions of masculinity, the differences between early and late Gen Xers, growing up in the 1970's and '80's, authenticity, and much more.

01:00 On the "Growing Up" Essays by Dan and Kevin. And why music? 09:20 Why "Growing Up Metal"? Life as a kid and teenager in 70's and 80's Long Island. Dan's Bizarre Connection to Public Enemy. Metal and Masculinity. 34:30 Why “Growing Up Grunge?" Grunge and Hair Metal. Grunge and Masculinity. Kevin Sings. Grunge masculinity is a kind of "dirty Alan Alda." Grunge, Tone and Masculinity. The Paradox of Authenticity. Dan Tries to Imitate Grunge Vocals. 01:05:00 Clique Identification and Defensive Cliques