The Grindstone

In the second full-length episode of The Grindstone's COVID-19 Series, we look at the disease itself, and put it into historical context. We begin by talking with experts about viruses in general, the ability of COVID-19 to make its way around the world so quickly, and why this only emphasizes our need to be diligent when going out into the world where physical distancing and wearing face masks is concerned, a topic we discussed through an ethical lens in the first episode.

Our guests in this episode are: Dr. David Bernard, an emergency pediatrics physician in Birmingham, AL; returning guests Dr. Amy Martin, a bioethicist at IU Health, and Dr. Audrey Ruple, Assistant Professor of One Health Epidemiology at Purdue; Dr. Kevin Harrelson, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ball State University; and PhD candidate in the Department of History at Purdue, Caitlin Fendley.

Enjoy and thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this, the first full-length episode of The Grindstone's COVID-19 Series, we start with some ethical questions. We start with considerations of moral dilemmas in a broader, philosophical sense. We then drill down to talk about the moral dilemma inherent in determining whether or not to shut down the economy as a response to the pandemic, and the different short- and long-term consequences this decision can, did, and will have. And is having, at the time we posted this episode. We also look at some of the potential effects of shutting down the economy on the heathcare system and the economy itself. We then end the show with considerations of the moral psychology of wearing face masks and the ethics of social distancing.

Our guests in this episode are: Dr. Dan Kelly, Professor of Philosophy at Purdue; Dr. Amy Martin, a bioethicist at IU Health; Dr. Jillian Carr, Assistant Professor of Economics at Purdue; Dr. Audrey Ruple, Assistant Professor of One Health Epidemiology at Purdue; and Tom Doyle, a graduate student in the Department of Philosophy at Purdue.

Enjoy and thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Grindstone is releasing a COVID-19 series over the next few weeks. Today we introduce the series, which will sound quite different from our typical format, and share the story of how it came to be and how we recorded it. We also wanted to take a moment to say hello to all of you, and that we hope you all are staying healthy and safe out there.

Check out the first full-length episode from our COVID-19 series this Friday afternoon, 19th June, 2020!

Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have a special bonus episode of The Grindstone today!

Years ago, Matthew interviewed Dr. Andrew Cutrofello, Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago, during Dr. Cutrofello's visit to Purdue to give an Illuminations Lecture. We video recorded this interview on 21 November 2013. Consider this a basement tape, a demo of sorts. The audio is a little quiet in places as we converted it from video, and it is definitely unrehearsed, factual errors and all. 

Matthew and Dr. Cutrofello discuss among other topics: Shakespeare's Sonnet 71, the meta-poetics of contemporary and Shakespearean poetry, meta-references to the act of writing in Sonnet 71 and the physical act of writing poetry by hand (i.e., chirographically) vs. with the aide of technology, Hamlet as an interlocutor of philosophers, their favorite film versions of Hamlet and the range of potential and actual performances, Shakespeare in contemporary culture and contemporary culture's relation to Elizabethan culture, and the Shakespeare role they would love most to play.

Dr. Cutrofello's book, All for Nothing: Hamlet's Negativity, was published by the MIT Press (2014).

You can watch his Illuminations lecture, "On the Idea of Metaphysical Poetry", here.

Enjoy, and thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Wednesday, 21 August 2019, The Grindstone set up a table in the Purdue Memorial Mall as part of the College of Liberal Arts' Celebrate Liberal Arts Week. This week was itself part of the larger "150 Years of Giant Leaps" sesquicentennial celebration of Purdue University.

We asked students and other passersby what they think philosophy is, whether or not they have taken philosophy classes, and generally opened up the microphones giving people the opportunity to ask a philosopher any questions they had. This episode features some of the results of those conversations.

Thanks to Drs. Daniel R. Kelly, Michael Augustin, Leonard Harris, and Morganna Lambeth, and graduate student Brandon Rdzak for their participation. And a big thank you to all of the students and other members of the campus community who stopped by that day to engage our philosophers. The end of the pod features a very special guest - a true Boilermaker icon!

Special thanks to Caroline Cross, who produces and edits The Grindstone, for her tireless efforts in stitching together all of this audio!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, just a quick update from The Grindstone. We look ahead to upcoming episodes that will drop in the next couple weeks, and future content we are currently planning.

Most of all we just want to say thank you for listening, and that we hope this finds you all healthy and safe.

Take care of yourselves and each other!

(Full episodes returning Friday, 24 April 2020.)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of The Grindstone features the lecture given by Richard McKirahan (Pomona College) at Purdue University on Saturday, 27 April 2019. The lecture was given at a conference honoring the career of Dr. Patricia Curd, Professor Emerita of the Department of Philosophy at Purdue.

The title of the lecture is: "An Aristotelianizing Parmenides".

In this talk, Dr. McKirahan discusses the historical Parmenides' poem. In the poem itself, generally speaking, Parmenides examines being, that which is. The broader debate around the poem largely centers on fragment 8, in which a series of arguments is given for the characteristics of what is. The traditional view is that as a consequence of these arguments for what is, Parmenides is subscribing to a numerical monism, the theory that what is is one unitary thing. Here, however, Dr. McKirahan offers a different interpretation, one which he forms through Aristotle's discussion of being qua being in the Metaphysics. This Aristotelian interpretation does not preclude there being many "genuine beings," which would alleviate the burden of Parmenides' supposed numerical monism. Another outcome of Dr. McKirahan’s interpretation of the poem is that it gives us a better pathway for understanding the transition from the first part of the poem, in which Parmenides is concerned with the inquiry into what is and what makes something a genuine entity, to the second part of the poem in which Parmenides presents his cosmology.

This is the fifth and final episode from the "PatFest" series. Thank you to Dr. Michael Augustin, Postdoctoral Research Associate at Purdue University and scholar of ancient philosophy, for his tireless efforts in organizing the conference and for helping us with the introductions to this series and the individual lectures. Special thank you to Caroline Cross, a Philosophy major at Purdue, for recording, editing and producing the introductions, and for putting the series together. And thanks to you all for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of The Grindstone features the lecture given by Daniel Frank (Purdue University) at Purdue University on Friday, 26 April 2019. The lecture was given at a conference honoring the career of Dr. Patricia Curd, Professor Emerita of the Department of Philosophy at Purdue.

The title of the lecture is: "Wisdom, Piety, and Superhuman Virtue".

Dr. Frank's abstract of the talk is below:

This paper moves between Aristotle, Maimonides, and the Stoics. Aristotle’s moral taxonomy, outlined in Nicomachean Ethics 7.1, appears problematic, given his view that in the sphere of moral virtue, the intermediate (temperance, courage) is the extreme, and there is no excess of temperance or courage. This is hard to square with the moral agent whom he describes as possessed of “hyperbolic” (hyperbole, excessive) virtue. As Aristotle has very little to say about the latter, I turn to Maimonides and the Stoics for clarification and enlightenment.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of The Grindstone features the lecture given by Alexander Nehamas (Princeton University) at Purdue University on Friday, 26 April 2019. The lecture was given at a conference honoring the career of Dr. Patricia Curd, Professor Emerita of the Department of Philosophy at Purdue.

The title of the lecture is: "The Academy at Work: Dialectic in the Parmenides".

Dr. Nehamas' abstract of the talk is below:

Plato’s Parmenides comes in two parts. The first presents several crucial criticisms of Plato’s metaphysics. The second illustrates a dialectical method that Parmenides tells Socrates he must master if he is to answer these criticisms. I try to offer a new account of the metaphysical and linguistic objections of the first part in order to understand better the nature of the dialectic of its second part. I suggest that Parmenides’ demonstration of that method prepares the way for a radical new understanding of Plato’s own theory of Forms and may well be an instance of the actual dialectic practiced during the first, and very obscure, years of Plato’s Academy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of The Grindstone features the lecture given by Carl Huffman (DePauw University) at Purdue University on Saturday, 27 April 2019. The lecture was given at a conference honoring the career of Dr. Patricia Curd, Professor Emerita of the Department of Philosophy at Purdue.

The title of the lecture is: "Pythagorean Ethics in the Time of Plato".

Dr. Huffman's abstract of the talk is below:

In this talk I first argue that the Pythagoreans whose way of life Plato notes in Book Ten of the Republic are the Pythagoreans whose ethical system Aristoxenus described in his Pythagorean Precepts. The rest of the talk is devoted to an overview of the ethical system found in the fragments of the Pythagorean Precepts and a brief discussion of that system's place in the history of Greek ethics. The ethical system of the Pythagorean Precepts is based on a peculiarly Pythagorean understanding of human beings as by nature insolent and excessive. In the natural state human beings live shameless and incoherent lives from which they must be saved by supervision, which imposes restraint upon them. I examine the Pythagorean treatment of the following topics in light of these general principles: the proper goals for human action, desire, diet, sex, procreation, friendship and luck. Study of these topics shows that the Precepts are best understood as a parallel development to the ethics of Democritus and Socrates. The Precepts emphasize expertise and appeal to authority figures rather than just to the best argument, which is not surprising in Pythagoreanism, which is ultimately based on the authority of the master, Pythagoras.

NOTE TO LISTENER: Due to technical difficulties with the wireless mic during this talk, portions of the audio drop out for a few seconds here and there. In an effort to keep the flow of the talk in tact, we did not edit these portions out. The longest drop lasts for about 15-20 seconds, but in total less than 2 minutes of the 50 minute talk have been lost. We apologize to Dr. Huffman and our listeners for this.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.