The Morality of Everyday Things: An Everyday Philosophy Podcast

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Today's Episode:

Anyone who lives in the UK will have been affected by these recently...large-scale strikes. This has taken on a very unique flavour, begging a podcast episode, for 2 reasons: aside from the fact this an issue we've not encountered at this scale for decades, we're primarily seeing these in public (or quasi-public) services such as transport and healthcare where the people being hurt aren't profiteering capitalists but everyday people, and this is also coinciding with a wider (and very deep) cost of living crisis for the entire economy. That said, many of these public service workers have seen real wage losses for many years and the 10% real wage drop they face due to inflation this year would be devastating.

All of this really changes the moral calculus on both sides and begs the question...where is the line between fighting for the little man, and holding the public hostage?

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If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research

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Today's Episode:

Really taking it to a modern everyday issue here...ghosting. What exactly is ghosting, why does it hurt so much, and when is it ok to do (if ever?). We discuss why the appearance of the romantic trend of simply going silent on a partner and disappearing has emerged. In discussing this, we explore some of the morality around expectations, our obligations to others and how much we should really care about what others think.

For further reading on this episode, see this article: https://ideas.ted.com/why-ghosting-hurts-us-psychology/ It forms the foundation of the psychological analysis we discuss, including:

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Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.

Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/

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If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research

And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6

Today's Episode:

Should teenagers get a vote, or should we limit voting even further?

Famously in the UK, many reported that, had 16 year olds been included, Brexit would not have passed. Further, had retirees been excluded, it wouldn't have even been close. It raises several interesting questions...why do we allow people who will largely be uninvolved in the future knock-on effects to vote? Where does the legitimacy of getting a vote come from? Also, why do we limit anyone voting by age? Isn't the implication some lack of a certain capacity? If we agree on that point as a good thing, then why don't we introduce MORE tests to indentify people who aren't clued up enough to vote and do that?

We discuss these questions and how our feelings on this may relate to other forms of government (direct vs representative democracies, democracies vs aristocracies, epistocracies and technocracies). All of this follows on neatly from our previous chats on voting, tying it all together with a little intro on Walter Lippman.

Support the show:

Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.

Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/

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If you're a fan of the show, we'd love to chat to you! Book a call with us here and it'll feel like being on one of our episodes: https://calendly.com/jacob-stasher/user-research

And if you want to give us feedback via our survey, please fill that in here: https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6

Today's Episode:

Should voting be required by law? Should you have to pay a fine if you fail to get to the polls?

With voter turnout dropping around the world, Ant & Jake look at the example of Australia and the effects of mandatory voting. Advocates for mandatory voting say that apart from getting voter turnout above 90%, it makes citizens more politically aware, makes governments more representative and means candidates can focus more on issues. But do these bear out in practice? And is it an infringement on people's liberty to force them to the polls?

Then, in the second half of the episode, they ask the question: what if you could sell your vote? Economists normally argue that the free market leads to more efficient outcomes, but could the risks outweigh the benefits. And would commodifying a vote undermine the very sanctity of democracy?

Support the show:

Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.

Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/

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Do you have a moral duty to vote? Are you letting down your country if you don't make the effort to ballot?

Last episode, we looked at whether voting was rational. This episode we shift focus and ask whether you have a duty - a moral obligation - to vote, whether or not you think voting makes sense.

Surveys show most people feel you do have a duty to vote - and most moral and political philosophers agree. But why? We look at a few of the major arguments, including the generalization argument, the civic virtue argument and the complicity argument. Other themes we touch on are the theory of easy-aid, free-riding and Arrow's Impossibility Theorem (more on that here).

Support the show:

Please let us know what you think of the pod and how we can improve via our feedback survey! https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6

Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt. Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude.

Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please let us know what you think of the pod and how we can improve via our feedback survey! https://forms.gle/xMjvDbsipam1RAwg6

Why should you bother voting at all? In a world where your vote feels like a drop in the ocean, where you're only voting for a representative most of the time, where districts are gerrymandered and voters are suppressed...why bother?

Maybe the answer to that is that we're doing something for the communal good? Maybe you need to communicate to swing future elections? Maybe it's more about saying something to yourself than achieving something!

We'll approach this firstly from a perspective of political science and explain the distinction between instrumental and expressive reasons to vote, before building up to moral reasons and considering policies such as mandatory voting and where we should draw the line of who gets to vote.

Following this series, we'll assess a little more closely what makes democracy legitimate more generally and a review of the history of thought around the topic.

Support the show:

Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.

Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A replay of last year's festive episode - new episode on voting to follow soon :)

Is the Santa myth just harmless fun, or should we be honest to our kids about Saint Nick?

In this very festive episode, Jake and Ant discuss the morality of lying to children about Santa Claus. They start with a brief history of the character's origins, including Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas and even Odin. Then they go over the origins of the tradition of teaching children of Santa's literal existence and the reasons for doing it.

After that, they discuss the potential benefits of the fiction, as well as the potential harms, before bringing up several philosophical frameworks and what they have to say about lying to children in addition to lying in general. They end the discussion by talking about the lessons that the Santa myth may inadvertently teach children, as well as alternatives to lying to children that don't deprive kids of the fun of the Santa story.

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If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside. Alternatively, leave us a review! We read every one and they’re a great way to help others find the show… which in turn, means we’ll make more episodes. Win-win.

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Excuse our delay in posting this part 2 - we had to swap podcast providers as we've joined the Auddy.co podcast network and had some issues with this move.

In a slightly different format to normal, today we have part 2 in a discussion around the role that work should have in our lives. Should jobs that make us have to choose between doing good and making money even exist really? Why is there a cultural dichotomy between making money and pursuing meaning, has this always been the case?

This is a loosely scripted/planned episode based on an essay written by Ant, which can be found here: https://adonic.medium.com/work-money-or-meaning-why-has-this-become-a-choice-we-have-to-make-b4628fb2a337.

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In a slightly different format to normal, today we have a discussion around the role that work should have in our lives. Should jobs that make us have to choose between doing good and making money even exist really? Why is there a cultural dichotomy between making money and pursuing meaning, has this always been the case?

This is a loosely scripted/planned episode based on an essay written by Ant, which can be found here: https://adonic.medium.com/work-money-or-meaning-why-has-this-become-a-choice-we-have-to-make-b4628fb2a337.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second in a two-parter where we discuss taxes and specifically inheritance tax. The series explores why taxes make sense at all, and then apply this thinking to inheritance tax - both whether it meets the ideological/moral aims we have for taxes more generally, and indeed whether they seem to actually effectively meet their intended aims!

In this episode, we get into the specifics of inheritance tax - context, policy, ideology. We discuss the intended moral impact of inheritance taxes - avoiding the "paris hilton" effect, a country with too many indolent heirs and landed aristocracy - and also the policy implications, which have some surpising differences vs the ideology. Who's actually paying inheritance tax? Is the law too complicated? Do the rich, with their offshore accounts and tax advisors, even pay it?

Support the show:

Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.

Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices