The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast

Hey everyone,

Today I have to break some sad news. After ten years of The Panpsycast, we have taken the difficult decision to bring the show to an end.

We started this project in 2016. Since then, we have released over 400 instalments of the show; never (not once) missing our schedule to bring you your Sunday philosophy. That's an extraordinary accomplishment. One that I owe entirely to our phenomenal team and everyone who's supported us.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 100+ guests who have joined us on the programme, as well as Tyler Hislop our brilliant audio editor Charlotte Mudd our illustrator, and all of the organisations who have supported us throughout this journey. (Apart from Sudio Headphones. Do better.)

To those of you who didn't enjoy Mystery Philosopher, Pop Pop Philosophy Quiz, and our pronunciation of 'discussion', I hope you rot in hell.

To everyone else, thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening. This show has been and always will be my favourite thing. Thank you so much for being a part of it.

To our patrons, I can never say how much it means to me that you supported this project. I'll never find the words for it. But please know that all of us on the show, and every listener, are incredibly grateful for your generosity.

___

We just released Episode 163. Don't worry. We're not going to leave it on such an awkward number, nor on such an unsatisfactory note. We'll do you proud. With this in mind, we have two final episodes coming your way.

Episode 164 will be our final interview, featuring Martin Pickup, leader of the Global Philosophy of Religion Project 2 at the University of Birmingham. We'll be speaking to Martin about the future of philosophy, as well as all the things we've learnt from our many collaborations with the University of Birmingham's projects.

Our very last episode will be Episode 165. We're going to go back to the beginning, old-school Panpsycast. Just me (Jack), Andy, and Olly, discussing the philosophy of friendship.

We'll be releasing these episodes before the end of the year, so keep your eyes out for both.

___

The team have all found new and exciting things to do, but I'll be continuing to philosophise as before. I have some really exciting things to share with you; for now, to stay posted, I've already begun uploading content to a small YouTube channel, which you can find here: www.youtube.com/@DrJackSymes. Our pages, including our Facebook and Patreon, will switch to this new brand in the coming weeks. I'll be on the Patreon in the next week or so, speaking to you about these new projects, and what you'd like to see. (I hope you'll consider supporting the next chapter of the journey.) As for The Panpsycast, all of our episodes will remain freely available, forever. (Yeah, we're pretty great like that.)

To Andy, Olly, Rose, Jon, Lucy, and Greg: thank you for every single memory. (We'll make more stuff in the future.) But for now: thank you. Love you all.

Jack

Hey Everyone, I'm delighted to present our third and final live show from The Mystery of Existence series at the Royal Institution Theatre, London.

People travelled from far and wide to join us, and for our final event we brought together four intellectual heavyweights: Slavoj Žižek, Sabine Hossenfelder, William Lane Craig, and Rowan Williams. In a two vs two debate, they explored the existence of God through science, scepticism, and the resurrection. The full video is now available on the Unbelievable? YouTube channel, so be sure to check it out.

Thank you again for supporting the show. We're incredibly excited to be celebrating our tenth anniversary, and we have an important announcement coming in two weeks' time, so stay tuned. Until then, I hope you enjoy the show!

Links

Watch the debate: Premier Christian Radio, Unbelievable

Hey everyone, Jack here with another special episode – my recent conversation with Peter Godfrey-Smith, Professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney.

Peter is best known for his bestselling book Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness – a landmark work on animal intelligence and the philosophy of mind.

In this interview, we explore the world of animal consciousness: octopus minds, the evolution of sentience, panpsychism, and the moral tension of loving animals while making a case for eating them. It gets a little heated towards the end of the discussion on veganism, but besides that I think it's a brilliant conversation.

The full episode is also on YouTube; I hope you enjoy the show!

Links

Peter's Website

Other Minds (Peter's best-seller)

Philosophers on Consciousness (Jack's book)

This week's episode is a live debate we hosted recently at The Royal Institution Theatre in London. The topic is 'The Story of Everything' – a discussion between four different belief systems on the existence of God.

William Lane Craig defends traditional theism; Jessica Frazier represents Hinduism; Joseph Folley argues for agnosticism; and Philip Goff defends a God of limited powers.

Long-time listeners will already be familiar with the views of Bill, Jessica, and Philip – and I'm sure you'll agree that Joe is a tremendous feature on this panel.

If you'd like to watch the debate, head over to YouTube and search for Premier Christian Radio Unbelievable. And if you'd like to hear Joe and me discuss the debate the following morning, search for Dr Jack Symes on YouTube.

Thank you to everyone who came along to the event, and thank you, as always, to you wonderful listeners for your support. I hope you enjoy the debate!

This podcast was supported with funding from the John Templeton Foundation, through the Panpsychism and Pan(en)theism Project (59140).

Links

Watch the debate: Premier Christian Radio, Unbelievable?

Watch the analysis: Dr Jack Symes

Welcome to a special Episode 160 – a conversation / debate between Jack Symes and Philip Goff.

Philip Goff and Jack Symes have known each other since 2011, when Philip taught Jack's very first philosophy lecture. In the years since, they've both arrived at views that sit awkwardly between God and atheism – but in very different ways.

Philip defends a God of limited powers and a form of Christianity rooted in Eastern Orthodox theology. Jack argues that God is just the world. In this conversation, they put their views head to head.

They discuss the ontological argument (which Philip loves and Jack accepts begrudgingly), the problem of evil, and Philip's recent mystical experience. They also explore negative religious experiences, panpsychism, whether the self is an illusion, and why neither of them are traditional theists.

This is a conversation between two friends who disagree about almost everything – and enjoy every minute of it.

Links

Philip Goff:

YouTube

Twitter

Website

SubStack

Why? The Purpose of the Universe (book)

Galileo's Error: A New Science of Consciousness (book)

This episode brings together Jack and Rowan Williams, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the world's most distinguished theologians.

As they explore the intersection of faith, politics, and ethics, they confront Christian nationalism, the morality of war, the value of animal life, and the nature of God. A sweeping philosophical and theological exchange!

We hope you enjoy the show.

Links

Solidarity: The Work of Recognition, Rowan Williams

Do We Have the Right to Die?, Lady Hale and Rowan Williams

This episode brings together two leading voices in philosophy of religion: William Lane Craig, one of the world's foremost Christian apologists, and Alex O'Connor, one of today's most prominent atheist thinkers.

As they confront the arguments for and against belief in God, they seek to break the long-standing impasse between God and atheism.

Hosted by Jonny Thomson and Jack Symes – we hope you enjoy the show!

Links

Unbelievable? Premier Christian Radio (YouTube)

Alex O'Connor (YouTube)

"Hey, it's Jack here – I'm still out in the van writing up my travel book. The wind and rain coming down hard in France, as you might hear in the background.

We're recording an old-school show and another interview at the end of the month, which we're really excited to produce and share. In the meantime, I'm happy to release a one-to-one conversation with me and John Nelson – author of Jesus' Physical Appearance and host at Premier Unbelievable.

We explore why the biblical writers include no description of Jesus' body, what that absence might mean, and how Jesus' appearance has been imagined, altered, and politicised across history. Along the way, we discuss Jesus' clothing, Stoic and Cynic influences, animals and incarnation, modern Christian culture, the politics of Jesus' image, and a few of the more intriguing Christian conspiracy theories. I hope you enjoy the show!"

Links

Jesus' Physical Appearance (book)

Behind The Gospels (substack)

Biblical Time Machine (podcast)

Hey everyone, it's Jack here. I'm still out in the camper van writing a travel book – I'm really excited to share more on this soon.

At the same time, we've been producing live events and YouTube videos – so there's been a lot going on. We'll be sharing audio from the live shows soon, as well as recording an old school Panpsycast episode at the end of May.

In the meantime, I'm excited to share another conversation I've had for the new YouTube channel with Jonny Thomson on the philosophy of Epicurus.

I confront Jonny on my verdict that Epicurus is the worst philosopher ever; and he does a tremendous job of telling me why I'm wrong.

It's a great conversation, which i'm excited for you to hear it. So without further ado: here it is!

Links

Jonny Thomson, The Art of Enough (pre-order now!)

Jonny Thomson, Mini Philosophy

Philosophy Minis (Instagram)

Philosophy Minis (TikTok)

Jack Symes, YouTube

Hey, it's Jack here – I'm currently in the snowy hills of Switzerland, recording this from the back of my campervan, so forgive the audio quality. (It won't be like this beyond the introduction.)

I've been busy producing new content for YouTube, with some exciting conversations coming your way – one of which, was with Ed Winters, which I'm excited to share with you today.

We had a really interesting discussion about some of the internal tensions within vegan philosophy. We agree on a lot – but, as you'll hear, our main disagreements concern the moral status of non-animals (which Ed rejects) and whether veganism should involve avoiding products tied to slave labour (which he also rejects).

You can watch the conversation on YouTube now – just search Dr Jack Symes – or sit back and listen here. Thanks again for your support – I hope you enjoy the show.

Links

Earthling Ed, Website

Jack Symes, YouTube