Think Hard

Think Hard

By Danielle LaSusa & José MuñizSociety & CultureEducationPhilosophy
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Think Hard episodes

  • #16: Teen Movies will Save the World
    Through the examples of The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and
    10 Things I Hate About You, José argues that teen movies are important
    cultural artifacts that show us how to view the world with complexity,
    nuance, and depth—qualities that will allow us to have better conversations
    with those with whom we disagree. Danielle loves teen movies, but she’s not
    sure she buys it.
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  • #15: All News is Fake News
    In this episode, Danielle and José talk about how to think about truth in
    the era of fake news. With new technologies that have the ability to
    literally change what we see and hear through audio and video manipulation,
    how do we know our beliefs are justified? How can we ever have real
    knowledge? Is it possible to change someone’s mind about the truth through
    critical thinking and reasoning or do we have to appeal to emotions and
    values? Is all news actually fake news?
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  • #14: I’m Not a Masturbation Couch
    José is troubled by his sexual fantasies of women because it objectifies
    them. Danielle and José consider: Does sexual desire always or necessarily
    involve the dehumanizing objectification of others? Is it morally
    acceptable to objectify someone in the privacy of your own mind or will
    that objectification always spill out into the way you interact with
    others? Is it possible to keep sexual fantasies completely separate from
    workplace relationships? Are there solutions to the social problems in
    which people are forced to navigate their sexual desires along with their
    desires to see others in their full humanity?
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  • #13: Emotional Work for White People
    Why is it so hard for white people to talk about racism? Danielle and José
    talk about white fragility—the idea that white folks are emotionally
    fragile, and blow up or shut down, when it comes to talking about race.
    Danielle offers some ideas about why she and so many of her fellow white
    people have such a tough time, (they’re terrified of being called a racist,
    for example), and what they should do about it.
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  • #12: Is Belief in God Morally Wrong?
    Danielle is an atheist and José is a theist, but he feels bad about
    believing in something for which he does not have evidence. Given all of
    the warfare and destruction in the name of God, is it morally wrong to hold
    this belief without sufficient evidence? José outlines an argument by
    William James, which attempts to justify belief in God as a special and
    specific kind of belief that one can hold by pure will. Is it enough to
    convince Danielle?
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  • #11: Tolerating the Nazi Next Door
    Danielle and José discuss the value of tolerance. Tolerance is a paradox
    because if we tolerate everyone, we have to tolerate those who are
    intolerant, thus threatening our tolerant society. Is there really a clear
    line between tolerating people’s speech and beliefs and tolerating their
    actions and policies? Why should we value tolerance, and how do we treat
    those who are intolerant?
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  • #10: Help Yourself
    Danielle and José discuss philosophy as self-help. José hates self-help as
    a genre, and Danielle claims that philosophy would make for better
    self-help than many of the books currently on the market. She outlines how
    philosophy could address what makes so many self-help books annoying and
    ultimately disappointing.
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  • #9: In Defense of Snobs
    Are snobs just obnoxious, self-righteous jerks, or do they contribute
    something of value to society? José argues that snobs are the protectors of
    culture and ought to be defended. Snobs save us from the faceless demands
    of a watered down marketplace and set a standard for the human experience.
    Danielle is skeptical, and wonders if snobbery is an expression of classist
    myopia, confusing personal preferences for objective standards.
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  • #8: Where is the Pain?
    Danielle and José talk about perception and meditation. Danielle claims
    that meditation is the key to seeing, feeling, and perceiving the world in
    a radically new way. Can meditation change the brain so much that we can
    cease to feel pain? Where is sensation: in the nerves or in the mind’s
    response? And what happens if, indeed, we do have responsibility for how we
    interpret sense data?
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  • #7: Death Rattles of Dance
    José fears that dance is on its deathbed! Is social dancing on the decline?
    And if so, what do we lose if it dies? Danielle and José suggest that
    losing dance means losing opportunities for mastery over our bodies, as
    well as communication and coordination with others in a playful and
    non-verbal way. Dance is both related to but different from both sports and
    sex, and we can feel self-conscious about it in a way that we don’t with
    those other forms of bodily expression. We end, as always, by talking about
    what we’ve been thinking about since our last show.
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About Think Hard

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Philosophy is sometimes seen as impractical and impenetrable, but on Think Hard, two trained philosophers have accessible and lively conversations about contemporary culture, politics, and society.…