Ever wondered why resolutions never seem to work for some people? Ever wondered how the time and date are actually calculated? Well, wonder no more.

A couple of weeks before the start of 2020, we crack open some beers and talk about how to make meaningful and effective new year's resolutions; bringing philosophy into everyday modern life. Once Connor finally stops mentioning Stoicism, Nye goes off on an autistic rant about the history and mechanics of calendars and Kieran reveals why he hates weightwatchers.

The University of Bristol study mentioned: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703478704574612052322122442

Workshop seminar on stoicism and resolutions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIVXfao3rY4

Serenity prayer: https://www.beliefnet.com/prayers/protestant/addiction/serenity-prayer.aspx 

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Since ancient times, attitudes to competitive sports have played an integral role in shaping and reflecting culture. For the Greeks they were a cornerstone of virtue and identity. Christianity has often taken a decidedly more negative view of sport, with Tertullian even going as far as to say such activities were "entirely out of keeping with the religion of Christ", warning of their promotion of "rage, bitterness, wrath and grief". As sports slowly returned to a more prominent cultural force, they were seldom met with worthy consideration from philosophers and thinkers, (until very recently), yet play an ever increasing role in our lives and global society.

Between an athlete and a non-sporty (lazy) philosophy graduate, we take an evening to ponder the role that sport plays in modern life and our respective upbringings. The first of many episodes on sport, we'll be examining the field in both personal and academic contexts; exploring first-hand experiences with boxing, cycling, yoga, e-sports and more!

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Editing by Connor.

Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James.

Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)

Nye and Connor take some time to share their experiences and thoughts about philosophy. They ask whether it should be caged by qualified academics or thought of as a verb; a transformative practice. Is philosophy at war with science? SPOILERS: That question doesn't even make sense! 

Drawing on personal experiences and stories as well as our years at university, we talk about the right ways and the wrong ways of learning and reading philosophy, as well as some of the problems facing the field. What's this podcast for? How do we get people into philosophy? Should we even abandon the word entirely? Find out here... dun, dun, dun.  

Here is the article we discuss: https://www.theguardian.com/books/201... 

The full Dawkins/Weinstein debate we chat about can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYzU-...  

An article written by Connor: https://twobeersuntilphronesis.weebly.com/saving-the-humanities.html

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Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. 

Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)

Resurrecting the ghosts of the recently graduated "Two Joes", Nye and Connor commune over a few drinks to discover the true meaning of the spooky season. Kicking off series two in this more lighthearted episode, we tell stories of séances, discuss the paradox of horror, ponder Halloween's place in culture, talk horror movies, learn the Christian and Celtic history of All Hallows Eve and more! Enjoy.   

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Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. 

Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars, keys, maniacal laughter) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin, crows)

In this episode Connor invites Zach to discuss the secular worldview of Humanism, a positive non-religious philosophy. The two sit back and take an hour to reminisce about their experiences running a local Humanist group and attempt to explain what exactly Humanism means and how its grounding and ethics might differ from religion. Drawing from dodgy experiences with "New Atheism", degrees in religion and a dissertation on Humanism, Connor also highlights some of the issues with the philosophy and its relationship with religiosity.  

We reflect on the good times and bad we had in the group, from religion-bashing and gate-crashers, to countryside walks and friendships made, as well as Humanist causes and ceremonies. We also touch on ideas of morality, truth and the ingredients to a kermit cocktail.

Here is an article by Connor: https://twobeersuntilphronesis.weebly.com/herefodshire-humanists.html

Continuing our goodbye / celebration podcasts for the Two Joes, we turn to Joe's essay on Raymond Gaita and the ethics of genetic engineering. The Australian philosopher Gaita argues for a whole new way of thinking about ethics. In his works A Common Humanity and Good & Evil: An Absolute Conception he proposes that morality is very much distinct from ethics.

Celebrating The Two Joe's graduation and commiserating their (hopefully temporary) ​departure from the podcasts, we decided to crack open some champagne, turn on the mics and talk about drones. With Nye finally meeting the Two Joes, we turn to look at their final two essays, the first of which explores what phenomenological ethicist and Holocaust survivor, Emmanuel Levinas may have thought about more modern forms of warfare...  

We start with a concise guide to Levinas' philosophy on 'Ethics as First Principle' and the personal and intellectual context for much of his writing - Really useful if you're studying Levinas or want to get an impression of his ideas! After this we chat about war ethics, psychological reactions to catastrophe and continental existentialism. 

​Joe's essay can be found here: https://twobeersuntilphronesis.weebly...

Sam and Connor sit down to talk about another ancient classic that lots of people pretend to have read - this time its Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Written over 2000 years ago, the book is still very much alive today. Quoted by generals of the Gulf War, with around 250 annual publications in East Asia alone that apply it to areas such as business and sport, it features on the required reading lists of military recruits worldwide. Its a book that has a concrete cultural legacy that is still being felt globally.   

A succinct guide to war, we talk about how and why this book is relevant to civilians of the 20th century and how it has survived to this day, as well as the history of its authorship and how Sun Tzu's martial philosophy compares to the Taoists and Hellenistic works of his contemporaries. 

We also talk briefly about The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, a bunch of other works and some ideas on war ethics, the value of public reading and religious attitudes to war. (Sorry about the lorries and planes.)

Be warned this episode contains awful impressions of Ray Winstone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Elvis Presley.  

In this session, we once again tackle the question of artificial intelligence, this time with the "Two Joes". As Joe's dissertation looks at AI and consciousness we explore some of the philosophical and ethical ideas that spring up in the field including - Asimov's laws, determinism, self-awareness, the trolley problem, the Frame Problem, dystopian fiction, the Turing Test and free will & determinism.  

Do ideas like transhumanism and automated economies irreparably alter what it means to be human? Well unfortunately in this follow-up podcast, we have very few answers. After we explore a thought experiment concerning what a fully automated world might look like (again) the conversation more inane and sweary turns. In our state of drunken phronesis, we offer conspiracy theories about Elvis Presley's death and Connor invents a new word for "skeleton".  

Here is an essay from Joe about transhumanism and "becoming like God": https://twobeersuntilphronesis.weebly...

High on caffeine and life one morning, Sam rushes to tell Connor about stoicism. So, for once, we aren't drinking, as we unpack the ideas of the Ancient Greek and Roman stoics and how those ideas are useful today - We talk about reducing anxiety, mental illness and finding meaning in life, all while exploring some of the criticisms of stoicism. From the Myth of Sisyphus, and the Ancient wisdom of Aristotle, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius to modern Virtue ethicists, online happiness courses and mindfulness we explore our initial reaction to the school of thought. Reading from the philosophy chair, Sam offers up wisdom from over 2000 years ago that is better than most self-help books today.  

Apologies for the poor audio quality. This is something we will be fixing in the future.