Within Reason

By Alex J O'Connor

Society & Culture Philosophy Religion & Spirituality

What's Within Reason about?

For the curious.

A philosophy podcast that sometimes flirts with other disciplines, Within Reason has featured guests including Richard Dawkins, Douglas Murray, William Lane Craig, Peter Singer, Konstantin Kisin, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

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Within Reason episodes:

04.28.2024
#65 Esoterica - The History of Yahweh
Justin Sledge is currently a part-time professor of philosophy and religion at several institutions in the Metro-Detroit area and a popular local educator. His YouTube channel is "Esoterica".
04.21.2024
#64 Rory Stewart - We Are Addicted to a Sense of Crisis
Rory Stewart is a former UK Government minister, MP, and deputy governor in Iraq following the western invasion. He walked on foot for two years across Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal in 2002. He was a private tutor to...
04.14.2024
#63 A.C. Grayling - Who Will Own the Moon?
A.C. Grayling is a British philosopher and author. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, an independent undergraduate college in London. Buy "Who Owns the Moon?" here.
04.07.2024
#62 750,000 Subscriber QnA
Thank you all for 750,000 subscribers on YouTube!
03.31.2024
#61 Sam Harris - Can Science Determine Moral Values?
Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, philosopher, New York Times best-selling author, host of Making Sense, and creator of Waking Up.
03.24.2024
#60 Carlo Rovelli - Time is Weirder Than You Think
Carlo Rovelli, an Italian theoretical physicist, is known mainly for his contributions to research in the field of quantum gravity. He is the author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, The Order of Time, and White Holes, amongst other works.
03.17.2024
#59 William Lane Craig - Is Biblical Slaughter Ethical?
William Lane Craig is a Christian philosopher and public speaker, who today makes his third appearance on Within Reason. We discuss why Richard Dawkins refuses to debate him, and whether Old Testament slaughter can be justified.
03.10.2024
#58 Michael Knowles - Is America a Christian Nation?
Michael Knowles is an American conservative Catholic political commentator and media host. He has worked for the Daily Wire since 2016.
03.05.2024
#57 David Deutsch - The Multiverse is Real
David Deutsch is a British physicist at the University of Oxford. He is a visiting professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation in the Clarendon Laboratory of the University of Oxford. (Wikipedia.)...
02.18.2024
#56 Susan Neiman - Left is Not Woke
Susan Neiman is an American moral philosopher, cultural commentator, and essayist. She is the author of "Left is Not Woke", available here.
02.11.2024
#55 Robert Sapolsky - Free Will Doesn't Exist. Now What?
Robert Sapolsky is an American neuroendocrinology researcher and author. He is a professor of biology, neurology, neurological sciences, and neurosurgery at Stanford University. He is the author of "Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will", which you can purchase...
02.05.2024
#54 The Cultural Tutor - Why Is The Modern World So Ugly?
Sheehan Quirke is known online as the Cultural Tutor. With over 1.6 million followers on X, he writes daily threads about art, architecture, and history.
01.28.2024
#53 Jason Brennan - The Case Against Democracy
Jason Brennan is an American philosopher and business professo at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. Brennan writes about democratic theory, the ethics of voting, competence and power, freedom, and the moral foundations of commercial society. (Wikipedia.) He...
01.20.2024
#52 Jonathan Pageau - The Problem With Secular Architecture
Jonathan Pageau is a French Canadian icon carver, public speaker and YouTuber exploring the symbolic patterns that underlie our experience of the world, how these patterns emerge and come together, manifesting in religion, art and in popular culture. He's also...
01.15.2024
#51 Richard Dawkins - Religion is (Still) Appalling
Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist and author of books including The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion.
01.07.2024
#50 Sisyphus 55 - Nihilism and the Manosphere
Ben Thomas, better known online as Sisyphus 55, is a philosophy YouTuber with one million subscribers. His videos cover topics including nihilism, existentialism, love, relationships, and political philosophy.
12.23.2023
#49 Christmas Special with Bart Ehrman - Did Christmas Really Happen?
In this Christmas special of Within Reason, New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman explores the history and narrative of Jesus' birthday, and demonstrates where the accounts seem to contradict. Get Bart Erhman's courses here.
12.16.2023
#48 Edward Feser - Aristotle's Argument for God
Edward Feser is an American Catholic philosopher, and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Pasadena City College in California. He is the author of "Five Proofs of the Existence of God", and in this episode speaks about one of these: the...
12.09.2023
#47 Josh Rasmussen - Why is Consciousness a Philosophical Problem?
Josh Rasmussen is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Azusa Pacific University, with an expertise in analytic metaphysics. He is author of several books, including Defending the Correspondence Theory of Truth, Necessary Existence, How Reason Can Lead to God, and Is God the Best Explanation...
12.04.2023
#46 John Vervaeke - Escaping the Meaning Crisis
John Vervaeke is an award-winning professor of psychology, cognitive science, and Buddhist psychology at the University of Toronto. He is the creator of a fifty-hour series on YouTube called "Awakening From the Meaning Crisis". Dr. Vervaeke joins me to discuss...
11.06.2023
#45 Graham Oppy - Atheism Requires Justification Too
Graham Oppy is Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of Research at Monash University, CEO of the Australasian Association of Philosophy, Chief Editor of the Australasian Philosophical Review, Associate Editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, and serves on the...
10.19.2023
#44 Just Stop Oil - How Far Will They Go?
Just Stop Oil are one of the most well-known and thoroughly hated political groups in the UK. You may recognise them as the brand behind stunts such as throwing soup over Van Gogh's Sunflowers, covering the felt of a snooker...
10.16.2023
#43 Peter Hitchens Storms Out of My Interview
Peter Hitchens is an author, broadcaster, journalist, and commentator. He writes for The Mail on Sunday. He has published numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, The War We Never Fought and The Phoney Victory.
10.04.2023
#42 Genetically Modified Skeptic - Why Satanism is Making a Comeback
Drew McCoy is the creator and host of the YouTube channel Genetically Modified Skeptic. His videos cover topics including atheism, cults, satanism, and Biblical scholarship. In this episode we talk about his recent trip to SatanCon in Boston, Massachusetts,...
09.24.2023
#41 Justin Brierley - The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God
Justin Brierley was, for 17 years, the host of "Unbelievable?" on Premier Christian Radio. He is a broadcaster, author, and Christian apologist whose latest book is "The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God: Why new atheism grew old and secular...
09.08.2023
#40 Slavoj Žižek - Sex, Drugs, and Commodity Fetishism
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian-born political philosopher and cultural critic. He was described by British literary theorist, Terry Eagleton, as the “most formidably brilliant” recent theorist to have emerged from Continental Europe. (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) To support Within...
08.20.2023
#39 Andrew Doyle - The New Puritans
Andrew Doyle is a playwright, journalist, and political satirist. He has written for the fictional character Jonathan Pie and created the character Titania McGrath. Doyle joined GB News in 2021, and hosts a weekly show titled Free Speech Nation. He...
07.30.2023
#38 Carl Robichaud - Will There Be A Nuclear War?
Carl Robichaud co-leads Longview Philanthropy’s programme on nuclear weapons and existential risk. For over a decade, Carl led grant-making in nuclear security at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a philanthropic fund which grants over $30 million annually to strengthen...
07.24.2023
#37 T.M. Luhrmann - How Does God Become Real?
Tanya Marie Luhrmann is an American psychological anthropologist known for her studies of modern-day witches, charismatic Christians, and studies of how culture shapes psychotic, dissociative, and related experiences. She is the author of How God Becomes Real, which asks what...
06.25.2023
#36 Peter Boghossian - Having Better Conversations About Philosophy
Peter Boghossian is an American philosopher, a founding faculty member at the University of Austin, and coined the term "street epistemology" as a method of helping people to change their minds. Peter Boghossian's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@drpeterboghossian
06.19.2023
#35 Bart Ehrman - Did Jesus Even Claim to be God?
Get Bart Ehrman's course, "Did Jesus Call Himself God?": https://www.bartehrman.com/godman View all of Bart Ehrman's courses: https://www.bartehrman.com/alex To support me on Patreon (thank you): http://www.patreon.com/cosmicskeptic To donate to my PayPal (thank you): http://www.paypal.me/cosmicskeptic Bart Ehrman is...
06.07.2023
#34 Anil Seth - A New Science of Consciousness
Anil Seth is a professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. He is the author of "Being You: A New Science of Consciousness". Purchase "Being You: A New Science of Consciousness": https://amzn.to/3NgKD53 Anil Seth's website: https://www.anilseth.com/ The Perception...
05.29.2023
#33 Michael Jones - Does God Send People to Hell?
Michael Jones is the founder and director of the Christian YouTube channel "Inspiring Philosophy". He has previously debated Alex twice. Inspiring Philosophy on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5qDet6sa6rODi7t6wfpg8g Inspiring Philosophy, "Does God Send People to Hell?": https://youtu.be/tiYf6ITgWbk Michael's debate with Alex on the...
05.22.2023
#32 Destiny - Testing Destiny's Ethics
Steven Kenneth Bonnell II, known online as Destiny, is an American internet personality and political commentator. Find Destiny on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DESTINY
05.14.2023
#31 Peter Singer - The Limits of Utilitarianism
Peter Singer is an Australian moral philosopher often credited as the father of the modern animal rights movement. Purchase Animal Liberation Now: https://amzn.to/450BB3e Peter Singer's upcoming speaking tour: New York: https://events.humanitix.com/peter-singer-ny Washington DC: https://events.humanitix.com/peter-singer-washington-dc LA: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09005E68DC24308C San...
05.07.2023
#30 Joshua Bowen - How the Bible Supports Slavery
Joshua Bowen is an Assyriologist, YouTuber, and author of the book, "Did the Old Testament Endorse Slavery?" Links: The Atheist Handbook to the Old Testament: Volume 1: https://t.co/SrcMTKcxS6 Volume 2: https://t.co/RuPDimaomv Did the Old Testament Endorse Slavery?: https://tinyurl.com/3m6prd3h...
04.30.2023
#29 Richard Swinburne - Souls, Free Will and the Problem of Evil
Richard Swinburne is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, and author of a number of books on the philosophy of religion, the soul, and Christianity, amongst other subjects. To support the podcast, please visit support.withinreasonpodcast.com
04.23.2023
#28 Neil deGrasse Tyson - What Is Earth's Biggest Threat?
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and one of the most recognisable communicators of science in the world. His most recent book is Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilisation: https://amzn.to/40Cdkgi (affiliate link)
04.18.2023
#27 Philip Goff - Is Everything Conscious?
Philip Goff is an Associate Professor at Durham University whose research focuses on philosophy of mind and consciousness. He is one of the world's most prominent proponents of "panpsychism", the view that consciousness is a fundamental and ubiquitous property of...
04.09.2023
#26 David Renton - No Free Speech for Fascists
David Renton is a barrister and historian. He is the author of "No Free Speech for Fascists", discussing the history of, and the case for, "no-platforming" fascist speakers (and only fascist speakers). To support the Within Reason Podcast and get early...
04.02.2023
#25 Andrew Mark Henry - What is Religion?
Andrew Mark Henry is a scholar of religion specialising in early Christianity and the religions of the late Roman Empire. He is also the host of "Religion for Breakfast", a YouTube channel with over 600,000 subscribers producing informative videos on...
03.26.2023
#24 William Lane Craig - Did Jesus Rise From The Dead?
William Lane Craig is a Christian philosopher, author, and debater. He speaks to host Alex O'Connor about secularism in the US and UK, argument vs emotion in coming to faith in God, and the historical case for the resurrection of...
03.19.2023
#23 Konstantin Kisin - Free Speech and Reparations
Konstantin Kisin is a satirist, comedian, journalist, and co-host of the Triggernometry Podcast. He recently went viral for a speech delivered at the Oxford Union arguing that "wokeness has gone too far", which has since been viewed over 100,000,000 times...
03.12.2023
#22 Bishop Robert Barron - Seeking Meaning, Finding God?
Bishop Robert Barron is the bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. His website, WordOnFire.org, reaches millions of people each year, and he is one of the world’s most followed Catholics on...
03.12.2023
#21 Trent Horn, Cameron Bertuzzi & Joe Schmid - The Problem of Evil
In this episode of the Cosmic Skeptic Podcast, Alex is joined by Joe Schmid, an agnostic, Cameron Bertuzzi, a (then) protestant, and Trent Horn, a catholic, to discuss the problem in detail, and analyse various responses to it.
06.17.2022
#20 Joe Schmid - Arguments For God Tier List
Joe Schmid is the owner of the Majesty of Reason YouTube channel, a platform dedicated to the analysis of a variety of philosophical topics. He is the author of "The Majesty of Reason: A Short Guide to Critical Thinking in...
06.07.2022
#19 Genetically Modified Skeptic - Do We Still Feel the Same Way About Religion?
Drew McCoy is the host of the Genetically Modified Skeptic YouTube channel, which is, with now over 500,000 subscribers, perhaps the largest atheist YouTube channel in the world right now. The last time we collaborated was in 2017, arguing...
04.21.2022
#18 Ed Winters - Veganism Reconsidered
Ed Winters ("Earthling Ed") is a vegan educator, best-selling author, public speaker and content creator, widely known for his viral debates, speeches, and video essays. Ed was on the Cosmic Skeptic Podcast in 2019, making him the first guest...
04.21.2022
#17 April 1st - Why I'm a Christian Now, with Stephen Woodford
Released on April 1st, this podcast details Alex's conversion to Christianity, a position he defends against the criticisms of Stephen Woodford (Rationality Rules).
11.20.2020
#16 Alex Hershaft - Surviving the Holocaust
Dr. Alex Hershaft is a Holocaust survivor, animal rights activist, and co-founder and president of the Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM). He has previously had a 30-year career in materials science, and holds a PHD in inorganic chemistry. Dr....

What's Within Reason about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Within Reason episodes:

#65 Esoterica - The History of Yahweh

#64 Rory Stewart - We Are Addicted to a Sense of Crisis

#63 A.C. Grayling - Who Will Own the Moon?

#62 750,000 Subscriber QnA

#61 Sam Harris - Can Science Determine Moral Values?

#60 Carlo Rovelli - Time is Weirder Than You Think

#59 William Lane Craig - Is Biblical Slaughter Ethical?

#58 Michael Knowles - Is America a Christian Nation?

#57 David Deutsch - The Multiverse is Real

#56 Susan Neiman - Left is Not Woke

#55 Robert Sapolsky - Free Will Doesn't Exist. Now What?

#54 The Cultural Tutor - Why Is The Modern World So Ugly?

#53 Jason Brennan - The Case Against Democracy

#52 Jonathan Pageau - The Problem With Secular Architecture

#51 Richard Dawkins - Religion is (Still) Appalling

#50 Sisyphus 55 - Nihilism and the Manosphere

#49 Christmas Special with Bart Ehrman - Did Christmas Really Happen?

#48 Edward Feser - Aristotle's Argument for God

#47 Josh Rasmussen - Why is Consciousness a Philosophical Problem?

#46 John Vervaeke - Escaping the Meaning Crisis

#45 Graham Oppy - Atheism Requires Justification Too

#44 Just Stop Oil - How Far Will They Go?

#43 Peter Hitchens Storms Out of My Interview

#42 Genetically Modified Skeptic - Why Satanism is Making a Comeback

#41 Justin Brierley - The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God

#40 Slavoj Žižek - Sex, Drugs, and Commodity Fetishism

#39 Andrew Doyle - The New Puritans

#38 Carl Robichaud - Will There Be A Nuclear War?

#37 T.M. Luhrmann - How Does God Become Real?

#36 Peter Boghossian - Having Better Conversations About Philosophy

#35 Bart Ehrman - Did Jesus Even Claim to be God?

#34 Anil Seth - A New Science of Consciousness

#33 Michael Jones - Does God Send People to Hell?

#32 Destiny - Testing Destiny's Ethics

#31 Peter Singer - The Limits of Utilitarianism

#30 Joshua Bowen - How the Bible Supports Slavery

#29 Richard Swinburne - Souls, Free Will and the Problem of Evil

#28 Neil deGrasse Tyson - What Is Earth's Biggest Threat?

#27 Philip Goff - Is Everything Conscious?

#26 David Renton - No Free Speech for Fascists

#25 Andrew Mark Henry - What is Religion?

#24 William Lane Craig - Did Jesus Rise From The Dead?

#23 Konstantin Kisin - Free Speech and Reparations

#22 Bishop Robert Barron - Seeking Meaning, Finding God?

#21 Trent Horn, Cameron Bertuzzi & Joe Schmid - The Problem of Evil

#20 Joe Schmid - Arguments For God Tier List

#19 Genetically Modified Skeptic - Do We Still Feel the Same Way About Religion?

#18 Ed Winters - Veganism Reconsidered

#17 April 1st - Why I'm a Christian Now, with Stephen Woodford

#16 Alex Hershaft - Surviving the Holocaust

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