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Subscribe to Elucidations:       Full transcript here. In this episode, Graham Priest returns to discuss Buddhist political philosophy with me and Henry Curtis. (Last month, we talked with him about Buddhist metaphysics.) Click here to download Episode 124 of Elucidations. Last month, we discussed the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism: that suffering happens, that this suffering is (partially) caused by emotional attachment, that you can deal with it by changing your headspace, and that you can change your headspace by understanding the world, understanding your mind and body, and treating other people well. In this episode, our guest adds something to that list, which he calls the ‘0-th noble truth’. This is the idea that suffering is bad. That idea appears as a foundational premise across many different Buddhist philosophical traditions, and he suspects that it can be used as the basis for political philosophy. ...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       Full transcript here. This month, Henry Curtis and I sit down with Graham Priest (CUNY Graduate Center) to get the straight dope on Buddhist metaphysics. Click here to download Episode 123 of Elucidations. Buddhism isn’t just a religion—it’s an entire family of philosophical traditions that took root all over the Asian continent for thousands of years. The historical Buddha articulated views in what we consider to be many different areas of philosophy, including metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy. But for this episode, we’re focusing on the metaphysics. Metaphysics means different things to different people, but our guest thinks of it as a broad inquiry into the structure of reality at a fundamental level, space and time, what substance is, cause and effect, what makes any given thing the thing it is. And one of many things he finds interesting about Buddhism is that over the years, Buddhists have floated metaphysical views that don’t arise in the Western traditions. ...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       Episode post here. Thanks to Caroline Wall for another excellent transcription! Matt Teichman: Hello and welcome to Elucidations, an unexpected philosophy podcast. I’m Matt Teichman. Julia Liu: I’m Julia Liu. Matt Teichman: With us today is Aaron Ben Ze’ev, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Haifa, and he’s here to discuss the arc of love. His book by the same title, The Arc of Love, is out now from The University of Chicago Press, so get it while it’s hot. Aaron Ben Ze’ev, welcome. ...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       Full transcript here. This month, we sit down with Frithjof Bergmann (University of Michigan) and David Helmbold to talk about work that we really, really want. Not just kind of, but like, really really. Click here to download Episode 122 of Elucidations. Most of us spend the majority of our waking hours at work. And yet, the weight we assign to our jobs doesn’t seem to reflect that fact. We give some thought to what career we’d like to have, but usually not to what the day-to-day experience of pursuing that career is actually going to be like, long term. You can see this in the way we look for jobs. Typically, if you need a job, you look at what’s available, filter the options for something you think won’t be that bad, and do your best to get one of the best ones you can. It never seems to work the other way around. You don’t put effort into thinking about what kind of job would suit you psychologically and what you’d be good at, and then let the opportunity to pursue that job come to you. ...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       Episode post here. Thanks once again to David North for all his work on this! Matt Teichman: Hello and welcome to Elucidations, a philosophy podcast recorded at the University of Chicago. I’m Matt Teichman. Francey Russell: And I’m Francey Russell. Matt Teichman: With us today is Stephen Engstrom, professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, and he’s here to discuss the categorical imperative. Stephen Engstrom, welcome. ...

Hi, everybody! We’ve decided to do a listener Q&A episode. Need philosophical advice? Stuck on a philosophical conundrum? Do you deeply agree with or object to anything we’ve said on the show? Is there a problem you’ve never heard any philosopher talk about that you’d like to hear us discuss? How does it work? You record a voice message. You email it us. Once we’ve racked up enough of them, Agnes Callard, Ben Callard, and I will take a whack at responding to some. ...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       Episode post here. Thanks to David North for his hard work on this back episode transcription! Matt Teichman: Hello and welcome to Elucidations, a philosophy podcast ordinarily recorded at the University of Chicago but which today is being brought to you from San Francisco. Joining me is Kent Bach, emeritus professor at San Francisco State University to talk about jumping to conclusions and knowing when to think twice. Kent Bach, welcome! ...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       Full transcript here. This month, Julia Liu and I talk to Aaron Ben Ze’ev (University of Haifa) about romantic love: what it is, what makes it last for a long time when it lasts for a long time, what makes it end when it ends, and so on. Click here to download Episode 121 of Elucidations. ...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       Episode post here. Another bang-up transcription job from Caroline Wall! And now for the text version of this episode… Matt Teichman: Hello, and welcome to Elucidations. I’m Matt Teichman, and with me today is Robin Dembroff, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. And they are here to discuss going beyond the gender binary. Robin Dembroff, welcome. ...

Subscribe to Elucidations:       Episode post here. Thanks to Caroline Wall for another brilliantly executed transcript. I hope you enjoy the written version! Matt Teichman: Hello and welcome to Elucidations. I’m Matt Teichman. Henry Curtis: And I’m Henry Curtis. Matt Teichman: With us today is Stephanie Kapusta, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Dalhousie University, and she’s here to discuss misgendering. Stephanie Kapusta, welcome. ...