Subscribe to Elucidations: This month, Josh Kaufman and I talk to Claire Kirwin (Clemson University) about whether things are objectively good or bad, or whether it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Click here to download Episode 134 of Elucidations. Professor Kirwin is a fan of peanut butter cup ice cream, and Josh and I are fans of mint chocolate chip....
Subscribe to Elucidations: Full transcript here. This month, Agnes Callard and I talk to Aristotle about his philosophy, including his work on physics, biology, and ethics. Featuring an introduction by our awesome intern, Noadia Steinmetz-Silber! Click here to download Episode 133 of Elucidations. Not everyone is familiar with Aristotle’s work today, but the case could be made that science, political theory, logic, ethics, and philosophy exist in their current form largely due to the precedent he set....
Subscribe to Elucidations: Full transcript here. This month, we sit down with Rebecca Valentine (co-founder of Queerious Labs) to talk about anarchism, feminism, tech culture, and creative hacking. Click here to download Episode 132 of Elucidations. Hack this, hack that. What is a hacker, anyway? In pop culture, it’s common to use the term ‘hacker’ as a synonym for ‘cybercriminal’—that is, a person who engages in illegal activity over a computer network, usually involving gaining access to something they shouldn’t....
Subscribe to Elucidations: Full transcript here. This month, Greg Salmieri (University of Texas at Austin) returns for his third (!!) appearance on Elucidations, this time to talk about doing right by yourself. Click here to download Episode 131 of Elucidations. What was the last thing you did? The last thing I did was pull a shot of espresso....
Subscribe to Elucidations: Full transcript here. This month, Long Dang and I sit down to talk to Jessica Tizzard (University of Connecticut, Storrs) about weakness of the will. Click here to download Episode 130 of Elucidations. You’re at a party hosted by a close friend. It’s been three hours since you got there, and the evening thus far has been chock full of scintillating conversation, a fun round of Charades followed by Assassins, first rate cocktails, and a dessert to die for....
Subscribe to Elucidations: Full transcript here. This month, Ben Andrew and I are joined by Nethanel Lipshitz (Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University) to talk about discrimination. Click here to download Episode 129 of Elucidations. If someone treats me unequally—that is, if they give other people a relative advantage but not me—am I the victim of discrimination?...
Subscribe to Elucidations: Full transcript here. In this episode, Melissa Fusco (Columbia University) and I discuss a difficult problem in philosophical logic called the puzzle of free choice permission. Click here to download Episode 128 of Elucidations. One of the foundational ideas behind philosophical logic is that when you say something, that has further implications beyond the single thing you said....
Subscribe to Elucidations: Full transcript here.In this episode, Nic Koziolek (Washington University in St. Louis) returns to talk to me and Nora Bradford about self-consciousness. Click here to download Episode 127 of Elucidations. Self-consciousness, as philosophers use the term, is a word for when you know something about one of your own mental states. Like when I really enjoy some pizza and note that I’m enjoying it....
Subscribe to Elucidations: Episode transcript here. Three philosophers. Eight head-scratchers. 50 minutes. In this episode, Agnes Callard, Ben Callard and I respond to the world’s most awesome listener-recorded questions. Click here to download Episode 126 of Elucidations. A lot of people have the impression that philosophy is, first and foremost, an enterprise in which college professor types read books that no one can understand, then issue a response in the form of more books that no one can understand....
Subscribe to Elucidations: Episode transcript here. In this episode, James Koppel (MIT, James Koppel Coaching) joins me and Dominick Reo to talk about how we can write software to help identify the causes of disasters. Click here to download Episode 125 of Elucidations. These days, there’s often a tendency to think of software primarily as a venue for frivolous pleasures....