Thoughts: Philosophy Untangled

Tune in this week as Alex and Adam talk with Tuomas Takho from Bristol University about how science categorizes things in nature. Join as they discuss the concept of "natural kinds" and why it's not always straightforward.

The Leverhulme Series is an exciting new project, where we'll interview philosophers and interdisciplinary thinkers, who are pushing the boundaries of original work through funding from the Leverhulme Trust.

In the first episode, Isabel and Constantinos explore Stoicism with Dr. Christopher Gill. They unpack what Stoicism is, dispelling myths in 'self-help' circles and delving into Stoicism's interesting take on our relationship with nature.

For more information on the Leverhulme Trust, visit: https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/

This week, Adam and Calum are joined by Professor Robert McKenna from the University of Liverpool. Tune in as they delve into the depths of non-ideal epistemology, explore unconventional knowledge structures, the impact of biases, and more!

Join Alex and Kealan as they chat with Eddy Chen about his work in Physics and Philosophy. Follow along as they delve into the world of metaphysics, pushing the boundaries of what we know about time, philosophy, and the basic laws of nature that govern our lives.

Alex and Tinka are joined by Katharine Jenkins as they delve deep into the captivating world of gender, identity, and the various social constructs that shape our lives.

The way society is organised means that we all get made into members of various types of people, such as judges, wives, or women. These 'human social kinds' may be brought into being by oppressive social arrangements, and people may suffer oppression in virtue of being made into a member of a certain human social kind; this much is obvious. In her new book, Ontology and Oppression, Katharine Jenkins goes further, arguing that we should pay attention to the ways in which the very fact of being made into a member of a certain human social kind can be oppressive. She supplies three conceptual tools needed to understand this phenomenon – which together form the Constraint and Enablements Framework.

Katharine’s book recommendations:

In the wake, by Christina Sharpe.

https://www.dukeupress.edu/in-the-wake

Histories of the Transgender Child, by Jules Gill-Peterson.

https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/histories-of-the-transgender-child

Black on Both Sides, by C. Riley Snorton.

https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/black-on-both-sides

Join hosts Jasmine Hunt and Matt Kalesnik as they engage in a deep and thought-provoking conversation with Professor Michael Cholbi, Chair in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. In this episode, they explore the intricate realms of grief, empathy, and psychopaths, diving into Professor Cholbi's extensive research on ethical issues related to death and dying, with a focus on grief and those enigmatic psychopaths.

In this episode, Jonah, Tinka, and Dr. Lyons uncover the relationship between truth, belief and perception. Follow them through thought experiments and counterexamples as they attempt to construct reliable frameworks by which we can come to better understand and trust these concepts and how we arrive at them.

How do we define and understand the nature of play? In this episode, Calum and Laura speak to Michael Ridge, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. They discuss Ridge's functionalist theory of play, the difference between playing a game and playing full-stop, whether animals can engage in transgressive play and whether play can be considered as a moral virtue.

About the Guest

Michael Ridge is Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. For most of his career he has worked on metaethics, where he has defended a new form of expressivism.

More recently, Ridge has turned his attention to the philosophy of play and games, where he has published a series of articles over the past five years. As of the recording of this podcast, Ridge is on research leave writing a book on the nature and value of play, tentatively entitled Why So Serious?.

He is also writing a separate book, provisionally titled Beyond Meaning, on the concept of meaning in life and how we would be better off without that concept, or anyway without caring about meaning in life. Playfulness is important in the context of that book as well, as Ridge argues that cultivating playfulness is essential to not taking yourself too seriously, which he argues is the key to fully abandoning the desire for meaning in life.

Links & Citations

Brosnan SF, De Waal FB. 2003 Monkeys reject unequal pay. Nature. Sep 18;425(6955):297-9. Burke, R. 1971. “Work” and “Play.” Ethics, 82(1), 33–47. Ridge, Michael. 2021. Why So Serious? The Nature and Value of Play. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 105: 406– 434. Suits Bernard and Frank Newfeld. 1978. The Grasshopper : Games Life and Utopia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Calum and Adam sit down with Dr Greg Restall to get an introduction to the field of logic within Philosophy. They talk about what logic can be like at the start of your university philosophy career, and how the "baby logician" can avoid falling into the trap of becoming a "debate bro" who fails to further the discourse. Greg then also explains paradoxes, as well as what the current field of logic looks like.

Sound Editor: Sean Duxbury

Greg Restall is Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Queensland in 1994, and has held positions at the Australian National University, Macquarie University, and the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on logic, metaphysics, and philosophy of language. He is the author of An Introduction to Substructural Logics (Routledge, 2000), Logic (Routledge, 2006), Logical Pluralism (Oxford University Press, 2006; with Jc Beall) and Logical Methods (MIT Press, 2023; with Shawn Standefer). He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. His personal website is: https://consequently.org

Jonah and Alexandros are joined once again by Martin Bunzl, emeritus profesor of philosophy at Rutgers University, to consider the significance of rights. Ranging from consciousness to politics, to elephants and lakes, the conversation considers questions like 'what are rights for?', 'what is the relationship of rights to duties?', and 'what kinds of beings get rights?' 

In this episode Alexandros and Calum sit down with Dr Alexander Douglas, a senior lecturer at the University of St Andrews, to discuss the life and work of Baruch Spinoza. They touch on several topics, including Spinoza's controversial theological stances, his substance monism and the implication of his views for how society should operate.

This week, Emilia Wilson from Univeristy of St Andrews joins us to discuss erotica, pornography and oppression. They talk about the differences between erotica and pornography, and what this means for us socially, ethically and politically.

Trigger warnings: sexual violence, sexual assault, consent, rape 

Content warnings: discussion of sexual acts, pornography, sexual violence, ejaculation, BDSM, masturbation, consent. 

Papers:

"Date Rape: A Feminist Analysis" Lois Pineau

"A Non-Ideal Theory of Consent" Quill R Kukla

"Blurred Lines: How Fictional is Pornography" Aidan McGlynn

"How Not To Watch Feminist Pornography" R K Heck

"Scorekeeping in a pornographic language game" Rae Langton & Caroline West

A short video on consent by Planned Parenthood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTSDIilyA2I

'A closer look at sexual coercion'

https://www.thehotline.org/resources/a-closer-look-at-sexual-coercion/

When is speech 'free' speech? Are we free to think anything we want? Can thought ever truly be 'free'? In this episode, Calum and Jonah discuss what it means to have freedom of speech and thought, with Dr. Derek Ball. They discuss how the structure of our mind, our language and our world can constrain the content of our ideas, and whether some kinds of content constraints may in fact be necessary. 

This week Jonah and Amelia are joined by Dr Michelle O'Reilly, who'll be discussing her work on 'Digital Ethics of Care' - how we can improve conduct online, how adolescents think about themselves and others on social media, how philosophy might help, and much more.

In this episode, Jasmine and Arianna talk to Prof Cohen Shabot, Chair of The Women's and Gender Studies Graduate Program at the University of Haifa about how philosophy can be used in our everyday lives, specifically looking at medical gaslighting and obstetric violence. 

Trigger warnings include miscarriage, non-consent and gender-based violence.

How does one go about living a good life? In this episode Calum and Alex talk to Dr Margaret Hampson who is a lecturer in Ancient Philosophy at the University of St Andrews. They explore how Aristotle thinks about virtue in the Nichomachean Ethics, including what it consists of and how it links to the idea of living a good, flourishing life. The conversation then goes into more depth about the processes that Aristotle outlines for becoming a more virtuous person and Margaret’s interpretation of these processes, with a focus on the ideas of imitation and habituation. 

https://twitter.com/standrewsphil

How do we understand ethics in a secular world? In this episode, Isabel and Jonah talk to Geoffrey Moore, about his new book: ‘The Infinite Staircase’. We attempt to weave a thread from metaphysics to consciousness, and culture, right through to ethics. We explore how each of these ‘stairs’ is dependent upon the one that precedes it, how reliable the concepts of good and bad are and how they can be grounded in a secular worldview. 

This is an excerpt from our physicalism episode with Donnchadh O’Conaill, a researcher at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

This week Keir and Jasmine take a dive into physicalism with Donnchadh O’Conaill, a researcher at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. We explore the issues that zombies (bodies with no brains) and ghosts (brains with no bodies) pose for physicalism. We find out if physicalists should be checking under their beds at night or walking confidently into the dark...

For more information and links to relevant papers, please visit the Thoughts website: https://www.thoughtsuofg.com/episodes/episode-34-physicalism-and-the-spooky-side-of-metaphysics/ 

In the episode, Keir and Jasmine have and in-depth discussion with Dario Mortini, a fourth year PhD student and lecturer at the University of Glasgow about legal epistemology, the nature of the law and real-life legal cases. We discuss fairness and luck, testimony and evidence, and how the law and epistemology influence one another. 

In this episode, Isabel and Jasmine talk to Dr Pettigrove about his own experience grappling with the ethics of lying and the effects it might have had on his children. We discuss what Kant would say and whether this is a plausible account for honesty or a 'grinch' perspective. 

Trigger Warning: mentions of child abuse 

Do we have duties towards Children? If so, what are they? Who should be doing something about them? How should we be doing something about them? All these questions and more in today's episode of Thoughts, where Jonah and Alexandros delve into the philosophy of the duties that we have towards Children with Areti Theofilopoulou, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hong Kong.

The definition of art has been the subject of longstanding debate in aesthetics. In this episode, Katie and Hamish meet Jerrold Levinson, a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland. They explore the different definitions on the market, and Levinson offers his own intentional-historical definition - that art is “something that has been intended by someone for regard or treatment in some overall way that some earlier or pre-existing artwork or artworks are or were correctly treated”.

Levinson, Jerrold (1979). Defining art historically. _British Journal of Aesthetics_ 19 (3):21-33.

Hamish Stewart and Alexandros Constantinou talk to Bjoern Freter, an independent Scholar from Knoxville Tennessee to understand how superiorism underpins our modern world.

To find out more about Bjoern's work, visit: https://bjornfreter.academia.edu/

What really is ‘Nature’? Why should we care about preserving it? Jonah Woodward and Alexandros Constaninou are joined by Martin Bunzl, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University and author of the new book ‘Thinking While Walking: Reflections on the Pacific Crest Trail’. They discuss how the human conception of the natural world has changed over time, the difficulties we face in attempting to tackle climate change and environmental destruction, as well as possible solutions to these problems.

Can Philosophy help you become a better person? Yes! But, also, no...In this episode our hosts, Arianna Clark and Jonah Woodward talk to Francis Brewer about his path to Veganism, the power and limitations of philosophy, aliens, robots, the neural networks of plants, and how he used to think his mum was crazy.

Thoughts is excited to present Escaping the Ivory Tower, a brand new series in which our co-host Arianna Clark speaks to guests from all over the world about the impact that philosophy has made on their lives.

In this episode, Katie and Ross chat to Dr. Ian Kidd about Misanthropy – the view that it is appropriate to morally condemn humanity.

What are the abilities of self-regulation and self-control over our mental lives? What does it mean to say that we are at one with ourselves? Dr. Dorothea Debus, Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Konstanz joins Alexandros Constantinou and Keir Aitken to discuss these questions and many more in this episode of Thoughts.

How do you choose a dissertation topic? What are some common dissertation mishaps? In this episode, co-hosts Alex and Jasmine talk to Dr Emma Gordon, a research fellow in applied ethics and epistemology at the University of Glasgow who was voted Best Dissertation Supervisor at the University of Glasgow in 2020. They explore questions surrounding philosophy dissertations and discuss how to get around common hurdles that students face writing their dissertations. 

If you found this episode useful, look out for our YouTube series coming soon where we speak to Philosophy students about their dissertation experiences. Follow us on social media to stay up to date with all of our new episodes!

What’s so good about democracy? Is it really better than the alternatives? In this episode, co-hosts Katie and Keir talk to Dr Lewis Ross, a fellow in Philosophy and Public Policy at the London School of Economics. They explore the limits of democracy and some alternatives that have been proposed: Lottocracy, Epistocracy and Lewis’ favoured approach, Plato’s philosopher kings.

In this episode, Keir and Jasmine explore Underdetermination and what it’s all about. Speaking to JB Manchak, from the University of California, Irvine, We discuss the limits of scientific research, conspiracy theories and time travel. We also discuss Buddhism and the idea of the non-self.

In this episode Alex and Ross are joined by Dr. Simon Hope of Stirling University to discuss the role and scope of political philosophy; what do we do when we do political philosophy and whose viewpoint gets to count?

In this episode co-hosts Alice and Katie delve into the complex nature of voting systems with senior lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, Dr Adam Rieger. The episode focuses on first past the post, preference voting, and the alternative voting method – with Adam helping us to untangle some of the key criticisms of each.

Hamish and Alexandros delve deep into the world of Miracles with Timothy McGrew. They discuss Hume’s argument against Miracles. Join us in this discussion about human testimony, the limits of inquiry and bizarre animals.

This is our second episode devoted to the philosophy of law. We discuss the function of law in our society and where our legal system is misaligned with our political and economic systems. We hear about when Coca Cola took on the Bolivian government, and won. Finally, Emilios gives us a brief history of our rights and we take a moment to think about what our rights may look like in the 22nd century.

This episode is one of two which looks at the philosophy of law. We discuss 'what is the law?', we look at the connection between law and justice, and between law and morality (legal Positivism vs. Natural law). We visit the peculiarities of legal reasoning, the connection to rights and values, and with an emphasis on the philosophy of language also on how the law both abhors and deploys ambiguity.

In this New Year’s special episode, Professor Ben Colburn joins Ross and Alexandros in an in-depth discussion of the meaning of autonomy in Moral and Political Philosophy. What does it mean to be autonomous and ultimately why is it a good thing? Join us in in contemplating these and many more questions in this special episode of Thoughts.

What does it mean for a category to be socially constructed? Are we wronged when we are cast into a social category that doesn’t characterise us? How does Gender relate to all this? Dr. Katharine Jenkins, lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, joins Ross and Alexandros to discuss these questions and many more in this episode of Thoughts.

!Content Warning: Sexual Assault!

Why do we believe what we are told? When should we believe what we are told? And why is it so often the case that we suspend our belief exactly when others need it the most? Dr Mona Simion – Deputy Director of COGITO (and so much more) – is going to dissect these questions for us and explain to Ruaridh and Arianna why she thinks that, when it comes to cases of sexual allegation, we should (most of the time) believe the victim.

In this episode co-hosts Katie and Hamish are joined by Charlotte Kleine and Belen De Bacco from the Glasgow University Art Appreciation Society (GUAAS). They find out about some of GUAAS’s upcoming events and discuss Walter Benjamin’s essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility”, and the body in modern and postmodern space.

Are borders always bad? Believe it or not, some philosophers think they are. Today we speak to Karl Martin Adam - a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - who argues that settler colonialism is a case where borders seem like quite a good thing.  Jasmine Hunt and Hamish Stewart join him in conversation.

Why do we think of some violent acts in video games as wrong, and others not? In this episode, Katie Moody speaks to Dr. Rebecca Davnall, a lecturer in philosophy and game design studies at the University of Liverpool, about whether actions in video games can be morally wrong.

Do we have obligations to future people? Would it be better to just nuke the world? In this episode Katie Moody and Ross Patrizio talk to Dr Joe Slater, a lecturer in moral philosophy at the University of St Andrews, about our moral obligations to people living in the future.

Buddhism, and its metaphysics, is not given much attention in Western philosophy. Fortunately, Pavel Nitchovski, a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was as annoyed as we were about this, and decided to teach the topic in the Summer of 2020. In this episode, Hamish Stewart and Keir Aitken quiz Pavel about Buddhism’s conception of the non-self.