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May 11: Promises
What is a promise: a prediction?  A statement of intention?  Is promising rational?  Does it create an obligation?  John and Ken promise to raise these issues and more with Sir Neil MacCormick from the University of Edinburgh, author of Rhetoric and the Rule of Law.

May 18: Karl Popper
Karl Popper is a landmark figure in the philosophy of science.  His notion of "falsifiability" endures to this day and even appears in arguments about creation versus evolution.  But what does it mean for a theory to be falsifiable?  The Philosophers test a few ideas on Popper and falsifiability with Denis Phillips from the Stanford School of Education.

May 25: Liberty vs. Security
Edward Gibbon and James Madison both noted how liberties in Rome were among the victims of its growing empire.  Is our society facing a similar problem?  Or is this a false choice put forward by those in power?  John and Ken take a philosophical lens to the relationship between liberty and security with Stephen Holmes from the NYU Law School.

June 01: Summer Reading List
Summer's just around the corner – what books are you going to pack with your Speedo? John and Ken leaf through some of this summer's philosophy, fiction, and non-fiction reading with Danielle Marshall from Powell's City of Books.

June 08: The Problem of Evil
Many religions tell us that God is perfect: all-knowing, all-powerful, and beneficent.  Why then do bad things happen?  John and Ken discuss the problem of evil with their guest, Michael Tooley from the University of Colorado at Boulder, co-author of Knowledge of God.

June 15: Language and Thought
You might think our thoughts simply determine what we say.  But maybe the language we speak really determines the thoughts we have. As Wittgenstein famously wrote, "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." John and Ken wrestle with the relationship between language and thought with Stanford psychologist Lera Boroditsky.

June 22: Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was one of the most original and influential philosophers of the 20th century.  Her work considered historical and contemporary political events, such as the rise and fall of Nazism, and drew conclusions about the relation between the individual and society.  John and Ken discuss Arendt's political philosophy and its enduring influence.

June 29: Altruism
Are people genuinely altruistic, or is altruism just a type of selfish-behavior?  Are other animals altruistic? Should we strive to be altruistic, or is selfishness a higher virtue?  John and Ken take the moral high ground with their guest Jeff Schloss, Professor and Chair of Biology at Westmont College and co-editor of Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in Dialogue.