Philosophy Talk Podcast

This Week’s Episode

What’s So Special About Humans?

May 31, 2026

Human beings share the planet with many different organisms with vastly diverse ways of life. We like to think we’re a higher form of intelligence. But are we really that unique? How different are we as a species when it…

Book cover: Living on Earth, Life, Consciousness, and the Making of the Natural World

Recent Episodes

The Scandalous Truth about Memoir

A memoir is a personal narrative written about a pivotal time in the author’s life.…

May 24, 2026

Cover art of various memoirs, including "Know My Name" and "Ordinary Girls," highlighting the scandalous truth about memoir writing.

Dostoevsky and Doubting Faith

Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky was a practicing Christian, and his writings often feature characters who…

May 17, 2026

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist, author of works exploring faith.

Elizabeth Anscombe

Elizabeth Anscombe made hugely influential contributions to contemporary action theory, moral theory, and philosophy of…

May 10, 2026

Black and white portrait of philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe.

This Month’s Playlist

Silhouettes of workers digging with a pickaxe at Stanford, May 19.

Work and Workers

The month of May kicks off with International Workers’ Day on May 1, the birthday of Karl Marx on May 5, and the broadcast of our episode on Marx and Morality. So for This Month’s Playlist we’ve gathered episodes that celebrate—and question—work, workers, and philosophers of labor like Marx, Simone Weil, and Emma Goldman.

Merleau-Ponty and Perception

June 7, 2026

For French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, everything we perceive takes the form of a shape. You…

Maurice Merleau-Ponty portrait with cigarette, philosopher of perception

What Is Gender?

June 14, 2026

Gender is a controversial topic these days, but people can’t seem to agree about what…

Gradient-colored figures representing diverse genders.

Jean-Paul Sartre

June 21, 2026

Jean-Paul Sartre was one of the first global public intellectuals, famous for his popular existentialist…

Jean-Paul Sartre, renowned philosopher, in a thoughtful pose.

Philosophers’ Corner

April 17, 2026

Remembering Dan Dennett

This Sunday, on the second anniversary of his passing, we’ll be rebroadcasting the special retrospective...

February 12, 2026

Money (Is That What I Want?)

Whether or not money can buy well-being, it’s certainly crucial (in capitalist societies at least)...

January 21, 2026

Simple, Natural, and Honest

Diogenes of Sinope, the fourth-century-BCE Greek philosopher, invented a philosophical mode of living called Cynicism—not...

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