Foucault on Power
03
Dec 2018
Michel Foucault had some truly brilliant and important insights about power, insights that have had an important influence on some of today’s most prominent activist movements, and that arguably should be having more of an influence on others. It’s true that there’s a lot to take issue with in his work, but there’s also a lot to be inspired by.
Read morePhilosophical Freud
06
Dec 2018
Most people think of Freud as a psychologist rather than as a philosopher. And worse, they often think of his work as achingly passé and of the man as a pseudo-scientist at best, and a charlatan at worst. But I think that Freud was a great philosopher who still has a lot to teach us about ourselves.
Read moreSubway Spreading and Personal Space (Part II)
10
Dec 2018
Last month, I provided a story of (man)spreading on the subway. It's is a simple story about two people on a crowded train with different ‘preferences’ for personal space. But it leads us to a new understanding of the ways that even everyday gestures can trigger structural and systematic inequities.
Read moreWhy Should We Give Foreign Aid?
14
Dec 2018
Do we have a duty to help developing nations escape poverty? Or does foreign aid do more harm than good? What is the best way to end global poverty? These are some of the questions we’ll be in asking in this week’s show on foreign aid.
Read moreOn Morally Condemning the Past
17
Dec 2018
The American Pediatric Association is clear that spanking harms children. In light of this information, it’s fair to say spanking children is immoral and those who spank in this day and age are doing wrong. But here’s a tricky question. How should our moral judgments of the present impact our judgments of what people did in the past?
Read moreThe Examined Year: 2018 – Uncut
31
Dec 2018
Happy new year from your senior producer, here to offer a look behind the scenes at how this year's end-of-year special really happened.
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