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The Luck of the Draw: Live Blogging!
Ken Taylor
11
Jul 2008
Today's episode is about Lotteries -- not the state sponsored gambling type, but the type that allocate scarce goods and also burdens. Think of housing lotteries, school admission lotteries, and the draft lotteries. In Ancient Greece many political offices were alloted by lottery. Our question is whether and when lotteries are a just distributive mechanism. Sometimes they seem just the thing. The draft lottery, for example, seemed like a good way of keeping the privileged and connected from gaming the selective service system. But suppose tax rates were assigned by lot, so that your rate of...
Read moreWhat Makes A Man?
19
Mar 2021
Does masculinity need a makeover for the 21st century? Should your gender matter to who you are as a person? Why think there’s just one thing it means to be a man? This week on Philosophy Talk, we’re discussing masculinity and what makes a man. Many people are suspicious of traditional masculine ideals, and for good reasons. We live in a culture that expects men to be dominant, powerful, and good at suppressing feelings (other than anger). These expectations, often called “toxic masculinity”, are harmful to men themselves, since ideals of masculinity are difficult and painful to...
Read moreMemes and the Evolution of Culture
John Perry
20
Apr 2016
I bet that when most people hear the word ‘meme’ they think of the Internet and the viral spread of things like planking. Or maybe new expressions like LOL, or Gangnam style or the Harlem shake. This week's program may touch on that stuff, but that’s mostly not what we want to discuss. We want to discuss a serious scientific hypothesis about the evolution of human culture -- the idea that memes are to cultural evolution as genes are to biological evolution. Now genes, I get. They’re self-replicating packets of biological information. All that...
Read moreWelcome Our New Language-Learning Robot Overlords
02
Feb 2024
Can we learn things from ChatGPT and other large language models that shed light on human language acquisition? Sounds like it would be cool if it were possible, but how would it work? Well to start, human babies have to learn lots of things: how the objects around them behave, the rules of social interaction, the various parts of language. And it certainly seems like A.I.s learn language too. But what if all they do is imitate human speech? Do they think and have actual knowledge, or are they just fancy computer programs? Of course, what if our own minds are just fancy computer programs,...
Read moreHow Fiction Shapes Us
Guest Contributor
24
Nov 2012
By guest blogger Joshua Landy What, if anything, do works of verbal art—poems, plays, novels, films—do for us? These days, most people will tell you one of two things: some will claim that works of verbal art make us better human beings (usually by teaching us Important Lessons about Life, or by rendering us more empathetic), and others will insist they have no effect on us whatsoever. I happen to think both of these hypotheses are wrong, and that fictions are capable of extremely important—but morally neutral—effects on our lives. On this week’s show, you’ll hear John...
Read moreMind the Gaps!
11
Mar 2019
In previous installments of my series on Freud as a philosopher I described how during Freud’s lifetime the sciences of the mind were guided by assumptions about the nature of the mind and its relation to the body that he came to reject. These included the notion that mind and body are categorically distinct (“dualism”), that all mental processes are conscious, and that the best way to explore the mind is through introspection. Freud turned his back all these propositions. Instead, he arrived at the view that mental states are brain states (“materialism”), that mental processes...
Read moreAnti-Sacred Spaces
27
Feb 2020
In my last blog I wrote about rough humor. I defined it (roughly) like this: humor that deals with culturally sensitive issues in a way that bumps into or violates taboos, such as taboos on certain words or on talking about or mocking certain things. The point of bringing this up—in addition to complementing the episode on humor—was to investigate what assumptions people make about rough humor’s psychological effects. I maintained that those assumptions seem to fall into two more or less conscious theories, which I called “Blowing Off Steam” and “Reinforcement.” Blowing...
Read moreRemixing Reality: Art and Literature for the 21st Century
Ken Taylor
17
Aug 2014
This week, it’s s Remixing Reality – Art and Literature for the 21st Century. Remix is all the rage, these days. Some people claim that absolutely everything is a remix. Of course, if that were literally true, it would imply that nothing new is being created anymore. But in one sense, a remix is a new thing. A remix is a new thing that that results from the creative transformation of the old. Though people tend to think of remix as a distinctively 21st century thing, great creators have been producing remixes practically forever. Think James Joyce. Oscar Wilde. Or even Shakespeare. Every...
Read moreTo Forgive and Forget
Ken Taylor
10
Dec 2011
This week’s episode is about “Forgetting and Forgiving.” Frankly, though, the ‘forgetting’ part is sort of throw-away. You should never forget the wrongs done to you. Why would you want to? Forgiving, though, is another thing entirely. When somebody wrongs us, negative emotions can eat away at us. If we let go of our anger and resentment, we experience healing and reconciliation. One could, I suppose, think that there are times and situations when forgiveness just isn’t called for. Suppose somebody...
Read moreIs There a Case for Bullshit?
Serena Wong
13
Feb 2018
Harry Frankfurt first published "On Bullshit" in 1986, putting forth a theory that claims bullshit is "indifference to the truth." Because bullshit undermines our ability to tell truth from falsity, according to Frankfurt, silence is better than bullshit. Stefano Zorzi challenges this view, arguing that bullshit can help us reach the truth. Zorzi argues that we cannot always know what is truth before we say or discover it—if Galileo had adhered to Frankfurt's principle of silence over "bullshit", he would have never found the factual ground to support Copernicus. Do you think...
Read moreWhy America is not a Nation
Ken Taylor
19
Jun 2018
America is not a nation. It is only a place. Or so I will argue in this blog entry. And this fact, I claim, has great significance for understanding the potential demise of the republic we once dreamt of. Why do I say that? Well, there's a short answer and a slightly longer answer. The short answer is that too many Americans hate, or at least really dislike other Americans for us to count as a nation. The longer answer is similar in spirit, but will take some work to spell out in detail. Spelling out the longer answer requires me to say a bit more about...
Read moreDoes Work Give Our Lives Meaning?
Truman Chen
19
May 2017
The possibility of a world without work is making plenty of people nervous: what would it look like, will it actually be good for us, will life even be meaningful anymore? In a recent editorial for The Guardian, Yuval Noah Harari has made the case that we don't need to fret, at least not when it comes to having meaningful lives. As Harari sees it there are already enough examples of meaning-making in the world—ranging from religious belief to Pokémon to consumerism—that we'll be able to impose meaning onto the world even if we're rendered obsolete as workers. What do you...
Read moreHate! Hate! Hate!
David Livingstone Smith
01
Sep 2017
The last thing that I do every night is watch the news shows on TV, and listen to the pundits discuss and debate the issues of the day. And the first thing that I do in the morning, after pouring myself a mug of coffee, is sit down in a comfy chair and read the news. I’ve noticed that ever since the abortive “Unite the Right” protest in Charlottesville, during which members of the so-called alt-right, kitted out with swastika flags and Ku Klux Klan regalia, marched through that little college town chanting neo-Nazi slogans, the topic of hate has been high on the media agenda....
Read moreFree Will
John Perry
26
Mar 2005
The term "free-will" has been used in philosophy and theology to formulate a number of different problems. Here are some of them: 1) If there is an omniscient God --- that is, a God who knows everything --- can we act freely? How can what we do be up to us, if God already knows what we are going to do? 2) If every event, including human actions --- events that consist of a human being doing something --- is caused by the events that lead up to the event, can human actions be free? If the past determines what we do, how can what we do be...
Read moreFree Speech on Campus
John Perry
25
Feb 2017
I will no doubt learn many things from our program on free speech on campus. But going into the program, here are some things I believe.
1. The first amendment said Congress shall make no law “… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press….” This was extended to the states after the Civil War, as I understand it.
2. If another institution abridges freedom of speech, it may be unwise or wrong, but it is not a violation of the first amendment.
3. All speech is action, and so may fall under rules prohibiting...
New Blog Policy
Philosophy Talk
26
Feb 2010
Well, it's been awhile since we've updated our blog. Since both John and Ken are extremely busy -- not only putting on episodes of philosophy talk, but with full time day jobs and research agendas (which means books and articles to write) -- they just don't get around to blogging that often, as you can see. We always invite our guests to blog, but they are busy people too and seldom take us up on the invitation. We had contemplated just closing down our blog, but thought before taking that step, we'd try one more innovation. What we're going to do is for every show, post something...
Read more100 and Counting
Ken Taylor
28
Aug 2006
Today marks our 100th episode of Philosophy Talk. We're going to throw something of an on-air party to celebrate. We'll have five of our all time favorite guests drop by to wish us well and to tell us what they're currently up to. The five are Anthony Appiah, Anne Ashbaugh, Alison Gopnik, Jenann Ismael and Martha Nussbaum. Plus will try to take lots of calls from listeners about what they'd like to see -- or hear -- us do in the next 100 episodes. It should be lots of fun. Of course, it's going the be kind of hectic getting five guests on and off, along with callers. But hey, it's a party. If...
Read moreIdeology and Belief
08
May 2022
This week we’re thking about Ideology—a system of false beliefs that’s opposed to reason, like fascism or Scientology. Of course we shouldn’t tar all ideologies with the same brush. After all, what about liberal democracy, i.e. the belief that everybody deserves the same freedoms, a say in their government, and the protection of the law? Nothing wrong with that ideology, right? But is that really an ideology, or just... the truth? Well, believing in liberal democracy isn’t like believing in gravity. It’s fine to say that physical facts are true, but values aren’t like that. We may value...
Read moreThe Culture Wars: Phase 2?
Ken Taylor
11
Nov 2015
Here is a conjecure. We are by now deep into a new phase of the so-called "culture wars." The current battles in the culture wars are ased partly on competing and apparently irreconcilable perceptions over the extent of what some see as genuine oppression and others see as merely so-called "oppression." I was prompted to this conjecture partly by recent events on various university campuses and partly by some advice I ran across on a Unitarian-Universalist website about how to be effective allies to those with marginalized identities. They offered 20 or 21 recommendations -- some of them...
Read moreWhy Be Moral?
Ken Taylor
11
Jan 2015
This week we're asking the question: Why Be Moral? But what kind of question is that? Morality is a good thing. Immorality is a bad thing. A person should always do good things and never do bad things. Doesn't everybody agree? Well, judging by people's behavior, not necessarily. But we also have to be careful not confuse 'ought' and 'is'. People do behave immorally. But they shouldn't. Everybody knows that - at least in their heart of hearts. That implies that immoral behavior is irrational or insincere or hypocritical or...
Read moreAgainst Introspection
04
Sep 2019
In last month’s essay, I discussed the time-honored adage “know thyself.” According to tradition, this was first uttered by the ancient Greek philosopher Thales, and it’s certainly had staying power. It seems that most people—at least, most of the ones I talk to—think that knowing oneself is a really good idea. But not everyone has been on board with this. Some very smart people have cast shade on the project of self-knowledge. The philosopher Immanuel Kant claimed that self-knowledge is the gateway to mental illness. The German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had a different beef....
Read moreThe Dark Side of Science
Ken Taylor
24
Oct 2013
This week we're stepping over to the Dark Side of Science. Of course a skeptic might ask, what dark side? Without modern science, we’d still be bleeding the sick, travelling by horseback, and using carrier pigeons for long distance communication. But there are no unmixed blessings. Like everything else in life, science has its downsides too. The same science that gives us modern medicine, also gives us germ warfare. Modern transportation is ruining the environment. And modern communication enables governments to spy on us and terrorists to plot against us....
Read moreJohn Locke
John Perry
28
Feb 2011
In America, the 17th century British philosopher, John Locke is probably best known as one of the inspirations for the Founding Fathers. His Two Treatises of Government argues against the divine right of kings, and in favor of government by the consent of the governed. His views were admired greatly by Jefferson and the other Founders. Locke was a political activist as well as a philosopher. He lived through the last half of the seventeenth century, exciting times in England. Charles the first was beheaded, Oliver Cromwell governed for a while, followed...
Read moreAn Argument for Regulating Automation
Eliane Mitchell
14
Dec 2017
As automation displaces human labor, a universal basic income (UBI) plan may seem like the perfect solution. Introduce UBI, so that displaced workers have a basic income to fall back on. The idea seems simple enough. But why wait for UBI to mitigate the impacts of automation? The proposal is attractive (a UBI could eliminate poverty, for example, and that's no feat to underappreciate), yet some advocates of the plan may accept the current trend of technological advancement in the workplace too fatalistically. They accept that artifical intelligence could eventually obviate the...
Read moreAdorno and the Culture Industry
Josh Landy
23
Mar 2018
A lot of the popular culture we consume these days is produced and distributed by large studios and record companies. Should that worry us? Are doomed to mediocre music, television, and film? Or even worse: are we doomed to songs, shows, and movies that secretly serve a hegemonic propaganda machine? That’s what Theodor Adorno seems to have believed. Back in the 1940s, he and Max Horkheimer published a rather, well, feisty chapter on what they called the “culture industry.” Their argument was complicated, and it was dressed up in sometimes impenetrable language—that’s how you got famous those...
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