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Podcasts

Briefs of philosophy podcast episodes: the arguments made, with timestamps, and the primary texts behind them.

Shows

  • Hi-Phi Nation

    Barry Lam 2 briefs

    Barry Lam combines narrative journalism with philosophy, starting from a story and ending in an argument.

  • History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

    Peter Adamson 2 briefs

    Peter Adamson works through the history of philosophy in order, one short episode at a time.

  • Making Sense with Sam Harris

    Sam Harris 2 briefs

    Sam Harris interviews guests about the mind, ethics, society and current events.

  • Philosophy Bites

    David Edmonds & Nigel Warburton 1 brief

    Short interviews with leading philosophers, each on a single question or idea.

  • The Daily Stoic

    Daily Stoic 2 briefs

    Ryan Holiday interviews authors, historians and practitioners about Stoicism and how to live.

  • The Partially Examined Life

    Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin & Dylan Casey 1 brief

    A reading group of former philosophy graduate students discusses one philosophical text per episode.

  • Very Bad Wizards

    Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro 1 brief

    A philosopher and a psychologist talk about moral psychology, ethics, literature and film.

Recent briefs 11

  • Dennett's Multiple Drafts Model vs. the Cartesian Theater

    The Partially Examined Life 48 min

    Hosts and guest Chris Heath work through Dennett's Consciousness Explained, testing his case against a single inner viewer of experience.

  • Stoic Premeditation and the Predictable Frustrations of Parenting

    The Daily Stoic 13 min

    Ryan Holiday and psychologist Dr. Becky Kennedy connect the Stoic practice of premeditatio malorum to why parents are so often blindsided by ordinary child behavior.

  • Descartes, Plants, and the Meaning of the French Garden

    History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps 21 min

    Peter Adamson traces how mechanist philosophy reshaped early modern botany and how it shows up in the geometry and politics of gardens like Versailles.

  • Kahneman on Intuition, Framing, and Moral Judgment

    Making Sense with Sam Harris 48 min

    Sam Harris and psychologist Daniel Kahneman discuss when intuition can be trusted and how framing shapes our moral judgments.

  • Why Constraints, Not Freedom, Make Us Better

    The Daily Stoic 13 min

    Ryan Holiday and David Epstein discuss why limits, not unchecked freedom, are what keep power and success from corrupting people.

  • Arnauld vs Malebranche on Ideas and Vision in God

    History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps 19 min

    Peter Adamson examines the dispute between Malebranche and Arnauld over whether ideas are representations seen in God or direct acts of the mind.

  • Gene-Edited Species and the Ethics of Wildness

    Hi-Phi Nation 40 min

    Barry Lam talks with scientists and philosophers Evelyn Brister and Ron Sandler about whether releasing genetically engineered mosquitoes and chestnut trees into the wild is defensible conservation or a troubling new form of control over nature.

  • Could Large Language Models Already Be Conscious?

    Making Sense with Sam Harris 1 hr 26 min

    Sam Harris and Cameron Berg examine whether today's AI systems might already have some form of consciousness or sentience, and what follows morally if they do.

  • Is Human Altruism Real, or Just Evolved Hypocrisy?

    Hi-Phi Nation 41 min

    Barry Lam questions evolutionary psychologist Michael McCullough and philosopher Kieran Setiya about whether a kidney donated to a stranger can be explained by evolution at all.

  • Tarkovsky's Solaris: Copies, Guilt, and Real Contact

    Very Bad Wizards 1 hr 46 min

    Tamler Sommers and David Pizarro discuss how Tarkovsky's Solaris turns Lem's novel about an alien ocean into a meditation on guilt, memory, and whether love for a copy can be real.

  • Chike Jeffers on Africana Philosophy

    Philosophy Bites 16 min

    Chike Jeffers talks with David Edmunds and Nigel Warburton about what Africana philosophy is and how it includes African, African American and Afro-Caribbean thought.