Jan 10

Kenneth Aizawa, "Compositional Abduction and Scientific Interpretation: A Granular Approach" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

How do scientists reason when they posit unobservables to explain their observed results? For example, how did Watson and Crick reason that DNA had a double-helix structure when they observed Franklin’s image 51, or how did Hodgkin and Huxley reason that sodium ions carried the c ... Show More

1 h

Dec 16

Mariana Ortega, "Carnalities: The Art of Living in Latinidad" (Duke UP, 2024)

How can habits of racialization be affected by art, in its reception and its creation? How can a carnal aesthetics help us understand Latinx life? What if we listen to photographs? How might they undo us? Can we be undone? In Carnalities: The Art of Living in Latinidad (Duke UP, ... Show More

1h 16m

Nov 10

Amie Thomasson, "Rethinking Metaphysics" (Oxford UP, 2025)

The word “metaphysics” conjures up thoughts of very hard questions about reality and deep, perhaps unresolvable, metaphysical mysteries. But is that the right way to think about the subject matter of metaphysics? According to Amie Thomasson, very clearly no. In her new book, Reth ... Show More

1h 3m

Feb 2023

Anger Management

We live in a time of anger. Yet most of us feel guilty for getting angry, wishing we could stay calm and turn the other cheek. But though anger can never be fully morally pure, we still need it because it alerts us to injustice and catalyzes change. Guests: Agnes Callard is an as ... Show More

20m 40s

Sep 2021

204 - Blame and Responsibility

If change is forced upon you, you must resist the temptation to overreact or feel sorry for yourself. — Robert GreeneHow often do you feel that life is unfair? That something happened that you think should not have happened to you? Maybe someone hurt you and you want them to fix ... Show More

9m 28s

Nov 2013

Episode 35: Douchebags and Desert

Dave and Tamler talk about the influence of character judgments on attributions of blame. What is the function of the blame--to assign responsibility or to judge a person's character? Is it fair that we blame douchebags more than good people who commit exactly the same act, or ... Show More

1h 1m

Oct 2022

Is moral responsibility an illusion? | Galen Strawson, Massimo Pigliucci, Sarah Garfinkel

Are we incarcerating the innocent?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: <a href="https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes</a>Note: this episode was recorded live at our p ... Show More

43m 45s

Apr 2024

Dawn French: Shame, apologies, and being a twat

Perfection has taken on a life of its own in recent years. Dawn French worries that the pursuit of perfection is stopping us from being who we are, and from making mistakes we can grow from. In this chat, Fearne and Dawn explore why when we have low toleranc ... Show More

56m 7s

Feb 2022

The dangers of morality | Rebecca Roache, Matthew Taylor and Hilary Lawson

Can morality lead society down dangerous roads? Listen to how our speakers deconstruct our idea of right and wrong.Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: <a href="https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://linktr ... Show More

37m 3s

Dec 2019

Gwyneth Paltrow x Demi Moore: Dismantling Our Defense Mechanisms

“I felt empty and alone,” says Demi Moore, “but oddly not lonely.” The actor and author of the new memoir Inside Out joins GP to talk about what happened after the things she had been hiding from “came spilling out.” Moore describes the process of becoming vulnerable and learning ... Show More

49m 27s

Jan 2013

Episode 13: Beanballs, Blood Feuds, and Collective Moral Responsibility (With Fiery Cushman)

Our classiest episode yet (OK, that's not saying much, but still...)--Psychologist Fiery Cushman joins us for a discussion about collective punishment and collective responsibility. We use Fiery's recent paper on the practice of "beaning" in baseball (punishing one player for ... Show More

1 h

Mar 2024

The morality of forgiveness

The Legacy Act in Northern Ireland provides a conditional amnesty for people who committed crimes during the Troubles, as part of a broader process of reconciliation. It’s an attempt to draw a line under events of the past, but it’s generated anger among the families of some vict ... Show More

56m 19s

Mar 2023

Episode 256: The Right to Punish?

Here's an episode with something for both of us – a healthy serving of Kantian rationalism for David with a dollop of Marxist criminology for Tamler. We discuss and then argue about Jeffrie Murphy's 1971 paper "Marxism and Retribution." For Murphy, utilitarianism is non-starte ... Show More

1h 36m

Kelly McCormick, "The Problem of Blame: ...