logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2020
1h 6m

Peter Boghossian: How to Have Impossible...

Brain in a Vat
About this episode

"Defund the police. Violent protests are justified. Anyone against Black Lives Matter is a Nazi." How would you engage with these views? We ask Peter Boghossian how to have impossible conversations.  

Peter's Book: http://bit.ly/ConversationsBook 

New Discourses: https://newdiscourses.com/translations-from-the-wokish/    

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/braininavat 

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12490350/ Animation by Laurynne Gouws: https://www.lightbulbmedia.co.za/

Thumbnail Art: Luke Batha

Up next
Mar 9
The Bias against Conservatism in Higher Education | Amy Wax
Amy Wax joins us to discuss the ideological landscape of higher education. Wax reflects on her conflict with the University of Pennsylvania and argues that universities have become increasingly hostile to conservative viewpoints. The conversation explores ideological bias on camp ... Show More
1h 8m
Feb 22
The Nature of the Sexes | Tomás Bogardus (with Stephen Kershnar)
Tomás Bogardus joins to discuss his book "The Nature of the Sexes" and argues for a reproductive-functional account of biological sex. According to Bogardus, males and females are defined by the reproductive function their bodies are structured to perform: producing sperm or eggs ... Show More
1h 4m
Feb 9
God Is Not Praiseworthy | Stephen Kershnar and Nathan Bray
Brain in a Vat is back from hiatus with a deep dive into the philosophy of religion. Stephen Kershnar and Nathan Bray join us to ask whether God can be morally responsible and whether worship makes sense if God could not have done otherwise.The discussion begins with a thought ex ... Show More
1h 4m
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2025
Revolutionology (REBELLIONS & SOCIAL CHANGE) with Jack Goldstone
<p>Storming the Bastille. Facing off with tanks. Canceling a streaming subscription. </p><p>We’re talking protests, boycotts, insurrections, and demonstrations. Scholar, professor, and actual real life Revolutionologist Dr. Jack Goldstone lays out the whys – and the hows. What re ... Show More
1h 30m
Sep 2021
Portland State Sacrificed Ideas for Ideology. So Peter Boghossian Quit.
Peter Boghossian is the first one to tell you: he's no victim of cancel culture. The philosophy professor has long had a taste for stoking debate, questioning orthodoxies, and exposing the brokenness of an academic system that values identity-based grievances over scholarship. He ... Show More
1h 16m
Aug 2024
What The Watts Riots Meant (1965)
tail spinning
17m 52s
Aug 2025
Ep36: By Any Means Necessary with Magdalene Moonsamy.
<p>Is nonviolence truly the higher ground, or is that just a myth handed to the oppressed by those in power? In this fiercely honest and far-reaching conversation, South African lawyer, activist, and former parliamentarian Magdalene Moonsamy returns to the mic to confront the mor ... Show More
55m 58s
Mar 2025
Sunday Pick: Cancelling cancel culture with Loretta Ross | ReThinking with Adam Grant
As a public intellectual, activist and professor at Smith College, Loretta Ross is no stranger to confrontation and debate. But years of working to change the minds of others have led her to rethink her own ideas about approaching difficult conversations. Loretta and Adam discuss ... Show More
37m 52s
Aug 2016
#42 — Racism and Violence in America
Sam Harris talks to economist Glenn C. Loury about racism, police violence, the Black Lives Matter movement, and related topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe. 
55m 33s
Jun 2025
20 Pro-Palestine Protestors vs Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
Ahmed Alkhatib steps into the circle, challenging 20 Pro-Palestine protestors with four divisive claims: October 7th was a disaster that opened the worst chapter in Palestinian history, armed resistance will get Palestinians nowhere, angry protests in the West are not helpful, an ... Show More
1h 47m
Apr 2024
“Civil War” ’s Unsettling Images
<p>“Civil War,” Alex Garland’s divisive new action flick, borrows iconography—and actual footage—from the America of today as set dressing for a hypothetical, fractured future. Though we know that the President is in his third term, and that Texas and California have formed an un ... Show More
46m 10s