Dialogues, Meditations, and Analyses

This brief introductory episode gives the listener advice about how to use the podcast. The episode opens with a clip of the philosopher Cornel West concisely stating a few of the main goals of the next fourteen episodes of the podcast.Thanks to Galen Curry (of folk-rock band The Currys) for the theme music!

In this episode, I draw on remarks by the philosophers Iris Murdoch and Susan Stebbing to discuss the art of philosophical conversation, with an emphasis on how it revolves around argumentation. Then, a couple of non-philosophers model an attainably successful submission for the philosophical conversation assignment that's due twice over the course of the semester.

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Lindsey Fiorelli to discuss two analyses of bullshit: Harry Frankfurt's view that bullshitting involves indifference to truth, and G.A. Cohen's view that bullshit is unclarifiably unclear.

In this episode, I ask one of the most confounding questions in the study of ancient philosophy: was Socrates a bullshitter?There won't be another episode of this podcast for a couple weeks. In the meantime, go check out Peter Adamson's episodes on Socrates, the Meno, and the Phaedo, over at his superb podcast on the History of Philosophy without any Gaps.

In this episode, I invite you, the listener, to meditate with me on reasons to doubt everything you thought you knew.

In this episode, I discuss the Aristotelian worldview that Descartes attempted to overthrow, and introduce the listener to the Cogito: Descartes's famous, purportedly indubitable claim that "I think, therefore I am".

In this episode, I discuss Descartes's truth rule--that everything he clearly and distinctly perceives is true--and how he leverages that rule (along with the existence of a non-deceiving God) to establish a metaphysical distinction between mind and body. I then discuss the Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia's incisive critique of Descartes's substance dualism, as well as the more nuanced dualism that Elisabeth prefers.

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Nabeel Hamid and Dr. Ben Baker to discuss the design argument for God's existence, the relationship between faith and reason, and other themes from David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.