Philosophy Feeds

Cheryl Misak has recently published a biography of F.P. Ramsey, the great Cambridge thinker who died at the age of only 26, but who nevertheless made a significant impact in several different fields including philosophy, mathematics, and economics. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast she discusses Ramsey's interactions with Wittgenstein. The two thinkers had very different personal styles and their philosophies reflect this.

In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast, recorded before the Covid-19 lockdowns, the political philosopher Elizabeth Anderson explains why we need to be prepared to talk more, even with people with whom we strongly disagree. 

Some philosophers have drawn very strange conclusions about the nature of reality. Despite this Emily Thomas believes that their work may still be worth studying. They usually have had good reasons for what they concluded. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast she discusses several wildly implausible metaphysical theories with Nigel Warburton. 

We are grateful for support from the Marc Sanders Foundation and from our Patreon donors. 

In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast, Kate Kirkpatrick, author of a new biography of Beauvoir, Becoming Beauvoir, discusses the relationship between the life and work of Simone de Beauvoir. Beauvoir is often portrayed as applying Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism to the condition of women. Is this a fair assessment?

We are grateful for support from the Marc Sanders Foundation. 

Christian Miller believes that there is a character gap, a gap between what we think we are like morally and how we actually behave. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast he explores the psychology of moral behaviour, and how we can become better people. 

We are grateful for support from the Marc Sanders Foundation. 

Here; see the essay by Huw Price (Cambridge) for details.

Here; as the article notes: At 43 deaths per 100,000, Sweden’s mortality rate is among the highest globally and far exceeds that of neighboring Denmark and Norway, which imposed much tougher lockdowns at the onset of the pandemic.

I hope this means he is going to be more vocal; an excerpt: When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that...

This is useful and the opinions quoted sensible; this is really the most important bit: "Institutions will have a number of strong defenses available, including, among others, that their adherence to CDC and other guidance demonstrates that they have met...

...and possible benefits from use of blood pressure meds (ARBs and ACEIs). Particularly striking (but too small a sample to inspire confidence) was that 6 of the 8 elderly patients taking both statins and blood pressure medications were asymptomatic despite...

by Grant Bartley

Ken Hines doesn’t succumb to corporate propaganda about meaning.

Rick Aaron argues that religious recommendations are sometimes unrealistic.

Ian Church queries the influence the media has on our perception of evil.

Dylan Daniel finds many contemporary resonances in Albert Camus’ novel.

Grant Bartley from Philosophy Now (and author of The Metarevolution) is joined by members of London philosophy groups Philosophy For All and the Philosophical Society of England to debate an argument advanced by PFA member Kieran Quill that according to quantum mechanics the universe is mental in nature. Join us to hear the fallout. First broadcast on 29 June 2014 on Resonance FM.

Might Nietzsche be right, claiming that lying is “a condition of life?” – Or Kant, arguing that lying means annihilating human dignity? Is it ever acceptable for governments to lie to the public or for individuals to lie to the government? Anja Steinbauer is joined by politician and philosopher Shahrar Ali and moral philosopher Piers Benn to discuss whether lying can be a good thing. First broadcast on 15 June 2014 on Resonance FM.

Join Grant Bartley from Philosophy Now and guests John Callanan from King’s College, London, and Andrew Ward from the University of York to talk about the most important idea you’ve never heard of, and some other persuasive arguments from revolutionary but unfortunately unknown-to-the-world philosopher Immanuel Kant. First broadcast on 1 June 2014 on Resonance FM.

What has Buddhism to offer the 21st Century? Join Anja Steinbauer and her guests, Martin Muchall and Rick Lewis, for a critical discussion of ideas in and about Buddhism. First broadcast on 18 May 2014 on Resonance FM.

Look inside the mind of a famous thinker: Grant Bartley from Philosophy Now and writer Daryn Green talk to author and Philosophy Now columnist Raymond Tallis about his latest book, In Defence of Wonder, and about the influences and motivations which have made him a philosopher. Recorded on 31 May 2012.

Widespread corruption and racism in Mexico created extra hurdles for the development of Mexico’s recently published federal guidelines for deciding who gets to access scarce medical resources (e.g. ventilators in the case of Covid-19). Dr César Palacios-González (Oxford), who helped develop these guidelines,  talks about these challenges.

In the UK we’re past the peak of the coronavirus pandemic but new ethical issues are arising: the healthcare system is now under enormous pressure – it’s working less efficiently than before (because of precautions to protect healthcare personnel), and there’s an enormous backlog of patients whose treatments have been put on hold. Which non-Covid-19 […]

By Charles Foster It has been a terrible few months for moral philosophers – and for utilitarians in particular. Their relevance to public discourse has never been greater, but never have their analyses been so humiliatingly sidelined by policy makers across the world. The world’s governments are all, it seems, ruled by a rather crude […]

Written by Alberto Giubilini Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities – Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics University of Oxford     Main point: Lockdown measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 have so far been compulsory in most countries. In the same way, use of contact tracing apps should be compulsory once lockdown measures […]

By Roger Crisp At a recent New St Cross Special Ethics Seminar Prof. Noam Zohar of the Dept. of Philosophy, Bar Ilan University and a member of Israel’s National Bioethics Council, spoke on ‘Debating Forced Medical Feeding: A Critical Examination of Israeli Responses to Hunger Strikes’. He began by setting his argument in the context of recent […]