Jonathan Wolff, author of Why Read Marx Today? and the very popular An Introduction to Political Philosophy, explains what Karl Marx meant by alienated labour. He also sheds light on Marx's controversial vision of what non-alienated labour would be like.
How should we treat animals? Peter Singer, perhaps the best know living moral philosopher addresses this question in conversation with Nigel Warburton in this bonus episode. This was produced in association with The Open University as part of podcast Ethics Bites. A transcript of the interview and further information about the series is available from Open2.net.
Listen to Peter Singer on Using Animals
Extensive list of links to online articles and interviews by and about Peter Singer
Friedrich Hayek, though much admired by Margaret Thatcher, distanced himself from conservativism. He was a liberal philosopher. In this episode of Philosophy Bites, Chandran Kukathas of the London School of Economics, explains the key features of Hayek's liberalism.
Philosophy Bites is currently at no. 30 in the US iTunes top 100 podcasts. We had a spell at 29 earlier in the day! Not quite our highest ranking ever, but close. And the competition gets stiffer every day.
We are just coming up to the first anniversary of Philosophy Bites (on Sunday) when we will post our 52nd episode. Plenty more interviews on the way - listen online or download as an mp3. Thanks for all the positive feedback - it's nice to hear that you appreciate what we are doing.
What are the acceptable limits of individual freedom? John Stuart Mill addressed this question in his classic defence of liberalism, On Liberty (1859). In this episode of Philosophy Bites, Richard Reeves, author of a recent biography of Mill (recently shortlisted for the James Tait Black biography prize), discusses this powerful book.
Listen to Richard Reeves on Mill's On Liberty
Can a nation be held responsible for actions? David Miller of Nuffield College, Oxford, author of National Responsibility and Global Justice, explores the kinds of responsibility that nations can have.
David Hume is one of the great philosophers. For this episode of Philosophy Bites, Hume expert Peter Millican explains his significance. He also provides textual evidence for Hume's atheism.
Listen to Peter Millican on Hume's Significance
Peter Millican's Papers and Talks on David Hume
Peter Millican's survey of writing on Hume (with numerous links)
Are men and women different by nature? And if so, what follows? Janet Radcliffe Richards, author of The Sceptical Feminist and Human Nature After Darwin, examines questions about human nature, focusing on John Stuart Mill's important book The Subjection of Women. David Edmonds is the interviewer for this episode of Philosophy Bites.
Listen to Janet Radcliffe Richards on Men and Women's Natures
Is it immoral even to consider the use of torture in some circumstances? If the State is threatened, should we be prepared to shelve human rights for an end we consider worthwhile? Raimond Gaita discusses a range of arguments about torture in this episode of Philosophy Bites.
What is art? This has become as difficult question to answer since Marcel Duchamp put a factory-produced urinal in an open exhibition, signed it 'R. Mutt' and called it 'Fountain'. Derek Matravers, author of Art and Emotion, explores this question in conversation with Nigel Warburton.
Richard Norman discusses killing, and specifically killing in war, in the latest episode of Ethics Bites.
Listen to Richard Norman on What is Wrong with Killing
Listen to earlier discussion with Richard Norman on Humanism
Was Plato's ideal state a totalitarian one? Karl Popper, thought so, and made his case in The Open Society and Its Enemies. Melissa Lane, author of Plato's Progeny discusses Popper's critique of Plato in this episode of Philosophy Bites.
It is now possible to use genetic medicine to enhance athletes' performance. But should we permit this? Michael Sandel, author of The Case Against Perfection, thinks not. He explains why in this week's episode of Ethics Bites, the 14-part Open University funded offspring of Philosophy Bites.
Listen to Michael Sandel interviewed about Genetic Enhancement and Sport for Ethics Bites (transcript also available).
Michael Sandel's summary of the main themes of his book The Case Against Perfection.
Philosophy Bites has now had over a million downloads!
Here are links to the first 44 episodes:
1. Simon Blackburn on Plato's Cave
2. Mary Warnock on Philosophy in Public Life
3. Stephen Law on The Problem of Evil
4. John Cottingham on The Meaning of Life
5. Miranda Fricker on Epistemic Injustice
7. Alain de Botton on The Aesthetics of Architecture
8. Anne Phillips on Multiculturalism
9. Edward Craig on What is Philosophy?
10. Roger Crisp on Mill's Utilitarianism
12. Anthony Grayling on Atheism
13. David Papineau on Physicalism
14. Timothy Williamson on Vagueness
15. Jonathan Wolff on Disadvantage
16. Simon Blackburn on Moral Relativism
17. Brad Hooker on Consequentialism
19. Mary Warnock on Sartre's Existentialism
20. Jonathan Rée on Philosophy as an Art
21. Tim Crane on Mind and Body
22. Anthony Kenny on his History of Philosophy
23. Quentin Skinner on Hobbes on the State
24. Onora O'Neill on Medical Consent
25. Stewart Sutherland on Hume on Design
26. Angie Hobbs on Plato on Erotic Love
27. Alain de Botton on Philosophy Within and Outside the Academy
28. Myles Burnyeat on Aristotle on Happiness
29. Henry Hardy on Isaiah Berlin's Pluralism
30. Susan James on Spinoza on the Passions
31. Julian Baggini on Thought Experiments
32. Barry Stroud on Scepticism
33. G.A. Cohen on Inequality of Wealth
35. Barry Smith on Wittgenstein's Conception of Philosophy
36. Angie Hobbs on Plato on War
37. Richard Bourke on Edmund Burke on Politics
38. Richard Norman on Humanism
39. Stephen Mulhall on Film as Philosophy
40. Richard Tuck on Free Riding
42. A.C.Grayling on Descartes' Cogito
We often blame people for what they do or fail to do. But that implies that they were free to choose whether or not to act in the way they did. At the same time science seems to reveal prior causes of all our actions. There seems little or no room for free will. In this episode of Philosophy Bites Thomas Pink, author of Free Will: A Very Short Introduction, discusses the Free Will Problem and outlines his own approach to it.
Miranda Fricker discusses moral relativism in relation to past practices that we now
regard as morally abhorrent, such as the corporal punishment of children, in this episode of Ethics Bites.
Listen to Miranda Fricker on Blame and Historic Injustice
Listen to earlier interview with Miranda Fricker on Epistemic Injustice on Philosophy Bites
Is there enough in common between all human beings to warrant a universal ethical system? Can we be both citizens of the world and yet at the same time preserve what makes us different from each other? Anthony Appiah is not afraid of some of the toughest ethical issues that face us. In this interview for Philosophy Bites he defends what he has labelled 'Cosmopolitanism' an ethical position he has developed in greater detail in his book of the same name.
You can now listen to our interview with Michael Ostsuka on Trolleyology as part of the Open University podcast Ethics Bites.
Listen to Michael Otsuka on Trolleyology (a transcript is also available).
There is also a short item on this interview on the Open2.net blog
Anthony Grayling, author of a recent biography of René Descartes, explores Descartes' Cogito argument, the pivotal argument of the Meditations, in conversation with Nigel Warburton in this episode of Philosophy Bites.
Listen to A.C. Grayling on Descartes' Cogito Argument
Read Simon Blackburn's review of Grayling's biography of Descartes
Does anyone have a right to have a baby? What are acceptable criteria for determining who should have access to in vitro fertilization? Mary Warnock, a philosopher and member of the House of Lords, discusses these topics in the second episode of Ethics Bites. Ethics Bites is sponsored by the Open University and available from www.open2.net. It is now also available from the 'Philosophy' section of iTunes which is a subsection of 'Society and Culture' in 'Podcasts'.
Listen to Mary Warnock on The Right to Have Babies
Listen to Mary Warnock on Philosophy and Public Life (a previous episode of Philosophy Bites)
