philosophy bites

Steven Nadler on Spinoza on Death

Baruch Spinoza was famous for equating God with Nature - a view that many of his contemporaries, perhaps rightly, thought was a form of atheism. But what did he think about death? Spinoza expert Steven Nadler, author of A Book Forged in Hell, and more recently Think Least of Death, discusses this aspect of his thought with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. 

Listen to Steven Nadler on Spinoza on Death

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Read Nigel Warburton's recent Five Books interview with Steven Nadler on the best books by and about Spinoza

 

Emily Thomas on Wildly Implausible Metaphysics

Some philosophers have drawn very strange conclusions about the nature of reality. But that doesn't necessarily mean we shouldn't study their work. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Emily Thomas discusses how wildly implausible metaphysics can be enlightening when we learn the reasons why these philosophers adopted these positions. 

Listen to Emily Thomas on Wildly Implausible Metaphysics

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Tom Stoneham on George Berkeley's Immaterialism

George Berkeley is famous for the counterintuitive position that objects are just ideas. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Tom Stoneham clarifies what Berkeley actually believed and his grounds for believing it. 

Listen to Tom Stoneham on George Berkeley's Immaterialism

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Alison Gopnik on Hume and Buddhism

In his Treatise (Book 1, Part 4, sec. 6) David Hume suggested that the idea of an enduring discoverable self was unfounded. Introspection revealed 'nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement.' Many people have noticed the similarity between Hume's position here and Buddhist discussion of the self. Alison Gopnik has discovered a possible route of influence.

Listen to Alison Gopnik on Hume and Buddhism

Read Alison Gopnik's paper 'Could David Hume have known about Buddhism?' (pdf)

Listen to an earlier Philosophy Bites interview with Alison Gopnik on the Imagination

Alison Gopnik's TED talk 'What Do Babies Think? (video)

There are reliable versions of David Hume's philosophical texts, (and reproduction of Hume's own manuscript of his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion) at www.davidhume.org 

 

Jessica Moss on Plato and Aristotle on Weakness of Will

You think you know what's best but do something else instead. What's going on? Plato and Aristotle had different approaches to this phenomenon of weakness of will ('akrasia' in Greek). Jessica Moss who has recently moved to New York University discusses their different approaches in this episode of the Philosphy Bites podcast. 

Listen to Jessica Moss on Plato and Aristotle on Weakness of Will

Michael Martin on Hume on Taste

David Hume's 'Of the Standard of Taste' addresses the question of whether we can, with any authority,  judge one writer to be genuinely better than another. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Mike Martin gives a clear analysis of that essay. 

Listen to Mike Martin on Hume on Taste

You can read David Hume's 'Of the Standard of Taste' here (click on the white triangle in the red box on the right hand side of the screen, select 'Contents' from the drop down menu, and then scroll down to Essay XXVl).

Simon Glendinning on Philosophy's Two Cultures (Analytic and Continental)

Philosophers typically see themselves as either Analytic or Continental. How did these two cultures within philosophy emerge? In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Simon Glendinning diagnoses the division, what he calls 'the culture of two cultures' . 

Listen to Simon Glendinning on Philosophy's Two Cultures 

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Noel Malcolm on Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan in Context

Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, published in 1651, is one of the great works of political philosophy. Noel Malcolm has recently published a 3 volume scholarly edition of the book (reviewed here in The Economist) based on decades of research. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast he discusses Leviathan's historical context with Nigel Warburton.

Listen to Noel Malcolm on Hobbes' Leviathan in Context

Philosophy Bites is made in association with the Institute of Philosophy

Colin McGinn on Descartes on Innate Knowledge

Where do our ideas come from? According to René Descartes at least some of them are innate, acquired indpendently of experience. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Colin McGinn explains why he thinks that Descartes' view of the mind has something to be said for it, particularly when combined with Leibniz's insight that innate ideas must be initially unconscious.

Listen to Colin McGinn on Descartes on Innate Knowledge

Philosophy Bites is made in association with the Institute of Philosophy

 

Philip Pettit on Republicanism

What is republicanism? Philip Pettit discusses this important political tradition in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast, emphasizing the centrality of a principle of non-domination. 

Listen to Philip Pettit on Republicanism

Listen to an earlier Philosophy Bites interview: Philip Pettit on Group Agency

Listen to an earlier Philosophy Bites interview: Philip Pettit on Consequentialism

Philosophy Bites is made in association with the Institute of Philosophy