philosophy bites

Women of Ideas edited by Suki Finn

We are delighted to announce that Suki Finn, lecturer in Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, has selected and edited a collection of transcripts of Philosophy Bites interviews with women. This is to be published by Oxford University Press as Women of Ideas on 22nd April 2021. This is the fourth book of interviews from Philosophy Bites. 

From Amia Srinivasan on gender to Mary Warnock on public philosophy, from Martha Naussbaum on disgust to Onora O’Neill on consent, this new volume features interviews with leading women philosophers on some of the pressing issues in the world today.

Here is a list of the interviews included in Women of Ideas:

Amia Srinivasan: What is a Woman?

Janet Radcliffe Richards: Men's and Women's Natures

Patricia Smith Churchland: What neuroscience can teach us about morality

Christine M. Korsgaard: The Status of Animals

Ashwini Vasanthakumar: Do victims have obligations too?

Miranda Fricker: Blame and Historic Injustice

Kimberley Brownlee: Social Deprivation

Sarah Fine: The Right to Exclude

Anne Phillips: Multiculturalism and Liberalism

Jennifer Saul: Implicit Bias

Martha C. Nussbaum: Disgust

Elisabeth Schellekens: Disagreement about Taste

Emma Borg: Language and Context

Rebecca Roache: Swearing

Teresa M. Bejan: Civility

Katherine Hawley: Trustworthiness

Onora O'Neill: Medical Consent

Katalin Farkas: Knowing a Person

Jennifer Nagel: Intuitions about Knowledge

Susan James: Michel Foucault and Knowledge

Kate Kirkpatrick: The Life and Work of Simone de Beauvoir

Katherine J. Morris: Merleau-Ponty on the Body

Alison Gopnik: Hume and Buddhism

Katrin Flikschuh: Philosophy in Africa

Angie Hobbs: Plato on War

Helen Beebee: Possible Worlds

Tamar Szabó Gendler: Why Philosophers use Examples

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein: Progress in Philosophy

Mary Warnock: Philosophy and Public Life

About the editor:

Suki Finn is a Lecturer in Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London. She researches in the areas of metametaphysics, the philosophy of logic, the metaphysics of pregnancy, the epistemology of love, and feminist and queer theory. Suki has published her work in various philosophy journals, edited collections, and in the online magazine Aeon. Women of Ideasis Suki’s first book. Suki is on the Executive Committee for the Society for Women in Philosophy UK, and on the Council for the Royal Institute of Philosophy. In her other life, Suki is a musician. Suki is represented by Ben Clark at the Soho Agency.

Women of Ideas is already available for pre-order:

Peter Salmon on Derrida on Deconstruction

Jacques Derrida was a controversial philosopher, and his writing could be fiendishly difficult to read. He nevertheless attracted many followers and imitators. Here Peter Salmon, author of a recent biography of Derrida, explains Derrida's key concept: deconstruction.

Listen to Pete Salmon on Derrida on Deconstruction

 

David Bather Woods on Schopenhauer on Compassion

Arthur Schopenhauer is best known for the pessimism of his The World as Will and Representation. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast we focus on a  less pessimistic aspect of his thought: his views on compassion. Unusually for an early nineteenth century European thinker, he was very influenced by his reading of Indian philosophy. David Bather Woods is the interviewee.

Listen to David Bather Woods on Arthur Schopenhauer on Compassion

You might also be interested in this essay on Schopenhauer and Happiness that David Bather Woods wrote for the online magazine Aeon, and in this interview he did on Schopenhauer for the website Five Books.

We are very grateful to St John's College for sponsorship of this episode. St John's College offers in-person and online courses focused on great books. Find out more here.

 

Samantha Hill on Hannah Arendt on Pluralism

Hannah Arendt's experience of the Eichmann trial in 1961 and of the reaction to her book about this, Eichmann in Jerusalem, led her to think deeply about politics, truth, and plurality. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Samantha Rose Hill, author of a biography of Arendt, explains the context, and outlines the key features of Arendt's approach.

Listen to Samantha Rose Hill on Hannah Arendt on Plurality

We are grateful for sponsorship of this episode from St John's College. You can find out more about St John's College, including online options, at www.sjc.edu/podcast

 

Bonus Episode - David Edmonds on Undercover Robot

David Edmonds has co-authored (with Bertie Frasier) a brilliant children's book Undercover Robot: My First Year as a Human. Listen to David discussing this book with Nigel Warburton on this bonus episode of Philosophy Bites originally released on Nigel's Thinking Books podcast.

Listen to David Edmonds discussing Undercover Robot

 

 

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

Please consider supporting Philosophy Bites, either via the links in the sidebar or on Patreon.

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

 

Kate Manne on Misogyny and Male Entitlement

Cornell philosopher Kate Manne discusses misognyn, male entitlement, together with the notion of 'himpathy', a term she coined, in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Manne is the author of two recent highly influential books, Down Girl and Entitlement.

Listen to Kate Manne on Misogyny and Male Entitlement

Liam Bright on Verificationism

Verificationists believe that meaningful propositions are either true by definition (analytic) or else empirically verifiable or falsifiable. Propositions that fail to pass this two-pronged test for meaningfulness are literally meaningless. This approach, linked to the Vienna Circle, and popularised in England (especially Oxford) by A.J.Ayer in his 1936 iconoclastic book Language, Truth and Logic, has fallen from favour. But Liam Kofi Bright wants us to take it seriously. He discusses Verificationism with David Edmonds in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. David himself has a forthcoming book on the Vienna Circle, The Murder of Professor Schlick... Liam Bright is @lastpostive on Twitter.

Listen to Liam Bright on Verificationism

 

David Edmonds on Wittgenstein's Poker

For this second special lockdown episode of Philosophy Bites, Nigel Warburton interviewed David Edmonds about his bestseller Wittgenstein's Poker, which he wrote with John Eidinow. 

This brilliant book is an exploration of an event that occurred at the Moral Sciences Club in Cambridge when Karl Popper gave a talk and Wittgenstein allegedly seemed to threaten him with a poker. The weird thing is that different people who were present gave very different account of the event. For the full story, buy David's book. But for a taster, listen to this interview with him:

Listen to David Edmonds on Wittgenstein's Poker. 

 

Nigel Warburton on A Little History of Philosophy

For this, the first of two special lockdown episodes, David Edmonds interviews Nigel Warburton about his bestseller, A Little History of Philosophy. In the second episode Nigel interviews David about his bestseller, Wittgenstein's Poker. 

Listen to Nigel Warburton on A Little History of Philosophy