philosophy bites

Raimond Gaita on Torture

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.

Listen to Raimond Gaita on Torture

Read about a feature film based on Raimond Gaita's memoir Romulus, My Father

Derek Matravers on the Definition of Art

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.

Listen to Derek Matravers on the Definition of Art

Richard Norman on What is Wrong with Killing on Ethics Bites

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

Melissa Lane on Plato and Totalitarianism

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.

Listen to Melissa Lane on Plato on Totalitarianism

Michael Sandel on Genetic Enhancement in Sport on Ethics 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.

Watch a video of Michael Sandel lecturing on Justice

Over a Million Downloads!

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

6. Barry Smith on Wine

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

11. Adrian Moore on Infinity

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

18. Peter Adamson on Avicenna

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

34. Mark Vernon on Friendship

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

41. Hugh Mellor on Time

42. A.C.Grayling on Descartes' Cogito

43. Anthony Appiah on Cosmopolitanism

44. Thomas Pink on Free Will

 

Thomas Pink on Free Will

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.

Listen to Tom Pink on Free Will

Miranda Fricker on Blame and Historic Injustice on Ethics Bites

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

Anthony Appiah on Cosmopolitanism

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.

Listen to Anthony Appiah on Cosmpolitanism

Other audio interviews with Anthony Appiah