Description (podcaster-provided):
A podcast exploring Philosophy, Politics, Current Affairs, Literature and Film.
Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Philosophy interviews across ancient, continental, analytic traditions • freedom, equality, ethics, selfhood • politics, capitalism, propaganda, post-truth, conspiracy • science/technology/AI, ecology • literature, film, horror, writing, media • education, law, consent, social work
This podcast is an interview-led exploration of philosophy and its overlap with politics, current affairs, literature, film, and technology. Conversations often centre on major figures from ancient, modern, and contemporary thought, using their work to illuminate questions about freedom, equality, ethics, education, and the nature of the self. Listeners can expect discussion of both continental and analytic traditions, with attention to how philosophical concepts develop within particular historical moments and institutional settings.
A recurring theme is how human agency is shaped by social practices and power: politics is treated not only as governance but as conflict over who counts, how expertise operates, and how public discourse is formed or distorted. Several discussions examine propaganda, denialism, conspiracy thinking, and “secular gurus,” focusing on the psychological and cultural mechanisms that make people susceptible to manipulation and post-truth dynamics. Alongside this, the show returns repeatedly to the meaning of freedom—whether grounded in mortality, embedded in institutions, or understood beyond familiar debates about determinism and choice.
The podcast also engages philosophy of science and technology, including critiques of reductionism, debates about objectivity, and changing boundaries between humans and machines through AI, robotics, blockchain, and synthetic biology. Literature and film appear both as topics in their own right and as tools for thinking through violence, trauma, myth, ecology, and moral life, with regular attention to horror, the gothic, and the cultural politics of representation.
Overall, the content aims to connect dense ideas to concrete controversies and lived experience while maintaining a focus on careful conceptual explanation.
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Episodes:
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On Jacques Rancière with Stuart Blaney
2025-Sep-16
52 minutes
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On Freedom with Matt Barnard
2025-Jul-23
86 minutes
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On Hegel's 'Spirit' with Terry Pinkard
2025-Jun-27
69 minutes
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On Life, AI and Technosymbiosis with Katherine Hayles
2025-Jun-02
67 minutes
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On Socrates with Agnes Callard
2025-Apr-18
53 minutes
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On Remaking Science with Evan Thompson
2024-Dec-09
63 minutes
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On Secular Gurus with Chris Kavanagh
2024-Mar-22
82 minutes
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On Writing with Lars Iyer
2023-Dec-22
62 minutes
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On Richard Rorty with Chris Voparil
2023-Oct-27
61 minutes
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On Spiritual Freedom with Martin Hägglund
2023-Jun-10
71 minutes
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On Bruno Latour with Joost van Loon
2023-Apr-27
70 minutes
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On Alexandre Kojève with Hager Weslati
2023-Apr-02
73 minutes
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On the Truth of Snuff with Mark McKenna
2023-Apr-02
65 minutes
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On the Embrace of Capital with Don Milligan
2022-Oct-13
67 minutes
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On Architecture with Graham Harman
2022-Sep-09
62 minutes
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On Nietzsche’s Socialism with Robert Miner
2022-Sep-02
69 minutes
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On Simone Weil with Tiff Thomas
2022-Aug-26
60 minutes
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On Michel Serres with David Webb
2022-Jul-02
56 minutes
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On the Formation of the Modern Self with Felix O’Murchadha
2022-May-13
59 minutes
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On Propaganda with Colin Alexander
2021-Jul-06
77 minutes
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On David Lewis and Possible Worlds with Ben Curtis
2021-Apr-21
58 minutes
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On Camus and 'The Plague' with Robert Zaretsky
2020-May-06
57 minutes
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On Character with Christian Miller
2020-Apr-24
49 minutes
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On Plato with Keith Crome
2020-Apr-05
66 minutes
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On Blockchain with Peter Howson
2020-Apr-04
46 minutes
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On Online Learning with David Webster
2020-Mar-22
51 minutes
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On Difference and Repetition with David Deamer
2020-Feb-21
66 minutes
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On Cormac McCarthy with Julius Greve
2020-Feb-17
48 minutes
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On Nietzsche with Lars Iyer
2020-Jan-14
59 minutes
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On Religion and Violence with Felix O'Murchadha
2020-Jan-03
66 minutes
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On Social Work with Joe Smeeton
2019-Nov-29
55 minutes
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On Levinas with Will Large
2019-Oct-29
68 minutes
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On Shame with Luna Dolezal
2019-Sep-28
55 minutes
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On Denial, Conspiracy and Post-Truth with Keith Kahn-Harris
2018-Nov-30
55 minutes
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On Dirt with Olli Lagerspetz
2018-Nov-23
57 minutes
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On Metaphysics, Objects and Decent Politics with Graham Harman
2018-Nov-16
72 minutes
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On the Geography and Politics of Light with Tim Edensor
2018-Nov-09
57 minutes
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On Forensic Linguistics with David Wright
2018-Nov-02
57 minutes
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Horror, Ghosts and Monsters with Sorcha Ní Fhlainn
2018-Oct-26
62 minutes
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On US Politics, Edmund Burke and Trump with Michael Baranowski
2018-Oct-19
60 minutes
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On the Law, Consent and MeToo with Heidi Matthews.
2018-Oct-12
69 minutes
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On Sex Robots and Personhood with Kathleen Richardson
2018-Oct-05
68 minutes
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On Emile Zola with Dan Rebellato
2018-Sep-28
71 minutes
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The Philosophy of Football with Stephen Mumford.
2018-Sep-21
64 minutes
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On the Mind and Panpsychism with Philip Goff
2018-Sep-14
59 minutes
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A Cultural History of Gay Rights in Britain with Don Milligan
2018-Sep-07
61 minutes
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Introducing Byung-Chul Han with Austin Hayden Smidt
2018-Aug-31
60 minutes
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Jessica Jones, Sexual Violence and Overcoming Trauma with Anna Dawson
2018-Aug-24
50 minutes
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BONUS - Nietzsche and Dr Who with David Deamer
2018-Aug-18
29 minutes
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Deleuze and Cinema with David Deamer
2018-Aug-17
67 minutes
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Will Large teaches Patrick about Heidegger
2018-Aug-10
56 minutes
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Social Justice and Cooperation with Cilla Ross
2018-Aug-03
57 minutes
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Vitalism and Bergson with Mark Sinclair
2018-Jul-27
38 minutes
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Trump, Lyotard and_Education with Keith_Crome
2018-Jul-20
55 minutes
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Transhumanism, Technology and Apocalypse with Mark O'Connell
2018-Jul-13
62 minutes
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Consciousness, Humanism and the NHS with Raymond Tallis
2018-Jul-06
62 minutes
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Buddhism, Atheism and Education with David Webster
2018-Jun-29
39 minutes
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Technology, Capitalism, The Common with Andreas Wittell
2018-Jun-22
49 minutes
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On Safe Spaces, No-Platforming and Neo-liberalism in the University with Liz Morrish
2018-Jun-15
55 minutes
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Trump's Intellectual Origins with Timothy Shenk
2018-Jun-08
56 minutes
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On Idiots, Drones and Wonder Woman with Neal Curtis
2018-May-31
67 minutes
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