Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
What is Philosophy? Why should we bother with it? Sit down with Danny and Dr. Mike in the comfort of their local pub, as they grapple with the big ideas in a unique and accessible way! Dive into our archive of earlier episodes here: https://castbox.fm/channel/id3766780?country=gb Send us an email: [email protected] Check out our article about the podcast here! Get into Mike and Danny's heads for free! https://blog.apaonline.org/2018/10/03/the-philosophy-wtf-podcast-philosophy-outside-academia/Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Accessible pub philosophy • personal identity, essence, memory, persistence • ageing and mortality • free will, determinism, morality, genetics • existentialism, meaning, despair, authenticity • AI/ChatGPT, creativity, social media power • culture, consumerism, everyday lifeThis podcast is a conversational philosophy show hosted by Danny and Dr. Mike, framed as “drinking and thinking” chats in a pub-like setting. Across the episodes, the hosts take on major topics in a serialized way, returning to a theme over multiple parts and using everyday examples, jokes, and pop-culture references to make abstract ideas more approachable.
A central thread is personal identity and what it means to remain the same person over time. The discussions connect identity to memory, psychological continuity, embodiment, and social categories, and they raise questions about how much of the self is constructed versus essential. Related conversations examine ageing and how changing bodies and life stages affect agency, meaning, and self-understanding.
Another recurring focus is free will and determinism. The show explores whether choices are genuinely open or shaped by forces like biology, psychology, culture, politics, and shifting moral norms. These debates extend to questions about responsibility, freedom of speech, and whether humans can be reduced to genetic or other causal explanations.
The podcast also engages with existentialist concerns about meaning, despair, authenticity, and the “absurd,” including how people present themselves online and how misinformation affects decision-making. Technology is a frequent bridge to contemporary issues, especially artificial intelligence—covering thought experiments about machine understanding, the governance of social platforms, and implications for creativity and art.
Alongside topic series, the feed includes occasional specials and guest conversations that broaden the discussion to culture, place, politics, and science fiction, while keeping the overall emphasis on philosophy outside strictly academic settings.
