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Podcast Profile: Out of the Vat

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10 episodes
2019 to 2021
Median: 32 minutes
Collection: Philosophy


Description (podcaster-provided):

Philosophers’ work and philosophers’ lives, both inside and outside of philosophy. Brought to you by the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, LSE, and the Forum for Philosophy.


Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):

➤ philosopher interviews • philosophy of mind, perception, consciousness, olfaction • epistemology, self-knowledge • philosophy of science, causation, quantum mechanics • phenomenology, Heidegger • ethics, beauty norms, bioethics, policy, expertise, denialism • personal lives, hobbies, culture

This podcast offers conversational portraits of working philosophers, focusing both on their research and on the personal interests and experiences that shape their intellectual lives. Episodes typically center on an academic guest who explains a particular area of philosophy—often in philosophy of science and mind—while also reflecting on how they came to their views and what their day-to-day life in and around philosophy looks like.

Across the show, recurring themes include perception and consciousness, with attention to how we experience the world through different senses and perspectives. Listeners encounter topics such as the nature of smell, visual perception and illusion, self-knowledge, phenomenology, and broader questions about mind and consciousness (including views like panpsychism). Another prominent strand is philosophical methodology in science: how to think about causation versus correlation, and how contemporary physics and quantum mechanics interact with philosophical approaches.

Ethics and public-facing philosophy also appear, including global ethics, the role of beauty and choice in contemporary life, bioethics and utopian thinking, and questions about expertise and public policy in contexts like medical misinformation. Throughout, the discussions mix serious philosophical problems with accessible, biographical details and cultural touchstones—ranging from literature and photography to music and everyday hobbies—aiming to situate abstract ideas in the lives of the people who work on them.


Episodes:
Out of the Vat #10 – Ann-Sophie Barwich
2021-Nov-10
41 minutes
Out of the Vat #9 – Lucy Campbell
2021-Aug-10
37 minutes
Out of the Vat #8 – David Papineau
2020-Nov-10
45 minutes
Out of the Vat #7 – Philip Goff
2020-Jun-26
31 minutes
Out of the Vat #6 – Mahon O’Brien
2020-Apr-07
35 minutes
Out of the Vat #5 – Heather Widdows
2020-Feb-04
17 minutes
Out of the Vat #4 – Brian Glenney
2019-Nov-12
32 minutes
Out of the Vat #3 – Katherine Furman
2019-Sep-03
17 minutes
Out of the Vat #2 – Richard Ashcroft
2019-Jun-25
32 minutes
Out of the Vat #1 – Steven French
2019-May-07
28 minutes