Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
In this informal bite-sized podcast, we'll talk about a range of ideas found in Indian philosophy, along with their connections to the modern day. Your host is a philosopher who reads Sanskrit texts and thinks about how the modern and premodern are intertwined.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Indian philosophy via Sanskrit texts • Nyāya logic, debate, inference, skepticism/materialism • Buddhism, Jainism, Mimāṃsā • karma/mantra loanwords • language/meaning/aesthetics • cross-cultural links to Chinese/Western thought • ethics, medicine, COVID-19, expertiseThis podcast offers informal, short explorations of ideas from Indian philosophy—often grounded in Sanskrit texts—and draws connections to contemporary life, popular culture, and debates in global philosophy. Across the episodes, the host examines how premodern Indian thinkers approached questions that still feel current: what counts as knowledge and reliable testimony, how inference works (and fails) in argument, and what makes someone an expert worth trusting. Several discussions use Nyāya materials to analyze reasoning, debate strategy, and the social conditions under which inquiry succeeds or breaks down.
A recurring theme is how philosophical concepts travel across time and cultures. Conversations with academic guests highlight cross-tradition comparisons, including overlaps between Indian and Chinese philosophy and reflections on Indian philosophy’s relationship to European philosophy and the wider ancient world. The show also links classical Buddhist philosophers to contemporary issues such as metaphysics, cognitive science, feminist epistemology, and applied ethics in health care.
Another strand focuses on how language works—figurative speech, meaning, and the puzzling status of mantras—along with philosophical aesthetics and the dynamics of desire and craving. The podcast sometimes uses modern case studies (including public health and media discourse) to illustrate how Sanskrit intellectual traditions might interpret present-day problems. Alongside interviews and conceptual explainers, the feed includes brief announcements and season framing that situates episodes within broader themes such as Sanskrit-to-English loanwords (for example, karma and mantra) and their shifting meanings today.
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S3 E4: Christine Tan 2026-Apr-11 16 minutes |
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S4 E3: Mantra 2023-Dec-11 29 minutes |
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Announcement - Season 4 Episode 3 2023-Mar-03 1 minute |
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S4 E1: Karma 2023-Jan-06 34 minutes |
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S4 Teaser 2022-Dec-16 1 minute |
S3 E10: Tom Davies2022-Jun-16 14 minutes |
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S3 E9: Robin Zheng 2022-Jun-01 15 minutes |
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S3 E8: Cathay Liu 2022-May-15 15 minutes |
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S3 E7: Neil Mehta 2022-May-01 16 minutes |
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S3 E6: Matt Walker 2022-Apr-14 15 minutes |
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S3 E5: Jay Garfield 2022-Apr-01 14 minutes |
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S3 E3: Kathryn Muyskens 2022-Mar-01 11 minutes |
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S3 E2: Andrew Bailey 2022-Feb-14 16 minutes |
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S3 E1: Bryan Van Norden 2022-Jan-30 15 minutes |
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Much Ado about Religion: Part 2 2021-Jan-31 16 minutes |
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Episode 9: Much Ado about Religion, Part 1 2021-Jan-15 12 minutes |
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Episode 8: Equivocating and other ways to lose 2021-Jan-01 10 minutes |
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Season 2 Announcement 2020-Dec-30 1 minute |
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Announcement about Episode 4 2020-Oct-16 3 minutes |
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Knowing 2020-Sep-18 14 minutes |
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Announcement: Season One Ending 2020-Jun-04 1 minute |
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Episode 8: Binging 2020-May-29 14 minutes |
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Episode 7: Craving 2020-May-15 17 minutes |
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Episode 6: Expertise 2020-May-01 16 minutes |
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Teaser: Episode 6 2020-Apr-24 less than a minute |
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Episode 5: Contagion (part two) 2020-Apr-17 15 minutes |
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Episode 4: Contagion (part one) 2020-Apr-03 16 minutes |
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Announcement: Opening up the "phone lines" 2020-Mar-28 1 minute |
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Episode 3: Reclining 2020-Mar-27 16 minutes |
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Episode 2.1: Disease and debate 2020-Mar-20 13 minutes |
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Episode 2: The Man 2020-Mar-13 15 minutes |