Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Academic philosophy discussions • consciousness debates: hard problem, Mary, epiphenomenalism, materialism • moral psychology: anger, blame, forgiveness, empathy, meekness • free will, determinism, responsibility, neuroscience, law • political theory: liberty, equality, Marx, rights, restorative justice • existentialist literature analyses
This podcast is a philosophy show hosted by a PhD student who uses the format of guided “ascent” out of Plato’s cave: working through influential texts, clarifying arguments, and testing intuitions in conversation with guests and recurring reading-group collaborators. Much of the content is structured as multi-part thematic series that focus on a specific area of philosophy and then move through canonical papers, books, and contemporary research.
A major strand centers on philosophy of mind and consciousness. Discussions engage the debate over whether conscious experience can be explained in purely physical terms, including classic thought experiments about knowledge and qualia, the formulation of the “hard problem,” nonreductive approaches, and arguments for materialism that treat mental–physical relations as identity claims. Related episodes also examine positions such as epiphenomenalism and the methodological role of intuition in theorizing about mind.
Another sustained focus is moral psychology and moral philosophy, especially anger, blame, and forgiveness. The podcast explores when anger is apt or valuable, how different kinds of anger (including outrage) function in human life, and whether forgiveness or “payback” responses are defensible. These conversations connect emotional attitudes to moral evaluation and interpersonal practice, including concepts like epistemic blame—how we hold others responsible for beliefs and reasoning, and how relationships change in response to perceived epistemic failures.
The show also devotes significant attention to free will and moral responsibility. It covers core debates about determinism, alternate possibilities, reasons-responsiveness, reactive attitudes, and revisionist approaches to responsibility, sometimes extending the discussion to law and neuroscience. Political philosophy appears through reading-group treatments of equality, liberty, rights, Marxian critiques of labor and alienation, and restorative justice. Alongside analytic work, the podcast includes episodes on existentialist literature and essays, using novels and philosophical texts to examine agency, meaning, and the contours of lived experience.
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Episodes:
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Ep. 78 - Identity Arguments for Materialism: David Papineau (Consciousness pt. 5)
2025-Aug-31
93 minutes
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Ep. 77 - Epiphenomenalism, Naturally (Consciousness pt. 4)
2025-Aug-24
92 minutes
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Ep. 76 - The Hard Problem of Consciousness (pt. 3)
2025-Jul-16
83 minutes
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Ep. 75 - Chalmers' Nonreductive Theory of Consciousness (Consciousness pt. 2)
2025-Jun-12
114 minutes
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Ep. 74 - Mary the Color Scientist (Consciousness pt. 1)
2025-Apr-29
91 minutes
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Plato's Cave: The Return
2025-Apr-24
10 minutes
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Ep. 73 - Chris Franklin: Valuing (Angry) Blame
2024-Jun-14
107 minutes
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Ep. 72 - Amia Srinivasan: The Aptness of Anger
2024-Jun-07
89 minutes
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Ep. 71 - Martha Nussbaum on Anger and Forgiveness (Part 2)
2024-Mar-14
87 minutes
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Ep. 70 - Martha Nussbaum's Anger and Forgiveness (Part 1)
2024-Mar-07
108 minutes
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Ep. 69 - Anger: Seneca & Stoicism
2024-Feb-23
111 minutes
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Ep. 68 - Sukaina Hirji: Outrage and the Bound of Empathy
2023-Sep-12
54 minutes
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Ep. 67 - Two Levels of Pluralism (Celebrating Susan Wolf)
2023-Aug-31
87 minutes
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Ep. 66 - Moral Luck (Celebrating Susan Wolf [& Bernard Williams])
2023-Aug-24
76 minutes
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Ep. 65 - The Role of Rules (Celebrating Susan Wolf)
2023-Aug-17
105 minutes
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Ep. 64 - Above and Below the Line of Duty (Celebrating Susan Wolf)
2023-Aug-10
86 minutes
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Ep. 63 - Moral Obligations and Social Commands (Celebrating Susan Wolf)
2023-Aug-03
90 minutes
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Ep. 62 - Moral Saints (Celebrating Susan Wolf)
2023-Jul-27
81 minutes
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Ep. 61 - Glen Pettigrove: Meekness and Moral Anger
2023-Apr-07
64 minutes
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Ep. 60 - Cameron Boult: Epistemic Blame & Relationship Modification
2022-Nov-21
56 minutes
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Ep. 59 - Existentialism: Jacques the Fatalist, by Diderot (PART 2)
2022-Sep-21
101 minutes
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Ep. 58 - Existentialism: Jacques the Fatalist, by Diderot (PART 1)
2022-Sep-19
78 minutes
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Ep. 57 - Existentialism: The Stranger, by Camus
2022-Sep-17
110 minutes
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Ep. 56 - "Existentialism is a Humanism," by Sartre
2022-Sep-15
95 minutes
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Ep. 55 - Existentialism: Nausea, by Sartre (PART 2)
2022-Sep-13
122 minutes
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Ep. 54 - Existentialism: Nausea, by Sartre (PART 1)
2022-Sep-10
68 minutes
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Ep. 53 - Existentialism: Notes from Underground, by Dostoyevsky (PART 2)
2022-Sep-08
116 minutes
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Ep. 52 - Existentialism: Notes from Underground, by Dostoyevsky (PART 1)
2022-Sep-05
106 minutes
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Ep. 51 - Manuel Vargas: Free Will Revisionism
2022-Aug-19
8 minutes
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Ep. 50 - Declaration of the Rights of Man (PPE series prt7)
2022-Aug-18
108 minutes
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Ep. 49 - "Two Concepts of Liberty" by Isiah Berlin (PPE series prt6)
2022-Aug-16
68 minutes
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Ep. 48 - The Communist Manifesto (PPE series prt5)
2022-Aug-14
121 minutes
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Ep. 47 - Estranged Labor by Karl Marx (PPE series prt4)
2022-Aug-12
120 minutes
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Ep. 46 - Reactive Attitudes and Restorative Justice (PPE series prt3)
2022-Aug-08
99 minutes
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Ep. 45 - "What is the Point of Equality?" by Elizabeth Anderson (PPE series prt2)
2022-Aug-04
162 minutes
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Ep. 44 - Conflict as Property and Restorative Justice (PPE series prt1)
2022-Jul-30
92 minutes
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Ep. 43 - Garrett Pendergraft: "Free Will and Human Agency" (50 Thought Experiments)
2022-Jun-28
72 minutes
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Ep. 42 - FW/MR: "For the Law, Neuroscience Changes Nothing and Everything" by Greene & Cohen
2022-Jun-16
83 minutes
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Ep. 41 - FW/MR: "Asymmetrical Freedom" by Susan Wolf
2022-Jun-15
102 minutes
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Ep. 40 - FW/MR: "Reply: The Free Will Revolution" by John Martin Fischer
2022-Jun-14
106 minutes
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Ep. 39 - FW/MR: "Semicompatibilism and its Rivals" by John Martin Fischer
2022-Jun-13
114 minutes
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Ep. 38 - FW/MR: "The Importance of Free Will" by Susan Wolf
2022-Jun-12
157 minutes
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Ep. 37 - FW/MR: "The Objective Attitude" by Tamler Sommers
2022-Jun-11
152 minutes
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Ep. 36 - FW/MR: "Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility" by Harry Frankfurt
2022-Jun-10
113 minutes
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Ep. 35 - FW/MR: "Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person" by Harry Frankfurt
2022-Jun-09
109 minutes
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Ep. 34 - FW/MR: "Responsibility and the Limits of Evil" by Gary Watson
2022-Jun-08
152 minutes
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Ep. 33 - FW/MR: "Freedom and Resentment" by P.F. Strawson
2022-Jun-07
117 minutes
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Ep. 32 - FW/MR: The Four Case Argument and Basic Argument by Galen Strawson and Derk Pereboom
2022-Jun-06
78 minutes
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Ep. 31 - FW/MR: SEP on Free Will and Determinism
2022-Jun-04
53 minutes
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Ep. 30 - FW/MR: "Free Will" by Sam Harris
2022-Jun-02
78 minutes
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Ep. 29 - Max Kiener: Consenting to Objectification
2022-Feb-15
57 minutes
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Ep. 28 - Eddy Nahmias: Neuroscience as a (Non) Threat to Free Will
2022-Feb-10
43 minutes
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Ep. 27 - Seth Shabo: Free Will Mysterianism
2022-Jan-20
65 minutes
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Ep. 26 - Adam Kadlac: Objectification in Sports
2021-Dec-29
69 minutes
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Ep. 25 - Matthew Flummer: The Free Will Show and Moral Responsibility
2021-Dec-13
50 minutes
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Ep. 24 - Paul Russell: Free Will, Art, and Morality (& Compatibilism)
2021-Nov-18
73 minutes
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Ep. 23 - Susan Wolf: On Moral Responsibility
2021-Oct-22
60 minutes
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Ep. 22 - John Martin Fischer: Moral Responsibility Semicompatibilism
2021-Sep-16
68 minutes
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Ep. 21 - Gregg Caruso: Just Deserts & Rejecting Retributivism
2021-Jun-04
85 minutes
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Ep. 20 - Per-Erik Milam: Letting Go & Forgiveness
2021-May-08
66 minutes
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Ep. 19 - Derek Leben: Pascal's Wager & Anti-Natalism for AI
2021-Apr-16
74 minutes
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Ep. 18 - Tamar Schapiro: Weakness of Will
2021-Mar-26
37 minutes
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Ep. 17 - Philip Goff: Panpsychism
2020-Dec-16
59 minutes
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Ep. 16 - Patrick Lee Miller: Be Right Back and The Entire History of You
2020-Oct-11
106 minutes
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Ep. 15 - Brandon Warmke: Moral Grandstanding
2020-Sep-25
52 minutes
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Ep. 14 - Brandon Robshaw: Eternal Recurrence
2020-Sep-04
55 minutes
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Ep. 13 - David Papineau: Materialism and Consciousness
2020-Aug-23
52 minutes
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Ep. 12 - Bernardo Kastrup: Why Materialism Cannot Explain Consciousness
2020-Aug-17
60 minutes
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Ep. 11 - Russell Blackford: Philosophy's Future
2020-Aug-14
68 minutes
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Ep. 10 - Jon Rosen: What's Fair Game in a Conversation?
2020-Jun-19
112 minutes
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Ep. 9 - Matthew McManus: Myth and Mayhem
2020-Jun-12
60 minutes
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Ep. 7 - Public Historian Justin Clark
2020-Apr-24
85 minutes
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Ep. 5 - The Milgram and Zimbardo Experiments (& Golhagen vs Browning on Nazis)
2020-Apr-04
106 minutes
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Ep. 4 - Ben Burgis: Moral Responsibility in a Determined World
2020-Mar-29
94 minutes
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Ep. 3 - Alastair Wilson: The Nature of Contingency
2020-Mar-20
61 minutes
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Ep. 2.11 - (ft.) Ben Burgis and Jon Rosen: Do We Have Free Will?
2020-Mar-16
96 minutes
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Ep. 2.10 - Moral Responsibility: Freedom and Resentment by P.F. Strawson
2020-Mar-16
24 minutes
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Ep. 2.9 - Moral Hypocrisy
2020-Mar-16
82 minutes
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Ep. 2.7 - (ft.) Clyde Rathbone
2020-Mar-15
66 minutes
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Ep. 2.5 - Aristotelian Virtue Ethics vs Consequentialism
2020-Mar-15
73 minutes
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Ep. 2.2 - (ft.) Pastor Paul Vanderklay
2020-Mar-15
83 minutes
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Ep. 2.4 - Aristotle's Virtue Ethics
2020-Mar-15
71 minutes
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Ep. 2.1 - (ft.) The Dirty History Podcast
2020-Mar-14
128 minutes
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Ep. 1 - The Allegory of the Cave
2020-Mar-03
38 minutes
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