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Critical Discussions of recent articles in ethics and practical philosophy.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Contemporary ethical theory debates • Virtue ethics: grandstanding, fanaticism, meaning • Moral responsibility: blame, free will, determinism, AI • Applied ethics: veganism, gamete donation • Emotions, grief, well-being • Confucianism, religion, race, hope, democracyThis podcast features critical, philosophy-focused conversations about recent scholarship in ethics and practical philosophy, often structured around close examination of journal articles or new books. Across its discussions, it returns to questions about how moral concepts function in everyday life and public discourse, and whether our common practices—blaming, judging, expressing outrage, or withdrawing from dialogue—are justified, productive, or sometimes morally problematic. A recurring concern is moral responsibility: what it takes to be an appropriate target of blame, how responsibility relates to freedom and determinism, and how these ideas might apply in emerging contexts such as harmful outcomes caused by AI systems.
Another major theme is virtue and moral psychology. The podcast explores how traits like fanaticism, devotion, and civility should be evaluated, including whether intense commitment to a worldview can ever count as a virtue rather than a vice. It also examines the role of emotions in moral life—how malleable emotional responses are, which emotions support ethical living in pluralistic societies, and how to understand anger and shame. In a similar vein, it engages with philosophical work on grief, asking what grief is directed at, whether it can be valuable or required, and what norms might govern it.
The show also connects ethical theory to concrete disputes and social practices. It considers arguments for obligations surrounding diet and animal ethics, including whether abstaining from animal products is required to avoid unfair free-riding. It addresses family ethics and identity through questions about gamete donation, disclosure to children, and the value or cultural status of genetic knowledge. Broader traditions and social philosophy appear as well, including Confucian approaches to human nature, ritual, and flourishing, and pragmatist work on race, democratic values, and sustaining hope amid the legacy of racism. Underlying many of these topics is an interest in what it means to live well, how human beings develop morally, and how different accounts of human nature, meaning, and spirituality shape ethical theory.
| Episodes: |
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Virtue Signaling, Grandstanding, and Judging Others 2025-Sep-12 64 minutes |
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Should We Blame AI? 2024-Aug-19 45 minutes |
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Fanaticism, Devotion, and Nihilism 2024-May-28 45 minutes |
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Veganism and Free-riding 2024-May-07 42 minutes |
How to Do Things with Emotions: Owen Flanagan2022-Apr-05 55 minutes |
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Confucianism, Morality, and Well-being 2022-Mar-15 63 minutes |
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Ethics of Gamete Donation and the Value of Genetic Knowledge 2022-Feb-16 61 minutes |
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Prophetic Pragmatism: Cornel West, Hope, and the Philosophy of Race 2022-Feb-01 54 minutes |
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Grief: A Philosophic Guide 2022-Jan-13 56 minutes |
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Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals 2021-Apr-21 67 minutes |
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Religion and Human Development (Jennifer Herdt) 2020-Jul-08 59 minutes |
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Virtue and Meaning -- an Interview with David McPherson 2020-May-05 73 minutes |