TrueSciPhi

Podcast Profile: The Philosopher & The News

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50 episodes
2020 to 2025
Median: 58 minutes
Collection: Philosophy

Description (podcaster-provided):

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

This podcast uses contemporary news as a starting point for philosophical conversation. Episodes typically bring an academic philosopher (and occasionally other public intellectuals) into dialogue with major events and controversies, aiming to clarify the concepts, assumptions, and moral frameworks that shape how those stories are understood. The focus is less on breaking news than on the underlying ideas: what counts as legitimate authority, which values are in conflict, and how public arguments are structured.

A major throughline is political ethics and the health of liberal democracy. The podcast repeatedly returns to questions about polarization, populism, representation, corruption, and the boundaries of acceptable political action, including the moral status of political violence, civil disobedience, extremism, and dangerous speech. It also examines how rhetoric and media ecosystems influence public belief, whether impartiality is possible, and why conspiracy theories and distrust in expertise can thrive. Several discussions concentrate on contested institutions—universities, courts, and governments—and the tensions between free speech, security concerns, and democratic legitimacy.

International affairs and the morality of war are another central theme. Conversations address the ethics and legal constraints of armed conflict, the prospects and pitfalls of external intervention and regime change, and how to interpret geopolitical actors and narratives, especially in relation to Russia’s war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East. Related episodes broaden moral concern beyond humans by considering animals as overlooked casualties of war.

The show also explores applied ethics and public policy in science, technology, and the environment. Topics include pandemic decision-making, vaccine mandates and hesitancy, and the allocation of risk and responsibility in public health. On the technology side, it investigates artificial intelligence and debates about machine understanding and hype, as well as emerging virtual worlds. Environmental and “Anthropocene” discussions cover climate justice, strategies for large-scale decarbonization, and the possibility that climate change is better managed than “solved,” alongside population ethics.

Interspersed are episodes that use cultural flashpoints—such as monarchy, popular media, sport, and travel—to probe legitimacy, identity, meaning, and the norms that organize everyday political and social life.