Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
Philosophy podcast aimed at school students. Fun, informative, engaging. Philosophers at universities and schools talk about loads of questions and topics that come up in Philosophy, Ethics and Political Theory - A-Levels / IB / Highers and even GCSE. Hosted by Simon Kirchin, University of Leeds and Director of the British Philosophical Association. Timetable of topics: https://stkirchin.wixsite.com/mysite/schools-podcast (Music by Alex Grohl)Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ student-focused philosophy • metaphysics of mind: dualism, physicalism, functionalism, AI • epistemology: knowledge, scepticism, perception • philosophy of religion: arguments, divine attributes, evil, religious language • ethics: normative theories, metaethics, applied issuesThis podcast introduces philosophy in a way designed for school-level study, with conversations between the host and philosophers and teachers that map closely onto topics in philosophy, ethics, and political theory curricula (including A-Level, IB, Highers, and GCSE). Across the episodes, the approach is structured and explanatory: core ideas are defined, major arguments are set out step by step, and then common objections and lines of evaluation are discussed. Some themes are revisited from different angles, helping listeners compare positions and see how debates connect.
A substantial strand focuses on philosophy of mind and metaphysics, examining competing accounts of the relationship between mind and body. The podcast explores varieties of dualism and physicalism alongside influential thought experiments and challenges—such as zombies, the knowledge argument, multiple realisability, inverted qualia, and questions about artificial intelligence—using these to test theories like behaviourism, identity theory, functionalism, and eliminative materialism.
Another major cluster covers epistemology: what knowledge is, how it differs from belief, how justification works, and what sceptical challenges mean. Discussion includes the traditional analysis of knowledge, Gettier-style problems, and responses such as reliabilism and virtue epistemology, as well as debates about reason, perception, and empiricist versus rationalist strategies.
The podcast also spends significant time on philosophy of religion, explaining classical arguments for God’s existence and examining divine attributes, religious language, and the problem of evil. These topics are treated through well-known figures and arguments, with attention to standard criticisms and replies.
Ethics is addressed at both theoretical and applied levels. Normative theories such as utilitarianism, Kantian deontology, Aristotelian virtue ethics, natural law, and situation ethics are outlined and compared, alongside metaethical questions about moral realism and anti-realism. Applied discussions bring these tools to issues including abortion, euthanasia, sexual ethics, animal ethics and eating animals, war and peace, and business ethics. Throughout, the podcast also supports students’ philosophical skills by clarifying key terms and argument forms used across the subject.