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Moral Minority is a podcast on moral philosophy and the problem of moral foundations. Why does morality matter? What grounds the moral principles to which we appeal when making judgments about right and wrong, justice and injustice? Do we have good grounds for making the judgments we do make–in our everyday lives, our relationships, our work, or in politics? And if not, where does that leave us?Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ moral philosophy, moral foundations • metaethics, moral realism, normativity • existentialism, consciousness, self/other relations • critical theory, culture industry, fascism, antisemitism • Marxism, liberal socialism, political ethics • literature/film criticism, aesthetics, moral vision • religion, faith, mysticismThis podcast explores moral philosophy through sustained engagements with major works in ethics, political theory, and aesthetics, repeatedly returning to the question of what—if anything—can justify our moral judgments about right and wrong, justice and injustice. Much of the conversation is organized around close readings of influential philosophers, with attention to both “foundational” problems in metaethics (such as whether moral claims can be objective, and how normativity might be grounded in human practical reason) and historically situated accounts of how moral concepts develop, fracture, and become contested over time.
A significant strand examines modernity’s moral and political predicaments through continental and critical-theory traditions, including existentialism and Frankfurt School critiques of rationalization, domination, and the culture industry. These discussions connect questions about agency, responsibility, and relations to others with broader analyses of ideology, mass media, and the social conditions shaping moral and political life, including the pressures of fascist or authoritarian currents and debates within Marxism and post-Marxist thought. Alongside this, the podcast considers alternative moral vocabularies drawn from ancient ethics and tragedy, virtue traditions, and religious or mystical writing, using them to probe the limits of modern assumptions about responsibility, luck, faith, and moral psychology.
The show also treats literature, film, and artistic form as sites where moral vision and ethical conflict are articulated. Conversations with critics, poets, and novelists use particular authors and genres to investigate how aesthetic choices encode political commitments, how art can shape moral sensibility, and how cultural styles can intersect with power, desire, and ideological formation. Across these approaches—analytic, continental, theological, Marxist, and literary—the podcast frames moral life as both a philosophical problem of justification and a lived, historically mediated struggle over meaning, commitment, and collective forms of life.
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Nota Bene: The Moral Passion of David Foster Wallace's The Pale King with Hannah Smart Episode 2026-Jan-09 99 minutes |
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Contemporary Conversations: Eleanor Russell on Simone Weil's Gravity & Grace 2026-Jan-01 91 minutes |
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Contemporary Conversations: A.V. Marraccini on Susan Sontag’s Fascinating Fascism & Notes on Camp 2025-Nov-20 123 minutes |
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Content of the Form: Grace Byron on Annie Ernaux’s The Years & Herculine 2025-Nov-05 68 minutes |
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Moral of the Story: Sebastian Castillo on Fresh, Green Life 2025-Oct-28 65 minutes |
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Contemporary Conversations: Ross Wolfe on Domenico Losurdo's Neo-Stalinist Revival and the Future of Marxism 2025-Oct-22 112 minutes |
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Contemporary Conversations: Alina Stefanescu on Derrida's The Politics of Friendship and My Heresies 2025-Jul-04 116 minutes |
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Being & Nothingness, Part 2 2025-May-10 137 minutes |
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Nota Bene: The Metaphysics and Moral Vision of David Lynch with Jon Repetti 2025-Apr-02 163 minutes |
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Contemporary Conversations: Matt McManus on The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism 2024-Dec-24 85 minutes |
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Contemporary Conversations: Ryan Ruby on Fredric Jameson's The Political Unconscious and Context Collapse 2024-Nov-28 121 minutes |
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Being & Nothingness, Part 1 2024-Nov-23 101 minutes |
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Repetition 2024-Sep-27 93 minutes |
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Contemporary Conversations: Vanessa Christina Wills on Marx's Ethical Vision 2024-Sep-10 119 minutes |
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Fear and Trembling 2024-Aug-22 104 minutes |
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Dialectic of Enlightenment, Part 3: The Culture Industry 2024-Jul-22 104 minutes |
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Dialectic of Enlightenment, Part 2 2024-Jun-19 89 minutes |
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Dialectic of Enlightenment, Part 1 2024-May-14 75 minutes |
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Vocation Lectures 2024-Apr-04 83 minutes |
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Shame & Necessity 2024-Mar-09 75 minutes |
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Sources of Normativity 2024-Feb-26 74 minutes |
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After Virtue 2024-Feb-18 88 minutes |
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Moral Realism 2024-Feb-06 86 minutes |
Dawn2024-Jan-30 95 minutes |