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David Edmonds (Uehiro Centre, Oxford University) and Nigel Warburton (freelance philosopher/writer) interview top philosophers on a wide range of topics. Two books based on the series have been published by Oxford University Press. We are currently self-funding - donations very welcome via our website http://www.philosophybites.comThemes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Interviews with philosophers • ethics and moral psychology • AI/digital ethics, privacy, law • political philosophy, democracy, conflict, identity • race, colonialism, Africana/Mexican/Japanese philosophy • animal minds, sentience • Plato/Socrates/Aristotle, biographies • thought experiments, vagueness, decision-making • grief, loneliness, hope, sex, authenticityThis podcast features short interviews in which the hosts, David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton, talk with academic philosophers and related scholars about both classic philosophical figures and contemporary debates. Across the episodes, conversations move between ethical theory, political philosophy, philosophy of mind, and epistemology, often using clear examples and familiar dilemmas to bring abstract ideas into focus.
A recurring strand is moral philosophy in practice: how to think about duties to rescue others, obligations to strangers, moral heroism, consequentialism, longtermism, and the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals, including questions about sentience and animal minds. Several discussions connect ethics to fast-changing technologies and institutions, exploring topics such as digital privacy, “digital dignity,” AI-assisted decision-making, and the political and ethical challenges posed by AI.
Political and social philosophy is another major theme. The interviews examine democracy and polarization, civic friendship and collective self-government, the ethics of spying, law’s relation to morality, and whether philosophical reflection remains valuable amid conflict. The podcast also engages directly with debates about identity and political argument, and with how social pressures shape choices about bodies and self-presentation.
Alongside these issue-driven episodes, the show frequently returns to the history of philosophy and intellectual biography. Listeners encounter interpretations of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Augustine, Hegel, Bergson, Arendt, Wittgenstein, J. L. Austin, Derek Parfit, and Frank Ramsey, with attention both to key ideas and to how thinkers’ lives and historical circumstances influenced their work. There is also emphasis on expanding the philosophical canon through discussions of Africana, Mexican, and Japanese philosophy, and of figures such as Frantz Fanon and major women philosophers in twentieth-century Oxford.
The podcast also addresses topics in moral psychology and human experience—grief, loneliness, authenticity, sex, rage, hope, and transformative experiences—linking everyday phenomena to broader questions about time, motivation, emotion, and how people deliberate and choose under uncertainty.
