Twitter: @PhilosophyWtf
Site: www.podomatic.com/podcasts/philosophywtf
95 episodes
2020 to present
Average episode: 23 minutes
Open in Apple Podcasts • RSS
Categories: Two Hosts
Podcaster's summary: What is Philosophy? Why should we bother with it? Sit down with Danny and Dr. Mike in the comfort of their local pub, as they grapple with the big ideas in a unique and accessible way! Dive into our archive of earlier episodes here: https://castbox.fm/channel/id3766780?country=gb Send us an email: [email protected] Check out our article about the podcast here! Get into Mike and Danny's heads for free! https://blog.apaonline.org/2018/10/03/the-philosophy-wtf-podcast-philosophy-outside-academia/Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/5eyc2bpvTwitter/X: @PhilosophyWtfBuy us a coffee: https://tinyurl.com/32sv2yz2
| Episodes |
| 2024-Apr-17 • 22 minutes Episode 212: Free Will and Determinism Part 4 Free Will and Determinism Part 4 |
| 2024-Apr-03 • 26 minutes Episode 211: Freewill and Determinism Part 3 Are you really free to eat anything you like for breakfast? Even turkey? Maybe, How about wear any clothes you want? Even slippers outside? Could be. But what about having children and keeping them? Is there really an option not to procreate and not to keep a child you produce? Is evolutionary biology controlling us to maintain the human species above your immediate desires? Tune in to find out! |
| 2024-Mar-20 • 24 minutes Episode 210: Freewill and Determinism Part 2 See, we knew you would be back! This time Danny and Dr. Mike consider whether or not they are truly 'good' people or perhaps 'bad' without knowing it? If morality changes as time moves on, can you be 'good' one moment and 'bad' the next because the world has changed its mind on what is moral? You should tune in this time as our moral, upright podcasters honestly give their take on ethical thought because next time they could considered nasty pieces of work! |
| 2024-Mar-06 • 18 minutes Episode 209: Freewill and Determinism Part 1 You were always going to end up here, why fight it? Come and join Danny and Dr, Mike from yo... |
| 2024-Feb-14 • 20 minutes Episode 208: Existentialism Final Part Where do you live? In the real world or online? Danny and Dr. Mike finish off their existentialism chat with a discussion about the way we have recorded our lives and how we present ourselves online. Also, a rigorous talk on what Dr. Jakyll gets up to when his fiancé is 'taking the waters in Bath'. |
| 2024-Jan-31 • 19 minutes Episode 207: Existentialism Part 8 This week, Dr. Mike whisks Danny of into the mists of time and recalls his days as Earth's first line of defense against Alien invasion! You heard correctly, Mike once was part of a crack team of first responders who were engaged in monitoring the night skies for suspicious flying objects and scouring the countryside for extraterrestrial vehicles etc. That's right! They did all these amazing things and still made sure they were home in time for tea! |
| 2024-Jan-17 • 18 minutes Episode 206: Existentialism Part 7 It's a new year and everyone is feeling optimistic and about the year ahead! Everyone except for Dr. Mike and Danny who return with more of their chat on the dark side of existentialism. Come join them as they talk Sisyphean ordeals, Star Trek and being 'Beach Ready'. |
| 2023-Dec-22 • 58 minutes Episode 205: Philosophy? WTF?? 2023 Christmas Special! So here it is the 2023 WTF?? Christmas Special! |
| 2023-Dec-13 • 25 minutes Episode 204: Existentialism Part 6 Welcome back for another round of Existentialism talk with Danny and Dr. Mike. Listen as they continue to look for answers in the structures and traditions of life. Listen out and see if you can find order and rules in their chat about Kafka's Trial! |
| 2023-Nov-29 • 23 minutes Episode 203: Existentialism Part 5 Yes dear listener, we have returned to continue our exploration of Existentialism. This time we f... |
| 2023-Nov-08 • 18 minutes Episode 202: Existentialism Part Four To not make a choice is still a choice have some good faith and tune into the final part of Danny and Dr Mike's Existentialism discussion! They chat about the return of philosophy to schools and the importance of critical thinking in our world where the answer to all questions is most certainly 42! |
| 2023-Oct-25 • 22 minutes Episode 201: Existentialism Part Three Once again you have made the correct choice! This week in their continuing chat on Existentialism... |
| 2023-Oct-11 • 24 minutes Episode 200: Existentialism Part Two This week Danny and Dr. Mike find themselves on the stage of life continuing their discussion on Existentialism by asking are we more than just decision makers? Do we bring more to the table then just our ability to make a decision? Listen while stroking your chin in wonder as the pair present the despair of choice in our current world on inauthentic news and misinformation.Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/5eyc2bpvTwitter/X: @PhilosophyWtfBuy us a coffee: https://tinyurl.com/32sv2yz2 |
| 2023-Sep-27 • 33 minutes Episode 199: Existentialism Part One Congratulations! You have chosen wisely to listen to this podcast! This week Danny and Dr. Mike t... |
| 2023-Jul-05 • 12 minutes Episode 198: Holiday Time 'Leisure' special! Yes its holiday time in Philosophy? WTF?? world! Open up your deck chair, unscrew a bottle of ambre solaire lay back and listen as Mike muses on the purpose of leisure time!Dive into our archive of earlier episodes here: https://castbox.fm/channel/id3766780?country=gb... Send us an email: [email protected] Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/danmifunev |
| 2023-Jun-14 • 40 minutes Episode 197: AI - Episode Three Danny and Dr. Mike conclude their discussion on AI with a wider chat on who gets the keys to the social media platforms we all use and the fallibility of the humans that are in charge of them. Also, with ChatGPT and similar are we removing humans from the creative process and does this spell the end of art? Tune in to hear all this and more with your 'all too human' hosts! |
| 2023-May-31 • 37 minutes Episode 196: AI - Episode Two This week gasp in suspense and delight as Danny and Dr Mike, without any computer assisted aides ... |
| 2023-May-17 • 30 minutes Episode 195: AI - Episode One Join us this week as Dr Mike and Danny get super topical and chat ChatGPT! That's right, Philosop... |
| 2023-May-03 • 40 minutes Episode 194: A Chat with Hunter: Final Part Welcome listeners to the final part of the talk with Hunter! As Danny's and Mike's chat with Hunt... |
| 2023-Apr-18 • 26 minutes Episode 193: A Chat With Hunter Part 3 This week Danny, Hunter and Mike have had enough of the breakneck speed of technology and discuss... |
| 2023-Apr-05 • 22 minutes Episode 192: A Chat With Hunter Part 2 Welcome back to part two of our chat with Hunter. This week we talk nation and identity and ask o... |
| 2023-Mar-22 • 20 minutes Episode 191: A Chat With Hunter In this week's episode Danny and Mike have a cosy chat with American friend-of-the-pod Hunter Campbell Royall! With a focus on our relationship to the land, Identity and culture we ask who we really are and where did we come from? |
| 2021-Dec-29 • 32 minutes Episode 158: Essence and Identity Part 6 Ok, it’s the last cast of the year, you all know the drill, I’m not sure I can be bothered this week so I’m just going to phone this one in if that’s ok with the rest of you? Right, so welcome, it’s Danny and Mike, listen to us talk about stuff. Sit in amazed silence as this happens, then that, then some other stuff, possibly about social construction, possibly about Luce Irigaray, to be honest I can’t rightly remember, we are just on the other side of Christmas here, cut us some slack for pity sake. I thin... |
| 2021-Dec-22 • 25 minutes Episode 156: Essence and Identity Part 5 This week, as we approach that festive time of the year, join Mike and Danny as they invite a few... |
| 2021-Dec-15 • 18 minutes Episode 155: Essence and Identity Part 4 This week, join Mike and Danny here in our bodies where we feel safest of all, we can lock all the doors, it’s the only way to live in bodies… or is it? Certainly Merleau Ponty would agree. Yes, it’s time for the physical body to not only take centre stage but to actually become the stage upon which we strut and fret and access the world. Bet you wish you’d kept it in better shape now don’t you? But don’t worry, Mike and Danny are on hand to socially reconstruct your entire reality. Gather round as they sen... |
| 2021-Dec-08 • 20 minutes Episode 154: Essence and Identity Part 3 This week Mike confuses Danny with someone else, after all, how is Danny to be distinguished from anyone else? One needs to be tolerant of each other, right? Or perhaps, as Popper tells us, the tolerant society can only be tolerant by not tolerating the intolerant. To secure the essence of humanity what must we deny? How do we police our fundamental identity? What are we prepared to go to the stake for? Human dignity? Human freedom? Gender distinctions? Pineapple on pizza?? Where do we draw the line and wha... |
| 2021-Dec-01 • 20 minutes Episode 153: Essence and Identity Part 2 This week Mike and Danny get down to essentials but where do they take us? What is a good Danny? ... |
| 2021-Nov-24 • 18 minutes Episode 152: Essence and Identity This week join Mike and Danny in the Philosopher’s Kitchen as they seek to impress the judges wit... |
| 2021-Oct-20 • 28 minutes Episode 147: Philosophy is Where You Find it! Part 6 This week join Mike and Danny as they attempt to build a scale model of Danny from bits of information gleaned by rummaging through his bins during the hours of darkness. Is it possible to create an accurate scale model of the world using nothing but words and statistics? Develop a new found respect for data analytics as we identify Danny’s perfect partner by noting his preference for whisky, Wittgenstein and women and concluding from this that he is ideally paired with a drunken Scottish lady who likes to ... |
| 2021-Oct-13 • 15 minutes Episode 146: Philosophy is Where You Find it! Part 5 This week, who knows what’s going on because we certainly don’t. Danny has been struck down by the virus (he’s fine and recovering so don’t pander to him, he’s just looking for attention) and Mike can’t recall what they talked about when this cast was recorded. All we can say with any certainty is that the whole thing will be its usual mixture of insight and delight - which is more than most of use deserve. I think we talk about a couple of films, oh yes, and a book … or was it a cat? No, I remember now, we... |
| 2021-Sep-29 • 17 minutes Episode 145: Philosophy Is Where You Find It! Part 4 This week join Mike and Danny as they get just what they deserve. Yes, who are you and what do you want? Is there an ontology behind consumerism? What do we need to own in order to be complete? Join us as we ride into town on the mule of philosophy and play what we deserve off against what we lack. Yes, it’s an anthropological showdown with everything to play for if we get caught. What are we being told about ourselves when the marketplace tells us what we need to be truly complete? If money can’t buy you h... |
| 2021-Sep-22 • 17 minutes Episode 144: Philosophy is Where You Find it! Part 3 This week join us as Mike and Danny bunk off school to hide behind the bike sheds and talk lifestyles. Yes, you heard right, we’re bucking the system and biting the very hand that feeds us. Listen in mute disbelief as your two cheeky chappies from the lower 6th sass their teachers and serve up shade to their betters. What do you mean you don’t want to take your place in the market? You can’t fly kites and feed birds all day! Stay after school and write 1000 times “I must not question the status quo and mist... |
| 2021-Sep-15 • 13 minutes Episode 143: Philosophy is Where You Find It! Part 2 This week, join Mike and Danny as they delve into the depths of the fridge, behind the the milk, cheese and other fresh dairy products to rummage amongst the fetid remains of dinners past. Yes, stand amazed, and slightly nauseated as your two ragged philosophical gastronauts engage in the thinking persons equivalent of coming home late from the pub and prodding at dangerously out of date pizza in the hope that it is just this side of toxic. Is the best philosophy conducted by poking around at things that we... |
| 2021-Sep-08 • 18 minutes Episode 142: Philosophy is Where You Find It! Introduction This week join Mike and Danny as they scavenge through the philosophical skips and bins in search of discarded gold. Yes, we are up-cycling preowned and well used ideas that others have simply thrown out. I mean really, senseless waste. Look at this passing phrase from a 1940’s film - still plenty of good ontological wear in that. And here, see that? A sentence from Jane Austin that with a little invisible mending will continue to do solid epistemic service. It’s a disgrace what people chuck out these days,... |
| 2021-Sep-01 • 18 minutes Episode 141: How to Build a Philosophy Part 7 This week join Mike and Danny simply because they tell you too. Yes, that’s right, you can trust us, we’re reliable, when have we ever steered you wrong? I mean, who else are you going to believe? After all, what do you really know? A handful of shabby first hand experiences mediated through highly questionable sense organs and the rest is all hearsay, am I right? So, who ya gonna trust? Wikipedia? The evening news? The government? Dave from down the pub (he seems to know everything). No, you stick with Dan... |
| 2021-Aug-25 • 15 minutes Episode 140: How to build a Philosophy Part 6 This week join Mike and Danny as they question your life style, yes YOURS! After all, who are you people to come in here with your uniqueness, strutting your difference around like it was no thing? I mean, it’s taken us ages to sort things out and to figure out the how and why of things and then in you people trot with your thinking and opinions and various sexualities and throw the whole delicate edifice into jeopardy. You people sicken me, why can’t you be like us? Why rock the boat with your … your… ways... |
| 2021-Aug-18 • 16 minutes Episode 139: How to Build a Philosophy Part 5 This week; being here, being there, being neither one thing or another, being in, being out, being real, being fake. To be, or not to be and bebop a Lula, she's my baby. Yes, it's ontology week at WTF mansions where Mike and Danny are being themselves and loving it. Existence is very much as you find it and we find it everywhere but what is it? Do things exist because we perceive them and stop when we aren't looking. Do trees ever really fall in the forest? Questions like this, and others, must be left for ... |
| 2021-Aug-11 • 16 minutes Episode 138: How to Build a Philosophy Part 4 This week join Mike and Danny as they dare to tug at the knicker elastic that alone holds up the ... |
| 2021-Aug-04 • 17 minutes Episode 137: How to Build a Philosophy Part 3 This week, join Mike and Danny as they examine the very foundations of reality because it looks like there are some nasty cracks appearing in your plaster work. What’s it all built on, eh? What sort of cowboy builders did you get in to do the original work? Listen in as your two philosophical construction workers don their hard hats and high vis vest and go at it with pneumatic drills to see what lies beneath the surface. When your philosophical pipes burst who ya gonna call? When your very ontology begins ... |
| 2021-Jul-28 • 15 minutes Episode 136: How to Build a Philosophy Part 2 This week join Mike and Danny, back in the lab again, as they tentatively extract dangerous metaphysic from the safety of its lead lined container. Have they instituted all necessary safety protocols or are they being recklessly cavalier with this most dangerous of philosophical substances? Catch your breath as Danny dons a protective suit and attempts to hold the highly volatile raw metaphysic stable using nothing but a pair of bbq tongs as Mike seeks to guide it into the Philoso-genorator (TM). Surely the... |
| 2021-Jul-21 • 17 minutes Episode 135: How to Build a Philosophy. This week join Mike and Danny as they lay out their tools and scavenged resources and commence construction. Yes, what, exactly is required to build a philosophy? The toe bone's connected to the heel bone, the heel bone's connected to the foot bone, the foot bone's connected to the leg bone, the leg bone's connected to the knee bone… but what is the ontology connected to and where are the Allen keys clearly indicated as present in the instructions? So, by all means join us as we begin or exploration into th... |
| 2021-Jul-14 • 3 minutes Episode 134: Coming up. This week something unnatural stalks the corridors of WTF Mansions. Join Mike and Danny as they s... |
| 2021-Jul-07 • 24 minutes Episode 133: A Well-earned Break This week, take your pick and join Danny down in the WTF mines digging for pure philosophy or leave your pick behind and take your leave with Mike by the seaside. Yes, it's Morlocks and Eloi at WTF Mansions today as we continue to explore the masks we wear. As Danny slaves beneath the earth Mike labours to engage with true human identity behind a succession of masked automata whose only wish is to provide him with beer, food and other services. The struggle is real. |
| 2021-Jun-30 • 12 minutes Episode 132: Philosophy and Theatre p5 This week join Mike and Danny - but not the same Mike and Danny as you joined last week by any means - as they grow a beard, change their look and adopt posher accents. Yes, it's time to flip the script and change costume as we ask the question, "wtf do you think you are?" As we all intermingle at the grand masquerade of life what have you come as? Who is the dude in the gorilla suit? When the clock chimes midnight and the masks come off who will we appear to be? Will there just be another mask underneath t... |
| 2021-Jun-23 • 18 minutes Episode 131: Philosophy and Theatre Part 4 This week Danny tells us about Wittgenstein’s penchant for gumshoe detective magazines and films. Join Mike and Danny on a dark and stormy night as they hit the streets playing the hunches and collecting 50 bucks a week plus expenses. Listen in as Sherlock Holmes pits his abstract intellect against Marlow's gut in an attempt to figure out which of the Vienna Circle killed British philosophy. Whose pipe is that still smouldering in the ashtray? Is that a size 10 boot print by the window?? What do these signs... |
| 2021-Jun-16 • 16 minutes Episode 130: Philosophy and Theatre Part 3 Saturday night at the movies, who cares what picture you see? Yes, Mike and Danny are talking too loudly in the cinema again and pissing everybody off. Join us this week as we plot spoil and comment through every scene while checking our podcast stats on our phones and kicking the seats in front. Listen in as Danny covertly accuses Mike of dissing the romantic novel. Yes, life is a cathartic performance and there is always someone sat in front of you wearing a big hat. If theatre allow us to conduct thought... |
| 2021-Jun-09 • 7 minutes Episode 129: Philosophy and Theatre Part 2 This week listen in as Mike and Danny order up a mess of popcorn and broccoli and head to the movies. But who do we find protesting outside? Yes it’s Plato waving a “Down with This Sort of Thing” placard. Yes, once again Plato shines his torch into the dark corners of the cave which is theatre and tells us to stop doing that. Do theatre and the arts hold a mirror up to nature or lead us further away from the ideal forms? Is all of existence nothing more than a series of performances for specific audiences i... |
| 2021-Jun-02 • 16 minutes Episode 128: Philosophy and Theatre There’s no business like show business, there’s no business I know! Yes, this week listen in as Mike and Danny strut and fret their hour upon the stage. Are we nothing but wastrels, slatterns and ne'er-do-wells or glittering celebrities admired and envied by the masses? If all the world really is a stage then are we constantly pretending to be who we are simply to be what we are? Yes, the pressure to perform weighs heavily upon us all but who writes the script and provides the costumes? Are there awards? Ha... |
| 2021-May-26 • 30 minutes Episode 127: Aristotle Eudaimonia and Virtue p4 This week you say potato and I say er...potato (no it doesn't really work when written down does it?). Yes, who is to say which one of us is right? This week Danny and Mike pitch their stall in the WTF farmers market and seek to tempt you with there virtuous produce. Lovely juicy honesty, ripe courage, only £1 a scoop, plump self-sacrifice picked fresh today! But what's this? Another stall has pitched up trying to undercut us with their over ripe greed and past its best self serving duplicity, what a cheek!... |
| 2021-May-19 • 27 minutes Episode 126: Aristotle, Eudaimonia and Virtue p.3 This week listen in as Mike and Danny give up and simply do what works. Yes, it’s enlightened self interest time here where what is right plays second fiddle to what happens to do the job. Yes, it’s big fish verses bigger fish in the turbulent waters of ethical theory as we carefully avoid gobbling up the tiny clown fish just in case it happens to be good friends with a gang of whale sharks. I mean, where are the gods when you genuinely need someone around to make an absolute judgement about something? Ever... |
| 2021-May-12 • 27 minutes Episode 125: Aristotle, Eudaimonia and Virtue Part 2 Join us as Danny presents his virtue for all to see. Go on, have a good long look, take a photo, it will last longer. Meanwhile, and across town, Mike is prepared to settle for simply appearing virtuous. As long as people consider us to be “good people” does it matter if we actually are? Why do even bastards prefer not to be seen as bastards? Why do politicians still make the effort to appear to be decent human beings rather than just own their sleazy and duplicitous characters? Yes, this week listen in as ... |
| 2021-May-05 • 21 minutes Episode 124: Ep.136 Aristotle, Eudaimonia and Virtue. This week, listen in as Mike finally confesses to delusions of godhood and his complicity in a slew of failed student relationships. How many cooks does it really take to spoil the broth? Who actually still eats broth these days?? Yes, the recipe for the perfect life, too much salt and the whole thing goes straight into the bin. Join us as we work through the spice rack of virtue - a little bit of honesty, a smidge of courage and the merest soupçon of temperance. Ok, now little it simmer gently for a few… G... |
| 2021-Apr-28 • 2 minutes Episode 123: A Small Interval This week join Mike and Danny as they ... well, just hang out, nothing more than that really. I mean, Danny pops down the shops for a few bits but other than that nothing much to see this week. Seriously, we've decided to take it easy for the week, you'll need to make your own entertainment. Alternatively, you could join us both as we scream into the void, probably sometime after lunch idk |
| 2021-Apr-21 • 25 minutes Episode 122: Ep. 135 Permanence and Change p5 This week join Mike and Danny as they throw their past selves under the bus. No, that’s not me, it might look vaguely reminiscent (apart from the hair) but other than that I have never set eyes on ether of those guys before. Can we ever go home again? How does Mike's mum still recognise him? Do all of Danny's former romantic partners look on in horror at what he has become and utter that well known phrase, “what WAS I thinking??” Yes, at the existential school reunion who actually attends? All of this and P... |
| 2021-Apr-14 • 24 minutes Episode 121: Ep.134 Permanence and Change p.4 This week, what happens when worlds collide? Do they both erupt in twin fire balls spinning off into the void as a sleek silver space ship cuts its way through the darkness on its way to a new home and a fresh start? Does encounter with otherness and difference inevitably lead to a diminution of the very essence of who and what we are? I mean, you said you wouldn’t try to change me but here we are, years down the line with your curtain fabric and furnishings throughout the house and all my stuff boxed up an... |
| 2021-Apr-07 • 25 minutes Episode 120: Ep.133 Permanence and Change P.3 "What kind of fool do you think I am? You think I know nothing of the modern world? Well, this week, let Danny and Mike prove you wrong! Join us as we ask the question - do we really need to change? What’s the matter with the old ways? Why can’t we ever be content with things as thy are. What is baby and what is bathwater? Is it your kids, Marty? Are our progeny the capsules into which we pour the essential, unchangeable aspects of our reality and fire them off into the future? Say what you like ‘cause I do... |
| 2021-Mar-31 • 24 minutes Episode 119: Ep. 132 Permanence and Change part 2 This week, what have the gods ever done for us? Join Mike and Danny in Thales hot tub where everything is water but full of bubbles and not always the good kind. Yes, it’s time to get back to basics, strip away the unnecessary and discover the very foundations of reality. Will you do the necessary prep work, sand down, clean and fill all those annoying little holes and cracks or will you simply slap a coat of paint on over the dirt and hope for the best? We, of course, plan to build our city on rock n roll ... |
| 2021-Mar-24 • 22 minutes Episode 118: Ep.131 The Pre-Socratics: Permanence and Change This week everything changes, or does it? Is change inevitable? What do we build on that might provide a solid foundation for our identity and understanding of the world? Join Mike and Danny as they turn and face the strain. Enjoy a relaxing trip through Miletus noting, as we go, Thales and the Pre-Scratics on our left. You know what? This time we are going to stop and get out, actually spend some time with these guys, grab a glass of wine and chill. After all, what else have we got to do? |
| 2021-Mar-17 • 27 minutes Episode 117: Ep.130 Alternative Lifestyles Part 4 This week we are just never satisfied are we? There is always some itch that needs scratching, some desire yet to be fulfilled, some patch of grass just ever so slightly more green. Never fear, join Mike and Danny as they seek out new vistas - this time it will work, this time we will discover the promised land, settle down with our partner(s) of choice, grow goats and herd root vegetables. What do you mean “what’s the wifi like?”??? No, there won’t be Netflix and it won’t be a convenient walk to the neares... |
| 2021-Mar-10 • 24 minutes Episode 116: Ep129 Alternative Lifestyles P.3 This week join Danny and Mike. That’s it, just join Danny and Mike, nothing more, just hangout in the world we have carved out for ourselves. Sacrifices will have to be made, you will have to ditch some of your baggage and adapt to our way of life but it’s a small price to pay for the sense of belonging we offer. Of course some of you will find it difficult to adjust, some of you might even nurse a rebellious spirit, perhaps even have some ideas of your own. No matter, everybody has to learn, a few days alo... |
| 2021-Mar-03 • 24 minutes Episode 115: Ep. 128 Alternative Lifestyles P2 This week, what is our ultimate destination? Join Mike and Danny as they set out along the path of natural order to identify our individual fate. But wait, who says we can’t stop and smell the roses? In fact, why don’t we turn off destiny highway and follow this rough unbeaten track to gods know where? Yes, once again Mike and Danny reveal their penchant for flared jeans, reasonably priced, if not free, love and the sounds of the Grateful Dead. Don’t harsh our buzz man, we are sticking it to the essentialis... |
| 2021-Feb-24 • 25 minutes Episode 114: p. 127 Alternative Lifestyles This week Danny is fed up and miserable but the sun is starting to shine and a new day is dawning! Tune in and join Mike and Danny, the merry philosonauts, on a magical mystery through the realms of possibility. Yes, this week we are talking revolution… or are we? Is it time to re-engage with normality or are we on the frontiers of the new normal? What, exactly, IS the normal way to be? What are the standards for identifying normal human existence? Is it essence or is it existence? Where is our instruction ... |
| 2021-Feb-17 • 24 minutes Episode 113: Ep. 126 Family Part 5 This week, join Mike and Danny, after a year of lockdown, as they stare into the face of the other and ask “who the hell are you people?” Yes, what do we do with the other after so long with only the Cartesian cogito for company? Will we finally emerge from pandamic isolation desperate for human contact or having developed an antipathy for human connection? Has all this time, huddled with our families, simply rendered us intensely tribal to the detriment of the body politic? Perhaps it’s time to explore alt... |
| 2021-Feb-10 • 33 minutes Episode 112: EP. 125 Family Part 4 This week we are family, I got all my siblings with me! Yes join Mike and Danny as they continue their exploration into the murky depths of family life. Should Danny beat his children? Would this contribute to the dialectical development of the universal spirit? Do philosophers give us the families their philosophies deserve? Just how natural is the family? Does “speaking as a parent” give one greater access to epistemic certainty or simply render as opinionated elitists? Can any one person or group provide... |
| 2021-Feb-03 • 26 minutes Episode 111: Ep.124 Family Part 3 This week, we didn’t ask to be born, right? Who is responsible for dragging us into this whole situation? Listen with mounting existential dread as Mike and Danny inform you that this is not your fault but your are stuck with it, there is nothing you can do about it, you just have to suck it up. Be dumbfounded with the revelation that as a parent you are empowered to grab the epistemic crayons and scrawl all over your children psyche. Yes! Go ahead! knock yourselves out and join in the pedagogic graffiti fe... |
| 2021-Jan-27 • 19 minutes Episode 110: Ep. 123 Family Part 2 This week listen in as Mike and Danny tell you that you aren’t bringing your kids up properly. Yes, in this offensive episode we upset both parents and the entire education industry by suggesting that one doesn’t know what it’s doing and the other is simply in it for the money. That’s right folks, here at WTF we play no favourites and know no fear in our quest to usher in a glorious utopian future. We built this city, we built this city on ideal forms and not on children reared on TV, celebrity gossip or ev... |
| 2021-Jan-20 • 22 minutes Episode 109: Ep. 122 Philosophy and Family It’s 2021 and we are back to bring philosophy to the masses! Join Mike and Danny as they emerge blinking from the darkness of 2020 bloated with the excesses of the festive season. Listen in with mild disappointment as Mike stuffs his face with leftover Christmas cake and Danny confesses, to his enduring shame, that he consumes sell-by mince pies behind closed doors to the everlasting embarrassment of his family and amidst the sound of his crying children. Yes, families, what are they for exactly? You can c... |
| 2020-Dec-09 • 22 minutes Episode 104: Ep. 121 Humanity Part 5 This week join Mike and Danny as they seek to establish their unique identities in the world. Marvel as Mike admits to bizarre restaurant based existential choices. Is anything enough for Danny? Does existence precede essence? Does the chicken precede the egg? Some of these questions and more will be on the agenda this week as our gift to you. But hang on, there is more! Yes, let Mike and Danny unfold the instructions to human existence and search in vain for the allen key that will allow them to put it all... |
| 2020-Dec-02 • 19 minutes Episode 103: Ep. 120 Humanity Part 4 This week join Mike and Danny as they strip humanity down to its boxers to see what is left of its identity. Are we nothing more than the sum of our memories and if that is true what effect does it have when I forget where I put my key? What happens when the JPEG that is humanity has too many pixels removed for the picture to be clearly seen? When we get to the point where we start singing “daisy, daisy, give me your answer do” has the essence of what we are been lost? Listen in as Mike and Danny skilfully ... |
| 2020-Nov-25 • 30 minutes Episode 102: Ep. 119 Humanity Part 3 This week join Danny and Mike as they subject subjectivity to the subjective gaze. Is one person's meat really another’s poison? Is there no accounting for taste? Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Is humanity really something absolute that establishes us as unique and inviolable or is it a sliding scale? A moveable feast of ingredients that is endlessly variable? Wrinkle your nose up in mild disgust as Mike brings dog poo to the table - is it really, objectively less lovely than, say, Marilyn Monroe, o... |
| 2020-Nov-18 • 27 minutes Ep. 118 Humanity Part 2 This week join Mike and Danny as they play "Plato’s Republic the Role Playing Game”! Yes, join in the fun and excitement of living in a utopian society but first you need to roll a character. Grab your dice and see what you end up with - will you be a leader, a philosopher king? Perhaps the dice will not fall exactly in your favour and you end up with high organisational stats and have to settle for the somewhat less exciting life of an administrator or military leader. If you really suck at this you might ... |
| 2020-Nov-11 • 27 minutes Ep. 117 Humanity Part 1 This week join Danny and Mike as they indulge their animal appetites to see just how far they can go before compromising their essential humanity. What, exactly, is a human being? Are you one? How do you know? Don’t give me that! Oh, we can all SAY that we are human beings but talk is cheap - unless of course you are Wittgenstein. Is humanity something that happens to us or do we in some way make it happen? Is it passive or active? When does protection of an essential human characteristic become a violation... |
| 2020-Oct-14 • 23 minutes Ep.113 Knowledge Wars Part 4 This week join our know-it-all podcast as Mike and Danny once more don the vestments of the epistemological priesthood and lead you, but only if you are truly repentant, into the light of clear and certain understanding. Bow in veneration at the combined feet of your gurus as we, the custodians of all that is true and real, weigh you in the balance. Will you be found wanting or will you pass into blessed enlightenment? Is your salvation dependent upon the sum total of all your experiences? Is knowledge of A... |
| 2020-Oct-07 • 29 minutes Ep.112 Knowledge Wars Part 3 This week listen in as Mike provides entirely the wrong blurb for this episode! Blink in disbelief and confusion as that blurb mysteriously vanishes to be replaced by this one. Did the original blurb ever truly exist? If it did, where is it now and ought you to receive immediate therapy? Perception, can it really be trusted to provide you with an accurate account of reality or is reality merely what we perceive and are some of you still tenaciously clinging to the original blurb? Join us for adventures into... |
| 2020-Sep-30 • 30 minutes Ep.111 Knowledge Wars Part 2 This week join Mike and Danny as they draw data from the physical world thus challenging the gods themselves! Listen in as they assault the very heavens armed with nothing more than a doughnut and their 5 senses. Yes knowledge, what does it taste like? how do we gain it? What do we do with it when we have it? Is there big knowledge and small knowledge? Knowledge is power but ignorance is bliss - place your bets ladies and gentlemen! Let Mike and Danny be your gatekeeper to the secret knowledge after all the... |
| 2020-Sep-23 • 27 minutes Ep.110 Knowledge Wars Part 1 This week, knowing me, knowing you! Listen in as Mike and Danny ask the question “Do you know enough?” Look on in mild amusement as we feverishly search for the instruction manual to the thrownness of being. Encounter rising panic as Danny freezes up creating a period of embarrassing dead air around about 10:18. Are we born with enough knowledge to find our extremities with both hands? Can we walk in a straight line or do we need to be taught? Do we need words to form knowledge? What if “the bird” really is... |
| 2020-Sep-16 • 27 minutes Ep.109 Kant Vs. Bentham The Final This week we come to the end of the Kant/Bentham rumble. Who will be judged victorious and who will have to swallow the bitter dregs of defeat? Listen in as Kant delivers his signature “categorical smack down’ move. Will Bentham’s "hedonic round house” be sufficient to counter the Crusher from Konigsberg? Bow your heads in reverence and let Mike and Danny root out the evils of the world and join them as they punch it on the nose and teach it a righteous lesson. Is a straightforward list of do's and don’t pr... |
| 2020-Sep-09 • 27 minutes Ep. 108. Kant Vs. Bentham Part 4 This week - do we really want the truth? What would we do with it? Better a comfortable lie, right? Consider, if you will, the existential anguish of the “extensive menu” - do we get incapacitated by indecision the more options we are given? What would you prefer, Mike’s Spam Egg & Chips, Spam and Chips or just plain Spam OR will you go for Danny’s 150 dish tasting menu with a selection of starters and deserts? Will you be lusting after what other people have ordered once the food arrives anyway? Is ethics ... |
| 2020-Sep-02 • 21 minutes Ep.107 Kant Vs. Bentham Part 3 This week, if you’re happy and you know it please contact Mike and Danny with details. Yes, it’s the greatest happiness for the greatest number folks. Join Mike and Danny as they decide on the minimum amount of happiness required for them to get up in the morning. What, exactly, do we have a right too? Are we really “worth it”? Listen in as Danny all but admits to speeding at 2 o’clock in the morning because, what harm can it do, right? Nod in sage wisdom as Mike shakes his head in smug condemnation. Are h... |
| 2020-Aug-26 • 24 minutes Ep.106 Kant Vs. Bentham Part 2 This week join Dr Mike as he gives a mad axeman Danny’s exact postal address and contact details, just in case. Listen carefully and take extensive notes as Mike and Danny consider what the untestable beliefs are that ground their understanding of reality. Do we have to assume an absolute judge in order to be good guys or can we work it out as we go along? Just how fast can nonsense travel on stilts? Settle back and lightly oil yourselves down as Bentham argues for an ethic based on the happy ending princi... |
| 2020-Aug-19 • 21 minutes Ep. 105 Philosopher Cage Fight! Kant Vs. Bentham Part 1 Join Mike and Danny this week as they pull up at the traffic lights and start revving the engine to show off to their mates. Stick with them as the lights change, they drop the clutch, release the breaks and the philosophical wheels start to spin. Gaze on in uncritical adoration as they screech away burning philosophical rubber to play chicken with Kant and Bentham. Who will blink first, how far will this go? Squeeze up onto the back seat, jump on the running board and live dangerously as Mike and Danny beg... |
| 2020-Jun-03 • 29 minutes Ep. 94 Postmodernism Part 4 This week listen in with all due deference as Danny and Mike … no, hang on, I’m not doing this. Why should I impose a narrative on you? The cast is out there now, you make of it what you will. Look, I’ll even leave you space to construct your own blurb, enough of this authorial priority, you go to it. I’ll just sit here and watch. Away you go then. [ ] There, see, not as easy as it looks is it? Oh yes, we all want to march to the beat of our own drum and throw away the rule book but then what? I’ll tel... |
| 2020-May-27 • 25 minutes Ep. 93 Postmodernism Part 3 Pst, hey, kids, do you want some po-mo? Don’t sweat it brah, this is the good stuff won’t make you go blind or nothing. No this is quality stuff and the best of it is the first hit is absolute free. Yeah, you heard us, Danny and Mike are hooking you up with the real deal and it will set…you,,,free! No more living in a world that’s already written oh no, with our high grade po-mo you can play by your own rules like it weren’t no damn thing. That’s right, it’s the hottest thing on the streets and we mean terr... |
| 2020-May-20 • 25 minutes Ep. 91 Postmodernism Part 2 This week, Mike succumbs to the pressures of the time and mentions Wittgenstein before Danny does. Listen in with mounting disappointment as Danny makes the obvious Lyotard gag - low hanging fruit bro, low hanging fruit. What is the condition of postmodernity? Who was the irritating student who suggested that the movement following postmodernism should be called post-postmodernism? Guess at the kind of grade they received for their final philosophy exam, go on, guess! Yes this week, as with every week, perc... |
| 2020-May-13 • 23 minutes Ep. 90 Postmodernism This week the pressures of lockdown start to get to Danny and Mike. Listen in as their narratives begin to unravel and they appear to waffle on about anything that comes into their heads under the pretext of a postmodern disposition. Join them in their new stories or are these just the old stories seen from a different perspective? Are they absolutely right in abandoning their previous absolute convictions? Are scones and jam part of an imperialist metanarrative? Were the Tracy family philanthropists or glo... |
| 2020-May-06 • 31 minutes Ep. 89 Wittgenstein Part 4 This week listen with your head cocked to one side, in a bemused and slightly suspicious way, as Mike confesses that while he loves fish and chips he has no desire to sleep with them. Raise your hand and fan you face in the wake of Danny’s confession that he built his daughter out of leftover body parts - he says that, right? Yes, wacky Wittgenstein is at it again, taking the words and phrases we love so well and making them perform for us in a Renaissance ruff while riding a unicycle. In this final episode... |
| 2020-Apr-29 • 20 minutes Ep. 88 Wittgenstein Part 3 This week join us as Wittgenstein kicks over his Tractatus and storms out of the room declaring that he doesn't want to play that stupid game any more because it's dumb and we are all stupid and dumb. Listen in as Dr Mike responds by informing Wittgenstein that he's the stupid one and also that he smells like farts. Be amazed as Wittgenstein goes on to elaborate that sticks and stones may break his bones but words are thoughts so probably have the power to do more damage and maybe he ought to have thought t... |
| 2020-Apr-22 • 28 minutes Ep. 87 Wittgenstein Part 2 This week agonise with Danny as he tries to get to the end of the Tractatus without interruptions. Do Mike and Danny LOOK like they have meaning but in actual fact make no logical sense? Are we simply talking nonsense? Does the sentence “Mike and Danny are exemplary Star Fleet Officers” carry any real meaning in spite of its grammatical legitimacy (even though we know it to be 100% true)? Should we all give up on philosophy and take up gardening? Tune in this week, it’s all nonsense of course. Subscribe to... |
| 2020-Apr-15 • 33 minutes Ep. 86 Wittgenstein Part 1 This week, listen in slack jawed amazement as Danny talks about the Tractatus for over 30 mins wi... |
| 2020-Apr-08 • 32 minutes Ep. 85 Phenomenology Part 6 This week FREEDOM! But do we really want it? Listen with care as Sartre warns us that freedom can make us a little queasy. Do we always have choices? Can I choose to have Sugar Puffs for breakfast tomorrow even though I don't have any in the house? What would Sartre have? Our guess is croissants. Enjoy the spectacle of Jean-Paul and Che Guevara having a beret-off. Don't be concerned as Danny and Mike gaze at you in a peculiar way, we aren't trying to objectify you, really we aren't ... really...we...aren't ... |
| 2020-Apr-01 • 32 minutes Ep. 84 Phenomenology Part 5 This week we grab hold of stuff and make it ours, not yours, ours… well… mine actually. How much of the world you live in is authentically ready-to-hand? Consider that, you spectator, as Heidegger judges you hard. Listen with escalating embarrassment as Mike and Danny adjust their black berets and jam along with Jean-Paul Sartre. Yes, it’s blackberry jam all the way this week! (we have been waiting 84 episodes for an opportunity to crack that gag, laugh damn you!). Who wore it best, the Greeks with their to... |
| 2020-Mar-25 • 18 minutes Ep.83 Phenomenology Part 4: Inauthenticity This week DON’T join Mike and Danny - seriously, stay away, keep your distance - as they lock themselves down in the WTF bunker to wait for everything to blow over. Listen in (from a remote and safe distance) as we discuss microwaves, freezers and incessant noise. Enjoy the peace and quiet of social isolation as the chatter dies down and we confront the inauthenticity of our existence. Alternatively, open the social media windows wide and throw yourselves into the digital maelstrom. Is our world any differe... |
| 2020-Mar-18 • 28 minutes Ep.82 Phenomenology Pt 3: Heidegger and Sartre This week Mike and Danny are there, no not just there but THERE. Listen in as Heidegger throws us all into a party we never signed up for. Will we enjoy it? Will it have decent snacks? What will the toilet-paper situation be like? We just don’t know and nobody will tell us. Yes, join the un-negotiated rollercoaster, don’t listen to the chatter, oh no, ignore the rumours and speculation, yes, that’s it, just like that. Mix your drinks, combine your snacks, talk to strangers, don’t read the manual, don’t foll... |
| 2020-Mar-11 • 19 minutes Ep. 81 Phenomenology Part 1: Husserl Part 2 Join Mike and Danny this week as they put a lasagne through a Star Trek transporter. What will come out the other side? Will the essence of the lasagne be preserved or will we be confronted by a soulless monster of cheese, meat and pasta? Can we ever identify the essence of anything without prior access to the recipe? Join us, and Husserl and judge for yourselves. |
| 2020-Mar-04 • 30 minutes Ep. 80 Phenomenology Part 1: Husserl This week join us as we look at something for a really long time to see what it is…no, much longer than that…longer…longer…okay, there it is! Yes, Danny and Dr Mike are going all phenomenological on your collective asses with our main man Eddy “the essence” Husserl. Listen in as the godfather of Phenomenology tells every philosopher in the room (perhaps with the exception of Aristotle) “You don’t know jack about things themselves bro!” Yes, it’s an intentional smack down where attitude is everything, you he... |