Philosophy Talk Starters

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mary-midgley. Mary Midgley became one of the best known public intellectuals in the UK, and was one of the first philosophers to talk about climate change. Though she didn't publish her first book—Beast and Man—till she was 59, she wrote many influential works on science, ethics, and animal rights. So, why did Midgley argue that the climate crisis was ultimately a conceptual problem? What was her criticism of scientism, the view that only science can provide knowledge about the world around us? And why did she think the work of the philosopher is a bit like that of the plumber? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Clare Mac Cumhaill from Durham University, co-author of "Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life." Part of the "Wise Women" series, generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/are-rules-meant-be-broken. Rules exist for a reason: they tell us what to expect, they help us coordinate our actions, and they stop us from exploiting one another. But isn't it possible to be too much of a rule follower? Aren't some rules arbitrary, unjust, or just plain inefficient? When should we exercise our judgment to reinterpret the rules, and when should we ignore them altogether? Josh and Ray break all rules with Barry Lam from UC Riverside, author of "Fewer Rules, Better People The Case for Discretion."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/iris-murdoch. Iris Murdoch may be best known for her works of fiction, but her philosophical contributions were equally significant. A moral realist influenced by Plato and Simone Weil, she developed theories in virtue ethics and care ethics. So what is the relationship between Murdoch's works of fiction and her philosophical writings? Why did she believe that "nothing in life is of any value except the attempt to be virtuous"? And given that, why did she think human life has no purpose? Josh and Ray explore Murdoch's life and thought with Eva-Maria Düringer from the University of Tübingen, author of "Evaluating Emotions."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/judith-jarvis-thomson. Judith Jarvis Thomson is best known for arguing that abortion is morally permissible, even granting the fetus the status of person. Her colorful thought experiments illustrate that a right to life does not mean the right to use another person's body to survive. So, what exactly is a right to life and what does it permit or prohibit? Does pregnancy come with certain moral obligations to the fetus? And how can thought experiments, like the Trolley Problem, shed light on these questions? Josh and Ray explore Thomson's life and thought with Elizabeth Harman from Princeton University, author of "When to Be a Hero" (forthcoming).

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/2025-dionysus-awards. What movies of the past year challenged your assumptions and made you think about things in new ways? Josh and guest co-host Jeremy Sabol present our annual Dionysus Awards for the most thought-provoking movies of the last twelve months, including: • Best Movie About Religious People Who Aren't Entirely What They Seem • Most Moving Meditation on Fierce Female Friendship • Best Film in Which Character Change Is Not All It's Cracked Up To Be

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/philosophical-worlds-borges. Argentinian writer Jorge Luís Borges wrote some of the world's most brilliant, mind-bending, and philosophical stories. Drawing on sources from Europe, India, China, and Persia, these stories tackled topics like time, reality, selfhood, and art. Yet Borges also said "I don't think ideas are important." So what can we get out of philosophical stories that don't try to teach us what to think? And how can Borges help us grapple with our mortality, our confusion, our doubts? Josh and Ray explore the labyrinth with Héctor Hoyos from Stanford University, author of "Beyond Bolaño: The Global Latin American Novel."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/alan-turing-and-limits-computation. Alan Turing was a 20th-Century English mathematician and cryptologist who is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science. In 1950, he published a definition of a computer that is both universal, general enough to apply to any specific computing architecture, and mathematically rigorous, so that it lets us prove claims about what computers can and can't do. What does Turing's writing teach us about the bounds of reason? Which thoughts are too complicated for a computer to express? Is the human brain just another kind of computer, or can it do things that machines can't? Josh and Ray calculate the answers with Juliet Floyd from Boston University, editor of "Philosophical Explorations of the Legacy of Alan Turing."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/web-du-bois. Sociologist, historian, philosopher, editor, writer, and activist, W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most influential intellectuals of the twentieth century. The first African-American Ph.D. from Harvard University, Du Bois died in Ghana after having renounced his American citizenship. In between he co-founded the NAACP and wrote The Souls of Black Folk (1903) as well as a number of other influential books that had a decisive impact on the development of African-American culture in the twentieth century. John and Ken discuss Du Bois' life and thought with Lucius Outlaw from Vanderbilt University, author of "On Race and Philosophy."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/elizabeth-anscombe. Elizabeth Anscombe made hugely influential contributions to contemporary action theory, moral theory, and philosophy of mind. She also famously protested Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb when he was awarded an honorary degree at Oxford. Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Rachael Wiseman from the University of Liverpool, co-author of Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life. Part of the "Wise Women" series, generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/examined-year-2024. What happened over the past year that challenged our assumptions and made us think about things in new ways? Josh and Ray talk to philosophers and more about the events and ideas that shaped the last twelve months: • The Year in Philosophy with Justin Weinberg, creator and editor of the Daily Nous • The Year in Unjust Deserts with Elie Honig, author of "Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away with It" • The Year in Electoral Futility with Alex Guerrero, author "Lottocracy: Democracy Without Elections"

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/crisis-and-creativity-mayan-mythology. The Popol Vuh, written in 1702, was based on a Mayan oral tradition encompassing creation myths, history, and cosmology. These stories were written in a time of crisis: European colonialism had decimated the Mayan population and destroyed much of their cultural knowledge. How do stories help a society survive and thrive? Can they console us in times of crisis? How much of a culture can historians save in times of devastation? Josh and Ray rewrite history with Edgar Garcia from the University of Chicago, author of "Emergency: Reading the Popol Vuh in a Time of Crisis."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/whats-so-special-about-humans. Human beings share the planet with many different organisms with vastly diverse ways of life. We like to think we're a higher form of intelligence. But are we really that unique? How different are we as a species when it comes to language, thought, and culture? Where does our specifically human form of consciousness come from? And if other animals are so similar to us, should we stop eating them? The Philosophers walk the Earth with Peter Godfrey-Smith from the University of Sydney, author of "Living on Earth Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/emma-goldman. Activist and anarchist philosopher Emma Goldman fought for human liberation in every realm of life. While she opposed the women's suffrage movement, she was a staunch advocate for women's rights. So why did she think the right to vote was so unimportant? What did she think was required to achieve her anarchist goals? And how ahead of her time was she on labor, prison abolition, and sexual liberation? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Candace Falk, founding director of the Emma Goldman Papers research project at UC Berkeley. Part of the "Wise Women" series, generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/simone-weil. French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil was also an activist whose goal was to elevate the lower classes. But she was opposed to the kind of revolution where the oppressed overthrow their oppressors. So, how did she think we could achieve peace and justice? Is it enough to pay the right kind of attention to each other's suffering? And how does this connect to her conversion to a mystical form of Christianity? Josh and Ray attend to the life and thought with Rebecca Rozelle-Stone from the University of North Dakota, author of "Simone Weil: A Very Short Introduction."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/anna-julia-cooper. Born into slavery in the nineteenth century, Anna Julia Cooper received a classical education, attended the Sorbonne, and became the fourth African American in history to be awarded a PhD. Her first book, A Voice from the South, offered one of the first articulations of how Black women are impacted by race, gender, and socioeconomic class. She believed that uplifting Black women through higher education would improve life for all Black people. Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Kathryn Sophia Belle, author of "Beauvoir and Belle: A Black Feminist Critique of The Second Sex." Part of our Wise Women series, generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/marx-and-morality. Karl Marx famously attempted to explain our social, political, and economic systems in terms of class conflict. While he never explicitly states that capitalism is unjust, some scholars suggest that there is an implicit moral critique of it in his work. So, does Marx reject capitalism for its moral failures, or is his opposition to it purely socioeconomic? Can we get an account of gender and racial justice from Marx? And did he try, and perhaps fail, to abandon philosophy entirely? Josh and Ray share the means of production with Vanessa Wills from George Washington University, author of "Marx's Ethical Vision."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/how-do-things-your-mind. We all engage in mental actions of various kinds, whether it's planning the coming week, trying to remember the lyrics of a song, or imagining what we'd look like with a different haircut. These thought processes have significance for us and help us direct our other actions. But are we really in control of trains of thoughts or do they just pop into consciousness? Does it make sense to criticize others for what goes on inside their heads? And is there anything we can do to improve the quality of our thinking? Josh and guest-host Blakey Vermeule do things with the mind of their Stanford colleague Antonia Peacocke, author of "Mental Means" (forthcoming).

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/hildegard-of-bingen. Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th century mystic, polymath, and composer whose work spanned visionary theology, philosophy, cosmology, medicine, botany, and music. Her extraordinary intellectual accomplishments belie her humble claim to be “just a woman”. Was her humility justified in the face of the divine, internalizing misogynistic stereotypes, or a strategic decision to get her voice heard? What can mystical experience teach us about the world? And how can we understand ourselves in relation to the divine? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Jennifer Bain from Dalhousie University, editor of "The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/who-speaks-you. People often speak on behalf of others, like the concerned citizen who stands up for their neighbors at a city council meeting, or the activist who defends the rights of an oppressed group. Some of these spokespeople are elected, and some volunteer, but others simply get drafted into the role. What gives someone the right to speak on behalf of others? What responsibilities do they take on when they do? And how should the rest of us respond to what they say? Josh and Ray speak for themselves with their Stanford colleague Wendy Salkin, author of "Speaking for Others: The Ethics of Informal Political Representation."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/nisia-floresta. Nísia Floresta was a 19th-century writer and translator known as “the Brazilian Mary Wollstonecraft.” She published the first book on women's rights in South America, when Brazil was gaining independence from Portugal and a new post-colonial nation was being built. She also argued for the rights of the enslaved and indigenous Brazilians, who were marginalized and exploited in this new nation. Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Nastassja Pugliese from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, author of "Nísia Floresta (Elements on Women in the History of Philosophy)."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/daniel-dennett-retrospective. In April 2024, we lost one of the greatest American philosophers of our time—Daniel Dennett. Known for his brilliant mind and controversial views, his contributions to philosophy include topics like consciousness, AI, evolution, atheism, intentions, free will and moral responsibility. In this special episode remembering his life and work, Josh and Ray are joined by Jenann Ismael from Johns Hopkins University, author of "How Physics Makes Us Free," to listen to some of Dennett's past appearances on the program with John and Ken.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/summer-reading-list-2024. Looking for some deep dives into pop culture this summer? Josh and Ray talk to Sandra Laugier from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, author of "TV-Philosophy in Action: The Ethics and Politics of TV Series," and Nathaniel Goldberg from Washington & Lee University, co-author of "Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons, and Rejects Explain the World." And they get recommendations for philosophical science fiction from Sara Uckelman of Durham University, philosopher of language by day and writer of speculative fiction by night.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/logic-everyone. Logic may seem like a dry, abstract discipline that only the nerdiest of philosophers study. After all, logic textbooks are full of weird symbols and proofs about abstruse entities, like "the set of all sets." On the other hand, don't we all try to think logically, at least in some contexts? Why do we believe, for example, it's bad to contradict yourself and good to be coherent? And what's the connection between the abstract rules of logic and the everyday practice of poking holes in each other's arguments? Josh and Ray entail their guest, Patrick Girard from the University of Auckland, author of "Logic in the Wild."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mary-wollstonecraft. Mary Wollstonecraft is often labeled as a “liberal feminist” because of her concern for women's rights and conceptions of freedom. But that label narrows her work, which was broadly critical of all social inequalities that distort human relations. So why did Wollstonecraft think that virtue is not truly possible unless we are all free? What did she think was key to the liberation of women? And what were her criticisms of the powerful institutions of her day, like the monarchy? Josh and Ray explore the life and thought of Mary Wollstonecraft with Sylvana Tomaselli from the University of Cambridge, author of "Wollstonecraft: Philosophy, Passion, and Politics." Part of the "Wise Women," series generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/why-world-so-weird. Quantum mechanics, mathematics, human consciousness.... whichever way you slice it, the universe is weird. How can our conscious minds be made from unconscious atoms? What should we make of quantum entanglement, or the fact that light can be both a particle and a wave? Why is it that there are exactly as many fractions as there are whole numbers? Josh and Ray boggle at the strangeness of it all with Eric Schwitzgebel from UC Riverside, author of "The Weirdness of the World."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/shakespeares-outsiders. Over 400 years after his death, Shakespeare is still widely regarded as the greatest dramatist of all time. His many plays tackle questions about power, influence, identity, and moral and social status. His characters—be they villains or heroes—are often disdained because of their race, religion, class, disability, or gender. So what do Shakespeare's plays reveal about identity and status in his time? How might they shed light on who we include and who we exclude today? Could Shakespearian dramas have more in common with modern day soap operas than we think? Ray and guest-host Adrian Daub go inside with David Sterling Brown from Trinity College, author of "Shakespeare's White Others."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mind-sharing. Mind reading might sound like the stuff of science fiction. But in philosophy and psychology, mind reading is something that human beings do whenever we try to guess what another person is thinking. Could it be that people are also natural born mind sharers, unconsciously shaping our behavior to be understood by others? How do we change or exaggerate our actions when others are present? And how can we use these insights to communicate better with our loved ones? Josh and Ray share their mind(s) with Julian Jara-Ettinger, Director of the Computational Social Cognition Lab at Yale University.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/margaret-cavendish. Margaret Cavendish was a writer of poetry, philosophy, polemics, histories, plays, and utopian fiction. She employed many different genres as a way to overcome access barriers for women and build an audience for her subversive philosophical ideas. So, what was so radical about Cavendish's views? Why did she think all matter, even rocks, was at least partially rational? And how did she anticipate the term "epistemic injustice" 400 years before it was coined? Josh and Ray explore the life and thought of Margaret Cavendish with Karen Detlefsen from the University of Pennsylvania, co-editor of "The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/2024-dionysus-awards. What movies of the past year challenged your assumptions and made you think about things in new ways? Josh and guest co-host Jeremy Sabol present our annual Dionysus Awards for the most thought-provoking movies of 2023, including: • Best Film about Social Justice that Wonders What Makes a Good Film about Social Justice • Most Disturbing Exploration of a Female Criminal Who Thinks She May Be Innocent • Most Moving Film (or TV show!) about Difficult Choices

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/im-yunjidang. 8th-century Korean philosopher Im Yunjidang was the first Confucian to argue for women's equality in matters of morality and to claim that women, just like men, can be sages. She also argued that it isn't just what you do that matters morally—it's also how you decide. So what does it mean to be a sage and how does someone become one? How did Im Yunjidang use traditional Confucian texts to argue for women's spiritual equality? And what did she think was important when it comes to making difficult moral choices? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Hwa Yeong Wang from Duke Kunshan University, editor of "Korean Women Philosophers and the Ideal of a Female Sage: The Essential of Writings of Im Yungjidang and Gang Jeongildang." Part of the "Wise Women" series, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/can-ai-help-us-understand-babies. Artificial intelligence is everywhere in our day-to-day lives and our interactions with the world. And it's made impressive progress at a variety of visual, linguistic, and reasoning tasks. Does this improved performance indicate that computers are thinking, or is it just an engineering artifact? Can it help us understand how children acquire knowledge and develop language skills? Or are humans fundamentally different from machines? Josh and Ray decode the babble with Michael Frank, Professor of Human Biology at Stanford University and Director of the Symbolic Systems Program.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/20th-anniversary-quiz-night. Philosophy Talk made its radio debut on August 20, 2003 with a live pilot on KALW San Francisco and weekly broadcasts beginning in January 2004. To celebrate two decades on the air, in November 2023 we held our first-ever Quiz Night. Longtime listeners and first-time fans filled KALW's popup space in downtown San Francisco as Director of Research Laura Maguire ran eight teams through the gauntlet of a philosophical pub quiz. In this special 20th anniversary episode, Josh and Ray (who participated in the quiz as regular contestants) revisit the drama and intellectual derring-do from that evening with their guest quiz-taker, host emeritus John Perry.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/american-futures. When Philosophy Talk co-founder Ken Taylor passed away in 2019, he was working on a manuscript titled Farewell to the Republic We Once Dreamed of. Was Ken right to think the American experiment is on the verge of collapse? Are we heading for authoritarian rule, a national divorce, or even a civil war? Or could better days be on the horizon? In Ken's honor, Josh and Ray devote their end-of-year special to probing the future of the American republic with Barbara Walter from UC San Diego, Tamsin Shaw from New York University, and Rob Reich from Stanford University.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/impossible-worlds. Philosophers often speculate about possible worlds: ways that things could be. Some of them also believe in impossible worlds: ways that things couldn't be. Are impossible worlds places where strange things happen, or descriptions, or abstract objects, or something else entirely? How can you describe an impossibility without contradicting yourself? Could we imagine worlds where even the laws of logic are different? Josh and Ray imagine the unimaginable with Koji Tanaka from the Australian National University, author of "Logically Impossible Worlds."

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/awe-wonder. René Descartes said that the purpose of wonderment is “to enable us to learn and retain in our memory things of which we were formerly unaware.” He also said that those who are not inclined to wonder are “ordinarily very ignorant.” So what exactly is wonder, and how is it different from awe? Is wonder at the core of what drives us to search for novel insights? And can we suffer from an excess of wonderment? Josh and Ray stand in awe of Helen de Cruz from St. Louis University, author of "Wonderstruck: How Wonder and Awe Shape the Way We Think" (forthcoming).

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mary-astell. Mary Astell (1666–1731) was an English philosopher and writer who advocated for equal rights for women. While she described marriage as a type of “slavery,” she was also a staunch conservative who claimed that women who did marry should accept subordination to their husbands. So what was Astell's vision for the education of women? How did she reconcile her seemingly conflicting views on marriage? And why did philosopher John Locke criticize her views on natural law? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Allauren Forbes from McMaster University. Part of the "Wise Women" series, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/zhuangzi. Zhuangzi, the 4th-century-BCE Chinese philosopher, was arguably the most important figure in Taoism. He believed that a person's ideal relationship to the world was to "be one with ten thousand things." So how is someone supposed to achieve this ideal? What is at the core of Zhuangzi's conception of the good life? And how could contemporary western readers benefit from his way of thinking? Josh and Ray welcome back Paul Kjellberg from Whittier College, editor of "Essays on Skepticism, Relativism, and Ethics in The Zhuangzi."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/referring-world. On December 2, 2019, Ken Taylor announced that he finally had “an almost complete draft” of a book he had been writing for years. “I think I'll pour a glass of wine to mark the occasion, before plunging back into the work that is still to be done,” he wrote. Tragically and unexpectedly, he died later that same day. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of some colleagues, his book, "Referring to the World: An Opinionated Introduction to the Theory of Reference," has just been published. In this special episode, Josh and Ray discuss Ken's ideas about reference with USC philosopher Robin Jeshion, who helped bring the book to fruition.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/elisabeth-bohemia. Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–1680) is best known for her correspondence with René Descartes. In her letters, she articulated a devastating critique of his dualist theory of mind, in particular on the impossibility of mind-body interaction. So what was Elisabeth's own position on the nature of mind? What can we ascertain about her moral and political concerns based on her various correspondences? And how are her ideas still relevant to current debates in philosophy? Josh and Ray explore Elisabeth's life and thought with Lisa Shapiro from McGill University, editor of "The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy." Part of our series "Wise Women," supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/can-architecture-be-political. It's common to judge a piece of architecture based on its functional and aesthetic values, and how the two might complement or compete with one other. It's less common to judge architecture based on its political values. But can't a building's design also express a political viewpoint? Why are different styles of architecture associated with different ideologies? And can a historical edifice's social purpose change over time? Josh and Ray build a foundation with Vladimir Kulić from Iowa State University, editor of "Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/are-we-living-simulation. With rapid advances in Virtual Reality technology and the like, it's now possible for us to become absorbed in completely made-up worlds. We might wonder how soon it will be till we reach a point where VR is so good, we can't tell it apart from the real world. But what if we've already reached that point? How would we know if we were currently living in a simulated reality, or are there always telltale signs? And if we were in a simulation, what difference would it make—pragmatically or morally—in how we live our lives and treat other people? Josh and Ray don't fake it with David Chalmers from NYU, author of "Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/weird-wants. Philosophers from Thomas Aquinas to Elizabeth Anscombe have claimed that wanting something means seeing the good in it. Even if what you want is bad overall, like procrastinating on important work, you can still desire it for its positive qualities. But don't we sometimes want things because of their badness, not in spite of it? Isn't there joy in doing something totally pointless, or even in breaking the rules? And is it really impossible, logically speaking, to want to be bad? Josh and Ray unravel our weird wants with Paul Bloom from the University of Toronto, author of "The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/making-better-world. Some philosophers think that morality boils down to one idea: we should make the world better for everyone. But who counts in "everyone"—babies, animals, future people? How can we tell what makes the world better for others? And in an uncertain world, how can anyone gauge the effects of their actions? Josh and Ray try to save the world with acclaimed Princeton philosopher Peter Singer, author of "Ethics in the Real World: 90 Essays on Things That Matter."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/hypatia-alexandria. Hypatia of Alexandria, late antiquity public figure and scholar, made significant contributions to mathematics, philosophy, and astronomy. Her embrace of Neoplatonism was seen as such a threat to the political elite in Alexandria that she was murdered by a mob of Christians. So what made her ideas so dangerous and revolutionary for her time? As a woman in Ancient Egypt, how did she exert power over her own narrative? And should she really be considered a "martyr" for philosophy? Josh and Ray explore Hypatia's life and thought with Edward Watts, Professor of History at UCSD and author of "Hypatia: The Life and Legend of an Ancient Philosopher."

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mexican-philosophy. From early feminist Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz to existentialist Emilio Uranga, from Indigenous thought to theorists of aesthetic utopia, Mexican philosophy is full of fascinating figures with brilliant insights. What can we learn from them today about belief, desire, freedom, morality, and education? And do Mexican philosophers speak with one voice or in a complicated harmony, stretching across the centuries? Josh and Ray travel through space and time with Manuel Vargas from UC San Diego, author of "Building Better Beings: A Theory of Moral Responsibility."

What books should thoughtful people read this summer? Josh and Ray talk to the authors and editors of new and recent books as they compile their annual Summer Reading List: • Michael Schur, creator of TV's "The Good Place" and author of "How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question" • Lori Gruen, Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University and co-editor of "The Good It Promises, The Harm It Does: Critical Essays on Effective Altruism" • Gabriella Safran, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Stanford University and author of "Recording Russia: Trying to Listen in the Nineteenth Century"

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/what-gender. Gender is a controversial topic these days, but people can't seem to agree about what gender is. Is it an inner identity, a biological fact, or an oppressive system? Should we respect it or resist it? Should it even be a thing? Josh and guest-host Blakey Vermeule question gender with regular co-host Ray Briggs, co-author of "What Even Is Gender?"

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/can-art-save-us. The world is facing an unprecedented environmental crisis, and we urgently need good ways to address it. Courageous politicians would help, of course, as might scientific innovations. But how much of the problem is a failure of imagination? Could the arts help us see our way out of the problem? How can literature, painting, and movies redraw the landscape in our minds? Josh and Ray imagine a conversation with Harriet Hawkins, Professor of Human Geography and Co-Director of the Centre for GeoHumanities at Royal Holloway, University of London.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/true-contradictions. If you want to tell the truth, you shouldn't contradict yourself—that's just common sense. A suspect who was home on the night of the crime can't have been elsewhere, and whatever the weapon, we can rule out the hypothesis that it was both a candlestick and not a candlestick. But there are philosophers who claim we shouldn't overgeneralize based on murder mysteries: some contradictions are true. Could a badly written law make the dastardly deed both legal and illegal? Do mathematical paradoxes create weird things that both do and don't exist? If we embrace contradictions, will we still be able to tell the difference between truth and falsehood? Josh and Ray embrace contradiction with Graham Priest from the City University of New York, author of "Doubt Truth to Be a Liar."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/power-prediction. You're standing at the top of a mountain, surveying the vast landscape below. The information your senses take in flows to your brain, which processes it to create a representation of the scene. Or does it? What if instead of directly perceiving the world around us, the brain is more like a prediction machine that hallucinates a picture of the world? If that were the case, could we still rely on the so-called “evidence of our senses”? Would it be possible to avoid unpleasant sensory experiences, like hunger or pain, by simply changing our expectations? How can we harness the power of the predictive brain? Josh and and Ray predict a fascinating conversation with Andy Clark from the University of Sussex, author of "The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/derek-parfit-and-your-future-self. The works of Derek Parfit (1942-2017) have had a profound influence on how philosophers understand rational decision-making, ethics, and personal identity. At the heart of Parfit's thinking are questions about how you should relate to your future self, and whether you should treat your future self any differently than other future people. So why does Parfit argue that it's wrong to place a special value on your own survival? What would it take to value others in the way that you value yourself? And how might we harness Parfit's insights to make the world a better place? Josh and Ray's future selves welcome back Parfit's former student David Edmonds, author of "Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality."