Podcasts about moral saints

In this episode, Aaron Smith reads aloud his article, “The Suffering of Moral Saints.” In that essay, he analyzes Larissa MacFarquhar's book, Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help. The central question that MacFarquhar asks is “Is it good to live as ethical a life as possible?” As Smith shows, the fundamental problem with MacFarquhar's perspective is that she equates morality with altruism. He goes on to argue that this perspective is false — and dangerous. Smith's article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute's journal, on November 14, 2018.

Does being a parent today necessarily mean also being a climate activist? Sean Illing speaks with moral philosopher and political theorist Elizabeth Cripps about her new book Parenting on Earth, in which she discusses the real-life moral obligations of raising children in our current ecological crisis. Drawing from her experience raising two daughters, Elizabeth and Sean talk about how both to want the best for your children and to build a better society, the conflicts that arise from putting trust in institutions, and arguments made by some that we shouldn't be having kids at all. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Elizabeth Cripps (@ebcripps), senior lecturer in political theory, University of Edinburgh; author References:  Parenting on Earth: A Philosopher's Guide to Doing Right By Your Kids and Everyone Else by Elizabeth Cripps (MIT Press; 2023) What Climate Justice Means And Why We Should Care by Elizabeth Cripps (Bloomsbury; 2022) "Moral Saints" by Susan Wolf (Journal of Philosophy, vol. 79 no. 8; Aug. 1982) Family Values: The Ethics of Parent-Child Relationships by Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift (Princeton University Press; 2014) How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm (Verso; 2021) "The case for a more radical climate movement" by Sean Illing (Vox; Oct. 1, 2021) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by:  Producer: Erikk Geannikis Engineer: Patrick Boyd Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is about Wolf's “Moral Saints,” Peter Singer's “Famine, Affluence and Morality,” and Larissa Macfarquhar's Strangers Drowning.  Susan Wolf thinks that devoting your life to helping others would be a real drag. It'd interfere with playing tennis and reading Tolstoy. True enough but some people might have philosophical and personal reasons to do it anyway. For example, Peter Singer argues that, if you think a child's life is worth more than your shoes, then you're morally obliged to give away all your money to charity.  Larissa Macfarquhar helps out with the personal reasons. She's written a book that profiles a whole bunch of real-life do-gooders. And it turns out that even though the saintly life is tough, the saints are getting something out of it.  And from their perspective, a life of Tolstoy and tennis might not be a great as Wolf makes it out to be. References Macfarquhar, Strangers DrowningSinger, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”Wolf, “Moral Saints”  Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=35146517&fan_landing=true)

This episode is about Susan Wolf's 1982 article “Moral Saints.” You're probably a moral enough person. But have you ever had that nagging feeling that you should be even better? That if you were really good, you would devote your life to the cause, whatever cause that might be? That you should become some kind of moral saint? People who devote their entire lives to being as morally good as possible are held up as objects of admiration, as a kind of saintly standard that the rest of us feel vaguely guilty for not living up to.Susan Wolf says we shouldn't feel bad about not being saints because no rational person should want to be a saint in the first place. In this episode, I explain her argument for why it makes more sense to be cool like Paul Newman than good like Mother Teresa.  Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=35146517&fan_landing=true)

Today we speak with anarchist author Kristian Williams about his interest in George Orwell and Oscar Wilde, seemingly quite disparate thinkers to attract one’s admiration. But it turns out that Williams isn’t the first anarchist to be interested in them. It also turns out that Orwell himself admired Wilde, writing in a letter to a …

More on Susan Wolfs research can be found here: https://philosophy.unc.edu/people/susan-wolf/

As luck would have it, Mr. Smith, we're in the one and only timeline where you can make a difference. Snap your fingers and you can make the superhero movies go away forever, but only at the cost of never seeing the space babies ever again. Should you be expected to make that snap? This week we're talking Endgame and another famous concept by Susan Wolf, the issue of "moral saints". This topic relates to several others we've mentioned, including the demandingness objection to ethics and the utility pump. As with Infinity Wars, we save all our real gripes for NASA. Moral Saints: http://www.rationalites-contemporaines.paris-sorbonne.fr/IMG/pdf/Wolf1.pdf  Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/0gPhilosophy Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/  Email us at: philosophersinspace@gmail.com Sibling shows: Serious Inquiries Only: https://seriouspod.com/ Opening Arguments: https://openargs.com/  Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/ Recent appearances: Nothing soon, invite us on your show! Aaron is also going to be on a panel at NECSS this summer in NYC discussing mutant ethics. Come do some nerdcore philosophy! CONTENT PREVIEW: Next week we're covering Star Trek, Voyager ep2.13 Prototype.

Philosopher Dr. Diana Brickell podcast on "Should You Try to Be Morally Perfect?" in this 2 April 2015 episode of Philosophy in Action Radio. http://www.PhilosophyInAction.com

Philosopher Dr. Diana Brickell podcast on "Should You Try to Be Morally Perfect?" in this 2 April 2015 episode of Philosophy in Action Radio. http://www.PhilosophyInAction.com

Following up their discussion of moral villains, Dave and Tamler argue about what makes a moral hero. Tamler defends Sharon Krause’s view that honor values can motivate heroic behavior. Dave accuses Tamler of being inconsistent (nothing wrong with that) and slightly Kantian (NOOOOOO!!!). In the final segment, we’re back on the same page fawning over Susan Wolf’s paper “Moral Saints.” Plus, are drunks more likely to be utilitarians? And why does Dave hate Temple Grandin?LinksThe Cold Logic of Drunk People by Emma Green [theatlantic.com]Duke, A. A., & Bègue, L. (2015). The drunk utilitarian: Blood alcohol concentration predicts utilitarian responses in moral dilemmas. Cognition, 134, 121-127. [sciencedirect.com]Wolf, S. (1982). Moral saints. The Journal of Philosophy, 419-439. [verybadwizards.com]Krause, S. R. (2002).  Honor and democratic reform (Ch. 5) [verybadwizards.com]. In Liberalism with honor [amazon.com affiliate link]. Harvard University Press. 

Philosopher Dr. Diana Brickell answered questions on moral saints, inventing stories about yourself, and more in this 13 February 2014 episode of Philosophy in Action Radio. http://www.PhilosophyInAction.com

Philosopher Dr. Diana Brickell answered questions on moral saints, inventing stories about yourself, and more in this 13 February 2014 episode of Philosophy in Action Radio. http://www.PhilosophyInAction.com