All Episodes

#1247 Zygmunt Baranski: Dante's Divine Comedy

Apr 30, 2026

Dr. Zygmunt Baranski is Emeritus R. L. Canala Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Notre Dame, and Serena Professor of Italian Emeritus at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Baranski has worked primarily on Dante, concentrating on Dante’s relationship to medieval literary theory and criticism and on his intellectual formation. In addition, he has published extensively on Dante’s reception in the fourteenth and twentieth centuries, on medieval Italian culture and literature (in particular, Cavalcanti, Petrarch, and Boccaccio), on modern Italian literature and culture, on Pasolini, on Italian cinema, and on Italo-Polish cultural relations. More»
#1246 Rivka Weinberg: Does Life Have Meaning?

Apr 27, 2026

Dr. Rivka Weinberg is a professor of philosophy at Scripps College in Claremont, California. As a philosopher and bioethicist, Dr. Weinberg specializes in ethical and metaphysical issues regarding birth, death, and meaning. Her latest book is The Meaning of It All: Ultimate Meaning, Everyday Meaning, Cosmic Meaning, Death, and Time. More»
#1245 Jacob Stegenga - Heart of Science: A Philosophy of Scientific Inquiry

Apr 24, 2026

Dr. Jacob Stegenga is a Professor of Philosophy at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Most of his research has been in general philosophy of science and philosophy of medicine, though he has worked on a wide range of other topics, including stereotypes, just war theory, and science in a time of crisis. His latest book is Heart of Science: A Philosophy of Scientific Inquiry. More»
#1244 Keegan Tatum: The Psychology of Politics, and the Reactionary Politics of the Conservatives

Apr 23, 2026

Keegan Tatum is a YouTuber (@TheOneKeeganTatum) and TikToker (https://tinyurl.com/89v7a5tu) who talks about the psychology of politics. More»
#1243 Jeff McMahan: Antinatalism, Extinctionism, Gene Editing, and Overpopulation

Apr 20, 2026

Dr. Jeff McMahan is Sekyra and White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He specializes in Practical Ethics, Political Philosophy, and Ethics. He is editor of the Journal of Controversial Ideas. He’s the author of books like The Morality of Nationalism, The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life, and Killing in War. More»
#1242 Serene Khader - Faux Feminism: Why We Fall for White Feminism and How We Can Stop

Apr 17, 2026

Dr. Serene Khader is Professor of Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center and holds the Jay Newman Chair in Philosophy of Culture at Brooklyn College. She is a moral and political philosopher working primarily on feminist issues in global justice. She is the author of Faux Feminism: Why We Fall for White Feminism and How We Can Stop. More»
#1241 Jessica Flanigan: The Ethics of Sex Work

Apr 16, 2026

Dr. Jessica Flanigan is the Richard L. Morrill Chair in Ethics and Democratic Values at the University of Richmond, where she teaches Leadership Ethics, Ethical Decision Making in Healthcare, and Critical Thinking. Her research addresses the ethics of public policy, medicine, and business. She is the author of several books, including Debating Sex Work (together with Lori Watson), where she defends the decriminalization of sex work. More»
#1240 Roy Richard Grinker - Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness

Apr 13, 2026

Dr. Roy Richard Grinker is Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at the George Washington University. Dr. Grinker is a cultural anthropologist specializing in ethnicity, nationalism, and psychological anthropology, with topical expertise in autism, Korea, and sub-Saharan Africa. He is also the director of GW's Institute for Ethnographic Research. He is the author of Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness. More»
#1239 Sophie Scott-Brown - The Radical Fifties: Activist Politics in Cold War Britain

Apr 10, 2026

Dr. Sophie Scott-Brown is a Research Fellow at the University of St. Andrews. She is also Founder of the Everyday Democracy project with Open Society Foundation. She is well-known for her historical work on left-wing politics, especially the post-war British left. She is the author of The Radical Fifties: Activist Politics in Cold War Britain. More»
#1238 Chris Ranalli: What Is Indoctrination?

Apr 9, 2026

Dr. Chris Ranalli is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at VU Amsterdam. His research is primarily in epistemology. He is the author of The Philosophy of Indoctrination: Epistemology, Ethics, and Politics. More»