philosophy

#517 James Costa: Darwin, Wallace, The Origin of Species, and The Descent of Man (150th anniversary)

Sep 3, 2021

Dr. James Costa is Executive Director of the Highlands Biological Station and Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Western Carolina University, where he has taught courses in genetics, entomology, evolution, and biogeography since 1996. His many interests include insect behavior and ecology, environmental history and philosophy, conservation biology, and the history of science. His research has focused in recent years on Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, and the history of evolutionary thought. He has authored numerous research papers, reviews, magazine articles, and 7 books, including Darwin's Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory (W. W. Norton, 2017) — a finalist for the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Prize — and the co-edited volume An Alfred Russel Wallace Companion (Chicago, 2019). More»
#505 Michelle Montague: Mind, Phenomenology, Cognition, Perception, Consciousness, and Metaphysics

Aug 6, 2021

Dr. Michelle Montague is Professor of Philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin. She is interested in philosophy of mind and metaphysics. Dr. Montague is the editor of Non-Propositional Intentionality, Cognitive Phenomenology, and Philosophical Writings by P.F. Strawson (co-edited with Galen Strawson). She is the author of The Given: experience and its content. More»
#503 Luke Russell - Being Evil: A Philosophical Perspective

Aug 2, 2021

Dr. Luke Russell is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney. His research explores moral philosophy and he has written about evil, forgiveness, virtue and vice. Dr. Russell teaches ethics, moral psychology, and critical thinking, as well as running the University's high school philosophy course, Mind and Morality. His new book is Being Evil: A Philosophical Perspective. More»
#500 Elly Vintiadis - Philosophy by Women: 22 Philosophers Reflect on Philosophy and Its Value

Jul 26, 2021

Dr. Elly Vintiadis is a philosopher of mind and psychiatry at Deree, the American College of Greece. Her work focuses on the mind, its products and disorders, and the nature of their dependence on the social environment. She is mainly interested in what mental disorders can tell us about the nature of the mind, and in emergence and explanation, but her research also extends to epistemology, metaphilosophy and animal ethics. She is the author of three books, including Philosophy by Women: 22 Philosophers reflect on Philosophy and Its Value. More»
#499 Nic Bommarito - Seeing Clearly: A Buddhist Guide to Life

Jul 23, 2021

Dr. Nicolas Bommarito is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Simon Fraser University. His research focuses on questions in virtue ethics, moral psychology, and Buddhist philosophy, particularly Tibetan Buddhism. He is the author of Seeing Clearly: A Buddhist Guide to Life. More»
#497 Daniel Bell - Just Hierarchy: Why Social Hierarchies Matter in China and the Rest of the World

Jul 19, 2021

Dr. Daniel A. Bell is Dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University. He writes widely on Chinese politics and philosophy for the media including the New York Times, Financial times, Global Times, Nanfengchuang, Worldpost, Project Syndicate, and the Guardian’s Comment Is Free blog. Dr. Bell received the Huilin Prize in 2018. He is the author of numerous books including The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy (2015), The Spirit of Cities: Why the Identity of a City Matters in a Global Age[coauthored with Avner de-Shalit] (2011), China’s New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society (2010), Beyond Liberal Democracy: Political Thinking for an East Asian Context (2006), East Meets West: Human Rights and Democracy in East Asia (2000), and, more recently, Just Hierarchy: Why Social Hierarchies Matter in China and the Rest of the World. More»
#492 Hrishikesh Joshi: Why It's OK to Speak Your Mind

Jul 8, 2021

Dr. Hrishikesh Joshi is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University. He works on moral and political philosophy. He is the author of Why It’s OK to Speak Your Mind. More»
#491 Chiara Marletto - The Science of Can and Can't; The Physics/Science of Counterfactuals

Jul 5, 2021

Dr. Chiara Marletto is Postdoctoral Research Assistant in the Department of Physics at Oxford University. Her research interests include Quantum Theory of Computation, Foundations of Physics, Condensed-Matter Physics and Quantum Biology. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the "Graduate Prize Scholarship" at Merton College, 2012; "Optime" Award for Academic Excellence, offered by Unione Industriale di Torino, 2011; and the "Ing. Vittorino Pollo e Dott.Ssa Zita Pollo" Award for Academic Excellence, offered by Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, 2010. She is the author of The Science of Can and Can't: A Physicist's Journey through the Land of Counterfactuals. More»
#485 Joshua Glasgow - The Solace: Finding Value in Death through Gratitude for Life

Jun 21, 2021

Dr. Joshua Glasgow is Associate Professor in (and Chair of) the Philosophy Department at Sonoma State University. Dr. Glasgow works on a variety of topics in moral, political, and legal philosophy. His publications have covered a variety of issues concerning ethics, the good life, race and racism, language, law, mind, and more. He’s the author of The Solace: Finding Value in Death Through Gratitude for Life. More»
#482 David Pearce: Transhumanism, The Hedonistic Imperative, and Abolishing Suffering

Jun 14, 2021

David Pearce is a prominent figure within the transhumanism movement and one of the co-founders of the World Transhumanist Association, currently rebranded and incorporated as Humanity+. He approaches ethical issues from a lexical negative utilitarian perspective. Pearce maintains a series of websites devoted to transhumanist topics and what he calls the "hedonistic imperative", a moral obligation to work towards the abolition of suffering in all sentient life. His self-published internet manifesto, The Hedonistic Imperative (1995), outlines how pharmacology, genetic engineering, nanotechnology and neurosurgery could converge to eliminate all forms of unpleasant experience from human and non-human life, replacing suffering with "gradients of bliss". Pearce calls this the "abolitionist project". More»