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PODCAST

Philosopher"s Zone

The simplest questions often have the most complex answers. The Philosopher"s Zone is your guide through the strange thickets of logic, metaphysics and ethics.

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

30:00

Women and the canon

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/03/22

Women have always been philosophers, often highly regarded by their male contemporaries. So why are women philosophers often regarded today as second-tier thinkers? And what happens when we try to uncover their histories?

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30:00

Data privacy and informed consent

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/03/16

Ninety-four per cent of Australians do not read privacy policies that apply to them – because who has the time? But the amount of data we all create and share has dramatic implications for privacy and safety. Informed consent is taken very seriously in the medical community, is it time for companies using AI and Big Data to follow suit?

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30:00

Women philosophers in antiquity

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/03/08

If you don't know much about women philosophers in the ancient Graeco-Roman world, you have a good excuse. They're known to have existed, but hardly any of their works have survived, and historical accounts of their lives tend to come from biographies written by men. This week we try to unravel the mystery.

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30:00

Moral creativity

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/03/05

This week we're exploring the concept of moral creativity - a virtue that can be useful when it comes to negotiating the grey areas in our modern moral universe.

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30:00

Tradition, modernity and crisis in Ukraine

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/02/23

How can learning flourish in a time of war? Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in January 2022, thousands of scholars have fled or been displaced, while nearly 200 institutions of higher education have been damaged or destroyed. This week we explore the possibilities for supporting and restoring the academy, and the role of Ukrainian intellectual traditions in resistance.

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30:00

The lessons of failure

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/02/16

As much as we dislike thinking about it, failure is deeply embedded within everything we do and everything we are. From our politics to our bodies, the salient feature is that it all falls apart sooner or later. Failure has inspired a million depressing songs and poems - but it's also fertile ground for philosophy, and for some unexpectedly positive reflections.

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30:00

A Buddhist perspective on the ethics of violence

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/02/10

For philosopher Martin Kovan, the resources within Buddhism provide an analytical means to gain new perspectives on violence. His book is A Buddhist Theory of Killing: A Philosophical Exposition.

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30:00

On being a minority in philosophy

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/02/02

What challenges come with being a minority in philosophy?

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30:00

Skilled performance and cognition

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/01/24

When a tennis pro lunges for a difficult drop volley, or a concert cellist rips through the difficult section of a Bach suite, are they thinking about what they're doing? Some would say that elite physical performance is essentially a mindless phenomenon, and that thinking is counterproductive to success. But the reality is more complex - and more interesting.

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30:00

China, Confucius and the courtyard

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/01/17

For more than three millennia, most buildings in China were configured around a central courtyard. This week's guest believes that the courtyard helps us to understand Chinese society and culture, as well as Confucian philosophy. Today, with increasing numbers of people living in urban apartment buildings, the courtyard has become something of a period piece. What does this tell us about Chinese thought and identity in the modern world?

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30:00

Values and goals

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/01/10

The recipe for living well is simple: develop a morally sound set of values, formulate goals rooted in those values, and achieve those goals. But beneath this basic formula there lurks a number of tricky questions.

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30:00

Pop, philosophy and politics

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2023/01/03

When philosophy turns its attention to music, it's traditionally an exercise in high culture. Questions about the nature and function of music are often explored with reference to an established canon of "serious" music – while pop finds itself relegated to the margins. This week we're getting serious about pop, and exploring the ways that the compositional and sonic structures of pop music reflect the social and political structures of the broader culture.

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30:00

Conspiracy theories, anti-Semitism and fun

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2022/12/27

You don’t have to be stupid to be a conspiracy theorist. Many people who buy into paranoid fantasies about stolen Presidential elections and global Satanic cabals are perfectly sane, well-educated individuals. So why do they fall for these myths? This week we consider the possibility that the attraction is primarily aesthetic, and that the experience is fun. But why the perennial focus on Jews?

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30:00

Efficiency, productivity and excess

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2022/12/20

These days we’re constantly pushed to be more efficient – at work, of course, but also in our leisure pursuits and even while we sleep. How did we get here? And how can we get back to a state that’s governed by principles other than accumulation and profit? This week, a story of two key figures in the history of modern industrial capitalism: F.W. Taylor, the father of “scientific management” theory, and French thinker Georges Bataille, whose economic philosophy was predicated on

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30:00

Philosophy and children

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2022/12/13

Children can teach adults a thing or two when it comes to the getting of wisdom. But does this mean that children are philosophers? And if the answer is Yes, then what kind of philosophers are they?

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30:00

Power, domination and the ethics of global philanthropy

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2022/12/08

When billionaires want to make a positive difference in the world, many of them turn to philanthropy. Which is fine in principle, but this week we're asking if giving away money via huge global philanthropic foundations is really an unalloyed good.

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30:00

Bilingual parenting, home and the mother tongue

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2022/12/01

Standard philosophical accounts of language present it as a kind of home – a place that we inhabit, and that shapes our sense of self. But what happens when we're not quite "at home" within a language?

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30:00

Owning the public square

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2022/11/24

Confusion has reigned at Twitter since Elon Musk took the reins of the company, and one of the most pressing questions has to do with whether or not the social media platform will be reshaped to fit its new CEO's ideal of unfettered free speech. Musk has referred to Twitter as the "digital town square" – but how can the town square also be a private estate, owned by a billionaire? This week we're talking property, ownership... and how it all connects with Jane Austen's Pride and

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30:00

Philosophy behind bars

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2022/11/16

What does it mean to study and teach philosophy in prison? Andy West has been teaching philosophy in prisons since 2015, and his memoir The Life Inside is a fascinating account of this experience - as well as a reflection on inherited trauma and the fact that his father, uncle and brother all spent time behind bars.

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30:00

Causation and death

Philosopher"s Zone ·

2022/11/10

Like death, causation is something of a riddle. The death certificate of Queen Elizabeth II has "old age" given as the cause of death - but given that old age is simply an outcome of being alive for a certain period of time, what does it mean to pathologise it in this way, and to list it as a fatal condition? Far from being an exact science, death certification is rife with interpretation and contentious decision-making - and this reflects not only death's enigmatic qualities, but

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353 results

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