PODCAST

Hotel Bar Sessions

Leigh M. Johnson, Jennifer Kling, Bob Vallier

A podcast where the real philosophy happens.

education philosophy

All Episodes

49:56

Totalitarianism (with Peg Birmingham)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/04/04

Can democracy be saved from totalitarianism? In this episode, the co-hosts are joined by political theorist Dr. Peg Birmingham (DePaul University) for an urgent discussion on the topic of totalitarianism. Starting with a critique of what counts as “the people” in democratic systems, our conversation unpacks the entanglement of nationalism and racism, the dangerous erosion of the rule of law, and the troubling resurgence of executive overreach in the United States.Drawing from theorists like

57:34

El roto, Lo huachafo, Lo jodido (with Carlos Amador)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/03/28

Carlos Amador on Latin American aesthetics, precarity, and what it means to be completely f*cked. In this episode, the HBS crew welcomes Carlos Amador—Associate Professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages and Literature at the University at Buffalo SUNY—for a raw and wide-ranging conversation about lo jodido: the aesthetic, political, and material condition of being well and truly fucked. Drawing on Latin American literature and film, Amador introduces lo jodido not just as

54:01

The Establishment Clause

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/03/21

This week, we're pulling up a seat at the intersection of faith, governance, and democracy as we take on the Establishment Clause—that little First Amendment provision that’s supposed to keep church and state in their own lanes. But is that how it’s really playing out?Leigh, Rick, and Devonya dig into the history and contemporary implications of the separation of church and state, from school prayer to Supreme Court decisions, faith-based government offices, and religious encroachments on

55:30

DEI Then and Now (with Paul Breines)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/03/14

Who's afraid of DEI? And why?Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) initiatives have become institutional mainstays in corporate and academic settings—but they are currently under attack. In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Leigh and Devonya sit down with Freedom Rider and retired Associate Professor of History at Boston College, Paul Breines, to reflect on the evolution of social justice movements from the civil rights struggles of the 1960s to today’s embattled DEIA

56:54

Decorum

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/03/07

When does decorum keep us civil-- and when does it keep us silent?From courtroom etiquette to the Oval Office, from department meetings to NFL sidelines, decorum shapes our public interactions—but who gets to decide what counts as “proper” behavior? In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Rick, Leigh, and Devonya take on the contested role of decorum in social and political life. Is it a necessary lubricant for peaceful coexistence, or a tool for policing and silencing dissent?The hosts

65:39

Unruly Identity (with Falguni Sheth)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/02/28

Who gets to decide who we are?In this episode, Rick Lee and Devonya Havis pull up a chair with philosopher and political theorist Falguni Sheth to talk about the ways identity is shaped, claimed, and—more often than not—forced upon us. From census categories and legal definitions to personal choices and political struggles, they dig into the tensions between how we see ourselves and how we’re seen by others. What does it mean to be recognized—or misrecognized—by the state? How do

58:19

Ambiguity

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/02/21

When nothing is clear, how do we decide?Many people prefer their morality to be straightforward—right or wrong, good or bad, clear as day. But more often than not, human life is a mess of contradictions, competing values, and gray areas. In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Rick, Leigh, and Devonya wade into the murky waters of ambiguity—what it means, how we experience it, and why we’re often so uncomfortable with it. From moral dilemmas and political rhetoric to aesthetics and queer

59:15

Trust

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/02/14

Can anyone be trusted anymore?Trust is the glue that holds our social world together, yet it’s one of the most fragile bonds we have. In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Rick, Leigh, and Devonya dive into the complexities of trust—what it means, how it functions, and why it’s so easy to break but so difficult to restore. From everyday acts of trust, like believing the grocery store clerk’s name tag, to the deep-seated political crisis of trust in institutions and democracy, the hosts

62:27

Judgment

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/02/07

Who gets to judge right and wrong? And on what grounds?In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Leigh, Rick, and Devonya talk about judgment—what it is, when we need it, and whether it’s a skill or just a faculty of reason. They start with Aristotle’s distinction between knowledge and judgment, move through Kant’s ideas about moral and aesthetic judgment, and consider how judgment functions in ethical reasoning, political life, and even artificial intelligence. The conversation raises

62:52

Responsibility

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/01/31

How, and for what, are we responsible?What does it even mean to be responsible? Is it about blame? Credit? Or something else entirely? Leigh, Devonya, and Rick hash it out over drinks, tackling everything from personal accountability to collective responsibility, and digging into big questions about freedom, moral agency, and how our social and political systems shape what we’re capable of doing—and not doing.This week’s conversation covers some heavy ground: systemic racism, climate

65:26

Authority

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/01/24

Is ChatGPT usurping the authority of the "Author"? Or is it just a pretender to the throne?We're opening up the question of "authority" to extend well beyond the usual suspects of kings, generals, or politicians. To borrow a line from Tennyson's poetry: “authority forgets the dying King.” That is, power begins to slip from the grasp of political authorities as they weaken, as respect for and obedience to them wanes.Now almost 60 years after Foucault announced the “death of the author,” we

58:44

Revenge

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/01/17

The HBS co-hosts savor the complexities of a dish best served cold.Is revenge ever ethical? Can it be a form of justice, or is it always about personal satisfaction? In this episode, Rick Lee, Leigh Johnson, and Devonya Havis take a deep dive into the philosophy of revenge. From the timeless allure of stories like Kill Bill and The Count of Monte Cristo to the rise of cancel culture and online harassment, the hosts explore how revenge plays out in both individual and collective contexts

58:04

Virtue

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/01/10

Is "virtue" an outdated concept? And why is there a bear in this classroom?!

56:34

REPLAY: Forgiveness

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/01/03

This week's episode is a REPLAY of a previously-aired episode from Season 9. HBS will return with all new episodes on January 10, 2024. Stay tuned!The HBS hosts wonder how a hard heart is melted and mended.In a world often colored by misunderstandings, hurtful actions, and lingering grudges, the concept of forgiveness emerges as a beacon of hope and healing. For some, its transformative power to mend relationships, free us from the shackles of resentment, and grant us the gift of emotional

56:49

REPLAY: Deconstruction

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2024/12/27

This week's episode is a REPLAY of a previously-aired episode from Season 9. HBS will return with all new episodes on January 10, 2024. Stay tuned!The HBS hosts dig into Jacque Derrida's philosophy to see if it really is responsible for everything that's wrong with the world.There are very few philosophies that are blamed for so much as deconstruction. Introduced by Jacques Derrida in the late 60s, deconstruction rose to popularity in the late 70s and 80s, fought a real battle to be

66:55

Kant's Categorical Imperative

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2024/12/20

What if morality was law-governed in the same way as logic and physics?The Hotel Bar Sessions hosts close out Season 11 with a deep dive into one of philosophy’s most important moral principles: Immanuel Kant’s “Categorical Imperative.” They carefully unpack Kant’s three formulations of the “moral law”—the Universality formulation, the Humanity formulation, and the Kingdom of Ends formulation—to demonstrate how Kant sought to ground morality in rationality, universality, and freedom.Through

64:22

The Significance Impulse (with Josh Glasgow)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2024/12/13

What if our cosmic unimportance is itself not all that important?This week, the Hotel Bar Sessions hosts welcome Joshua Glasgow, author of The Significance Impulse: On the Unimportance of Our Cosmic Unimportance, to unpack humanity’s seemingly irrepressible drive to seek significance and the societal and psychological effects of this pervasive impulse. Glasgow argues that the quest for cosmic importance is not only unrealistic, but detrimental, and he urges us to embrace our smallness as a

66:09

Justice

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2024/12/06

The HBS hosts survey theories of justice from the ancients to the present.What does it mean to think justice, to pursue justice, or to act justly? Are we servicing justice, or just serving our self-interests? How do different philosophical approaches help us imagine a “just” society? This week, we consider retributive, restorative, and distributive theories, among others, exploring how each shapes our understanding of equality, rights, and fairness, and try to determine which approach

55:18

Matter and Consciousness in Indian Philosophy (with...

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2024/11/29

What can the Indian dualist philosophy of Sāṃkhya teach us about matter and consciousness?In this captivating episode, we explore the fascinating interplay between matter and consciousness as articulated in Sāṃkhya, a key tradition of Indian philosophy. Joined by special guest Dr. Tuhin Bhattacharjee, whose expertise spans ancient Greek and Indian texts, feminist theory, and psychoanalysis, we consider the interconnectedness of gender and metaphysics, setting the stage for broader

64:43

Ethics, Democracy, and Phronesis (with Dimitris...

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2024/11/22

This week, the HBS hosts are joined by Dimitris Vardoulakis (Associate Professor of Philosophy at Western Sydney University) to discuss the phronetic tradition and its significance for ethics, politics, and democracy. Drawing on both Aristotle and Hannah Arendt’s understanding of agonism in The Human Condition, Vardoulakis connects what he calls the phronetic tradition to human interaction and instrumental thinking, emphasizing its foundation in uncertainty and disagreement.Our conversation

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Hotel Bar Sessions

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