PODCAST

Hotel Bar Sessions

Leigh M. Johnson, Talia Mae Bettcher, Rick Lee

where the real philosophy happens

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

60:53

Free Will (with Mark Balaguer)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/09/26

When we make choices, are these choices free? That is, are we able to choose one thing over another, to do one thing rather than another, independent of the laws of physics, including the biology and chemistry of our bodies and brains? Or are all of our choices determined by processes that could, in theory, be traced back to deterministic causes, if only we had enough information?Whether we are free in our willing or not, does it matter? And if so, why?This week, we are joined by Prof. Mark

63:38

How The Manosphere Killed Cool (with Robin James)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/09/19

This week, we're joined by scholar, editor, and philosopher, Robin James, to talk about her provocative recent essay entitled “We’re through being Cool: Tech Bros, Manosphere Influencers, Ancient Greek Masculinity, and AI,” posted at James' blog, It’s Her Factory. When we think about "cool," we think about effortless, confident, style... but being cool has always been about more than style. It’s about resistance to authority, overcoming patriarchy, refusal to fit in. Yet, a cohort of

57:59

The "Expertise" Crisis

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/09/12

Today, there seems to be an intense distrust of experts in all sorts of fields. From medical experts in the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services, to “elite intellectuals” at Universities and Colleges, no one who has expertise is beyond suspicion. We hear that we should “do our own research” and not trust what those with training and knowledge tell us. What makes an expert legitimate? What’s the difference between the skepticism that drives science and

20:58

MINIBAR: Cancer

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/09/05

Hotel Bar Sessions is on it's regular "break" between seasons, but we're offering up these "minibar" sessions from our co-hosts (individually) in in the interimThis week, listen to HBS co-host Talia Mae Bettcher talk about her recent run-in with cancer, and the long, dark night of the soul it inspired.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/cancer---------------------SUBSCRIBE to the podcast now to automatically download new episodes when Season 14

16:58

MINIBAR: In Defense of Metaphysics

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/08/29

Hotel Bar Sessions is on it's regular "break" between seasons, but we're offering up these "minibar: sessions from our co-hosts (individually) in in the interimThis week, listen to HBS co-host Rick Lee talk about what metaphysics really is, how it's often misunderstood, and why it's so important. Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/in-defense-of-metaphysics---------------------SUBSCRIBE to the podcast now to automatically download new episodes when

14:38

MINIBAR: Living in Occupied D.C.

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/08/22

Hotel Bar Sessions is on it's regular "break" between seasons, but we're offering up these "minibar: sessions from our co-hosts (individually) in in the interimThis week, listen to HBS co-host Leigh M. Johnson talk about what it's like to live in "occupied" D.C. as a new resident.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/living-in-occupied-dc---------------------SUBSCRIBE to the podcast now to automatically download new episodes when Season 14 begins in

65:34

Arendt's "Banality of Evil"

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/08/15

This week, the HBS hosts discuss Hannah Arendt’s concept of the banality of evil.In 1961, Adolf Eichmann was put on trial in Israel for crimes against humanity and crimes against the Jewish People. The philosopher Hannah Arendt covered the trial for The New Yorker. Her articles were collected in the book Eichmann in Jerusalem, which had the subtitle, A Report on the Banality of Evil. What did she mean by the phrase “banality of evil?” She remarks that there is nothing monstrous, hideous, or

60:41

Major Life Changes

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/08/08

In this week’s episode, the HBS hosts talk about positive and negative major life changes.While change is a part of life, major changes can cause major upheavals in one’s sense of oneself in relation to the world. Indeed, they may teach us to perceive life anew. What might such changes show us, if anything, about traditional philosophical concepts such as the self, the good life, autonomy, and relatedness with others?Full episode notes available at this

60:18

Doomscrolling

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/08/01

We all doomscroll. Often late at night, we scroll through social media or news feeds for a “minute,” which turns into hours. We seem to be chasing bad news. What are we looking for, if anything? What do we hope to get out of it? Is this a bad habit, or are there good aspects to it? Doomscrolling just might be changing our sense of time, of responsibility, and of witnessing. So put down your phones, stop scrolling, and join us for an investigation into the practice of doomscrolling.Full

70:19

NPC Energy

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/07/25

Are you even playing the game?In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, co-hosts Rick Lee, Talia Mae Bettcher, and Leigh M. Johnson dive deep into the meme-turned-metaphor of “NPC Energy,” unpacking its cultural roots and existential weight. Originally a gaming term describing non-player characters who move on rails and repeat scripted lines, “NPC Energy” has become a way to call out people who seem disengaged, overly programmed, or existentially asleep. But is it just a meme—or a diagnosis of

61:51

Public Philosophy (with Kate Manne)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/07/18

Is public philosophy just academic outreach in a new outfit, or is it something else entirely? In this episode, we're joined by Kate Manne (Cornell University) to ask what happens when philosophers leave their usual habitats and try to meet people where they actually live. We talk about the push to be legible outside the profession, the risk of being dismissed inside it, and the slippery politics of trying to do both at once. What’s the value of work that doesn’t look like philosophy but

63:19

Silence

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/07/11

What do we mean when we talk about silence? Is it the absence of sound—or something more complicated? In this episode, we dig into the many meanings of silence: as a weapon and as a refuge, as an imposed condition and a chosen strategy. We consider the roles silence plays in protest, punishment, pedagogy, intimacy, and oppression, and ask whether some kinds of silence can speak louder than words. We dig into political gag orders, awkward classroom silences, and the long pauses that say more

55:37

The War on "Radical Ideology"

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/07/04

This week, we're unpacking the Trump administration’s war on so-called “radical ideology”—a campaign targeting what it calls “gender ideology” and “equity ideology.” We explore what these terms are meant to signal, what work they do rhetorically and politically, and how they function to delegitimize trans and BIPOC lives. Drawing from Marxist accounts of ideology, we examine how ideology obscures injustice by presenting hierarchies as natural and dissent as dangerous. We also discuss the

56:32

Sovereignty

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/06/27

Who or what rules the world today? And by what right?In this episode, your favorite philosophers-on-tap—Talia Bettcher, Rick Lee, and Leigh M. Johnson—pull back the curtain on one of political theory’s most enduring (and most elusive) concepts: sovereignty. From dusty monarchs and divine right to corporations, constitutions, and contested rights, they explore how sovereignty continues to shape the world we live in—often in ways we no longer recognize. What is sovereign power? Can it be

72:28

Interpretation

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/06/20

The central debate this week? Whether interpretation goes “all the way down.” Leigh stakes out a position, arguing that even the simplest acts of clarification are interpretive performances grounded in systems of meaning. Talia, donning her analytic hat, pushes back hard—insisting that certain discursive acts, like clarifications and first-person avowals of emotional states, are distinct from interpretation and must retain ethical authority, especially in politically fraught times. Rick

64:53

Panic Now? (with Ira Allen)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/06/13

Is it time to panic? In this episode, we invite rhetorician Ira Allen to the bar to explore the possibility that, yes, it might be—and that panic isn’t just an irrational breakdown but a vital, even necessary, affective response to the ongoing collapse we’re all living through. Allen’s recent book Panic! Now: Tools for Humanizing in an Age of Staggered Collapse challenges the neoliberal injunction to “stay calm” and instead asks what might be made possible if we allowed ourselves to

57:04

Private Parts

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/06/06

How can we talk, or think, about "private parts" in a philosophical way?In this provocative and unexpectedly tender episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, co-hosts Leigh M. Johnson, Rick Lee, and Talia Mae Bettcher unpack the philosophical complexities of “private parts.” What starts as a playful premise quickly becomes a deep exploration of bodily privacy, modesty, and the moral and social codes that govern our most intimate physical boundaries. Drawing from cultural history, personal anecdotes,

76:40

The Future of the University

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/05/30

Can the University be saved? Should it be saved? In this sobering and timely episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, co-hosts Leigh M. Johnson, Rick Lee, and Talia Mae Bettcher tackle the existential crisis facing higher education in the U.S. and beyond. Nothing is off limits in this conversation! From the increasing defunding of universities to their alignment with neoliberal capitalism, we're looking at the deeper values and societal roles that universities are meant to serve—and how far many

65:07

Cringe

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/05/23

In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, your favorite philosophical trio—Leigh Johnson, Rick Lee, and Talia Bettcher—dive headfirst into the squirmy, complicated world of cringe. From wedding speeches gone wrong to tone-deaf icebreaker confessions, they unpack the peculiar affective cocktail we experience when someone's self-presentation dramatically misfires. Cringe isn’t just about secondhand embarrassment—it's a visceral, full-body response that blends aesthetic, moral, and even

66:37

Tragic Temporality (with Sean Kirkland)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/05/16

Sean Kirkland unpacks living on the edge of "was" and "not yet."What if time isn’t just something we move through—but something that shapes us, wounds us, and makes us who we are? In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Leigh and Rick sit down with philosopher Sean D. Kirkland (DePaul University), author of Aristotle and Tragic Temporality, to talk about what Aristotle can teach us about the tragic structure of human life. Together, they explore how ancient philosophy—and especially

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