Joined by yet another new voice for series 2, in this episode we ponder the reality that we may all be functioning alcoholics. With some of the usual crowd plus our mate / pub-manager / Connor's old boss, Elliot, we discuss our relationship with recreational drinking both culturally and personally.
Armed with some facts, figures and a few personal anecdotes we explore the role of the good old fashioned pub, from the allure of escapism in drinking and the psychology of abstaining from drink entirely. As you may expect there are some tangents too... including some banter about Ronnie O'Sullivan and a debate about libertarianism and the role of the state. We have a lot more to say on this topic so expect to hear more in the future! Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem (Allegedly founded a whole century before Connor said it was) Some studies into drinking trends... - Average spend is up - Younger people drinking less An American Video made in WW2 to help soldiers understand the British pub
Edited by Connor.
Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
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Continuing our discussions of the history of Western philosophy, we arrive at Socrates. This was a man who never wrote anything down, yet has become one of the most influential people to have ever lived. Executed for annoying important people with questions like "what is truth?" and "what is justice?", Socrates was charismatic, ugly and entirely unique.
Most of what we know about Socrates is through his student, Plato, who wrote him as an enigmatic character to espouse his own ideas. Subsequently, we know jack shit about him. Nevertheless, what we are left with (for better or worse), is the romantic ideal of the eternally curious, impoverished and ironic figure, handed down to us through history. *We unfortunately lost some audio where we discussed his status as an atheist Jesus and some of his more quirky traits. However this is the final episode prior to upgrading our recording equipment to much higher quality* Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
Where did philosophy begin? Why is it important and how has it changed over the centuries?
These are the kinds of questions we'll be looking at in this history series as we chat over a few beers about all the major thinkers in philosophy. We thought it would be more interesting to stylise these episodes as discussions rather than throw facts at you or close read a bunch of books. With the intention of concisely exploring the conversations of Western thought, all the way to modern times, we hope you learn something and maybe form some opinions along the way. Kicking it all off, we're looking at the Presocratics, widely considered the first people to start engaging in philosophical questions. But, considering the wacky stuff they came out with, their dubious historical veracity and the fact that Empedocles threw himself into a Volcano, why should we care about them at all? How does their legacy affect fields like modern physics? Lets find out.
Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James.
Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
Ever wondered why resolutions never seem to work for some people? Ever wondered how the time and date are actually calculated? Well, wonder no more.
A couple of weeks before the start of 2020, we crack open some beers and talk about how to make meaningful and effective new year's resolutions; bringing philosophy into everyday modern life. Once Connor stops mentioning Stoicism, Nye goes off on an autistic rant about the history and mechanics of calendars and Kieran reveals why he hates weight-watchers. - The University of Bristol study mentioned - Workshop seminar on stoicism and resolutions - Serenity prayer Edited by Connor. Audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
Nye and Connor take some time to share their experiences and thoughts about philosophy. They ask whether it should be caged by qualified academics or thought of as a verb; a transformative practice. Is philosophy at war with science? SPOILERS: That sentence doesn't even make sense!
In this personal improvised chat, we talk about the right ways and the wrong ways of learning and reading philosophy, as well as some of the problems facing the field. What's this podcast for? How do we get people into philosophy? Should we even abandon the word entirely? Find out here... - Here is the article we discuss - The full Dawkins/Weinstein debate we chat about can be found here - An article written by Connor Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
Celebrating the Two Joe's graduation and commiserating their (hopefully temporary) departure from the podcasts, we decided to crack open some champagne, turn on the mics and talk about drones. With Nye finally meeting the Two Joes, we turn to look at their final two essays, the first of which explores what phenomenological ethicist and Holocaust survivor, Emmanuel Levinas may have thought about more modern forms of warfare...
We start with a concise guide to Levinas' philosophy on 'Ethics as First Principle' and the personal and intellectual context for much of his writing - Really useful if you're studying Levinas or want to get an impression of his ideas! After this we chat about war ethics, psychological reactions to catastrophe and continental existentialism. Joe's essay can be found here. Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
Resurrecting the ghosts of the recently graduated Two Joes, Nye and Connor commune over a few drinks to discover the true meaning of the spooky season. Kicking off series two with this more lighthearted episode, we tell stories of séances, discuss the paradox of horror, Halloween culture, horror movies, the Christian and Celtic origins of the festival and much more!
Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars, keys, maniacal laughter) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin, crows)
Continuing our goodbye / celebration podcasts for the Two Joes, we turn to Joe's essay on Raymond Gaita and the ethics of genetic engineering. The Australian Christian philosopher Gaita argues for a whole new way of thinking about ethics. In his works A Common Humanity and Good & Evil: An Absolute Conception he proposes that morality is very much distinct from ethics.
We explore how this might look when applied to the contemporary issue of biological engineering. Are we right to breed selective qualities in humans? What are we saying when we eliminate diseases and deformities to those who are already living with them? Joe's essay can be found here. Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica, mandolin)
What's that ominous light in the sky? That's right, today is a particularly weird one as Connor digs up one of the more niche areas of modern religiosity in the form of UFO religions. Joe, Sam and Nye offer up their thoughts on questions like "Why do people join cults and believe in aliens?" and "what makes religions legitimate?". From Melanesian cargo cults to Jediism and from Scientology to the Universal Industrial Church of the New World Comforter, we discuss all kinds of bizarre religions, strange cultural movements and dangerous cults.
As it was sunny spring morning and perfect barbecue weather we left the window open... with no concern for our listeners. So we hope you like traffic, planes and seagulls. Here is an article written by Connor which explores the religious nature of UFO movements. Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica)
Connor is joined by Nye, Joe, Sam and Zach to discuss Artificial Intelligence. Throughout the course of the conversation we touch upon the history of AI and its mechanics, applications in business, self-driving cars, neural networks, the likelihood of dystopian scenarios, singularities and how AI affects the economy. We also introduce and unpack some of the heavier terms associated with the field. As you may expect from a philosophy podcast, we explore some philosophical questions too. Some of these (poorly introduced) questions include AI in fiction and popular imagination, its effect on human worth and how we think of humanity, transhumanism and human augmentation, the need for philosophy in AI related jobs, apotheosis or "playing God" and what sense it makes to talk about AI being "moral". As you may have guessed from our usual standards, the conversation ends on a tangent about sexbots until we are interrupted by Zach playing a didgeridoo.
As with most topics we discuss, we are interested in returning to the conversation at a later date to unpack some of the ideas further and, in particular, to explore the idea of consciousness and what this spells for AI's development. Here is an essay from Joe on transhumanism and "becoming like God". Our thoughts summarised Editing, audio & music mastering / production by Nye James. Jingles recorded by Nye (guitars) & Connor (harmonica) |
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