Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
Nigel Warburton interviews a range of experts on places associated with philosophers.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Philosophers’ sites and objects • Thoreau at Walden Pond and American philosophy • Bentham’s auto-icon at UCL • Marx’s Soho years in London • Wittgenstein’s Cambridge grave, design, culture, deathThis podcast explores philosophy through visits to physical locations and objects associated with major thinkers, using them as entry points into biographical detail and philosophical context. Hosted as a series of interviews with scholars, it focuses on how particular sites—such as a pondside cabin, a city neighborhood, a university-held relic, or a modest grave—can illuminate a philosopher’s life, work, and broader historical setting.
Across the conversations, experts explain why these places matter: how periods of solitude and self-imposed simplicity relate to a philosopher’s writing; how exile, poverty, and urban life shape political and social thought; and how personal choices about memorialization and material remains reflect commitments to ideas about utility, legacy, and the public role of philosophy. The discussions connect concrete details—where someone lived, what they left behind, and how they were remembered—to larger themes such as culture, design, death, and the relationship between lived experience and intellectual production.
Rather than presenting philosophy as abstract argument alone, the series emphasizes the ways geography, institutions, and artifacts can provide practical routes into understanding philosophers and their influence.
| Episodes: |
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John Kaag on Henry David Thoreau and Walden Pond 2018-May-20 19 minutes |
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Philip Schofield on Jeremy Bentham's Auto-Icon 2017-Feb-15 20 minutes |
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Jonathan Wolff on Marx in Soho 2016-Oct-07 24 minutes |
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Ray Monk on Wittgenstein's Grave 2016-Sep-20 16 minutes |