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Critical Discussions of recent articles in ethics and practical philosophy.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ ethical theory and practical philosophy • moral discourse: virtue signaling, grandstanding, fanaticism • moral responsibility, free will, determinism, blaming AI • veganism, free-riding, meat ethics • emotions, anger, shame, grief • Confucian well-being • genetic parentage ethics • race, hope, democratic values • religion and human development • virtue, meaning, spiritualityThis podcast features critical, philosophy-focused discussions of recent work in ethics and practical philosophy, often through interviews with academic philosophers about journal articles and books. Across the episodes, the conversations examine how moral concepts operate in everyday life and public discourse, and what ethical theory can contribute to contemporary social and political problems.
A recurring theme is moral psychology and moral agency: how emotions like anger, shame, grief, and resentment shape our relationships and practices of responsibility, and what these responses are for. Relatedly, the show explores questions about freedom and determinism, and whether common practices such as blaming and holding accountable can be justified under different metaphysical assumptions. These concerns extend to new contexts such as artificial intelligence, where the podcast considers whether and why it might make sense to blame systems that produce harm even if they lack human-like agency.
The podcast also addresses virtue ethics and character—how to understand virtue, meaning, and human nature—and investigates contentious categories used to evaluate others, such as accusations of virtue signaling or moral grandstanding, and the ethical costs of dismissing people on those grounds. Another set of discussions engages with tradition-informed ethical outlooks and human development, including Confucian approaches to flourishing and ritual, and debates between secular and religious forms of humanism about what it takes to become fully human.
Several episodes apply ethical theory to concrete moral issues, including obligations related to eating animals, the ethics of gamete donation and children’s interest in genetic knowledge, and the philosophical resources for confronting racism while sustaining hope and democratic values.
| Episodes: |
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Virtue Signaling, Grandstanding, and Judging Others 2025-Sep-12 64 minutes |
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Should We Blame AI? 2024-Aug-19 45 minutes |
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Fanaticism, Devotion, and Nihilism 2024-May-28 45 minutes |
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Veganism and Free-riding 2024-May-07 42 minutes |
How to Do Things with Emotions: Owen Flanagan2022-Apr-05 55 minutes |
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Confucianism, Morality, and Well-being 2022-Mar-15 63 minutes |
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Ethics of Gamete Donation and the Value of Genetic Knowledge 2022-Feb-16 61 minutes |
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Prophetic Pragmatism: Cornel West, Hope, and the Philosophy of Race 2022-Feb-01 54 minutes |
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Grief: A Philosophic Guide 2022-Jan-13 56 minutes |
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Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals 2021-Apr-21 67 minutes |
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Religion and Human Development (Jennifer Herdt) 2020-Jul-08 59 minutes |
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Virtue and Meaning -- an Interview with David McPherson 2020-May-05 73 minutes |