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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):
➤ Critical ethics/practical philosophy article discussions • Virtue signaling, moral discourse norms • AI blame/responsibility • Fanaticism, nihilism • Veganism, meat ethics • Moral emotions • Confucian well-being • Gamete donation ethics • Race, hope • Grief • Free will/determinism • Religion, human development • Virtue, meaningThis podcast features critical discussions of recent work in ethics and practical philosophy, often centered on a specific journal article or new book and explored through interviews and debates with professional philosophers. Across the episodes, the conversations connect abstract ethical theory with live questions about moral life, social interaction, and public culture.
A recurring theme is moral psychology and the norms governing moral discourse. The show examines how practices like blaming, resentment, judgment, and moral signaling shape interpersonal relations and civic conversation, and asks when these practices are justified or counterproductive. Relatedly, it explores the roles emotions such as anger, shame, and grief can play in ethical life, including whether certain emotional responses should be cultivated, moderated, or revised in pluralistic societies.
Another strand addresses responsibility, agency, and free will, including how determinism bears on moral accountability and how (or whether) to assign blame when harm is produced by artificial intelligence systems. The podcast also engages virtue ethics and questions about meaning, spirituality, and human nature, including challenges to Aristotelian approaches and inquiries into whether intense commitment or “fanaticism” can ever function as a virtue.
Several episodes focus on applied ethics and social philosophy: obligations surrounding veganism and free-riding, the ethics of gamete donation and the value of genetic knowledge for identity, and philosophical approaches to race, democratic hope, and the legacy of racism. The show also incorporates comparative and religious perspectives, such as Confucian views of flourishing and ritual as well as debates between secular and religious humanisms about moral development, humility, and the sources of human moral progress.
| 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 |