Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
This is a podcast, directed at the philosophically curious, students, as well as fellow academics, in which I, Florian Steinberger, a philosopher at Birkbeck College, University of London, have informal philosophical discussions with experts in a range of different topics. Among them are the philosophy of fiction, the status of moral intuitions, as well as questions surrounding reference in the philosophy of language and whether many of us are too incompetent to deserve a right to vote, and much more. Future episodes will also take a philosophical angle on topics ranging from the sciences and the arts to dog training and martial arts.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Informal expert discussions in analytic philosophy • Philosophy of language and mind: reference, belief ascriptions • Ethics: trolley problems, moral intuitions • Political philosophy: voter competence, suffrage restrictions • Aesthetics: philosophy of fiction, imaginative resistanceThis podcast features informal conversations between philosopher Florian Steinberger (Birkbeck, University of London) and academic guests about central problems in contemporary analytic philosophy. Across the episodes, discussions often begin from influential journal articles and use them as a springboard to clarify key concepts, map out competing positions, and examine what is at stake in familiar philosophical puzzles.
A major theme is how language connects with thought and the world. The show explores issues in the philosophy of language and mind such as reference—how words latch onto individuals—and how we correctly attribute mental states like beliefs, including classic puzzles about seeming changes in meaning or identity across different ways of describing the same person.
Ethics and political philosophy also figure prominently. The podcast considers what thought experiments such as trolley cases are supposed to reveal about moral judgment, with attention to whether “intuitions” provide evidence, how reliable they are, and what their role should be in ethical theorizing. Relatedly, the show addresses normative questions about democracy and political rights, focusing on debates over voter competence and whether (or how) suffrage might be justified or limited.
A further strand connects philosophy with literature and imagination. The podcast examines how we engage with fictional narratives, including the phenomenon of “imaginative resistance,” where readers may find it difficult to go along with certain moral perspectives a story asks them to adopt.
Overall, listeners can expect academically grounded but accessible discussions that use well-known papers and puzzles to introduce methods and questions in philosophy of language, mind, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics.
| Episodes: |
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Episode 004 - Alex Grzankowski on Reference and Attitude Ascriptions 2021-Jan-03 87 minutes |
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Episode 003 - Kristoffer Ahlstrom-Vij On Who Should Get to Vote 2020-Nov-02 86 minutes |
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Episode 002 - Hallvard Lillehammer on Trolley Problems and the Nature of Ethical Intuitions 2020-Sep-25 77 minutes |
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Episode 001 - Stacie Friend on the Philosophy of Fiction 2020-Sep-03 74 minutes |