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Philosophy podcast aimed at school students. Fun, informative, engaging. Philosophers at universities and schools talk about loads of questions and topics that come up in Philosophy, Ethics and Political Theory - A-Levels / IB / Highers and even GCSE. Hosted by Simon Kirchin, University of Leeds and Director of the British Philosophical Association. Timetable of topics: https://stkirchin.wixsite.com/mysite/schools-podcast (Music by Alex Grohl)Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ A‑level/IB philosophy revision • philosophy of mind: dualism, physicalism, functionalism, zombies/Mary • epistemology: knowledge, scepticism, perception • philosophy of religion: God, arguments, evil, language • ethics: Kant, utilitarianism, virtue/metaethics, applied issues (business, sex, war, animals, abortion/euthanasia)This podcast introduces school-level philosophy through conversations with university philosophers and teachers, with a clear focus on topics commonly taught in A-Level, IB, Higher, and GCSE-style courses. Across the episodes, the show explains key ideas, arguments, and terminology, often breaking big areas into structured parts that move from basic definitions to objections, counterarguments, and evaluation.
A substantial strand is philosophy of mind and metaphysics, covering competing views about what minds are and how they relate to brains, including varieties of dualism and physicalism, behaviourism, and functionalism. These discussions use well-known thought experiments and puzzles—such as zombies, Mary’s room, inverted qualia, and questions about artificial intelligence—to test theories and clarify what is at stake.
Another major theme is epistemology. The podcast examines what knowledge is, how perceptual knowledge might work, and how sceptical challenges arise and are answered. It also treats reason as a possible source of knowledge, drawing on classic debates about innateness, intuition, deduction, and empiricist critiques.
Philosophy of religion features prominently, with treatments of arguments for God’s existence (cosmological, teleological, ontological), questions about divine attributes, the problem of evil, and the meaning and status of religious language.
Ethics and political/moral theory are covered through both normative frameworks—utilitarianism, deontology/Kant, and Aristotelian virtue ethics—and applied issues such as abortion, euthanasia, sexual ethics, business ethics, animal ethics, and war and peace. Metaethics episodes address debates about moral realism, error theory, and noncognitivism.