Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
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 philosophy revision • philosophy of mind: dualism, physicalism, behaviourism, functionalism, qualia • epistemology: knowledge, scepticism, perception, Gettier • philosophy of religion: God, arguments, evil, language • ethics: normative theories, metaethics, applied issuesThis podcast is a philosophy show designed for school students studying courses such as A-Level, IB, Highers, and GCSE. Across the episodes it introduces central topics in philosophy, ethics, political theory, and philosophy of religion, with a focus on explaining key ideas clearly and then weighing arguments for and against them. Conversations are typically hosted by Simon Kirchin with university philosophers and school teachers, and many topics are offered both as shorter overviews and longer, more detailed discussions.
A major strand is philosophy of mind. The podcast surveys competing theories about what minds are and how they relate to brains, including different forms of dualism, physicalist approaches such as identity theory, behaviourism, functionalism, and more radical positions like eliminative materialism. These discussions use well-known thought experiments and arguments—such as zombies, the “Mary” case, inverted qualia, and debates about artificial intelligence—to test the strengths and limits of each view.
Another strand is epistemology and metaphysics, covering the nature and sources of knowledge, sceptical challenges, perceptual knowledge, and the analysis of what it takes for a belief to count as knowledge, including responses to Gettier-style problems.
The podcast also spends substantial time on ethics. It introduces normative theories (virtue ethics, deontology, utilitarianism) and metaethics (realism and anti-realism), and applies ethical thinking to issues such as abortion, euthanasia, simulated killing, sexual ethics, animal ethics, business ethics, and war and peace.
In philosophy of religion, it examines classical arguments about God’s existence and nature (cosmological, teleological, and ontological arguments), divine attributes, the problem of evil, and debates about religious language. It also supports students by explaining core philosophical terminology and argument forms.