Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
David Edmonds (Uehiro Centre, Oxford University) and Nigel Warburton (freelance philosopher/writer) interview top philosophers on a wide range of topics. Two books based on the series have been published by Oxford University Press. We are currently self-funding - donations very welcome via our website http://www.philosophybites.comThemes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Interviews with philosophers • moral dilemmas, responsibility, rescue, longtermism • political philosophy: democracy, institutions, decolonisation, identity • AI, digital ethics, prediction • global traditions, racism, colonialism • animal minds, sentience • grief, loneliness, sex, hope • thought experiments, vagueness, decision-making • major thinkers’ ideas and biographiesThis podcast features short interviews in which the hosts speak with professional philosophers, classicists, and political theorists about central ideas across ethics, political philosophy, and the history of philosophy. Conversations often begin from a concrete problem—such as when it can be permissible to end a life, what we owe to strangers in need, how to think about rescue, or whether we should treat future people’s interests as morally significant—and use it to illuminate broader debates in moral theory, including utilitarian reasoning, moral obligation, moral heroism, and the evolution and genealogy of moral norms.
A recurring focus is political and social philosophy: the strengths and vulnerabilities of democratic life, alternative institutional designs such as selecting representatives by lottery, and the psychological and epistemic pressures that shape civic disagreement. Several discussions connect philosophy to contemporary challenges, especially the ethical and political implications of AI, prediction and persuasion, privacy, and digital ethics, alongside topics in law and the boundaries between legal and moral norms.
The show also regularly introduces major thinkers and traditions, spanning ancient Greek philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), modern figures (Wollstonecraft, Hegel, Augustine), and influential twentieth-century philosophers, with attention to how lives and historical circumstances inform ideas. It broadens the philosophical canon through episodes on Africana philosophy and figures such as Douglass, Du Bois, and Fanon, as well as explorations of Mexican, Chinese, Indian (including Buddhist), and Japanese philosophy. Alongside public issues, the podcast addresses personal and existential themes like grief, time, loneliness, shame, sex, hope, and what it means to “matter,” often using these topics to clarify questions about mind, self, responsibility, and human experience.
