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Have you ever considered what being conscious actually means? By choosing to live in a particular state are you consenting to be subject to all its laws? For some there’s an assumption that philosophy might not be relevant to modern life but Dr. Nigel Warburton, senior lecturer in Philosophy at The Open University argues that many of us today are faced with philosophical questions such as these as we live our lives in the twenty first century. In this collection we ask academics to discuss these questions in addition to other important philosophical issues and concepts such as the morality of abortions and the reconciling a world with evil and a good God.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Applied philosophy in everyday life • thought experiments and dilemmas • personal identity and selfhood • consciousness, self-awareness, mind–body dualism • Descartes: doubt and knowledge • faith vs reason, problem of evil • abortion ethics • political obligation, consent, civil disobedienceThis podcast presents introductory discussions in philosophy that connect classic questions and methods to everyday life and contemporary moral and political debates. Across the episodes, academics explore how philosophical thinking helps clarify concepts that people often take for granted, using careful argument, examples, and hypothetical “thought experiments” designed to test intuitions and expose hidden assumptions.
A recurring focus is the nature of the self and mind: what it means to be a person over time, how to understand self-awareness, and how consciousness might be explained. These themes link to key ideas in early modern philosophy, including Descartes’ use of systematic doubt to investigate what can be known and the mind–body problem, with attention to dualism and competing pictures of what human beings are.
The podcast also examines philosophy of religion, especially the relationship between faith and evidence and the challenge of reconciling belief in an all-powerful, perfectly good God with the existence of suffering and wrongdoing.
Ethical and political questions form another major thread. The episodes consider how moral reasoning applies to contested issues such as abortion, weighing rights and interests of different parties. They also address political obligation and civil disobedience: whether citizens consent to a state’s authority simply by living within its borders, what grounds legitimate authority, and whether individuals can justifiably refuse to obey particular laws for moral reasons.
Some entries are provided as transcripts of the audio content, offering written versions of the discussions.