12 February 2025
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Sep 19, 2016 — Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
David Hume’s life and work
How Hume influenced Massimo’s thinking
What Hume got right about causality, and what he got wrong
What shapes our moral instincts?
Why Dan regards Arthur Danto so highly…
…and what he thinks Danto got wrong
The end of art history?
TAGS
ethics
|
human nature
|
philosophy
|
psychology
Sep 17, 2016 — Nikita Petrov & George Young
What is Russian cosmism?
The religious side of cosmism
Cosmism as a response to the challenges of the 20th century
Nature as a temporary enemy and eternal friend
Pavel Florensky, the Russian da Vinci
Plant life as a spiritual ideal
The father of the Soviet space program, and his weird spirituality
Cosmism and transhumanism: Compare and contrast
Cosmism as a Russian propaganda project
TAGS
Christianity
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consciousness
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death
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evolution
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history
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human nature
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mysticism
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occult
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philosophy
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politics
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religion
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science
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spirituality
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technology
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the future
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transhumanism
Sep 12, 2016 — Robert Wright & Robert George
Why Robby refuses to support Trump
Is history shaped more by social forces or human agency?
Robby gives an insider’s view on why Appalachia is Trump country
The declining influence of religion
How a lack of humility poisons politics
Contempt in current political rhetoric
Robby: Politicians need to get out of the identity politics game
TAGS
Christianity
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ethics
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free will
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history
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moral imagination
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philosophy
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politics
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psychology
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religion
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tribalism
Sep 10, 2016 — Josh Summers & Chip Hartranft
An intro to the yogic philosopher Patañjali and the
Yoga-Sutra
The metaphysics of the
Yoga-Sutra
How does a yogi become awakened?
Comparing yogic and Buddhist teachings
Does yogic philosophy encourage isolation?
Advice for new meditators
TAGS
Buddhism
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consciousness
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enlightenment
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Hinduism
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human nature
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meditation
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mindfulness
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philosophy
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religion
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spirituality
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yoga
Sep 9, 2016 — Robert Wright & Mark Oppenheimer
What Mark learned writing the New York Times “Beliefs” column
Wittgenstein on religion
What does the “spiritual” in “spiritual but not religious” mean?
Crossfit and other secular communities that seem religious
The puzzle of Jewish identity
Being religious but not spiritual
TAGS
family
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humanism
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Judaism
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philosophy
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religion
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ritual
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secularism
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spirituality
Sep 5, 2016 — Robert Wright & Michael Lynch
Michael’s book,
The Internet of Us
, and “neuromedia”
How Google short circuits our critical faculties
Dangers of the “hive mind”
The echo chamber effect and how to combat it
How tech has—and has not—changed the way we learn
Privacy in the age of big data
TAGS
consciousness
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philosophy
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technology
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the future
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transhumanism
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tribalism
Aug 28, 2016 — Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger
Putting Kant’s work in context
Kant’s
Critique of Pure Reason
and
Prolegomena
Kant’s radical innovations in the
Critique
Defining different kinds of thought
Active and passive faculties of the mind
Are there two worlds, or two aspects of one world?
Consequences of intertwining the world and the mind
TAGS
philosophy
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physics
|
science
Aug 23, 2016 — Robert Wright & Daniel Ogilvie
Why Dan decided to teach a course about soul beliefs
Almost all Americans believe in an undying soul
When did religion become infused with morality?
Greek philosophers on the soul
How to challenge beliefs in a smart way
Is religion a convenient way to deny death?
TAGS
ancient philosophy
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death
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ethics
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history
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monotheism
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New Atheists
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philosophy
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psychology
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religion
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Richard Dawkins
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science
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soul
Aug 8, 2016 — Robert Wright & Susan Schneider
The most intelligent life in outer space may be artificial
Should we be worried about AI?
Shopping for a scientific path to eternal life
“Protomentality,” matter’s (hypothesized) latent sentience
Would your self survive uploading to a computer?
What if we never understand consciousness?
TAGS
cognitive science
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compassion
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consciousness
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death
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free will
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human nature
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identity
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mind-body problem
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philosophy
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physics
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psychology
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science
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technology
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the future
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transhumanism
Jul 5, 2016 — Robert Wright & Steven Nadler
What made Spinoza a heretic?
Why Spinoza matters today
Perspectives on the purpose, if any, of nature
Religion: a source of morality, meaning, and fear
Spinoza’s mysticism—or lack thereof
Parallels between Spinozan and Buddhist thought
TAGS
ancient philosophy
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atheism
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Buddhism
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Christianity
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Donald Trump
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enlightenment
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ethics
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evolution
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Judaism
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meditation
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mysticism
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philosophy
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politics
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religion
Jul 3, 2016 — Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
Massimo’s new book on the nature of philosophy
The distinctive way philosophy makes progress
Are philosophers really more like artists?
Has philosophy “gotten better”?
TAGS
philosophy
|
science
Jun 29, 2016 — Robert Wright & Daniel Kaufman
Bob’s love for the supercosmic
“Design” and “purpose”: Bob explains…
…and Dan objects
Is there a direction to natural selection?
Nobody understands consciousness
Is humanity making moral progress?
TAGS
consciousness
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ethics
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evolution
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philosophy
Jun 24, 2016 — Robert Wright & Daniel Kaufman
Understanding Saddam Hussein ≠ sympathy for Saddam Hussein
The ethics of punishing bad people
Dan vs. evolutionary psychology
Is religion really behind Sunni-Shia conflict?
The good side of tribalism
What does “mindfulness” actually mean?
TAGS
Christianity
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ethics
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Islam
|
meditation
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mindfulness
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moral imagination
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philosophy
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psychology
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religion
Jun 21, 2016 — Robert Wright & Virginia Heffernan
Virginia’s new book,
Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art
The seductive realism of our online lives
The angry poetry of Twitter
Lamenting the loss of analog communication
Why Virginia was proclaimed #WorseThanISIS on Twitter
TAGS
Donald Trump
|
New Atheists
|
philosophy
|
religion
May 31, 2016 — Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
Massimo’s new book,
The Nature of Philosophy
Two ways that philosophy and science progress
Logic, mathematics, and the physical world
Does physics depend on mathematics too much?
Comparing mathematics to games and fiction
Why does mathematics describe the real world so well?
TAGS
mathematics
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philosophy
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physics
|
science
May 10, 2016 — David Kyuman Kim & John Jackson
How does it feel to be a problem?
In praise of discomfort
Empathy isn’t enough
Confronting difference
Confronting power
“To love well is to risk”
TAGS
love
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moral imagination
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philosophy
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race
May 1, 2016 — Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
The ethics of eating
Why Massimo changed his eating habits
The problem with utilitarianism
Morality from a virtue-ethics perspective
Considering ethical obligations
Are some virtues more important than others?
TAGS
ancient philosophy
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ethics
|
Peter Singer
|
philosophy
Apr 26, 2016 — David Masciotra & William Irwin
Is hell other people?
Would a libertarian society leave the neediest behind?
Betting on the charity of the private citizen
Bill’s new novel,
Free Dakota
David’s book about the existentialism of Metallica
“Consume and create”
TAGS
ethics
|
music
|
philosophy
Apr 17, 2016 — David Masciotra & William Irwin
An introduction to existentialism
Jean-Paul Sartre’s tough-minded optimism
Existentialists want you to keep it real
The dark side of the search for meaning
Capitalism as existentialist economics
“We’re condemned to be free”
TAGS
economics
|
philosophy
|
religion
Mar 25, 2016 — Daniel Kaufman & Daniel Tippens
Rationalism, its virtues and ideals
Manifestations of rationalism in epistemology …
… in ethics …
… and in political philosophy
Critique of rationalism: It can’t be reasons all the way down
Dan K. claims rational ethicists don’t really exist …
… and if they did, you wouldn’t like them
How philosophy turned to rationalism, and Dan K. turned away from it
TAGS
ethics
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philosophy
|
politics
Mar 8, 2016 — Robert Wright & Susan Gelman
The psychology of essentialism
Is your dog an essentialist?
The essence of good, evil, and Donald Trump
Why we value some objects more than others
Religion and essentialism
Do we perceive reality accurately?
TAGS
ancient philosophy
|
Donald Trump
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family
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philosophy
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psychology
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religion
Feb 28, 2016 — Nikita Petrov & Daniele Bolelli
Daniele’s new book
Not Afraid
and the practice of cage fighting
In martial arts, you want to play it safe—but not too safe
Raising a baby girl: the greater battle
Other practices: meditation, psychedelics, and life in general
The changing face and functions of online media
Daniele’s mix-and-match approach to philosophy and religion
TAGS
meditation
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philosophy
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religion
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spirituality
Feb 19, 2016 — Philip Menchaca & Pablo Sender
What is Theosophy?
A Theosophical explanation of psychic phenomena
Do all religions contain the same truth?
Synthesizing religion, philosophy, and science
Is there an ordering force in the universe?
Theosophy’s most important teaching
TAGS
meditation
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occult
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philosophy
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religion
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science
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spirituality
Feb 13, 2016 — Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
What constitutes an explanation in the natural sciences?
Looking for a categorical difference between natural and social sciences
Biological and social explanations of human behavior
The difference between the narratives of social and physical sciences
Does social science explain events or their interpretations?
Must a science have “laws”? Are there social scientific laws?
TAGS
biology
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evolution
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philosophy
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physics
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psychology
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social science
Feb 12, 2016 — Daniel Kaufman & Robert Wright
A quick look at the life of Wittgenstein
The misunderstood philosopher
How does language represent reality (if at all)?
Wittgenstein the Mystic
Why your private thoughts are public
Cognitive science’s big Wittgensteinian problem
TAGS
consciousness
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language
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mind-body problem
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mysticism
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philosophy
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transhumanism
Feb 7, 2016 — Robert Wright & Paul Froese
What do we mean by a meaningful life?
Finding purpose in being a part of something bigger
How social context determines our understanding of meaning
Fantasies about uniting humanity: one cause, one God, one reality
Are we making moral progress?
Is it empowering or terrifying to think we create our own meaning?
TAGS
atheism
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happiness
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human nature
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mindfulness
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philosophy
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psychology
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religion
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spirituality
Feb 2, 2016 — Massimo Pigliucci & Daniel Fincke (moderated by Daniel Kaufman)
Stoicism: a philosophical alternative to religion
Adapting an ancient philosophy of life to modern times
Accepting harsh truths
Confronting regret, fear, and death
Applying Stoicism to the social sphere
Interpreting the concept of radical self-sufficiency
TAGS
ancient philosophy
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death
|
ethics
|
fear
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philosophy
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religion
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sadness
Jan 25, 2016 — Robert Wright & Jeremy England
Jeremy’s new theory and the origins of life
Wrestling with the second law of thermodynamics
Self-organizing systems and self-replicating ones
Natural selection as a special case of more general physical laws
The role of ritual in Jeremy’s Jewish faith
The laws of physics were written by people, not God
TAGS
evolution
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free will
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Judaism
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philosophy
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physics
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religion
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ritual
Jan 11, 2016 — Daniel Kaufman & Barbara Block
What does it mean to be Jewish?
The development of different Jewish movements
Barbara: God doesn’t change; our understanding of God changes
The Torah, the Talmud, and the Jewish canon
Bringing the old ways into modern times
Why moral philosophy alone isn’t enough
TAGS
history
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Judaism
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philosophy
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religion
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ritual
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spirituality
Jan 10, 2016 — Aryeh Cohen-Wade & Jason Eberl
Star Wars Philosophy 101
St. Augustine on why people join the Dark Side
What makes Jedi better than terrorists, and the Empire worse than the U.S.
Midi-chlorians and the mind-body problem
The Lucas Empire v. the Fan Alliance: battle for the imaginary universe
The Force Awakens:
spoilers and speculations
TAGS
ethics
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free will
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human nature
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mind-body problem
|
philosophy
Dec 27, 2015 — Robert Wright & John Horgan
John’s new old book,
The End of Science
How grand is the unified theory, really?
Cancer, brain lasers, and other things that matter
Mind-blowing potential of dark energy and dark matter
The mind-body problem
Will science shed any new light on basic philosophical questions?
TAGS
mind-body problem
|
philosophy
|
physics
|
science
Dec 19, 2015 — Robert Wright & Lawrence Krauss
Lawrence on religion’s “most immoral” aspect
A defense of giving offense
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Bob accuses Lawrence of avoiding the key question
Debating whether evolution has directionality
Can science fill religion’s place in people’s lives?
TAGS
atheism
|
cosmology
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evolution
|
New Atheists
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philosophy
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physics
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religion
|
science
Nov 28, 2015 — Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
Dan questions the rationale for a liberal arts education
Massimo defends the liberal arts
Does studying the humanities make you a better citizen?
Campus protesters with a little learning
Valuing the liberal arts for their own sake
Massimo: The humanities are dangerous
TAGS
education
|
philosophy
Oct 30, 2015 — David Bryce Yaden & Julien Musolino
Yes, you can be a “spiritual atheist”
Intuitive beliefs about the body and the soul
Julien: The soul (most likely) doesn’t exist
How believing in the soul makes you more punitive
Crime, moral responsibility, and a suffering boulder
Julien: We don’t need God to provide us with meaning
TAGS
atheism
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death
|
free will
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justice
|
philosophy
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religion
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soul
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spirituality
Sep 18, 2015 — Daniel Kaufman & Glenn Loury
How scientific are the social sciences?
Glenn defends the reliability of economic predictions
The strengths and weaknesses of “natural experiments”
How much does culture affect economic behavior?
New insights from behavioral economics
Dan: We trust the social sciences too much
TAGS
economics
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human nature
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philosophy
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psychology
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science
|
social science
Aug 28, 2015 — Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
How Bertrand Russell changed Massimo’s life
Russell’s waning influence on philosophy
The legacy of Russell’s “Why I Am Not a Christian”
How Gilbert Ryle turned Dan away from Platonism
Category errors and “knowing how” vs. “knowing that”
Why history is more important in philosophy than in science
TAGS
ancient philosophy
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atheism
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history
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philosophy
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religion
|
science
Aug 14, 2015 — Daniel Kaufman & Ian Ground
A short history of Wittgenstein’s influence
Why Wittgenstein causes problems for philosophers
Where does meaning come from?
What it is to follow a rule
The illusion of intrinsic value and meaning
How Wittgenstein changed our understanding of the mind
TAGS
cognitive science
|
philosophy
Aug 4, 2015 — Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
The “strong AI thesis”: Can a machine think?
Debating the usefulness of the Turing test
Could your brain be swapped with a silicon replica?
Massimo: You’ll never be able to upload your consciousness
Digging into the famous “Chinese room” thought experiment
Dan: Neuroscience won’t solve philosophy of mind puzzles
TAGS
biology
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cognitive science
|
consciousness
|
mind
|
philosophy
|
science
|
technology
Jul 19, 2015 — Robert Wright & David Sloan Wilson
How understanding evolution can improve the real world
Is human nature mismatched to the modern environment?
Why we believe kooky things
“Meaning systems”—religious or secular, everyone’s got one
Can science and religion form a unified meaning system?
David’s latest book,
Does Altruism Exist?
TAGS
altruism
|
evolution
|
genetics
|
nationalism
|
philosophy
|
psychology
|
religion
|
Richard Dawkins
|
science
|
self
Jul 15, 2015 — John Horgan & Sheldon Solomon
Sheldon’s roots in psychology
Ernest Becker and the meaning of mortality
Terror and death as motivating forces in life
Studying death rituals around the world
What happens when we’re reminded of death
Is there a path to eternity—or at least sanity?
TAGS
cognitive science
|
death
|
drugs
|
meditation
|
philosophy
|
psychology
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