Philosopher's Zone

Liesl van Seil, a philosophy lecturer in virtue ethics from the University of Waikato, explores assisted dying through the lens of flourishing and moral character. She contrasts virtue ethics with autonomy and utilitarian approaches. Short takes cover caregivers' real burdens, physicians' roles and conscience, when assisted dying might be virtuous, and slippery-slope risks in practice.

Greg Dember, independent researcher and writer on popular culture and co-author of the What is Metamodern project. He explores metamodernism’s return to feeling and interiority while keeping postmodern playfulness. Conversations range from Fleabag’s mix of distancing and vulnerability to object-oriented ontology, anthropomorphism in design, and whether metamodernism is a new cultural turn.

Davina Cooper, research professor in law and political theory at King’s College London, discusses legal gender, decertification and gender politics. She traces the Future of Legal Gender Project, surveys public polarisation, and maps where legal sex still matters. She considers arguments for abolishing legal gender status, practical risks for institutions like prisons and sport, and how reform fits into wider social justice.

Raphael Daskalou, Senior Research Fellow in medieval Jewish philosophy, explores how Jewish thought engaged with Islamic and classical traditions. He discusses the blurred sacred/secular divide in pre-modern thought. He explains translation networks like Judeo-Arabic and debates on reason versus revelation. He highlights medieval approaches to evil and practical self-cultivation for difficult times.

Kristen Jezdal, a Temple University philosopher who studies 19th-century women thinkers, unpacks Clara Zetkin as a socialist revolutionary rather than a mainstream feminist. Short, punchy takes cover Zetkin's role in creating International Women's Day, tensions between class and gender politics, and how worker-focused feminism resonates today.

Vincent Lay, philosopher and author of Unknown Lands, maps Nick Land's accelerationist thought. He discusses why accelerationism urges technology to outrun politics. Lay traces Land's influence across art, philosophy and politics. He explores capitalism as emergent AI, automation ending labor, and the provocative embrace of extinction as a philosophical stance.

Rosie Bredotti, Distinguished University Professor Emerita and practice professor linked to RMIT’s Planetary Civics Inquiry, blends posthumanist theory with democratic practice. She explores civic literacies and cultural practices for planetary belonging. She debates AI as acceleration not rupture, critiques techno-oligarch power, and reframes migration as planetary mobility.

Alana Lenton, professor of cultural and social analysis and author on race, explores how racism is woven into modern institutions. She discusses racial regimes, white temporal imaginaries, Cedric Robinson and the black radical tradition. Conversations cover critiques of CRT, colonial omissions, race as a technology of governance, and why superficial reforms fail.

Chus Martinez, curator and art historian who runs the Institute Art Gender Nature in Basel, discusses art, politics and public life. She explores art as a civic medium that shapes shared perception. She examines institutions, accessibility and opening museums into the city. She outlines her show A Velvet Ant, A Flower and a Bird and reflects on collective sense‑making, nature and cultural plenitude.

The question of identity, and whether each of us is best understood as an individual or a member of a collective, has vexed philosophers for centuries. This week we're getting into it with a thinker who's also a leading light in the teaching of philosophy in schools.