Philosophy Talk

French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil was also an activist whose goal was to elevate the lower classes.  But she was opposed to the kind of revolution where the oppressed overthrow their oppressors. So, how did she think we could achieve peace and justice? Is it enough to pay the right kind of attention to each other’s suffering? And how does this connect to her conversion to a mystical form of Christianity? Josh and Ray attend to the life and thought with Rebecca Rozelle-Stone from the University of North Dakota, editor of Simone Weil and Continental Philosophy. Part of our Wise Women series, generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Born into slavery in the nineteenth century, Anna Julia Cooper received a classical education, attended the Sorbonne, and became the fourth African American in history to be awarded a PhD. Her first book, A Voice from the South, offered one of the first articulations of how Black women are impacted by race, gender, and socioeconomic class. She believed that uplifting Black women through higher education would improve life for all Black people. Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Kathryn Sophia Belle, author of Beauvoir and Belle: A Black Feminist Critique of The Second Sex. Part of our Wise Women series, generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Karl Marx famously attempted to explain our social, political, and economic systems in terms of class conflict. While he never explicitly states that capitalism is unjust, some scholars suggest that there is an implicit moral critique of it in his work. So, does Marx reject capitalism for its moral failures, or is his opposition to it purely socioeconomic? Can we get an account of gender and racial justice from Marx? And did he try, and perhaps fail, to abandon philosophy entirely? Josh and Ray share the means of production with Vanessa Wills from George Washington University, author of Marx’s Ethical Vision.

We all engage in mental actions of various kinds, whether it’s planning the coming week, trying to remember the lyrics of a song, or imagining what we’d look like with a different haircut. These thought processes have significance for us and help us direct our other actions. But are we really in control of trains of thoughts or do they just pop into consciousness? Does it make sense to criticize others for what goes on inside their heads? And is there anything we can do to improve the quality of our thinking? Josh and guest-host Blakey Vermeule do things with the mind of their Stanford colleague Antonia Peacocke, author of Mental Means (forthcoming).

Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th century mystic, polymath, and composer whose work spanned visionary theology, philosophy, cosmology, medicine, botany, and music. Her extraordinary intellectual accomplishments belie her humble claim to be “just a woman”. Was her humility justified in the face of the divine, internalizing misogynistic stereotypes, or a strategic decision to get her voice heard? What can mystical experience teach us about the world? And how can we understand ourselves in relation to the divine? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Jennifer Bain from Dalhousie University, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen. Part of our series Wise Women, generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

People often speak on behalf of others, like the concerned citizen who stands up for their neighbors at a city council meeting, or the activist who defends the rights of an oppressed group. Some of these spokespeople are elected, and some volunteer, but others simply get drafted into the role. What gives someone the right to speak on behalf of others? What responsibilities do they take on when they do? And how should the rest of us respond to what they say? Josh and Ray speak for themselves with their Stanford colleague Wendy Salkin, author of Speaking for Others: The Ethics of Informal Political Representation.

Nísia Floresta was a 19th-century writer and translator known as “the Brazilian Mary Wollstonecraft.” She published the first book on women’s rights in South America, when Brazil was gaining independence from Portugal and a new post-colonial nation was being built. She also argued for the rights of the enslaved and indigenous Brazilians, who were marginalized and exploited in this new nation. Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Nastassja Pugliese from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, author of Nísia Floresta (Elements on Women in the History of Philosophy). Part of our Wise Women series, generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In April 2024, we lost one of the greatest American philosophers of our time—Daniel Dennett. Known for his brilliant mind and controversial views, his contributions to philosophy include topics like consciousness, AI, evolution, atheism, intentions, free will and moral responsibility. In this special episode remembering his life and work, Josh and Ray are joined by Jenann Ismael from Johns Hopkins University, author of How Physics Makes Us Free, to listen to some of Dennett’s past appearances on the program with John and Ken.

Looking for some deep dives into pop culture this summer? Josh and Ray talk to Sandra Laugier from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, author of TV-Philosophy in Action: The Ethics and Politics of TV Series, and Nathaniel Goldberg from Washington & Lee University, co-author of Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons, and Rejects Explain the World. And they get recommendations for philosophical science fiction from Sara Uckelman of Durham University, philosopher of language by day and writer of speculative fiction by night.

Looking for some deep dives into pop culture this summer? Josh and Ray talk to Sandra Laugier from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, author of TV-Philosophy in Action: The Ethics and Politics of TV Series, and Nathaniel Goldberg from Washington & Lee University, co-author of Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons, and Rejects Explain the World. And they get recommendations for philosophical science fiction from Sara Uckelman of Durham University, philosopher of language by day and writer of speculative fiction by night.