Quillette Podcast
Quillette
The Quillette Podcast is a platform for rigorous, academic discussions rooted in common sense and free inquiry. Non-dogmatic and grounded in liberal values, the podcast serves as a beacon for thoughtful conversation on science, politics, philosophy, and culture. Quillette prides itself on intellectual honesty, avoiding ideological extremism in favor of evidence-based reasoning and progress. Hosted by leading voices in academia and journalism, past guests include evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, and journalist Douglas Murray, among others. Expect candid conversations that promote common sense and challenge anti-science and conspiratorial narratives from both the far left and right.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 7, 2019 • 31min
Skeptic editor Michael Shermer talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about Holocaust denialists, Social Justice Warriors and how to debunk toxic ideologies
Skeptic editor Michael Shermer talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about Holocaust denialists, Social Justice Warriors, the importance of bringing reason and science to bear on political debates, and why it is that smart people believe dumb things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 1, 2019 • 20min
Kat Rosenfield, young-adult author, talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about the recent mobbing of Amélie Wen Zhao, a YA writer forced to shelve her debut novel
Kat Rosenfield, young-adult author and prolific vlogger and journalist, talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about Amélie Wen Zhao, a YA writer who's withdrawn her debut novel Blood Heir after being mobbed for allegedly breaching various politically correct protocols that all YA authors, including people of color, are expected to observe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 29, 2019 • 29min
Bill Kristol, founder of the Weekly Standard, talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about the state of conservative politics
Bill Kristol, founder of the Weekly Standard, talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about the future of journalism, conservative politics and the stars who emerged from his magazine's pages, including David Brooks, John Podhoretz and Christopher Caldwell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 24, 2019 • 27min
Speeches from the Quillette party in Toronto
Listen to the speeches made at Quillette's party in Toronto by Quillette founder Claire Lehmann, stand-up comic Jamie Kilstein, Skeptic editor Michael Shermer, Quillette's Canadian editor Jonathan Kay, author and philosopher Christina Hoff Sommers and Quillette's associate editor Toby Young. Thanks to Holding Space Films for supplying us with the audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 14, 2019 • 41min
Professor Steven Pinker talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about what the critics of his book Enlightenment Now got wrong
Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay talks to about his book Enlightenment Now and why the critics who took him to task for celebrating the Enlightenment are wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 11, 2019 • 30min
Writer Jesse Singal talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about the reaction to his controversial cover story for The Atlantic on trans adolescents
Jesse Singal, a New York-based writer, talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about the reaction to his controversial cover story for The Atlantic about transgender adolescents. Among other things, Singal interviewed a number of adults who have "detransitioned"—had a change of heart about switching genders after undergoing irreversible medical procedures. This provoked accusations of "transphobia" from trans activists, who argued that highlighting these cases would make parents and mental health professionals needlessly sceptical when reacting to children's self-diagnosis of gender dysphoria and make it more difficult for those children to get medical treatment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 4, 2019 • 53min
Professor Jeff McMahan talks to Quillette's Toby Young about co-founding the Journal of Controversial Ideas
Jeff McMahan, professor of moral philosophy at Oxford and co-founder of the Journal of Controversial Ideas, a new academic periodical in which contributors will be given the option of publishing their papers pseudonymously, talks to Quillette's Toby Young. They discuss why the journal is needed, how 'controversial' ideas will be defined and Professor McMahan responds to some of the criticisms that have greeted the idea, both from the Social Justice Left and the liberal centre. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 27, 2018 • 38min
Corinna Cohn, a trans software developer, talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about why she dissents from Social Justice orthodoxy
Corinna Cohn, a trans woman and Indianapolis-based software developer who disagrees with Twitter's policy of banning users who "deadname" trans people and, more generally, doesn't believe she is obliged to support the causes associated with the Social Justice movement just because Social Justice Warriors support trans rights, talks to Canadian editor Jonathan Kay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 20, 2018 • 26min
Jonathan Church talks to Quillette's Toby Young about 'white privilege'
Jonathan Church, Quillette contributor and economist, talks to associate editor Toby Young about 'white privilege,' 'white fragility,' 'color-blind racism,' 'unconscious bias,' 'micro-aggressions' and why the Social Justice Left is more interested in punishing whites than understanding the complexity of racial inequality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 13, 2018 • 42min
Coleman Hughes talks to Quillette's Jonathan Kay about being out of step with the prevailing orthodoxy about race as a black college student
Coleman Hughes, Quillette columnist and Columbia University student, talks to Canadian editor Jonathan Kay about being out of step with the prevailing orthodoxy at an Ivy League college, classical liberalism and playing in Rihanna's backup band in 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
