Philosophy Bites

Blaise Pascal's Pensées is the subject of this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Few philosophers know the Pensées well,  apart from the passage in which Pascal set forth his famous 'wager' - the idea that agnostics should gamble on God existing. Here Ben Rogers explains who Pascal was, and why his book is worth reading.

The Problem of Evil is usually presented as a problem for believers. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Marilyn McCord Adams suggests that it is a problem for optimistic non-believers.

New technology is changing our relationship to reality and in the process what we are, argues Luciano Floridi, in this episode of the philosophy podcast Philosophy Bites. This is the fourth revolution.

What is a person and what makes me the same person over time despite change? John Locke emphasized that continuity of memory makes us the same person over time. In contrast Paul Snowdon argues that we should see persons as animals.

 Michael Sandel. 2009 Reith Lecturer, discusses the moral limits of markets. You can follow Nigel Warburton discussing Sandel's first Reith lecture on Twitter on www.twitter.com/philosophybites from 10.15 p.m UK time on the 13th June as this lecture is broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Add '#goodradio' or '#Reith2009' to any comments you make on Twitter.

Philosophy Bites looks at ethical questions raised by enhancement. Technological developments have opened up many new opportunities for intervening in biological processes to improve ourselves. Allen Buchanan of Duke University discusses some of these and their implications in conversation with Nigel Warburton.

Moral psychology is the empirical study of how people make moral judgements. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Walter Sinnott-Armstrong discusses the relevance of psychological research to moral philosophy.

Pleasure is something we all want. But is it, and should it be the only thing that we want? Is pleasure all the same kind of thing? Philosopher Thomas Hurka explores the concept of pleasure in conversation with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the podcast Philosophy Bites.

This episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast focuses on Aristotle's Ethics. In conversation with Nigel Warburton, Terence Irwin of Oxford University explains the key features of this influential work.

Assisted dying, providing a patient with the means to kill themselves, is a highly controversial issue. For this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Raymond Tallis, who is both an eminent gerontologist and philosopher, discusses this topic and some of the moral issues surrounding it with interviewer Nigel Warburton.

Should we base our morality on our emotional reactions of disgust? We all have a sense of 'yuk' at some activities or situations. Julian Savulescu of Oxford University discusses the relevance of revulsion to our moral judgements in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast.

Jean-Paul Sartre's notion of Bad Faith lies at the core of his existentialist classic Being and Nothingness. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Sebastian Gardner explains what Sartre meant by Bad Faith.

Questions about the nature of reality are at the heart of all philosophy in both Western and Eastern traditions. Keith Ward gives an overview of the idealist tradition in some Indian philosophy and draws parallels between this tradition and some Western thinkers.

Scientists talk about sub-atomic particles which are invisible to the eye. Do such particles really exist? Or are they simply convenient fictions that, for the moment at least, explain the observable phenomena? David Papineau discusses and defends scientific realism in this episode of Philosophy Bites.

Kate Soper believes that we need to rethink how we live in the light of impending environmental catastrophe. She maintains that alternative ways of living can be more enjoyable than consumerism.

Genocide is, at first glance, a straightforward term. We understand what it is and why it is such an evil. But, as  Chandran Kukathas of the London School of Economics argues in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast, perhaps the received definition of this term needs refinement.

How do we learn anything? This isn't a puzzle until you start thinking hard about it. In his dialogue The Meno, Plato presented an apparent paradox about inquiry. M.M. McCabe discusses this paradox and its continuing relevance.

Parmenides was one of the most important pre-Socratic philosophers. Raymond Tallis discusses his ideas and influence in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast.

Don Cupitt, a controversial theologian and philosopher, whose BBC television series and book The Sea of Faith was extremely influential, giving birth to a theological movement, believes that most religion is too anthropomorphic. In this interview for the  Philosophy Bites podcast he  explains his non-realist approach to God.

Tolerance is usually thought of as the great virtue of democratic societies. Wendy Brown of UC Berkeley asks some sceptical questions about the concept of tolerance and how it can be used to express power relationships in this interview for Philosophy Bites.