The Philosophists – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Philosophists

The Philosophists | Declan McGrath, Simon Robertson

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/99d. Total Eps: 8

The Philosophists - Declan & Simon - look to inject some philosophy into your day. So if you're looking for meaning, morality, or just a bit of mayhem then tune in for their unique blend of shorter and longer conversations. Often with the help of some very special guests. This project may or not succeed, but what's the worst that could happen? Listen & find out!

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🇩🇪 Germany - philosophy
04/05/2026
#92

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http://www.againstmalaria.com/thephilosophists
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http://freesound.org/
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http://www.jshaw.co.uk/
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https://twitter.com/philosophistpod
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https://twitter.com/theirishpenguin
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https://twitter.com/Shiva_Sharifz
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanity%2B
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_ethics#Underpinning_theory
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
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Score global : 58%

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Ep 8 - The Challenges Women Researchers Face - Part 1 (with Mohammad Hosseini and Shiva Sharifzad)

Season 1 · Episode 8

Tuesday, February 28, 2023 • Duration 01:00:09

Research in academia is a wonderful intellectual pursuit, but are the fruits of that pursuit equally available to all? What if you are a woman? Do you have the same opportunities and outcomes as your other colleagues? In this episode, we talk to Mohammad Hosseini and Shiva Sharifzad, authors of Gender disparity in publication records: a qualitative study of women researchers in computing and engineering (linked below), a highly illuminating paper interested in the answers to these questions. This research was carried out at Dublin City University (DCU) in Ireland and found that, during a 5 year window, "women researchers had fewer publications, received fewer citations per person, and participated less often in international collaborations". Their paper offers a fascinating insight into some of the underlying challenges that contributed to this - and contains more than a few surprises. If you care about understanding and redressing the challenges that women in research face, which has implications for society more broadly, then listen in on this important conversation.

Note: This episode supports a "Chapters" feature, which is available in the web player and many podcast apps.

About Mohammad Hosseini (Full Bio)
Born in Tehran (Iran), Mohammad acquired a B.A. in Business Management and an M.A. in Applied Ethics in the Netherlands (2009-2016). Fascinated by the ethics of scholarly authorship and publication issues, he completed a PhD in Research Ethics and Integrity in Ireland (2017-2021). He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University in Chicago. Mohammad's professional goal is to cultivate fair and inclusive working cultures and improve the ethics and integrity of research.

About Shiva Sharifzad (@Shiva_Sharifz)
Shiva Sharifzad is a Gender and Gender-Based Violence Analyst. She has a Bachelor in Law and an LLM in Human Rights Law from Iran, and an MAS in Transitional Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law from Geneva. Originally from Tehran (Iran), now she is based in Geneva (Switzerland) working with the UN, and other International Organizations.

Main Talking Points

The barriers women face when publishing
Citation quality and its importance
The fight for the authorship byline
The Women in Leadership plan at DCU
The burden that gender balance policies can impose
Initiatives to help those taking and returning from maternity leave
The need for more men to be involved in gender-related research
The vast majority of our discussion is on the research itself, though we do relate some of the work in the paper to the ideas of Simone De Beauvoir

Links To The Paper and Related Work

Gender disparity in publication records: a qualitative study of women researchers in computing and engineering - The paper by Mohammad Hosseini and Shiva Sharifzad discussed in this episode
The Senior Academic Leadership Initiative (SALI) - A separate article by by Mohammad and Shiva on SALI itself

Other Links

Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex - We mention De Beauvoir's work describing woman as an "other" in relation to man. The opening paragraph of this article by Nasrullah Mambrol provides an excellent overview of this topic

Show Info, Contact Details & Credits
See here.

Other Links

The Philosophists - Episode 2 covered Utilitarianism and Deontonology (including some Kantian ethics) and may be worth a listen first. The show notes are also worth a look
The Philosophists - Episode 4 covered the Trolley Problem and some more Utilitarian/Kantian discussion
The Repugnant Conclusion
- Derek Parfit’s famous paradoxical conclusion that, for any world with all very happy individuals, there can exist a better world (in terms of the Utilitarian maths) with a much larger population of whose lives are barely worth living.

Ep 6 -- LP -- Wisdom - A Very Valuable Virtue with Jason Merchey

Season 1 · Episode 6

Tuesday, June 14, 2022 • Duration 01:39:59

Wisdom... an old and dusty concept that has fallen down the pecking order in today's world. As a result, it's no surprise that many feel our civilisation is slipping ever deeper into an idiocracy. Well, this episode aims to single-handedly arrest that slide... and bring wisdom back into fashion! To this end, we have enlisted the talents of Jason Merchey, who literally wrote the book on wisdom. In fact, he's written four, including his latest work - Wisdom: A Very Valuable Virtue That Cannot Be Bought. Given his lifelong study of this subject, Jason helps us tackle wisdom from many angles. He uses a supporting cast of wise quotations from down through the ages to prevent us losing sight of what wisdom really means - and why it is indeed a most valuable virtue.

More About Jason
In addition to being a philosophical thinker and author, Jason is a master’s level psychologist, proponent of the research ideal, social critic, author / essayist / blogger, and a student of the tradition of arts and letters. You can buy Jason's latest book on Amazon (or enter our competition - see below!) or follow his work via his website.

Note: This episode supports a "Chapters" feature, which is available in the web player and many podcast apps.

Main Talking Points

What is wisdom?
Capitalism, Sisyphus and higher values
The usefulness of philosophy
The power of quotations
Effective truth-seeking
The wisdom and anti-wisdom of intuition
Is America wise or unwise?
Wisdom vs common sense
Changing opinions, changing climate
The knowing nod of older Ireland (and why some things may be best left unsaid)
Respecting elders but perhaps not their ideas
Conflating status with wisdom
Real wisdom, real estate, and investing
What can Foucault, Trump and Mussolini teach us about Irish house prices?
Staying sane in an insane world

Ep 5 -- LP -- Towards Biohappiness with David Pearce (The End of Suffering)

Season 1 · Episode 5

Wednesday, February 2, 2022 • Duration 01:13:28

Suffering is unavoidable. Or is that really the case? David Pearce, renowned transhumanist, author of the Hedonistic Imperative and cofounder of the World Transhumanist Association / Humanity+, has a vision that sees suffering abolished in all sentient life and replaced with "information-sensitive gradients of bliss". In this feature length episode, David gives an introduction to his abolitionist project and how we can achieve this remarkable goal using biotechnology, especially genetic engineering. Join us to hear David's fascinating insights into what has been dubbed the Biohappiness Revolution.

You can follow David Pearce on Twitter at @webmasterdave.

Note: As this episode tips over the hour mark into "Long Play" territory, if you are short on time, you are invited to use the "Chapters" feature of the web player (or in your podcast app or offline audio player if it supports chapters). We've put a little extra effort into indexing this conversation for your convenience and we hope you find it useful. Let us know!

Main Talking Points

Hedonic set-points and the hedonic threadmill
The Lottery Paradox
Problems associated with existing drug-based treatments for pain
Gene therapy and the role of certain genes, such as SCN9A, in pain
Hyperthymic people and the role of the FAAH and FAAH-OUT genes
Preimplantation genetic screening and CRISPR
Happier babies and whether suffering should be opt-in or opt-out
Holding genetic engineering to account and the sanctity of life
Contrasting software engineering techniques to genetic engineering

If you care about helping to bring an end to suffering, please donate whatever you can afford to provide a life-saving mosquito net to someone who really needs it at Other Links

Ep 4 - Beyond Cockroach Ethics - Part 2 (Virtue Ethics, Trolley Problems and Inaction)

Season 1 · Episode 4

Monday, November 8, 2021 • Duration 28:00

Back in episode two, we covered Utilitarianism and Deontology and promised to return with an episode covering Virtue Ethics. Well, wanting to do the moral thing, we fulfil that promise here. The episode opens up with Simon invoking the famous philosophical conundrum of the Trolley Problem. We also discuss the distinction between action and inaction, if any, before diving into the ethical system that has been with us for over two thousand years - Virtue Ethics. Hopefully, you have enough of the virtue of patience to stick with us for half an hour.

Main Talking Points

The Trolley Problem - would you sacrifice one to save five?
- A wonderful short animated TED-Ed video explainer by Eleanor Nelsen
- Watching season 2 episode 5 of The Good Place (summary) is also an easy & fun way to learn more
The Point of View of the Universe - an arguably more objective way to think ethically
- Peter Singer makes the case in favour (short video - or see this written summary)
Inaction vs Action - can you dodge the blame game or are they just the same?
- Why Inaction Is An Action by Lynne Sargent gives a succinct informative take on this
- Doing vs. Allowing Harm in the Stanford Encyclopedia is detailed but very readable
Jean-Paul Sartre's Universalisation of Actions - am I always setting an example?
- See the Anguish section of Nigel Warburton's great summary of Sartre's "Existentialism and Humanism"

Ep 3 -- LP -- Corrupting The Youth (Philosophy For Children with Daniel McCrea)

Season 1 · Episode 3

Thursday, August 12, 2021 • Duration 01:28:59

Well... Let's not quite call it corrupting. Let's call it teaching. And, in this episode, we are delighted to welcome Daniel McCrea as our special guest, who takes us on an exciting journey through the world of teaching philosophy to children.

Main Talking Points

Why children should care about philosophy
How philosophy helps children develop
Getting philosophy into the education cycle in Ireland and bringing it to a younger audience
How philosophy can transform how teachers engage with their students
The Irish school curriculum, the junior cert and the leaving cert
Philosophy and parenting
The upcoming "GADFLY" event, which Daniel created for Irish Philosophy educators
We cover a lot of philosophers and their ideas along the way

About Daniel McCrea
Daniel is the creator of www.philosophyshortcourse.com, a FREE resources website for Irish philosophy teachers and the event "GADFLY".

He holds a B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy and regularly teaches philosophy at Gonzaga College SJ secondary school in South Dublin.

He has trained in teaching philosophy with Marelle Rice, Peter Worley and Educate Together and facilitates public Philosophy events for "The Philosophers Hat" and "Socrates Cafe"

His mission is to make teaching philosophy the best job in Ireland.

Save a Child From Malaria
If you care about children beyond your borders, along with their carers, please donate whatever you can afford to provide a life-saving mosquito net to someone who really needs it at http://www.againstmalaria.com/thephilosophists

Follow the show on Twitter at @philosophistpod

Other Links

Ep 2 - Beyond Cockroach Ethics - Part 1 (Utilitarianism vs Deontology)

Season 1 · Episode 2

Monday, July 19, 2021 • Duration 27:37

What can a cockroach teach us about ethics? Well, in this episode we attempt to find out as we talk our way through two of the most widely accepted ethical systems - Utilitarianism and Deontology. While scuttling around, we'll meet the great Immanuel Kant (well, not literally) and see how his ethical ideas can get you out of a sticky situation.

Is morality a numbers game or just a bunch of rules? Decide for yourself after hearing us out. Just one thing to note - this is the first part of a mini-series on the main ethical models and we'll be back next time to cover Virtue ethics, which will complete the moral menu we have prepared for you.

Main Talking Points

What is Utilitarianism?
What is Deontology?
What was some of Kant's thinking on morality?
Is inaction is a form of action and can it be immoral?

If Mr Kant suitably convinces you to treat humans with the utmost dignity then we would greatly appreciate it if you could please donate whatever you can afford to provide a life-saving mosquito net to someone who really needs it at http://www.againstmalaria.com/thephilosophists

Follow the show on Twitter at @philosophistpod

Other Links

An Irish Goodbye - As promised at the start of the episode, here is a way to make your exits as sharp as your wit!
Deontology & Kant
- BBC's "In Our Time" podcast with Melvyn Bragg has a wonderful episode on Kant's Copernican Revolution. Find out more about Kant, his ideas and his even some of his quirks
- The Panpsycast Podcast really dive into Kantian Ethics (Part I) in a fun and accessible way

Ep 1 - Feeling Bad About Doing Good

Episode 1

Monday, April 5, 2021 • Duration 32:04

In this episode, Declan and Simon ask - should you feel bad about doing "good"?

"What?!" you may ask. But have you ever asked yourself if you should give almost all your money to charity? And, if you don't then how you should approach the question of whether you should do more? Is every one of your pleasures condemned to be a guilty pleasure? Cosmic Skeptic's video asking if Should You Sell All Your Possessions? kickstarted our discussion. And we think you'll enjoy where our discussion took this.

Main Talking Points

Should each of us be giving more to charity?
Why don't people give more to charity?
How could we approach beginning to give more to charity?
How do we know when we have donated enough to charity?
What is the effect of dependants on giving to charity?
What on earth has antinatalism got to do with any of this?

While we are on the subject of doing good, we would greatly appreciate it if you could please donate whatever you can afford to provide a life-saving mosquito net to someone who really needs it at http://www.againstmalaria.com/thephilosophists

Follow the show on Twitter at @philosophistpod

Other Links

Effective Altruism websites that rank charities in terms of impact per amount donated - http://givewell.org, https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org
David Pearce's Quora post listing What Are The Arguments Against Antinatalism? (You can follow David at @webmasterdave)
Wikipedia entry on David Benatar's book

The Philosophists – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Philosophists – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other39

Twitter7

Wikipedia11

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other39

Twitter7

Wikipedia11