Philosopher's Zone

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PHILOSOPHY
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The simplest questions often have the most complex answers. The Philosopher's Zone is your guide through the strange thickets of logic, metaphysics and ethics.

23 HR AGO

Summer season: How philosophy fell in love with language

Around the beginning of the 20th century, philosophy began to take what's come to be known as "the linguistic turn". All major philosophical questions, it was argued, were really questions about language, and this conviction would dominate philosophical discourse for the next century. But are philosophers now starting to turn away from the linguistic turn? And what might be coming next?

28 min
18 DEC

Summer season: Music, taste and AI

When you think about the music you like (or don't like), what does it tell you about your taste? Do you think you have good taste? And if you do, why? What is it about music that determines good or bad taste, and is it possible to cultivate the former?

43 min
11 DEC

Stability, security and survival: a conversation with Mary Graham

Mary Graham is one of Australia's most distinguished Aboriginal academics and authors. In this conversation, she articulates a political philosophy of relationality, conflict management and much more.

28 min
4 DEC

Hannah Arendt and the aesthetic

German-American political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was someone who thought and wrote about some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century, so it might seem strange to suggest that her conception of politics was primarily aesthetic. But she herself once said that she only wanted to understand the world, not to change it.

36 min
27 NOV

Sense, sensibility and the authentic self

Authenticity, vulnerability and empathy are all positive character traits - but is there something in the modern ritual performance of these traits that can actually be detrimental to public life? Are we forsaking reason for the sugar rush of cheap emotion? The tension between what Jane Austen called "sense and sensibility" goes back at least as far as the ancient Greeks, and this week we're exploring the philosophical history of toxic touchy-feeliness.

35 min
21 NOV

Philosophy and mysticism

Mysticism is a phenomenon commonly associated with religion and the kind of experience that bypasses the rational, critical mind - which is probably why modern philosophers have tended to treat it with suspicion. But this week we're asking if contemporary philosophy can learn something from the mystics.

38 min
13 NOV

Health care ethics: otherness and belonging

In ethical terms, health care systems are supposed to be "blind" to culture, offering the same level of care and respect to all patients regardless of background. Programs promoting diversity and inclusivity in health care are designed to further this aim - and yet for immigrants and other minorities, the practice can fall far from the ideal.

28 min
7 NOV

Sentience

Sentience is a puzzle - and an increasingly important one. The question of exactly what constitutes sentience, and which organisms possess it, is hotly contested. But with scientific evidence emerging in support of the theory that octopuses, bees and other invertebrates may be sentience candidates, moral questions of how we should treat them become more and more pressing. And then there's AI - could sentient robots be on the horizon?

31 min

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The simplest questions often have the most complex answers. The Philosopher's Zone is your guide through the strange thickets of logic, metaphysics and ethics.