Philosopher's Zone

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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.

hace 4 días

Getting angry at the system

If I pick up a tree branch and smash your window with it, you're going to be angry, and your anger will rightly be directed at me. But if a tree branch smashes your windscreen during a cyclone whose intensity has been caused by global warming, you're still going to be angry — but who or what exactly should you be angry with? This week, a conversation about responsibility for systemic injustice. Guest: Stephanie Collins, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Monash University Melbourne Producer: David Rutledge *The 2026 Alan Saunders Lecture* - Alexandre Lefebvre on 'The return of the moral state: politics and the good life', Thursday September 24 6.30 pm - register here
19 ago

Who's afraid of Cultural Marxism?

Cultural Marxism is many things to many people — at one end of the political spectrum, it's the hidden force behind political correctness, identity politics and 'wokeness', while at the other end it's a shopworn conspiracy theory that explains nothing much at all. So what is Cultural Marxism? Did a group of Marxist intellectuals in the mid-20th century really set out to reshape Western culture? And if they did, how convincingly does their story stack up as a tale of secret plots and calculated ideological subversion? Guest: Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer in English and Writing, University of Sydney Producer: David Rutledge 'Cultural Marxism' is a conspiracy theory for our time - Alexander Howard in The Conversation July 2026 The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West by A.J.A. Woods (Verso 2026) Conspiracy theories, anti-Semitism and fun - The Philosopher's Zone, December 2022 *The 2026 Alan Saunders Lecture* - Alexandre Lefebvre on 'The return of the moral state: politics and the good life', Thursday September 24 6.30 pm - register here
12 ago

Habermas and the retreat of reason

The great German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, who died in March, wrote in his later works about what he called Unheimlichkeit — roughly translated as "the unease of the times" — to describe the global retreat of liberal democracy, the fraying of the rules-based international order, and the increasing polarisation and hostility of public discourse. And yet, to the end he defended Enlightenment reason and the utility of rational debate. In a world that seems to be losing its democratic bearings, has Habermas' day passed? Or is the problem more that we haven't read him carefully enough? Guest: Peter J. Verovšek, Assistant Professor in the History of European Integration, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Producer: David Rutledge Did Jürgen Habermas's death also mark the end of his vision of democratic life? - Peter Verovšek for ABC Religion & Ethics
5 ago

Visual art as philosophy

When it comes to the ideal philosophical medium, most of us would identify the written word - or maybe the spoken word, if we're fans of Socratic dialogue - and this is because for centuries, philosophy has been a linguistic practice. But this week we're arguing that visual art can be philosophy, and looking at how visual art can represent concepts in ways that haven't traditionally been recognised by Western epistemic traditions. Guest: Taylor-Jai McAlister, clinical psychologist and postdoctoral Research Fellow in Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney Producer: David Rutledge Defining Aboriginality - Taylor-Jai McAlister on The Philosopher's Zone, November 2023
30 jul

How smart are machines, anyway?

Ever since AI was founded in the 1950s, people have talked and written about 'intelligence' as though we all broadly agree on what that word means. But there's considerable debate on that score, and among the debaters are philosophers - like this week's guest - who question the degree to which machines can be said to be intelligent at all, and think that claims of intelligence can all too easily deflect attention from the real ethical issues around AI. Guest: Tim Crane, Professor of Philosophy at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, Austria Producer: David Rutledge
23 jul

Hegel: The philosopher with the (one) big idea

GWF Hegel (1770-1831) wanted to construct nothing less than a complete explanation of reality - nature, consciousness, art, history, politics, the lot - based on a single self-explanatory idea. Whether or not he succeeded is an interesting question (spoiler: he didn't), but more interesting is the question of why philosophy has become so much less ambitious since then, and what we can learn from Hegel today.
16 jul

Eco-grief and environmental loss

Philosophers have traditionally thought of grief as something that attaches to immediate loss - the death of a loved one, something terrible that's happened to us personally. But as the environmental crisis continues to wreak havoc on human and non-human lives, the philosophy of emotions needs a concept that captures a response to loss that perhaps hasn't happened yet, or loss that affects other people we may never meet: eco-grief.
9 jul

Colonising space

There's something about space that's always captured the human imagination, but what happens when space begins to capture the imagination of billionaire tech entrepreneurs? In the past, we've visited space for scientific purposes, but now the grand vision is colonisation, permanent human settlement on the Moon, Mars and even further afield, with such ventures along the way as asteroid mining, which promises to deliver untold riches. The technical challenges are immense - as are the ethical ones.

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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.