Philosopher's Zone

ABC

4.5 (193)
Philosophy
Daily

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.

1d ago

05 | Unsteady State | Politics for the future and the past

When your political system runs to a three-year electoral cycle, it's hard to avoid the kind of short-term thinking that aims to please today's voters, while paying little more than lip service to future generations. And while this has long been a concern for liberal democracies, today it's an existential issue, as the decisions we make now about climate change will affect the lives of citizens over decades and even centuries from now. Indigenous philosophies have long recognised the importance of government that honours its obligations to future - and even past - generations. But what does this look like in practice? and what ethical issues come into play when Western philosophy treats Indigenous knowledge traditions as a resource to be 'mined'? This episode is fifth in a five-part series. Guest: Krushil Watene, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Auckland, Aoteraroa New Zealand Producer: David Rutledge Pursuing Climate Justice: Practice-Centred Theory, Indigenous Communities, and Engaged Philosophical Inquiry by Krushil Watene in Brooke A. Ackerly et al (eds): The Oxford Handbook of Grounded and Engaged Normative Theory (Oxford Academic 2026) Episode 1 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026 Episode 2 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 2026 Episode 3 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche - The Philosopher's Zone, October 18 2026 Episode 4 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis - The Philosopher's Zone, October 25 2026
Oct 21

04 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis

With liberal democracy in crisis around the world, we're talking about Confucianism and how Confucian political theory addresses such problems as economic inequality and rampant individualism. This week's guest is interested in developing a reconstructed Confucianism that incorporates aspects of American pragmatist philosophy — in particular the work of John Dewey, who visited China in the 1920s and made a huge intellectual and cultural impact there. This episode is fourth in a five-part series. Guest: Sor-hoon Tan, Professor of Philosophy at Singapore Management University Producer: David Rutledge Confucian Democracy: A Deweyan Reconstruction of Confucianism by Sor-hoon Tan (SUNY Press 2004) The crisis of liberal democracy and the Confucian challenge: a pragmatist response by Sor-hoon Tan in Journal of Social and Political Philosophy (2022) Toward Confucian economic democracy: a relational alternative to possessive individualism by Sor-hoon Tan in Democratic Theory: An Interdisciplinary Journal (2026) 01 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026 02 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 2026 03 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche - The Philosopher's Zone, October 18 2026 05 | Unsteady State | Politics for the future and the past - The Philosopher's Zone, November 1 2026
Oct 14

03 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche is a difficult figure to pin down politically. He's popularly known as the favourite philosopher of the architects of the Holocaust, and of today's neo-Nazis and far-right ideologues who venerate strength, domination and the exercise of traditionally male-coded virtues. But then there's the other Nietzsche, the Nietzsche who was a fierce critic of German nationalism and antisemitism, and whose work has gone on to become central to feminism and queer theory. What can Nietzsche tell us about today's febrile climate of state and gender politics? This episode is third in a five-part series. Guest: Adrian Daub, Professor of Comparative Literature and German Studies at Stanford University, co-host of the podcast In Bed With the Right Producer: David Rutledge The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession Went Global by Adrian Daub (Stanford University Press 2024) What Tech Calls Governing by Adrian Daub (Stanford University Press 2026) Episode 1 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026 Episode 2 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 2026 Episode 4 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis - The Philosopher's Zone, October 25 2026 Episode 5 | Unsteady State | Politics for the future and the past - The Philosopher's Zone, November 1 2026
Oct 7

02 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica?

What can Antarctica teach us about statehood and sovereignty? The continent has no government, no citizens, no permanent human population. Its native inhabitants are mostly seals and penguins who, as far as we know, take little interest in politics. But according to this week's guest, Antarctica offers a remarkable political experiment, one that challenges some of our most basic assumptions about territory and political community. Since the Antarctic Treaty came into force in 1961, the usual question of who owns the territory has been set aside. Instead, Antarctica is governed according to a model of 'joint guardianship', raising the intriguing possibility that this remote frozen continent might have something crucial to teach us about how politics could work elsewhere. This episode is second in a five-part series. Guest: Alejandra Mancilla, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oslo, Norway Producer: David Rutledge From Sovereignty to Guardianship: Governing Antarctica, Governing the World by Alejandra Mancilla (Oxford University Press 2026) Episode 1 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026 Episode 3 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche - The Philosopher's Zone, October 18 2026 Episode 4 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis - The Philosopher's Zone, October 25 2026 Episode 5 | Unsteady State | Politics for the future and the past - The Philosopher's Zone, November 1 2026
Sep 30

01 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life

What if your government decided what 'the good life' looks like, then rewarded you for living it and penalised you for straying? In a growing number of countries, that's already happening. Liberal democratic theory has long held that the good life is for each citizen to define for themselves, and that the state should stay out of it. But some governments are now rejecting that idea, defining the good life for their citizens and using a mix of incentives and penalties to bring people into line. Many liberals call this authoritarianism, and accuse the leaders behind it of being driven by greed or a desire for power. But this week we're asking if the picture is more complex, and if liberals are making a dangerous mistake in misunderstanding the appeal of the 'good life state'. This episode is a recording of the 2026 Alan Saunders Lecture, produced in collaboration with the Australasian Association of Philosophy. Guest: Alexandre Lefebvre, Professor of Politics and Philosophy at The University of Sydney Producer: David Rutledge Liberalism as a Way of Life by Alexandre Lefebvre (Princeton University Press 2024) Episode 2 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 2026 Episode 3 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche - The Philosopher's Zone, October 18 2026 Episode 4 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis - The Philosopher's Zone, October 25 2026 Episode 5 | Unsteady State | Politics for the future and the past - The Philosopher's Zone, November 1 2026
Sep 23

Technology and the lure of ancient Athens

One of the more utopian promises of technology has always been that it will free us from the necessity of work - but not having to work poses its own problems. What will we do instead? how will we make money? and what might a leisure-oriented society look like? Technophiles - from the early cybernetics enthusiasts to today's AI promoters - have looked to ancient Athens as an example of a society where citizens were free to engage in culture, reflection and political participation. But was ancient Athens really such a place? and how likely is it that today's tech lords will deliver 'the good life' to us all? Guest: Michele Kennerly, Associate Professor Communication Arts and Sciences, and Classics and Mediterranean Studies, Pennsylvania State University Producer: David Rutledge Automated Athens: Ancient Greek Ideals in the Early Age of Automation by Michele Kennerly (University of Chicago Press 2026)
Sep 16

Sympathy, himpathy and feminism

Australian feminist philosopher Kate Manne memorably coined the term "himpathy" to describe what happens when a man commits a crime against a woman and finds himself the object of disproportionate sympathy. But as useful as this description is, the psychological mechanism behind himpathy remains unexplored in Manne's account. To remedy this, we're turning this week to Catharine Macaulay, a fascinating late 18th century English philosopher whose work on sympathy provides some valuable psychological insights. Guest: Elena Gordon, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University College Dublin Producer: David Rutledge Catharine Macaulay on cultivating our sympathetic potential - Elena Gordon in Journal of Modern Philosophy Volume 7 (2025) About Catharine Macaulay
Sep 9

Signal, noise and interpersonal conflict

If someone's behaving badly, it can be hard to know how much of their behaviour stems from a deep character flaw, and how much of it is incidental - the stuff we might charitably filter out as unreflective of their true self. And the same goes for achievement: how much credit for a Nobel prize should go to the person themselves, and how much to their fortunate circumstances, or to the people who helped them? This week we're asking if philosophy can help us discern the signal from the noise. Guest: Mark Schroeder, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California Producer: David Rutledge When Things Get Personal: A Philosophical Guide to Conflict by Mark Schroeder (Princeton University Press 2026)

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David Rutledge

Host

4.5

out of 5

193 Ratings

Was better when it was new

01/23/2025

sidneyhart

I have been a regular listener of this podcast for almost 10 years now, going back to those early days when there were few pods and almost none on philosophical subjects. It is still one that I subscribe to but its uniqueness has faded. There are others who discuss these topics in more depth and with greater rigor. Yet this one has retained some of its charm. The host has struck the right balance between listening, questioning and intervening. Yet the guests disappoint more often than not because their views are not particularly original nor are the discussions long enough to draw them out. Often the guests are annoying, such as the last one Mariana Imaz Sheinbaum, who punctuates every reply with the word “right?”. She used that word at least eighty times in a half hour conversation. There should be a moratorium on that word
Excellent program

06/08/2024

Drew A Andrews

Really excellent podcast but the show notes and descriptions for each episode are far too brief and should mention the specific guests and describe the episode more fully.
Host needs to steer conversation in less predictable ways

05/21/2023

KS-apple

Topics and guests are ok, but it veers into predictable viewpoints constantly on episodes where they don’t belong. I listened to an episode about bilingual parenting, hoping that it would offer philosophical insights into raising kids that speak different languages. Instead I got thirty minutes about racism, gender studies, and colonialism.
One of the best!

01/06/2023

evapdvs

Excellent selection of speakers and conversation. This is my favorite philosophy podcast! David is always very considerate and equitable. Thank you for this excellent resource.

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.