The Free Mind Podcast

Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization
  • 5.0 (5)
  • ARTS
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

The Free Mind Podcast explores philosophic and political ideas with adventurous disregard for intellectual trends. Listeners are invited to pull up a chair in an intellectual laboratory where rationally defensible arguments are tested in the spirit of truth-seeking, and made in a conversational style free of academic jargon. The podcast engages scholars and public intellectuals who seek to present a diversity of viewpoints in a venue where good faith is granted at the door, and clear expression of ideas is more important than adherence to any particular ideology.

  1. Matthew Young and Paul Diduch: The Parable of the Good Samaritan and American Politics

    04/16/2025 · VIDEO

    Matthew Young and Paul Diduch: The Parable of the Good Samaritan and American Politics

    Matthew Young is assistant professor of political theory in the Department of Political Science & Public Policy at Elon University. Paul Diduch if faculty director of the Engineering Leadership Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Matt and Paul join The Free Mind Podcast's new host Joseph Porter for a discussion on the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the Bible, and American politics in light of recent commends made by Vice President JD Vance.

    1h 12m

  2. 12/19/2024 · VIDEO

    S10 E5: Daniel Jacobson: where higher education is headed, and farewell from Matt

    Dan Jacobson is Bruce D. Benson Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado Boulder. This is my (Matt’s) last episode as host of the Free Mind Podcast, pre-recorded with Dan before I moved to the University of Wyoming this past summer. I am extremely grateful for my time as a faculty fellow of the Benson Center and I have enormous respect for the center’s work bringing viewpoint diversity to higher education. So, I wanted to end my run as host by talking to Dan about where higher education is headed. Thank you all for listening over the past two years, and don’t go anywhere. The Free Mind podcast will continue with a new host in the new year.

    1h 11m

  3. 12/10/2024 · VIDEO

    S10 E4: Justin Tosi: Does censorship undermine its own goals?

    Justin Tosi is Associate Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. He was previously a sabbatical fellow at the Benson Center and is co-author of Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk and Why It's OK to Mind Your Own Business, both in collaboration with Brandon Warmke, who was a previous guest on this show. We discuss an interesting new article of Justin’s, which argues that censorship undermines its own goals.

    1h 8m

  4. 11/12/2024 · VIDEO

    S10 E3: Lee Jussim: Surviving cancel culture while keeping your head

    Lee Jussim is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University, and a founding member of both the Academic Freedom Alliance and the Society for Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences. In addition to being a renowned psychology researcher, Dr. Jussim is also an outspoken critic of cancel culture and the politicization of his discipline of social psychology, and of academia writ large. For his efforts, he has been the target of cancelation attempts. We discuss his upbringing, his research on stereotypes and other controversial topics, his brushes with cancel culture, the risks of becoming reactionary when facing cancelation attempts, and his tips for maintaining integrity and principles in the face of these pressures.

    1h 39m

  5. 10/14/2024 · VIDEO

    S10 E2: Musa al-Gharbi: We have never been woke

    Musa al-Gharbi is a sociologist and Assistant Professor of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. He researches how society thinks and talks about race, inequality, national security, and other contentious issues in the public sphere. His new book We Have Never Been Woke, exposes and takes on the contradictions of chattering class elites, who simultaneously decry inequality and perpetuate it. We discuss his book, as well as other issues related to the politics of higher education.

    1h 29m

  6. 09/18/2024 · VIDEO

    S10 E1: Lesley Smith: Reflections on a career in research, education, and politics

    Lesley Smith is Regent at Large of the University of Colorado system, and she is also the Democratic nominee for Colorado House District 49 in the upcoming 2024 election. Before becoming a Regent, Dr. Smith worked for 30 years as a researcher and educator at CU Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. She was elected to the Boulder Valley School Board in 2005 and served for eight years. We discuss her career in education, research, and politics, as well as contemporary issues facing higher education. We note, on behalf of Dr. Smith, that her description of the cost of attending the University of Colorado (at 46:05) is based on estimates that include room and board, in addition to tuition.

    1h 20m

  7. 08/20/2024 · VIDEO

    S9 E4: Jessi Streib: Is it racist? Is it sexist?

    Jessi Streib is Associate Professor of sociology at Duke University and the co-recipient of the 2023 Early Career Award from the Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility section of the American Sociological Association. She is author of four books, including Is it Racist? Is it Sexist? Why Red and Blue White People Disagree, and How to Decide in the Gray Areas, co-authored with Betsy Leondar-Wright, which comes out in 2025 and is available for pre-order. We discuss this book, and the questions it raises about how to diagnose and address injustice, and tensions between this and other societal objectives. The views expressed by Jessi on this episode are hers alone and do not necessarily reflect those of her coauthor.

    1h 27m

  8. 07/13/2024 · VIDEO

    S9 E3: Diego Reinero: Does academia really have a liberal bias?

    Diego Reinero is a MindCORE Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies how people’s moral and political views change through conversations and social networks. He has also done research that challenges the idea that the predominantly liberal political views of academics affect the quality of research and range of results published in his field of social psychology. Jumping off of this research, we discuss to what extent academia actually has a liberal bias, and it what ways claims of liberal bias may be overstated.

    1h 24m
See All (47)

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

The Free Mind Podcast explores philosophic and political ideas with adventurous disregard for intellectual trends. Listeners are invited to pull up a chair in an intellectual laboratory where rationally defensible arguments are tested in the spirit of truth-seeking, and made in a conversational style free of academic jargon. The podcast engages scholars and public intellectuals who seek to present a diversity of viewpoints in a venue where good faith is granted at the door, and clear expression of ideas is more important than adherence to any particular ideology.

Information

  • Creator
    Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2025
  • Episodes
    47
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2021 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Free Mind Podcast