Good in Theory: A Political Philosophy Podcast

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Good in Theory: A Political Philosophy Podcast

Good in Theory is a podcast about political philosophy and how it can help us understand the world today. Want to know what's in Plato's Republic or Hobbes's Leviathan but don't want to read them? This is your pod. I explain my favourite books in political theory in enough detail that you’ll feel like you read them yourself. Deep but not heavy. No experience needed.

  1. 46 - Athenian democracy and Plato w/ Graham Culbertson (Everyday Anarchism Podcast)

    11/05/2023

    46 - Athenian democracy and Plato w/ Graham Culbertson (Everyday Anarchism Podcast)

    This episode is a crossover collabo with Graham Culbertson of the Everyday Anarchism podcast. Graham asked me over to talk Athenian democracy, Plato, anarchism and how modern meritocratic education sucks. We had a nice time with it and hope you do too. Support the show

    1h 4m
  2. 45 - Humane War feat. Samuel Moyn

    05/09/2022

    45 - Humane War feat. Samuel Moyn

    War tends to bring out the human propensity for atrocity. Nobody likes indiscriminate killing, torture and so on. What to do about it? One response is to avoid war altogether. According to Yale prof Samuel Moyn, that’s what most people wanted after World War II and after Vietnam. But more recently, he’s noticed a shift. Now, politicians, especially in America, are focussing on making more humane. Leaders like Obama say they’ll make war as ‘clean’ as possible by using drone strikes and special...

    1h 5m
  3. 44 - Samuel Huntington "The Clash of Civilizations?"

    17/08/2022

    44 - Samuel Huntington "The Clash of Civilizations?"

    Samuel J. Huntington’s 1993 “The Clash of Civilizations?” is the most assigned article in American political science. It predicts a worldwide culture war (but not the kind you're thinking of). The book became a massive bestseller, Huntington was all over TV and his theory is still talked about all the time. It made him a darling to the press but reviled by his fellow academics. Think of "Clash" as a dark rejoinder to Fukuyama’s already-pretty-morose “End of History.” Instea...

    37 min
  4. 43 - Tyranny at Work feat. Elizabeth Anderson

    06/06/2022

    43 - Tyranny at Work feat. Elizabeth Anderson

    Americans hate when the state tells them what to do. They’ve got freer speech, freer access to guns and less regulation on business than any other rich country. So why do they let their work bosses walk all over them? American workers have less rights and worse conditions than workers in any other developed country. Employers can fire employees at will, impose arbitrary schedules and prevent them from forming unions. They tell them what to wear, what they can publicly say and even when t...

    55 min
  5. 42 - The New Aristocracy feat. Matthew Stewart

    02/05/2022

    42 - The New Aristocracy feat. Matthew Stewart

    Matthew Stewart is a philosophy PhD and author. He’s also a Princeton guy and former management consultant so he knows rich people. His new book, The 9.9%, is about them. Not the super-rich, but the doctors, lawyers and managers that go to good colleges and live in nice neighbourhoods. The “nearly rich and not-famous,” as he puts it. We talk about how these people raise their kids, get their money and block the poorer element from their neighbourhoods. Matthew reckons the 9.9% are a...

    54 min
  6. 41 - Love in the Time of Big Data feat. Alfie Bown

    18/04/2022

    41 - Love in the Time of Big Data feat. Alfie Bown

    Big tech companies tell us they’re our servants, existing to fulfill our desires more cheaply and conveniently than ever. Alfie Bown doesn’t think so. He thinks Deliveroo, Tinder, Pornhub etc. aren’t just giving us what we want, they’re shaping what we want. He reckons our tech overlords are secretly remaking humankind on the level of desire. We chat about Chinese cars that know what you want to eat and why time travellers don’t get horny. Bown is the author of a n...

    58 min
  7. 40 - Is Liberal Democracy the Best We Can Do? feat. The Morality of Everyday Things

    08/02/2022

    40 - Is Liberal Democracy the Best We Can Do? feat. The Morality of Everyday Things

    Is democracy the worst form of government except for all the others or is it just the worst? This is a crossover with the delightful Morality of Everyday Things podcast. Jake and Ant and I discuss what liberal democracy is, the arguments in its favour, and some big critiques. Episode includes Plato, Nazis and Lizards. Enjoy! Also, go listen to MOET pod! ReferencesFrancis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last ManCarl Schmitt The Crisis of Parliamentary DemocracyKarl Popper, The Open ...

    1h 15m
  8. 39 - The Glorious History and Ugly Present of Rhetoric feat. Rob Goodman

    24/01/2022

    39 - The Glorious History and Ugly Present of Rhetoric feat. Rob Goodman

    Rhetoric is supposed to inspire. Imagine Cicero exhorting the Roman people, Churchill vowing to “fight on the beaches.” Yet, when politicians speak today, it’s almost always boring or obnoxious. Why? Prof. Rob Goodman, author of Words on Fire: Eloquence and its Conditions comes by today to talk about the history of rhetoric, what Cicero knew that we don’t, and the political speech styles of Trudeau (boring), Trump (obnoxious), and X González (pretty great, actually). Support the show

    1h 13m
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Good in Theory is a podcast about political philosophy and how it can help us understand the world today. Want to know what's in Plato's Republic or Hobbes's Leviathan but don't want to read them? This is your pod. I explain my favourite books in political theory in enough detail that you’ll feel like you read them yourself. Deep but not heavy. No experience needed.

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