Philosopher's Zone ABC listen

Daniel Dennett is one of the world's leading philosophers and cognitive scientists - at 81, and with a new memoir published, he's still as provocative and inspiring as ever. 

The politics of victimhood is a feature of our contemporary cultural landscape - but according to French philosopher René Girard, the impetus behind victim politics has been driving human civilisation for millennia.

AI-powered beauty apps are becoming increasingly popular, as people use them to evaluate, rate and enhance their facial appearance in selfies and other images. But exactly what's going on behind the technological wizardry raises a host of troubling ethical and philosophical concerns.

There are plenty of features of our faces and bodies that we don't necessarily like - but does this make them aberrations that require medical intervention? As the cosmetic surgery industry goes from strength to strength, the answer would increasingly appear to be Yes.

When we think of 19th century German philosophy, we perhaps think first of Nietzsche, or Hegel, and then some other men - but Germany in the 1800s was also home to a number of women philosophers.

What might a society without police look like? For some, the idea of police abolition evokes a vision of danger, anarchy and chaos - but for heavily-policed communities subject to high rates of incarceration, it's a survival imperative.