Philosophy on the Fringes

Megan Fritts & Frank Cabrera
  • 5.0 (17)
  • PHILOSOPHY
  • UPDATED SEMIMONTHLY
Philosophy on the Fringes

A couple of philosophy professors, Megan Fritts and Frank Cabrera, try to prove that you can do philosophy about almost anything. Join them as they explore the philosophical dimensions of topics on the outskirts of the academy. From Bigfoot to birthday parties, they take a Socratic approach to phenomena strange and mundane, asking listeners the question: What if we did philosophy on the fringes?

  1. The Illuminati: Conspiracy Theories

    JUL 9

    The Illuminati: Conspiracy Theories

    In this episode, Megan and Frank continue their discussion of the Illuminati. Here, the focus is on the afterlife of the Bavarian Order. How did conspiracy theories involving the Illuminati arise? Why is so much pop culture full of Illuminati imagery? And are there any good reasons to believe in such conspiracy theories? Thinkers discussed include: Dostoyevsky, Kierkegaard, and Maarten Boudry. ----------------------- Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) Frank J. Cabrera (google.com) Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com ----------------------- Bibliography: Michael Taylor- Illuminati in the US - American History Hit | Acast The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati (Primary source documents) CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Illuminati Kierkegaard - The Crowd is Untruth The Grand Inquisitor, by Feodor Dostoevsky Barruel - Memoirs Illustrating The History Of Jacobinism From Thomas Jefferson to Bishop James Madison, 31 January 1800 Did an Illuminati Conspiracy Theory Help Elect Thomas Jefferson? - POLITICO Nesta Webster - World revolution; the plot against civilization Zionism versus Bolshevism - Churchill Boudry, Maarten - Why We Should Be Suspicious of Conspiracy Theories. A Novel Demarcation Problem  [Reddit] why do the large shadow organizations leave clues that could lead to their downfall? Megan Fritts & Frank Cabrera, Fake News and Epistemic Vice: Combating a Uniquely Noxious Market Are Republicans and Conservatives More Likely to Believe Conspiracy Theories? - PMC The psychological and political correlates of conspiracy theory beliefs Is Conspiracy Theorising Irrational? - Neil Levy Predictors of belief in conspiracy theory Conspiracy theory and cognitive style: a worldview ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: ZILRIT8XNZAA6LYZ

    1h 1m
  2. The Illuminati: Bavarian Order

    JUL 9

    The Illuminati: Bavarian Order

    In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, a secret society founded in 1776 by the Enlightenment philosopher Adam Weishaupt. This conversation covers who the Illuminati were, what they believed, and how they attempted to bring about a "new world order." Thinkers discussed include: Adam Weishaupt, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Mencius, and Alasdair MacIntyre. ----------------------- Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) Frank J. Cabrera (google.com) Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com ----------------------- Bibliography: The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati (Primary source documents) CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Illuminati Illuminaten - Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism Perfectibilists | Independent Publishers Group Kant. What is Enlightenment Hegel - Philosophy of Right After Virtue - A Study in Moral Theory - Alasdair MacIntyre How Mengzi came up with something better than the Golden Rule | Aeon Ideas ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: CUCILUBPXFZKKTOP

    1h 4m
  3. The Enneagram

    MAY 30

    The Enneagram

    In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the Enneagram. Is the Enneagram a legitimate science of personality? What even is personality? And how much of our lives does personality determine? Join them as they examine the classic book, "Discovering Your Personality Type: The Essential Introduction to the Enneagram" by Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson. Other thinkers discussed include: Aristotle, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and John Doris. ----------------------- Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) Frank J. Cabrera (google.com) Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com ----------------------- Bibliography: Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson - Discovering Your Personality Type Empirical Approaches to Moral Character (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Pseudoscience and the Demarcation Problem | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche Situationism, Moral Improvement, and Moral Responsibility | The Oxford Handbook of Moral Psychology Virtue Ethics | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: O6ZNDALO7DL2LNHE

    1 hr
  4. Past Life Memories

    APR 14

    Past Life Memories

    In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the strange phenomenon of past life memories. Are past life memories evidence for reincarnation? Is what we remember a good guide to who we are? And how might a single identity span different lifetimes? Thinkers discussed in this episode include Plato, Pythagoras, Thomas Reid, J.M.E. McTaggart, and Michael Sudduth. ----------------------- Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) Frank J. Cabrera (google.com) Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com ----------------------- Bibliography: Timaeus by Plato Diogenes Laërtius: Pythagoras The Next Dalai Lama: Preparing for Reincarnation and Why It Matters to India Claire White, Robert M. Kelly & Shaun Nichols, Remembering Past Lives Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man Children Who Report Memories of Past Lives - Division of Perceptual Studies The Case of James Leininger_ An American Case of the Reincarnation Type Jim Tucker - Response to Sudduth’s “James Leininger Case Re-Examined” The Science of Reincarnation—VIRGINIA Magazine The Philosophy of Dr. McTaggart. S2, Episode 6: The Self and Survival (Mar. 27th, 2018) – Hi-Phi Nation New evidence shows false memories can be created | UW News ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: ZMHYPZTDWFJ3QXU2

    1h 8m
  5. Prehistory

    MAR 1

    Prehistory

    In this episode, Megan and Frank discuss the philosophical dimensions of prehistory. What and when is the “prehistoric”? How was prehistory "discovered", and what explains our fascination with it? Is ancient archeology safe from our biases? And how did archaic man’s meaning-making differ from our own? Thinkers discussed include: Colin Renfrew, Hegel, Charles Taylor, Mircea Eliade, and Wittgenstein. ----------------------- Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) Frank J. Cabrera (google.com) Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com ----------------------- Bibliography: Prehistory: The Making of the Human Mind - Colin Renfrew Hegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of History Cave of Forgotten Dreams - Official Trailer | HD | IFC Films Bewitched by an Elf Dart: Fairy Archaeology, Folk Magic and Traditional Medicine in Ireland - Dowd A Secular Age — Harvard University Press Theory and Observation in Science (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) From things to thinking: Cognitive archaeology - Currie & Killin Cognitive Archaeology and the Minimum Necessary Competence Problem - Killin & Pain  An Ape's View of the Oldowan - Wynn & McGrew Neuroscience, evolution and the sapient paradox - Colin Renfrew Sapient paradox: Why humans got stuck in prehistory -Gossip Trap- Big Think The Myth of the Eternal Return | Princeton University Press Eliade_Mircea_The_Sacred_and_The_profane_1963 Wittgenstein - Notebooks, 1914 - 1916, 2nd Edition | Wiley ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: AAO0Q7IZMGVTLFJH

    59 min
  6. Astrology

    12/23/2024

    Astrology

    In this episode, Megan and Frank examine astrology. What is astrology, and why do people practice it? What are the strongest objections to astrology? Should astrology count as a science? If not, why not? What can the case of astrology teach us about the role of science in a democratic society? And why does the ancient practice of reading the stars prompt us to ponder the deepest aspects of human experience? Thinkers discussed include: Aristotle, Cicero, Ptolemy, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend, Carl Sagan, Ian James Kidd, and Massimo Pigliucci. ----------------------- Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) Frank J. Cabrera (google.com) Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com ----------------------- Bibliography: Philosophy of Science and the Occult | State University of New York Press (first section is an invaluable resource, containing the 1975 manifesto, Feyerabend's critique, and articles summarizing statistical studies disconfirming astrology) Cabrera - Evidence and explanation in Cicero's On Divination LacusCurtius • Ptolemy — Tetrabiblos LacusCurtius • Cicero — De Divinatione: Book I A double-blind test of astrology | Nature Readings in the Philosophy of Science: From Positivism to Postmodernism (See for short selections from Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos) Ian James Kidd - Why did Feyerabend Defend Astrology? Integrity, Virtue, and the Authority of Science (An excellent paper that very much informed our discussion of the science & society question) M. Pigliucci  - Was Feyerabend Right in Defending Astrology? A Commentary on Kidd ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: YYRPW29K1IDMU76F

    56 min
  7. Ghosts and Hauntings

    10/29/2024

    Ghosts and Hauntings

    In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate ghosts and hauntings. Are ghosts some kind of spirit, physical beings, or something in between? Is there a natural explanation for ghostly encounters? And what can ghosts teach us about the depths of human experience? Thinkers discussed include: Descartes, Philip Goff, and Beverley Clack. ----------------------- Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) Frank J. Cabrera (google.com) Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com ----------------------- Bibliography: Ghosts of Philosophy LaBossiere | A Philosopher's Blog Victorian ectoplasm-producing mediums: freaks or fakes? | Children's books | The Guardian Philip Goff, Ghosts and Sparse Properties The wisdom of ghosts - Clack | Religious Studies | Cambridge Core Braude, Immortal Remains: The Evidence for Life After Death  Podemore, et al. - Phantasms of the Living The Best Ghost Story - by Alexander J. Zawacki LEGION OF THE DAMNED - ghostwalkbrighton.co.uk Time | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Megan Fritts, Arresting Time's Arrow: Death, Loss, and the Preservation of Real Union ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: KKPO6KMRESVX1ZQD

    54 min
  8. Hypnosis

    09/25/2024

    Hypnosis

    In this episode, Megan and Frank examine hypnosis. What evidence is there that hypnosis is a real phenomenon, and why does hypnosis have a dubious reputation? Does hypnosis alleviate pain, or just mask it? What is the nature of hypnotic consciousness? And does hypnosis prove there’s no true self? Thinkers discussed include: William James, Ernest and Josephine Hilgard, Derek Parfit, Sigmund Freud, and Tim Bayne. ----------------------- Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) Frank J. Cabrera (google.com) Email: philosophyonthefringes@gmail.com ----------------------- Bibliography: Uncovering the new science of clinical hypnosis The Morpheus Clinic for Hypnosis Hypnobirthing - Google Books Hypnosis and Conscious States: The Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective Hypnosis to quit smoking: What to know Neural functional correlates of hypnosis and hypnoanalgesia: Role of the cingulate cortex Hypnotic Suggestion and the Modulation of Stroop Interference Hypnosis in the Relief of Pain Mary Haight, Hypnosis and the Philosophy of Mind Hypnotism and Mesmerism | Vox Hypnosis in History - American Hypnosis Association Hidden observer - Oxford Reference Hidden Observer APA Dictionary The split brain: A tale of two halves | Nature Derek Parfit. Here's why he mattered. | Vox Tim Bayne, Hypnosis and the unity of consciousness Tim Bayne - The Unity of Consciousness | Oxford Academic (oup.com) Bilingual “I Hear a Pickle/ Oigo Un Pepinello” (kidizen.com) ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: DC5U47IEPMLOLTFG

    55 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

A couple of philosophy professors, Megan Fritts and Frank Cabrera, try to prove that you can do philosophy about almost anything. Join them as they explore the philosophical dimensions of topics on the outskirts of the academy. From Bigfoot to birthday parties, they take a Socratic approach to phenomena strange and mundane, asking listeners the question: What if we did philosophy on the fringes?

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