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Descartes Before the Horse

Descartes Before the Horse

De : UQ Critical Thinking Project
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Do you want to approach the world like a philosopher? To be both curious and rational? Dr Luke Zaphir and Dr Liam Miller show you how! Together they discuss issues in contemporary philosophy such as the conspiracy theories, the value of monogamy, and whether zombies walk among us.


Sometimes silly, sometimes profound, always rigorous.


Have a topic or comment? Or a topic you'd like to see covered? Email us at horsedescartes@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UQ Critical Thinking Project
Philosophie Sciences sociales
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    Épisodes
    • S02E04 - Choose Your Belief: Basilisk, Pascal, or Dogs from Moloch
      Sep 27 2025

      In this episode, Dr Miller and Dr Zaphir dive into a surreal philosophical roleplay set in a fantasy inn with no vacancies and a knife storm brewing outside. The only way to avoid sleeping on a barstool (or being stabbed by airborne cutlery) is to convince one of three eccentric conference attendees to share their room — but each comes with a belief system you must accept.

      You meet:

      • Roko, a tech bro prophet of the coming machine god, who warns that the Basilisk is watching your tweets and will punish non-believers retroactively.
      • Susan, a whiskey-sipping Pascalian who offers a cozy wager: believe in God and maybe get cocktails in heaven, or don’t and risk overpriced beer in hell.
      • Beard Wizard, a twitchy cultist who demands your money and dental fillings to prepare for the arrival of immortal small dogs from Planet Moloch, who definitely does not correspond to any existing real world cults. Super swearsies.


      Come join us and see if threats of the afterlife is sufficient to warrant belief.

      Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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      56 min
    • S02E03 - Rational behaviour on a desert island prisoner's dilemma
      Aug 30 2025
      In this episode, Luke throws Liam and our special guest philosopher Dr Sameema Zahra into a sunburnt version of the Prisoner’s Dilemma: an island with not enough water, dubious fishing arrangements, and a suspiciously rickety hut. Along the way we learn who betrays, who stays “mostly consistent,” and how long you should really wait before cannibalism becomes an option. It’s survival ethics with a splash of existentialism and we talk about what it means to be rational in extreme situations.

      Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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      52 min
    • S02E2 - A trolley full of werewolves
      Jul 20 2025

      How many people would you sacrifice to save a loved one? Liam puts his moral consistency to the test in Luke's oddly bloodthirsty version of the trolley problem. It's not trolleys that Liam has to contend with though - it's werewolves!


      Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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      59 min
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