Born into slavery in the nineteenth century, Anna Julia Cooper received a classical education, attended the Sorbonne, and became the fourth African American in history to be awarded a PhD. Her first book, A Voice from the South, offered one of the first articulations of how Black women are impacted by race, gender, and socioeconomic class. She believed that uplifting Black women through higher education would improve life for all Black people. Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Kathryn Sophia Belle, author of Beauvoir and Belle: A Black Feminist Critique of The Second Sex.

Part of our Wise Women series, generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/diogenes-and-the-honest-life.

Diogenes of Sinope was a famous—or infamous—4th-century BCE Greek philosopher. Reportedly, he lived in a jar, performed many bodily functions in public, and wandered public spaces with a lit lantern in broad daylight. But what was the broader social critique advanced by Diogenes and his followers? What did they believe was needed for a life of freedom and virtue? And how does Diogenes continue to serve as a symbol of defiance to authority and artificial values? Josh and Ray defer to Inger Kuin from the University of Virginia, author of Diogenes: The Rebellious Life and Revolutionary Philosophy of the Original Cynic.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/civil-disobedience/.

Thoreau, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King all engaged in civil disobedience, and are widely admired for doing so. But how can democratic society function if each person’s conscience has to be satisfied for a law to be obeyed? When is civil disobedience justified? When is it required? How does the concept fit with the great ethical and political philosophies? John and Ken discuss the ethics of protest and punishment with Kimberley Brownlee from the University of Manchester, author of Conscience and Conviction: The Case for Civil Disobedience.

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/william-james.

William James is a great figure, historically important as a philosopher (pragmatism and radical empiricism), a student of religion (author of the monumental "Varieties of Religious Experience"), and psychology. Ken and John examine the life and ideas of this towering figure with Russell Goodman, a leading scholar of Pragmatism and author of Wittgenstein and William James.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/why-world-so-weird.

Quantum mechanics, mathematics, human consciousness…. whichever way you slice it, the universe is weird. How can our conscious minds be made from unconscious atoms? What should we make of quantum entanglement, or the fact that light can be both a particle and a wave? Why is it that there are exactly as many fractions as there are whole numbers? Josh and Ray raise an eyebrow with Eric Schwitzgebel from UC Riverside, author of The Weirdness of the World.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/the-examined-year-2025.

What happened over the past year that challenged our assumptions and made us think about things in new ways? Josh and Ray talk to philosophers and others about the events and ideas that shaped the last twelve months.

• The Year in Shamelessness with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò from Georgetown University, author of “How Can We Live Together?”
• The Year in A.I. Hype with Arvind Narayanan from Princeton University, co-author of AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference
• The Year in Philosophy (Bowls) with Eli Yetter-Bowman, Founder of Ethereal Films and Director of The Bowl

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/mind-sharing.

Mind reading might sound like the stuff of science fiction. But in philosophy and psychology, mind reading is something that human beings do whenever we try to guess what another person is thinking. Could it be that people are also natural born mind sharers, unconsciously shaping our behavior to be understood by others? How do we change or exaggerate our actions when others are present? And how can we use these insights to communicate better with our loved ones? Josh and Ray share their mind(s) with Julian Jara-Ettinger, Director of the Computational Social Cognition Lab at Yale University.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/shakespeares-outsiders.

Over 400 years after his death, Shakespeare is still widely regarded as the greatest dramatist of all time. His many plays tackle questions about power, influence, identity, and moral and social status. His characters—be they villains or heroes—are often disdained because of their race, religion, class, disability, or gender. So what do Shakespeare’s plays reveal about identity and status in his time? How might they shed light on who we include and who we exclude today? Could Shakespearian dramas have more in common with modern day soap operas than we think? Ray and guest-host Adrian Daub go inside with David Sterling Brown from Trinity College, author of Shakespeare’s White Others.