Épisodes

  • #67 Is Consciousness Physical? - Emerson Green
    Jan 15 2026

    Emerson Green walks through three powerful objections to attempts to reduce consciousness to the brain: phenomenal transparency, philosophical zombies, and vagueness.Check out Emerson's YouTube channel.

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    EPISODE CHAPTERS

    00:00:00 Introduction

    00:00:05 What are you a YouTuber?

    00:19:08 Objection #1 - Phenomenal transparency

    00:29:22 Why physicalism cannot tolerate transparency

    00:32:31 What if consciousness is translucent?

    00:38:36 Maybe there are no mental states at all

    00:49:52 Objection #2 - Philosophical zombies

    01:00:57 Different types of conceivability

    01:12:29 What about modal skepticism?

    01:17:32 Objection #3 - Vagueness

    01:24:40 When do we go from non-conscious to conscious?



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    1 h et 30 min
  • #66 Randal Rauser on Why It's Okay to be Gay (and Christian)
    Jan 8 2026

    Dr. Randal Rauser and I explore the arguments of his new book, The Wideness of the Sea: How to be Evangelical and Gay-Affirming, wherein he offers a four-part case for including a gay-affirming perspective within the fold of Christian orthodoxy: scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.

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    EPISODE CHAPTERS

    00:00:00 Introduction

    00:00:12 The tale of Eugene Peterson

    00:04:45 What is evangelical Christianity?

    00:09:10 Affirming vs. non-affirming perspectives

    00:14:55 Why do evangelicals care so much about gay relationships?

    00:24:19 Argument #1: The Bible

    00:40:25 Leviticus 20:13 - "If a man..."

    00:45:10 Romans 1:26-27 - "God gave them over..."

    00:50:05 Argument #2: Reason

    00:51:11 William Lane Craig's case against homosexuality

    00:54:22 Against natural law?

    00:58:32 Argument #3: Tradition

    01:07:28 Argument #4: Experience



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    1 h et 12 min
  • #65 The U.S. Is Increasingly Unsafe for Trans People - Talia Mae Bettcher
    Jan 1 2026

    Talia Mae Bettcher explains why she has come to a dismal view of the United States as a home for trans people, details the Trump administration's recent policy changes targeting trans individuals, and debates the merits of a biological understanding of sex and gender.

    Check out Talia's latest book, Beyond Personhood: An Essay in Trans Philosophy.

    To support the channel, do please oh please consider donating, either via PayPal or Buy Me a Coffee.

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    EPISODE CHAPTERS

    00:00:00 Introduction

    00:00:05 Why do you feel unsafe in the U.S.?

    00:06:27 How did the U.S. get here?

    00:12:01 Has your religious upbringing informed your work today?

    00:17:13 Methodology and biological theories of gender

    00:24:17 What is trans philosophy?

    00:28:37 Can a traditionalist engage in trans philosophy?

    00:33:03 Answering Matt Walsh: what is a woman?

    00:46:44 Circular definitions of gender

    00:49:13 Trans people can be mistaken in their gender identity

    00:54:57 Trans woman and prison placement

    01:07:47 Is "it's complicated" a cop-out?



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    1 h et 11 min
  • #64 Stephen Law | What If God Is Evil?
    Dec 23 2025

    Stephen Law, professor of philosophy at Oxford, discusses his "evil god challenge" to theists: prove that God is not perfectly evil. That challenge, we will see, is surprisingly difficult to meet. Check out Stephen's paper outlining the evil-god challenge, as well as Mooney and Hendricks paper critiquing the challenge.

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    EPISODE CHAPTERS

    00:00:00 Introduction

    00:00:06 The evil-god challenge

    00:11:03 The versions of the challenge

    00:17:02 Does the moral argument break the parallel?

    00:24:28 Skeptical theism will not undercut the challenge

    00:34:07 Does skeptical theism lead to skepticism about everything?

    00:46:30 The neutral-god challenge

    00:53:13 Theodicies won't undercut the challenge, either

    00:59:39 Would Jesus' resurrection break the parallel?

    01:07:57 Is an evil god logically incoherent?

    01:16:47 What are you most uncertain about?



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    1 h et 20 min
  • #63 Graham Oppy vs. Brian Cutter | Does Mind-Brain Harmony Point to God?
    Dec 19 2025

    Graham Oppy and Brian Cutter join me to debate philosophy's newest argument for God: the argument from psychophysical harmony. We talk about epistemic probability versus metaphysical possibility, the relevance of thought-experiments to determining possibility, whether mental states are identical to brain states, and what we ought to infer if we found John 3:16 in binary code in the digits of pi.

    Check out Cutter and Crummet's paper defending the psycho-physical harmony argument, my previous interviews with Graham and Brian.

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    EPISODE CHAPTERS

    00:00:00 Introduction

    00:00:34 Cutter opening statement

    00:18:14 Oppy opening statement

    00:27:59 Moderated discussion

    01:48:33 Cutter closing statement

    01:50:07 Oppy closing statement



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    1 h et 51 min
  • #62 Mhairi Tait | Would You Still Love Me if I Was a Worm?
    Dec 11 2025

    Mhairi Tait, my friend and fellow DPhil student at Oxford, sits down with me to discuss whether Ted Bundy's mother was right to stand by her son, whether you could ever love the same person forever, whether you should "trade up" if you find someone with better qualities than your current beloved, and whether one still ought to be loved even if one were a worm.

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    EPISODE CHAPTERS

    00:00:00 Introduction

    00:00:52 Is the best kind of love unconditional?

    00:14:10 Is it okay to not love everyone?

    00:20:00 Should we "trade up" if we find a better romantic partner?

    00:21:21 Is love ever unjustified?

    00:24:07 Is love for an abuser real love?

    00:30:14 The possibility of love at first sight

    00:40:30 What IS love, exactly?

    00:45:04 Do you, Miles, think love has created value in you

    00:55:11 Ted Bundy's mother loved him to the very end

    00:59:28 Ethical non-monogamy?

    01:01:15 Does love require free will?

    01:04:20 Is there a single concept the unifies all our uses of the word "love"?

    01:06:39 Does analytic philosophy do damage to love?

    01:11:50 Realist vs. anti-realist accounts of love

    01:14:17 Could you love the same person forever?



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    1 h et 21 min
  • #61 David Enoch | Why This Oxford Professor Thinks Morality is Objective
    Dec 4 2025

    Dr. David Enoch, author of "Taking Morality Seriously: A Defense of Robust Realism," joins me to discuss moral realism versus anti-realism, objections from the moral error theorist, and my personal sticking points in affirming the existence of irreducible moral facts: moral disagreement across cultures and evolutionary explanations for our moral beliefs.

    Buy David's book defending robust moral realism.

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    EPISODE CHAPTERS

    00:00:00 Introduction

    00:07:23 Naturalism vs. non-naturalism

    00:19:23 Why should we reject moral error theory?

    00:32:32 The revisionary costs of error theory

    00:43:34 Intuition as our only ground for moral realism?

    00:47:45 The connection to ethical intuitionism

    00:51:19 Objection #1 - Moral disagreement

    01:03:18 Moral skepticism

    01:06:20 Objection #2 - Evolutionary debunking arguments

    01:16:16 Is God required to explain objective morality?

    01:20:45 Are most philosophers moral realists?



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    1 h et 25 min
  • #60 Dan Linford | The Best Intro to Relativity You'll Hear
    Nov 27 2025

    Dr. Dan Linford breaks down Einstein's theory of special relativity, its consequences for our understanding of time, and whether there are any ways to reconcile relativity with the view that past events are no longer real, and future events are not yet real. In particular, he examines William Lane Craig's attempt to rehabilitate a neo-Lorentzian theory of relativity.

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    EPISODE CHAPTERS

    00:00:00 Introduction

    00:00:10 What is special relativity?

    00:11:30 Of trains and absolute simultaneity

    00:15:31 Time dilation and length contraction

    00:25:08 Three "interpretations" of special relativity

    00:27:14 Theory #1 - Einsteinian relativity

    00:29:11 Theory #2 - Minkowskian relativity

    00:35:11 Theory #3 - neo-Lorentzian relativity

    00:47:09 What do physicists think of neo-Lorentzian relativity?

    00:59:50 Can we integrate special relativity with presentism?

    01:10:06 Neo-Lorentzianism applied to cosmology



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    1 h et 22 min