Podcast
Philosophy Bites
Short interviews with leading philosophers, each on a single question or idea.
These are Stoa's briefs of episodes from Philosophy Bites. The episodes belong to their makers, and every brief links to the original.
Episode briefs 11
Miranda Fricker on the Nature and Function of Blame
Miranda Fricker talks with David Edmunds and Nigel Warburton about what blame is for and why communicative blame beats revenge.
Dharmakirti's Buddhist Case Against Caste as Natural
Nilanjan Das explains how the Buddhist philosopher Dharmakirti challenged the Brahmanical defense of caste as a natural distinction among people.
Lani Watson on What Makes Something a Question
Lani Watson talks with Nigel Warburton about defining questions by function rather than form, and what happens when a culture stops asking them.
Peter Singer on Moral Status, Abortion, and Euthanasia
Peter Singer talks with David Edmonds about what gives a being moral status and where that leaves abortion and euthanasia.
Songzi on Why Insults Should Not Move You
Jing Hu talks with Nigel Warburton about the Warring States philosopher Songzi, who argued that insults, like praise, are external and should not touch a person's inner moral core.
Rebecca Goldstein on Why We Need to Matter
Rebecca Goldstein talks with David Edmonds about mattering, the human need to be deserving of attention, and the different projects people use to secure it.
Buddhist No-Self and Moral Responsibility
Monima Chadha talks with Nigel Warburton about how the Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu explains agency and responsibility without an enduring self.
Carissa Veliz on the Ethics of Prediction
Carissa Veliz discusses with her interviewer how social predictions function as commands and threaten justice, drawing on J.L. Austin's speech act theory.
Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Du Bois on Freedom and Race
Chike Jeffers discusses the ideas of Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Du Bois on slavery, rhetoric, education, and Black identity.
Tarun Khaitan on Decolonizing the Indian Constitution
Tarun Khaitan examines and challenges the argument that India's and South Africa's post-colonial constitutions are illegitimate colonial artifacts.
Chike Jeffers on Africana Philosophy
Chike Jeffers talks with David Edmunds and Nigel Warburton about what Africana philosophy is and how it includes African, African American and Afro-Caribbean thought.