Philosophy Talk

What do citizens owe the state? What does the state owe its citizens?

Would a race of thinking, autonomous, conscious machines be our slaves, our masters, or our partners?

Are Space and Time two separate entities, or just different dimensions of one thing? And what difference does that make?

Democracy may not be in great shape, but why would anyone prefer to be ruled by a despot?

Is the most elegant explanation always the best one?

Is knowing what you don't know the first step toward wisdom, or is a little arrogance a good thing?

What could we possibly still say to people who don't believe the climate is changing?

What should you have been be reading this summer—and how should you have been reading it? 

What is it like to teach philosophy in prison. What is it like to study philosophy while serving time?

How do we justify keeping so many nuclear weapons – and continually threatening to use them?

Could our universe be just one among an infinite number of universes in the multiverse?

Did postmodernism simply predict cynicism about the facts, or did it actually promote it?

Should any person or institution who has benefited from our sorry history of racism be required to compensate the victims of racism?

Is it better to choose a life of suffering or live happily in somebody else's vision?

What do we do with people with people with whom we radically disagree: tolerate, shun, or persuade?

John Dewey is regarded by some as the quintessential American philosopher. 

If you could see inside my brain when I was looking at a piece of art, would you know what it was like for me to look at that art?

Is believing in God different from believing in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus? 

What makes some forms of authority legitimate and others not?

If you could add a novel sense beyond the normal five, what would you want it to be?

What does it mean to have good (or bad) taste in music?

Should ethnic or cultural identity ever be considered in any country’s immigration policy?

Can mind-altering drugs expand our consciousness and provide meaningful insight, or are they nothing more than a route to empty delirium?

What movies of the past year challenged our assumptions and made us think about things in new ways?  

The notion of identity has become so hugely important in contemporary political discourse that no conversation on social issues would be complete without it. But is identity politics the problem or the solution to what divides us?

Does affirmative action undermine the achievements of those who are supposed to benefit from it?

In a world that's rapidly becoming overpopulated, can we at least talk about population control?

Science can explain what happens. But can it explain why anything happens at all?  

What happened over the past twelve months that challenged our assumptions and made us think about things in new ways?