MeaningofLife.tv: Sophia

Feb 18 2021 100 ep. 60 mins 669
MeaningofLife.tv: Sophia Podcast artwork

Knowledge, Reality, Truth, Morality … Daniel Kaufman, David Ottlinger, Robert Gressis, and their guests explore the rich universe of philosophical investigation and inquiry.

  Society & Culture  Religion & Spirituality
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Questioning the Practice of Grading in Schools (Robert Gressis & Kevin Currie-Knight)

Feb 18 2021 60 mins  
Rob and Kevin make small talk ... Kevin describes and laments the grade economy ... What's the relationship between grades and learning? ... Bryan Caplan's "The Case Against Education" and how it has traumatized Rob ... Unschooling ... If schools suck so much, how did Rob and Kevin learn? ...

Free Speech and Academic Freedom in 2020 (Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)

Feb 10 2021 60 mins  
A new home for Sophia ... The (latest) defenestration of Kathleen Stock ... How sincere are pro-trans rights public intellectuals? ... Justin Weinberg's essay on the Kathleen Stock incident ... David: "It's the squishy middles that are gonna kill us" ... Dan: deplatforming people on social media is effectively censorship ... The death of public discourse and the rise of Trump ... H

The Cultural Contradictions of Conservatism (Daniel Kaufman & Kevin Currie-Knight)

Jan 04 2021 60 mins  
Kevin's book, Education in the Marketplace ... Dan and Kevin's concern for Coleman Hughes' intellectual freedom ... How young is too young for movement conservatism? ... What was the Intellectual Dark Web? ... The IDW's central contradiction ... How Dan got involved with the conservative movement ... ... ... and why he left it ... Dan's advice to Hughes: don't trust the movement ..

Is Philosophy of Religion Still Necessary? (Daniel Kaufman & Megan Fritts)

Dec 23 2020 60 mins  
Megan: philosophy of religion shouldn't focus on "proofs for God" ... Determining rational grounds for supernaturalism ... Why Dan rejects epistemic foundationalism ... Megan's Christian agnosticism, Dan's Jewish atheism ... Wittgenstein's engagement with philosophy of religion ... What kind of authority would it be good for us to submit to? ... Dan has a revelation ... Has philoso

The Decline of Great Philosophers (Daniel Kaufman & Robert Gressis)

Dec 21 2020 60 mins  
Robert's essay, "The Philosophy Rapture" ... What counts as "relevant" philosophy? ... Philosophy's "dirty insider game" ... Why are great philosophers overrepresented at elite universities? ... Generational decline, intellectual and attitudinal ... Do intellectual celebrity cultures produce shrinking intellectual gene pools? ... Dan: Our present-day celebrity philosophers will des

How to Make a Comic Book (Daniel Kaufman & Milton Lawson)

Dec 14 2020 60 mins  
The new issue of Milton's comic book, Thompson Heller: Detective Interstellar ... Christopher Hitchens' influence on Milton's comic ... The anxieties of robot personhood ... The economic determinants of comic book production ... How a new comic writer finds an artist ... The comic book art division of labor ... Thompson Heller's future ...

Justifying Our Beliefs (Daniel Kaufman & Joshua Rasmussen)

Dec 09 2020 60 mins  
Joshua’s views on basic beliefs ... How do we get from experience to justified belief? ... The connection between knowledge and awareness ... Is Dan actually a foundationalist? ... Where the chain of warrant ends ... Joshua’s engagement with the big questions in philosophy ... Running up against the boundaries of inquiry ...

Lesser Evils (Daniel Kaufman & Kevin Currie-Knight)

Nov 18 2020 60 mins  
Why Kevin chose not to vote ... The two-party system vs. a multiparty parliamentary system ... Dan accuses Kevin of not confronting what the election was about ... Is Kevin acting like a spoiled brat? ... The logic of straight-ticket voting ... Kevin accuses Dan of having a pessimistic view of democracy ...

Debating Standpoint Theory (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)

Nov 05 2020 60 mins  
The origins of "standpoint theory" ... Are Dan and Crispin white? ... Defining standpoint theory ... Dan: Standpoint theory presents an irrefutable hypothesis ... Crispin: "All knowledge is from some standpoint" ... Dan: There is no single black perspective on race ... Why don't people trust experts? ... Is this argument good for society right now? ...

Who Is Entitled? (Daniel Kaufman & Robert Gressis)

Oct 07 2020 60 mins  
A review of Kate Manne's book Entitled sparks an online philosophy feud ... Is America systematically misogynistic? ... How Twitter incentivizes bad behavior ... The professional norms around book reviewing ... Dan sees "no honor all the way down" on the other side ... Self-immolating philosophers ... Is there a case for keeping some topics off limits? ...