PHILOSOPHY FOR THE REAL WORLD

Episode 9. A troubling business ethics issue. Potemkin terrorism, or How the information industry is playing us.

Episode 8. Absorbing a distorted view of history without noticing it.

Can simple, ordinary objects in our environment be giving us a distorted view of history? Are there any practical, negative impacts?

Episode 7. A biological basis to ethics: flourishing.

One of the simplest, most practical, and objective approaches to ethics is actually based in biology–the concept of flourishing. This episode looks at Martha Nussbaum’s explanation of the concept.

Episode 6. Our problem isn’t voter fraud, it’s voter ignorance and incompetence.

This is the first episode to look at a practical question related to social and political philosophy. We look at “social contract theory” and an interesting question it raises about who should be entitled to vote.

Episode 5. Saint Augustine. Vice contains its own punishment.

Episode 2 described the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates’ idea that “vice harms the doer.” This episode describes the remarkably similar idea advanced by the fourth century Christian thinker Saint Augustine that vice c

Episode 4. Logical fallacy. Unwarranted generalization and stereotyping.

This is the first episode dedicated to examining logical mistakes. This episode looks at the “informal fallacy” of “unwarranted generalization and stereotyping”–one of the most common examples of logical mistakes in poli

Episode 3: How well do you know what Americans think? Or, we’re all being played.

Think of this as a test. Sorry about the cryptic episode title, but saying too much will be a spoiler.

Episode 2: Why do the right thing?

“Doing the right thing” is often difficult because it means putting other people’s interests ahead of our own. The ancient Greek thinker Socrates has an interesting–and surprising–perspective because he argues that “vice

Episode 1: Philosophy for the Real World. Introduction.

This is the first in a series of podcasts by Professor Thomas White about the practical usefulness of philosophy–philosophy for the real world. This episode identifies the main areas of philosophy we’ll be applying: logi