Quillette Podcast - podcast cover

Quillette Podcast

Quillettequillette.com
The Quillette Podcast is a platform for rigorous, academic discussions rooted in common sense and free inquiry. Non-dogmatic and grounded in liberal values, the podcast serves as a beacon for thoughtful conversation on science, politics, philosophy, and culture. Quillette prides itself on intellectual honesty, avoiding ideological extremism in favor of evidence-based reasoning and progress. Hosted by leading voices in academia and journalism, past guests include evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, and journalist Douglas Murray, among others. Expect candid conversations that promote common sense and challenge anti-science and conspiratorial narratives from both the far left and right.
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Episodes

From Cult Child to Chess Wunderkind

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Danny Rensch about his astounding journey from the ‘Church of Immortal Consciousness’ to the role of Chief Chess Officer at Chess.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 20, 202537 min

Desexing the Language of Motherhood

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Dr Karleen Gribble, who works in the field of maternal and infant health, on the impacts of desexed language on women’s healthcare and wellbeing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 09, 202515 min

Managing the Growing Gender-Critical Counterrevolution

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks with Canadian Genspect director Mia Hughes about the emerging ‘gender glasnost’—and the best way to continue rolling back the excesses of trans activism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 04, 202545 min

The End of Woke

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to author Andrew Doyle about his new book, The End of Woke: How the Culture War Went Too Far and What to Expect from the Counter-Revolution . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 25, 202515 min

When New Netherland Became New York

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Russell Shorto, whose new book chronicles the extraordinary events in 1664 that delivered Manhattan from the Dutch to the British. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 20, 202535 min

Should Feminists Work with the Right?

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith about her new book, Feminism Beyond Left and Right . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 11, 202515 min

RFK Jr.’s Unprecedented Attack on Life-saving Vaccines

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Stanford University infectious diseases expert Jake Scott about the perils of rolling back immunization treatments for COVID, RSV, and Measles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 06, 202538 min

The Modular Mind

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to evolutionary psychologist Rob Kurzban about his book Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 28, 202515 min

A Jewish Girl in Revolutionary Iran

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Roya Hakakian about her extraordinary memoir, Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 22, 202516 min

What Does It Take to Develop a ‘Scrabble-Shaped Brain’?

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to linguist, mathematician, and tournament organizer John Chew about the world of ultra-elite Scrabble word-masters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 16, 202543 min

Parsi: A Fiercely Contested Identity

Iona Italia talks to novelist and historian Nev March about how a series of landmark court cases in the 19th and 20th centuries upended both the Indian legal system and the Parsi community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 08, 202516 min

How LGB Became Estranged from T

Gay activist-turned-journalist Adam Zivo explains how radicalized forms of trans and queer advocacy became a liability to the once-united LGBT movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 31, 202537 min

War and the End of Empire

Iona Italia talks to historian and film-maker Phil Craig about the latest in his series of books about World War II: 1945: A Reckoning: War, Empire and the Struggle for a New World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 25, 202516 min

When Entertainment Reporting Gets Political

Quillette podcast host interviews veteran entertainment journalist Ben Mulroney—whose career has taken him to the Oscars red carpet and Kelly Ripa’s studio—about how ideological fads have damaged his industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 17, 202537 min

The First Journalists

The philosopher Stephen Harrop interviews Quillette ’s Managing Editor Iona Italia about her book Anxious Employment on the journalism of Enlightenment London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 11, 202517 min

Social Work Without Stereotypes

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to Heterodox Academy scholar Nafees Alam about the need to challenge political orthodoxies in the field of social work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 07, 202531 min

Science vs Māori Knowledge

Iona Italia talks to Professor Kendall Clements of the University of Auckland about attempts to conflate traditional Maori knowledge with science, which, he argues, debases both. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 27, 202517 min

The Wars Before the War

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay interviews Jonathan Spyer, director of research at the Middle East Forum, about how Israel laid the groundwork for its war with Iran by confronting threats in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 18, 202537 min

The Catastrophe Hour

Writer Meghan Daum talks to Iona Italia about her new essay collection, The Catastrophe Hour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 13, 202516 min

Enforced Ideological Conformity Among British Artists

Dancer and choreographer Rosie Kay talks to Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay about the three radioactive political topics that can derail an artist’s career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 04, 202528 min

The Problem With ‘Harvard Derangement Syndrome’

Harvard professor Steven Pinker tells Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay why Donald Trump’s campaign against his university’s ‘woke’ policies goes too far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 31, 202520 min

Is the University Of Austin Betraying Its Free-Speech Principles?

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Ellie Avishai—who recently lost her affiliated position at UATX after she pushed back against the school’s strident anti-DEI messaging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 26, 202531 min

The Green Delusion

Iona Italia talks to engineer Paul Brown about the hidden costs of renewables and the skewed incentives that are driving some countries towards unsustainable energy policies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 16, 202516 min

Lessons from the Luddites on Adapting to AI

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Washington Post columnist and TED Talker Megan McArdle about the short-term pain—and long-term gain—heralded by the AI revolution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 10, 202537 min

Free Speech in Australia

Iona Italia talks to Alan Davidson about censorship, self-censorship, the Online Safety Act and other threats to free speech in Australia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 02, 202515 min

Canada’s Strange Election Season

In advance of Monday’s nation-wide vote, Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay discusses Justin Trudeau’s resignation, Pierre Poilievre’s bad luck, the rise of Mark Carney, and the effects of Donald Trump’s aggressive protectionism on Canadian politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 26, 202521 min

Making the Case for ‘Free-Range Parenting’

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with author and TED Talker Lenore Skenazy, whose campaign to give children more opportunities for independent play and learning once earned her the title of ‘America’s Worst Mother.’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 19, 202523 min

The Trouble with Tariffs

Iona Italia talks to John H. Cochrane aka "The Grumpy Economist" about the motivations, effects and implications of Donald Trump's economic policies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 12, 202516 min

How Accurate Is 'Adolescence'?

Iona Italia talks to William Costello, an evolutionary psychologist whose work focuses on incels, about what the Netflix series 'Adolescence' gets right and wrong about this group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 05, 202516 min

The Scourge of the ‘Woke Right’

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with author and satirist Andrew Doyle about the worrying rise of illiberal ideologies and cultish political tendencies among conservatives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 28, 202536 min
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