In this episode, I talk to Dr Matthew Barnard from Manchester Metropolitan University. We talk about the question of freedom and it's significance for Philosophy. To do this, we also explore Heidegger’s complex and often misunderstood theory of freedom . Rather than approaching freedom through the usual optic of free will versus determinism, Barnard argues that we need to think of freedom as beyond cause and effect. We also talk a lot about Kant! Dr Matthew J. Barnard is Lecturer in Philosophy a...
Jul 23, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 60
In this conversation with Terry Pinkard, I discuss Hegel’s famous Phenomenology of Spirit. Terry recently published a brilliant introductory guide to this famously difficult book [ Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: A Guide (2023)] which we use as our jumping off point. We discuss the origin of Hegel's book against the backdrop of its turbulent historical moment - the aftermath of the French Revolution and Napoleon’s decisive victory at the Battle of Jena. At Jena Hegel too was writing alongside f...
Jun 27, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 59
In this wide-ranging conversation, I met with acclaimed literary theorist, philosopher and technology scholar N. Katherine Hayles, whose pioneering work has reshaped how we understand the boundaries between humans and machines, cognition and computation, biology and code, artificial intelligence and artificial life. We primarily discussed Katherine's new book Bacteria to AI: Human Futures with our Nonhuman Symbionts. We also discuss elements of Hayles' other works such as How We Became Posthuman...
Jun 02, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 58
On this episode I talk to the Agnes Callard about the great Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. We discuss Agnes' new book Open Socrates: The Case for A Philosophical Life [Penguin, 2025]. Agnes and I discuss the themes of Open Socrates , focusing on philosophy as a public, outward-looking practice, Socrates’ call to examine life is framed not just as introspection but as active engagement and testing of the self through dialogue. We also discuss the role of Socrates as both a provocateur (gadfl...
Apr 18, 2025•53 min•Ep. 57
In this episode, I am joined for a fascinating conversation with philosopher Evan Thompson as we delve into his thought-provoking book The Blind Spot . We discuss this collaboration with scientists Marcelo Gleiser and Adam Frank, his insights on reconciling the “scientific image” and the “manifest image” of the world, and the interplay between subjective experience and objective inquiry. Thompson explains what he means by the "blind spot" of scientific materialism—challenging assumptions about o...
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 56
I talk to psychologist Dr Christopher Kavanagh about the phenomenon of secular gurus. We discussed the secularism of latter day gurus, how they differ and compare to traditional cult leaders, what traits it takes to be a secular guru (galaxy brainedness, cultishness, anti-establishmentarianism), psychopathy/sociopathy, narcissism and techniques for avoiding manipulation. Here is a link to the "Gurometer" where you can find out more about how to spot your latter day gurus. Chris is an Associate P...
Mar 22, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 55
Lars Iyer is back! On this episode I talk to novelist Lars Iyer about the fiction, the writing process, the relation between literature and the world, a writers compulsion to write. We speak about a whole range of writers like Plato, Samuel Beckett, Maurice Blanchot, Paul Celan, Margaret Duras, Thomas Bernhard. One of the things Lars suggests is that the value of literature is it utter uselessness. Like all good things! Lars is a Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. He is the a...
Dec 22, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 54
On this episode I talk with Chris Voparil from Union Institute & University about American philosopher Richard Rorty. We discuss Rorty’s biography, his complicated relation with American Pragmatist philosophy and both analytic and continental philosophy, how Rorty dealt with accusations of relativism, his epistemological and moral pluralism, what Rorty has to say about solidarity and community building, how the academic left neglected economics and forgot to talk about poor people, and what ...
Oct 27, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 53
On this episode of the podcast, I talk to Swedish philosopher Prof. Martin Hägglund from Yale University about his book This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free . The dominant theme of our conversation was the meaning of freedom. Martin has a distinct notion of the demands of being free and we got into a detailed discussion about what freedom really means, how to think about it, how freedom is tied up with our social activities and just why our mortality is exactly the thing that makes us free. As...
Jun 10, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 52
On this episode I talk to Prof. Joost van Loon about French philosopher and sociologist Bruno Latour. We talked about a lot! Joost taught me about Latour’s actor network theory and while we were doing that we ended up chatting about the importance of concrete controversies, how objectivity works, the production of science, conspiracy theories, vaccine science, relativism, new materialism and Latour’s late turn to politics and ecology. Joost van Loon is the Chair of General Sociology and Sociolog...
Apr 27, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 51
On this podcast I talk to Dr Hager Weslati about the philosopher Alexandre Kojève. Kojève is a hugely influential but not very well-known philosophers. Here Hager and I talk about his life, his philosophy, and his famous lectures on Hegel. Kojève was a philosopher, entrepreneur, diplomat, architect of the European Union and possible spy! Hager Weslati is a lecturer in media philosophy and political PR at Kingston University. She translated Alexandre Kojève’s Notion of Authority (2014) and his ea...
Apr 02, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 49
A podcast with my colleague Dr Mark McKenna who is an Associate Professor at Staffordshire University. We talked about horror films. Specifically, we talked about the the snuff movie as a form of horror. We also talked about the cultural mythologies that have grown up around the concept of snuff, how this mythology transformed in the technological age as well issues pertaining to distribution, marketing and desensitization. Please note we discuss extreme violence and sexual violence in this podc...
Apr 02, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 50
Don Milligan is back to discuss his new book The Embrace of Capital (Zero Books: 2022). In this , Don recounts and analyses his history of social and political activism interrogating the reasons he thinks working people have a love-hate relationship with capitalism but ultimately embrace it. But equally, Don tells us how working people hate insecurity, inequality, greed and love civic and political freedom. In our discussion, we chatted about royal weddings, royal funerals, rule of law, egalitar...
Oct 13, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 48
On this episode Professor Graham Harman returns to talk about architecture and philosophy. We had a fascinating conversation discussing architecture in relation to the history of philosophy. Graham has tackled just this topic in new book Architecture and Objects (2022), which has recently come out with University of Minnesota Press. We discuss a whole host of topics including the role of the ‘big three’ philosophers – Heidegger, Derrida and Deleuze –how their thought informs architecture, and th...
Sep 09, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 47
Friedrich Nietzsche is usually considered a staunch critic of socialism. My guest on this episode thinks this picture is a lot more complicated than we suspect. Professor Robert Miner suggests Nietzsche offers a very complex picture of what socialism entails, and we should consider Nietzsche as a critic and proponent of socialism. Robert Miner is a Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University. You can find a link to his university website here . Robert’s article, which we based this discussion o...
Sep 02, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 46
This episode I am talking to Dr Tiff Thomas. We discuss the philosophy, ideas and politics of activist, mystic, worker and educator Simone Weil. Tiff is a lecturer in Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University and specializes in Spinoza. He is also interested in the work of Gilles Deleuze and Simone Weil. You can find out more about Tiff here . Tiff is a co-leader of the AHRC Funded UK Simone Weil Research Network which you can follow on Twitter here . You can also find links to his writin...
Aug 26, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 45
On this podcast I am talking to my colleague Prof. David Webb a philosopher at Staffordshire University. David is the author of Heidegger, Ethics and the Practice of Ontology (Continuum: 2011) and Foucault's Archaeology: Science and Transformation (Edinburgh U.P. 2013). He has published several articles on Michel Foucault, Michel Serres, modern French philosophy. He is especially interested in epistemology and philosophy of science. We talked specifically about French Philosopher Michel Serres. ...
Jul 02, 2022•57 min•Ep. 44
On this episode of Thales’ Well I talk to Prof. Felix O’Murchadha who returns to talk about his new book The Formation of The Modern Self (Bloomsbury, 2022). Felix’s book provides a genealogy of the emergence of the self in the early modern period. We had a very wide-ranging discussion moving from ancient accounts of the self to contemporary versions. We discussed Montaigne, Descartes, Spinoza, Hume and Kant. Felix is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Galway. You can find more about...
May 13, 2022•59 min•Ep. 43
This episode I had a fantastic discussion with Dr Colin Alexander about propaganda. We discussed the nature of propaganda, how to identify it, its ubiquity, as well as things we might do to mitigate the effect of propaganda on ourselves and society. More specifically, we focussed on a particular case study, with Colin explaining how propaganda is deployed by charitable organisations, companies and governments. In addition, we spoke about representations of charity in culture with reference to Ch...
Jul 06, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 42
On this episode, I discuss analytic philosopher David Lewis' concept of possible worlds with Dr Benjamin Curtis. Ben is colleague at Nottingham Trent University. We talked about possible worlds, actual worlds, probability, causation and time. Ben Curtis lectures in Philosophy at Nottingham Trent University. He has published on a wide-variety of themes including epistemology, bioethics, time as well as the philosophical status of antiques. You can find out more about Ben on his university webpage...
Apr 21, 2021•59 min•Ep. 41
I had an amazing conversation with Robert Zaretsky who is a Professor of Humanities at the Honors College, University of Houston. We spoke about French novelist and philosopher Albert Camus and his great pandemic novel The Plague. The Plague is currently receiving renewed critical attention due to the Covid-19 pandemic and is set to be re-issued by Penguin. Thus, I thought it would be a good time to discuss the novel. We touched on the background to Camus' novel, the influence of Thucydides on C...
May 06, 2020•57 min•Ep. 40
I am talking with Prof. Christian Miller about the nature of character. We discuss different types of character, character psycholgoy, forms of character virtue as well as forms of character vice, the difference between moral habits and instincts, Aristotle's contribution to the theory of character, and the ever-present gap between who we are and who we should be. Christian outlines valuable strategies for helping us achieve virtue and avoiding vice. Christian B. Miller is the A. C. Reid Profess...
Apr 24, 2020•49 min•Ep. 40
This time we turn to Ancient Philosophy, and I discuss Plato with Dr Keith Crome. We speak about the pedagogical dimension of Plato's work, and focus specifically on Plato's Republic. Keith argues that to understand Plato, it is essential to understand Plato's account of education and how it relates to Socrates, the Sophists, the myth of the cave, the theory of forms, democratic politics as well as Plato's lesser known more playful side. Keith Crome is scholar of ancient philosophy, postmodernis...
Apr 05, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 39
I am talking with Dr Peter Howson from Nottingham Trent University about blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Peter is a Human Geographer, so we talk about the environmental impact of crypto-currency as well as it’s distribution in space. Largely, Peter explains to me the technological, economic, financial and geopolitical ramifications of these new forms of currency. Unfortunately, we only had a short window to record this, and the only room available was one with a high ceiling and a loud fan. The...
Apr 04, 2020•47 min•Ep. 37
This time I thought it would be useful to try to do something slightly different. Given that many teachers and lecturers have had on-line learning foisted about them due to the Covid-19 crisis, I thought it would be helpful to talk to an expert about ways of delivering on-line learning. I spoke with Dr David Webster who is the Director of the Centre for Innovation in Learning & Teaching at SOAS, University of London. Dave and I discussed the benefits and pitfalls of on-line learning, synchro...
Mar 22, 2020•52 min•Ep. 38
Dave is back! We speak again about French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. This time we try to crack one of his most famous works Difference and Repetition . We talked about some very abstract concepts such as space, time, motion, representation and identity, and Deleuze’s three syntheses of time, but Dave does a brilliant of job of coherently explaining this very challenging book and the ‘sheet of black night’ that confronts us all. Dr David Deamer is a writer and free scholar associated with Manche...
Feb 21, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 36
I discuss American novelist Cormac McCarthy with literary scholar Dr Julius Greve. Cormac McCarthy is known for his often bleak and unwavering take on the Western. He has written over ten novels, as well as plays and screenplays in the Southern Gothic literary tradition. Less discussed is the philosophical dimension of McCarthy’s novels. With Julius I discussed how philosophy is present in the Blood Meridian, Suttree, The Orchard Keeper, The Road, Child of God, No Country for Old Men, The Border...
Feb 17, 2020•48 min•Ep. 35
I had tremendous fun talking to philosopher and novelist Lars Iyer. We discussed Nietzsche in light of Lars' new novel Nietzsche and the Burbs. We discussed many of Nietzsche's famous concepts such as übermensh, amor fati and suffering, affirmation, nihilism and eternal recurrence. As well, we touched on Maurice Blanchot, Simone Weil, The Invisible Committee and disco! Lars is a a Reader in Creative Writing and Subject Head of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. He is the author of several...
Jan 14, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 34
This month I spoke to Prof. Felix O’Murchadha of the National University of Ireland at Galway about religion and violence. We discussed the nature of religious experience, and more specifically the relation between violation, witnessing and perpetration. This led on to a further discussion of temporality, sexual violence and forgiveness. Our discussion revolved around Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Amery, Susan Brison and Hannah Arendt You can find more about Felix here , and you can find a sample of hi...
Jan 03, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 33
This month I am talking to Joe Smeeton. We had a brilliant chat about the nature of social work, anxiety, risk, child protection, the political backdrop to social working in the UK, and just what it is like to be a social worker. Joe provided an impassioned defence of the value of social work, as well as an honest account of the challenges and pitfalls social workers face in their day to day existence. Joe is a qualified social worker and academic. He works at the Department of Sociological Stud...
Nov 29, 2019•55 min•Ep. 32
