Hotel Bar Sessions

The HBS hosts try to get to the truth of untruths.Mark Twain famously claimed that there are three kinds of untruth: lies, damned lies, and statistics.  In an age of widespread misinformation, where it has become considerably more difficult to distinguish between truths and lies, the HBS hosts make an impassioned plea for us to think seriously about what a lie is, what it is not, and why it matters. We consider the whole menagerie of falsehoods: from trifling fibs ("you look great in those pants!") to catastrophic lies ("the only the thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun") to seemingly antiseptic, but no less dissimulating, statistical misrepresentations.This is our last episode of Season 4 and we want to send out a huge THANK YOU to all of our listeners! We'll be taking a couple of weeks off to detox, but Charles, Rick, and Leigh will be back with an exciting new slate of topics and guests for Season 5 starting on July 8!Full episode notes at this link:http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-60-lies-damned-lies-and-statistics----------------SUPPORT Hotel Bar Sessions on Patreon at this link:https://www.patreon.com/hotelbarsessionsFOLLOW Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/hotelbarpodcastFOLLOW Charles F. Peterson on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/c_fpetersonFOLLOW Leigh M. Johnson on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/DrLeighMJohnsonFOLLOW Rick Lee on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/rickleephilos ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The HBS hosts chat with Dr. Ladelle McWhorter about the evolution of "queer" as an identity category and a verb.Once only used as a slur with unambiguously negative valences, the noun "queer" has been reappropriated by (many) members of the LGBTQIA+ community as referring to a positive, even celebrated, notion of self-identity.... but the history of the term "queer" is complicated. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Ladelle McWhorter (University of Richmond) about that complicated history, including how "queer" as a social/political identity category may (or may not?) be in tension with its philosophical/theoretical use, including and especially the notion of "queer-ing" (verb) to indicate the very disruption of stable categories of identity themselves.Our guest for this episode, Dr. Ladelle McWhorter, is the author of Bodies and Pleasures: Foucault and the Politics of Sexual Normalization (1999), Racism and Sexual Oppression in Anglo-America: A Genealogy (2009), and Heidegger and the Earth Essays in Environmental Philosophy (2009). You can follow Dr. McWhorter on Twitter at @lmcwhort!Full episode notes available at this link:http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-59-queers----------------SUPPORT Hotel Bar Sessions on Patreon at this link:https://www.patreon.com/hotelbarsessi...FOLLOW Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/hotelbarpodcastFOLLOW Charles F. Peterson on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/c_fpetersonFOLLOW Leigh M. Johnson on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/DrLeighMJohnsonFOLLOW Rick Lee on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/rickleephilosLIKE Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/hotelbarsess...VISIT the Hotel Bar Sessions webpage here: http://hotelbarpodcast.com/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The HBS hosts discuss the where, when, and how of utopic imagination.On the one hand, utopia as an ideal place, space, political arrangement, or future has been criticized because it delays action to some, perhaps impossible, future. On the other hand, something like utopia just might be necessary for political struggles. We begin with Cruising Utopia by José Esteban Muñoz and move on to discuss the importance, problems, and possibilities of utopia.Full episode notes at this link: http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-58-utopia----------------SUPPORT Hotel Bar Sessions on Patreon at this link:https://www.patreon.com/hotelbarsessi...FOLLOW Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/hotelbarpodcastFOLLOW Charles F. Peterson on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/c_fpetersonFOLLOW Leigh M. Johnson on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/DrLeighMJohnsonFOLLOW Rick Lee on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/rickleephilosLIKE Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/hotelbarsess...VISIT the Hotel Bar Sessions webpage here: http://hotelbarpodcast.com/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The HBS hosts sit down with Justin Weinberg of the Daily Nous to talk about philosophers on the internet.While everyone is on the internet, many philosophers (some of whom may be on this podcast!) seem resistant to blogging, social media, and other forms of web presence. In this episode, we look at philosophers on the internet. What benefits does the internet bring to philosophy and/or philosophers? Is the internet our new “town square?” If so, should philosophy be brought to the town square? Another way to ask that is “should there be public philosophy?” and/or “should all philosophy be public?”. What are some better practices for being a philosopher online? Who are our favorite philosophers online and what are our favorite sites, Twitter accounts, YouTube channels, etc.? This week we are joined by Justin Weinberg, philosopher and creator/editor of The Daily Nous.Full episode notes at this link:----------------SUPPORT Hotel Bar Sessions on Patreon at this link:https://www.patreon.com/hotelbarsessi...FOLLOW Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/hotelbarpodcastFOLLOW Charles F. Peterson on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/c_fpetersonFOLLOW Leigh M. Johnson on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/DrLeighMJohnsonFOLLOW Rick Lee on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/rickleephilosLIKE Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/hotelbarsess...VISIT the Hotel Bar Sessions webpage here: http://hotelbarpodcast.com/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The HBS hosts chat with actor, dancer, and choreographer Blake Zolfo about what makes musical theater so unique.What could possibly make musical theater important or relevant to three philosophers? We all love musicals! The affective appeal of musical theater is clear, even though there are those (philistines?) who do not find it enjoyable. Although Hegel, in his Lectures on the Philosophy of Fine Art claims that opera puts text in the service of music, he also recognizes that the libretto of opera is the sole contributor of ideas, and therefore of properly human freedom. In musical theater, it might be that the situation is reversed: music is put in the service of the text. The HBS hosts are joined by Blake Zolfo (@blakezolfo on the socials) to talk about musical theater.Full episode notes at this link:http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-56-musical-theaterSupport Hotel Bar Sessions on Patreon here:patreon.com/hotelbarsessions ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

 The HBS hosts wrestle with Fukuyama's "Why National Identity Is Matters." In this episode, we will focus on questions of national identity. In the U.S., the contemporary political moment is riven with competing ideas of what the United States is or are. These ideas are based in various ways of knowing including ideological, political, racial, and generational. Using Francis Fukuyama’s essay “Why National Identity Matters” we will explore fundamental questions regarding the origins of national identity, its definition, its mechanisms, and how these elements track through a contemporary lens.Full episode notes at this link:http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-54-national-identitySupport Hotel Bar Sessions on Patreon here:patreon.com/hotelbarsessions ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The HBS hosts discuss the pervasiveness and perversity of algorithms in our lives.Algorithms measure, and increasingly influence/determine, our behaviors. Yet, most people don’t know or understand what an algorithm is! Algorithms are essential to the logic of late capitalism and people need to understand them in order to work toward more ethical AI.Full episode notes at this link:http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-54-algorithms/Support Hotel Bar Sessions on Patreon here:patreon.com/hotelbarsessions ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The HBS hosts get to the bottom of what is real, what exists, and what is virtual.In this episode, we take head on the question of whether an analysis, understanding, and assumption of reality, in other words, metaphysics, is a crucial task for philosophy. We argue about whether metaphysics should come before social and political theory, political engagement, and ethics. We come clean about our own positions on what is real. In short, we get real with reality.Full episode notes at this link:http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-53-metaphysicsSupport HOTEL BAR SESSIONS podcast on Patreon at this link:patron.com/hotelbarsessions ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The HBS hosts talk about the striving to live forever in physical, psychical, and social dimensions.Immortality seems to be a spoken and unspoken obsession within contemporary culture, whether through the obsession with maintaining youthful looks through diet, exercise or, medical procedure or the hope for a future where people can live on as memories or even as digital intelligences. We talk about the underlying motivations for this hope, what it may say about the underlying dynamics of our culture in regard to existential/metaphysical concerns or the ways we struggle with certainty/uncertainty. How are these ideas examined in both popular and philosophical contexts?Full episode notes at this link:http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-52-immortalitySupport HOTEL BAR SESSIONS podcast on Patreon at this link:patron.com/hotelbarsessions ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The HBS hosts unpack Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals, Section 13, to uncover how we arrived at morality and moral subjectivity. There are conditions that seem to be necessary in order for our whole moral outlook and values, conditions that are not found in nature. What must be the case in order for one to be said to be morally responsible? In this episode, we take Section 13 of Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals as our guide to uncover the conditions of moral subjectivity.Full episode notes available here:http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-51-moral-subjectivitySupport HOTEL BAR SESSIONS podcast on Patreon at this link:patron.com/hotelbarsessions ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★