The Popperian Podcast

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Jonathan Rauch. They speak about Jonathan’s books Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought and The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, the Popperian influence within them both, where (and how) the message of Karl Popper remains resonant and important today for the societies we live in, how Popperian epistemology can and should be stretched into the social sciences and humanities, the problem of institutional arrangements and how Popper overlooked this aspect of knowledge creation, and importantly how we can build on this (through Madisonian epistemology) to create a more robust system of turning disagreement into truth – The Constitution of Knowledge.  Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, is the author of eight books and many articles on public policy, culture, and government. He is a contributing writer for The Atlantic and recipient of the 2005 National Magazine Award, the magazine industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. His latest book, published in 2021 by the Brookings Press, is The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, a spirited and deep-diving account of how to push back against disinformation, cancelling, and other new threats to our fact-based epistemic order. *** The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth The Constitution of Knowledge : Jonathan Rauch : 9780815738862 (bookdepository.com) *** Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought, Expanded Edition Kindly Inquisitors : Jonathan Rauch : 9780226145938 (bookdepository.com) Support via Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/jedleahenry Support via PayPal – https://www.paypal.me/jrleahenry Shop – https://shop.spreadshirt.com.au/JLH-shop/ Support via Bitcoin - 31wQMYixAJ7Tisp773cSvpUuzr2rmRhjaW Website – The Popperian Podcast — Jed Lea-Henry Libsyn – The Popperian Podcast (libsyn.com) Youtube – The Popperian Podcast - YouTube Twitter – https://twitter.com/jedleahenry RSS - https://popperian-podcast.libsyn.com/rss *** Underlying artwork by Arturo Espinosa

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with David Edmonds. They speak about David’s book Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers. Blurb: “On October 25, 1946, in a crowded room in Cambridge, England, the great twentieth-century philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper came face to face for the first and only time. The meeting -- which lasted ten minutes -- did not go well. Their loud and aggressive confrontation became the stuff of instant legend, but precisely what happened during that brief confrontation remained for decades the subject of intense disagreement.” David Edmonds is a multi-award winning presenter/producer at the BBC and the host of The Big Idea. He is the author of many books, including Would You Kill the Fat Man? and (with John Eidinow) the international best-seller Wittgenstein’s Poker.  His latest book (co-written with Hugh Fraser), is a children’s book Undercover Robot. He’s a Distinguished Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and a columnist for the Jewish Chronicle. With Nigel Warburton he produces the popular podcast series Philosophy Bites which has had over 40 million downloads.  He also runs Philososphy247 and presents Social Science Bites. *** Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers Wittgenstein's Poker : David Edmonds : 9780571227358 (bookdepository.com) Support via Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/jedleahenry Support via PayPal – https://www.paypal.me/jrleahenry Shop – https://shop.spreadshirt.com.au/JLH-shop/ Support via Bitcoin - 31wQMYixAJ7Tisp773cSvpUuzr2rmRhjaW Website – The Popperian Podcast — Jed Lea-Henry Libsyn – The Popperian Podcast (libsyn.com) Youtube – The Popperian Podcast - YouTube Twitter – https://twitter.com/jedleahenry RSS - https://popperian-podcast.libsyn.com/rss *** Underlying artwork by Arturo Espinosa

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Richard Landes. They speak about the history of antisemitism, its unique characteristics and intensity throughout centuries and millennia, the strange ability of ordinary people to uncritically accept nearly any claim against the Jews (no matter how farfetched it is), the lethal narratives that are told about the Jews and how they are consistently used as a projection for the moral failings of their enemies, and importantly how all this hatred is best explained by The Pattern which David Deutsch describes in his upcoming book as the need to preserve the legitimacy of hurting Jews… simply for being Jews. Professor Richard Landes was trained as a medievalist at Princeton University (MA 1979, PhD 1984). His work focused on apocalyptic beliefs and millennial movements (Heaven on Earth, 2011), initially around the year 1000 (Peace of God, 1986; Relics, Apocalypse and the Deceits of History, 1996; Apocalyptic Year 1000, 2003). He has increasingly focused on contemporary movements (Paranoid Apocalypse, 2006), and especially Global Jihad. He made a series of documentaries in 2005/6 titled “According to Palestinian Sources…,” which document the extensive staging of footage (Pallywood), the staging of the Al Durah footage (Making of an Icon), and the impact of that fake, broadcast as “news” by Western news media (Icon of Hatred). In 2015, Richard retired from Boston University where he was a Professor in the History Department, and now resides in Jerusalem. You can follow Richard at: Richard Landes (@richard_landes) / Twitter And keep up to date with his blog at: Augean Stables | "Always be ready to speak your mind and a base man will avoid you." (William Blake, 1796) (theaugeanstables.com) Support via Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/jedleahenry Support via PayPal – https://www.paypal.me/jrleahenry Shop – https://shop.spreadshirt.com.au/JLH-shop/ Support via Bitcoin - 31wQMYixAJ7Tisp773cSvpUuzr2rmRhjaW Website – The Popperian Podcast — Jed Lea-Henry Libsyn – The Popperian Podcast (libsyn.com) Youtube – The Popperian Podcast - YouTube Twitter – https://twitter.com/jedleahenry RSS - https://popperian-podcast.libsyn.com/rss *** Underlying artwork by Arturo Espinosa

Jeremy Shearmur, a Karl Popper expert, discusses classical liberalism and free markets as feedback mechanisms for societal consent. He contrasts Popper and Hayek's views, addresses challenges facing classical liberalism, and looks at the future direction of the ideology.

Expert James Kierstead discusses Karl Popper's critique of Plato's authoritarianism in 'The Open Society and Its Enemies'. They explore the impact of Popper's work on freedom of speech, democracy, and the relevance of his ideas today.

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Oseni Taiwo Afisi. They speak about Karl Popper’s book The Open Society and Its Enemies, the ideas and history behind the work, the place for the Open Society and Popper’s epistemology within the African context, how the communalism and collectivism in traditional Africa does not make it analogous to the repressive and totalitarian societies that Popper argued against, the difficult line between group rights and individual rights, the question of tribalism and Africa’s development, Popper’s concept of piecemeal social engineering in the African milieu, and the challenges of multiculturalism and heterogeneity to the Open Society in postcolonial Africa. Oseni Taiwo Afisi is the current Head of the Department of Philosophy, Lagos State University, Nigeria. His areas of competence include critical thinking, logic, political philosophy and Philosophy of science with a special interest in Karl Popper’s critical rationalism. He received his Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Philosophy from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and later proceeded to the University of Canterbury, New Zealand where he wrote his thesis on Karl Popper’s Critical Rationalism and the Politics of Liberal-Communitarianism, and obtained a PhD. degree in philosophy. He was a visiting academic to the Australian National University in 2011. *** Karl Popper and Africa: Knowledge, Politics and Development (Karl Popper and Africa: Knowledge, Politics and Development : Oseni Taiwo Afisi : 9783030742133 (bookdepository.com)). *** You can follow Oseni Taiwo Afisi’s ongoing work at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Oseni-Taiwo-Afisi Support via Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/jedleahenry Support via PayPal – https://www.paypal.me/jrleahenry Shop – https://shop.spreadshirt.com.au/JLH-shop/ Support via Bitcoin - 31wQMYixAJ7Tisp773cSvpUuzr2rmRhjaW Website – The Popperian Podcast — Jed Lea-Henry Libsyn – The Popperian Podcast (libsyn.com) Youtube – The Popperian Podcast - YouTube Twitter – https://twitter.com/jedleahenry RSS - https://popperian-podcast.libsyn.com/rss *** Underlying artwork by Arturo Espinosa

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Steve Fuller. They speak about Steve’s book Kuhn Vs. Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science, how Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn each regarded the scientific method, the differences between these two conceptions, the significance of the arguments involved and how they defined both science and public opinion (and continue to do so), the history of science and how it should be understood, the moral implications and responsibilities associated with each man’s theory, how the disagreement played out over time, and what happened at the infamous 1965 Popper-Kuhn debate at Bedford College, University of London.   Steve Fuller holds the Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology in the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick. He is the founder of the research program of social epistemology, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the UK Academy of Social Sciences, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Breakthrough Institute, the leading ‘ecomodernist’ think-tank, and an Affiliate Scholar at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, the leading ‘transhumanist’ think-tank. Steve is the author of twenty-five books, which have been translated into more than twenty languages. *** Kuhn Vs. Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science (Results for Kuhn Vs.Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science | Book Depository). *** You can follow Steve Fuller’s ongoing work at: Steve Fuller (warwick.ac.uk) and Steve Fuller | University of Warwick - Academia.edu. Support via Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/jedleahenry Support via PayPal – https://www.paypal.me/jrleahenry Shop – https://shop.spreadshirt.com.au/JLH-shop/ Support via Bitcoin - 31wQMYixAJ7Tisp773cSvpUuzr2rmRhjaW Website – The Popperian Podcast — Jed Lea-Henry Libsyn – The Popperian Podcast (libsyn.com) Youtube – The Popperian Podcast - YouTube Twitter – https://twitter.com/jedleahenry RSS - https://popperian-podcast.libsyn.com/rss *** Underlying artwork by Arturo Espinosa

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Maarten Boudry. They speak about how we distinguish between science and pseudoscience (otherwise known as the demarcation problem), Karl Popper’s famous solution involving falsifiability, why the demarcation problem persists and remains a live issue and how Popper’s solution might be inadequate, Maarten’s alternative solution that naturalises the problem and focusses on what pseudosciences have in common and how they operate, the epistemology of conspiracy theories, the limits of science and what constitutes scientism, the interesting question of when is it rational to accept falsehoods, and why the demarcation problem still matters today. Maarten Boudry is a postdoctoral fellow of the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) and current holder of the 'Etienne Vermeersch Chair' at Ghent University. In 2011, he defended his dissertation on pseudoscience, Here Be Dragons. Exploring the Hinterland of Science. He is the author of more than 40 academic papers, published in journals such as Philosophy of Science, Philosophia, Quarterly Review of Biology, Science & Education and Biology & Philosophy. Together with Massimo Pigliucci, he edited two academic volumes: Science Unlimited? On the Challenges of Scientism (2018) and Philosophy of Pseudoscience. Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem (2013). His research interests include atheism and naturalism, evolutionary epistemology, beneficial misbeliefs, reasoning fallacies, and the conflict between science and religion. He is also the author of four popular books on science and philosophy (in Dutch). *** You can follow Maarten Boudry’s academic work, and find the articles mentioned in this podcast, at Maarten Boudry | Ghent University - Academia.edu and Maarten Boudry – Filosoof en auteur and Dr. Maarten Boudry | Faculty of Arts and Philosophy - Research Portal (ugent.be). Support via Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/jedleahenry Support via PayPal – https://www.paypal.me/jrleahenry Shop – https://shop.spreadshirt.com.au/JLH-shop/ Support via Bitcoin - 31wQMYixAJ7Tisp773cSvpUuzr2rmRhjaW Website – The Popperian Podcast — Jed Lea-Henry Libsyn – The Popperian Podcast (libsyn.com) Youtube – The Popperian Podcast - YouTube Twitter – https://twitter.com/jedleahenry RSS - https://popperian-podcast.libsyn.com/rss *** Underlying artwork by Arturo Espinosa

Philosopher Robin Attfield discusses the misrepresented Xenophanes and Parmenides, their influence on Karl Popper's critical rationalism, Popper's method of interpreting Herodotus, and the debate on whether Xenophanes and Parmenides can be considered 'Popperian'. Attfield sheds light on the historical connection between ancient philosophy and modern scientific inquiry.

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Nicholas Maxwell. They speak about Karl Popper’s scientific method, what Maxwell’s disagreements with Popper are, the difference between bare and dressed falsificationism, the problems presented by the apparent unity of knowledge and the preference within science for unified theories, as opposed to infinitely more available dis-unified ad hoc theories, the place for metaphysical assumptions within the testable framework of science, and importantly what is Maxwell’s theory of Aim-Oriented Empiricism and how it represents an improvement on Popper’s falsificationism. Nicholas Maxwell is an emeritus reader in philosophy of science at University College London, where he previous taught philosophy of science for nearly thirty years. He is the author of What’s Wrong With Science? (Bran's Head Books, 1976), From Knowledge to Wisdom (Blackwell, 1984), The Comprehensibility of the Universe (OUP, 1998), Is Science Neurotic? (World Scientific, 2004), Cutting God in Half – And Putting the Pieces Together Again: A New Approach to Philosophy (2010), How Universities Can Help Create a Wiser World: The Urgent Need for an Academic Revolution (Imprint Academic, 2014), Global Philosophy (2014), In Praise of Natural Philosophy: A Revolution for Thought and Life (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017), Understanding Scientific Progress: Aim-Oriented Empiricism (Paragon House, 2017), Karl Popper, Science and Enlightenment (UCL Press, 2017), Science and Enlightenment: Two Great Problems of Learning (Springer, 2019), The Metaphysics of Science and Aim-Oriented Empiricism: A Revolution for Science and Philosophy (Synthese Library, Springer, 2019), Our Fundamental Problem: A Revolutionary Approach to Philosophy (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020), The World Crisis - And What To Do About It (World Scientific, Spring 2021) (all available at: https://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Maxwell/e/B001HPF2LO/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 and Results for nicholas maxwell | Book Depository). *** Nicholas Maxwell’s academic profile (About Me | From Knowledge to Wisdom - UCL – University College London). Support via Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/jedleahenry Support via PayPal – https://www.paypal.me/jrleahenry Shop – https://shop.spreadshirt.com.au/JLH-shop/ Support via Bitcoin - 31wQMYixAJ7Tisp773cSvpUuzr2rmRhjaW Website – The Popperian Podcast — Jed Lea-Henry Libsyn – The Popperian Podcast (libsyn.com) Youtube – The Popperian Podcast - YouTube Twitter – https://twitter.com/jedleahenry RSS - https://popperian-podcast.libsyn.com/rss *** Underlying artwork by Arturo Espinosa