Robinson's Podcast

Barry Loewer is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers. Before that he did his PhD in philosophy at Stanford (!). Barry works largely in the philosophy of physics, the philosophy of science, and metaphysics, and is a good friend of and frequent collaborator with another denizen of the Robinson’s Podcast universe, David Albert. It is their joint work on the “Mentaculus,” something approximating a “probability map of the universe,” that occupies much of the discussion in this episode. Robinson and Barry also talk about statistical mechanics and his upcoming book, What Breathes Fire into the Equations (Oxford University Press, to be released fall 2023 or early 2024), which is about laws, chances, and fundamental ontology. Check out Barry’s book on David: Essays on David Albert’s Time and Chance. Background on Counterfactuals: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/counterfactuals/ Background on Statistical Mechanics: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/statphys-statmech/ OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:29 Introduction 06:21 Barry‘s Road to the Philosophy of Physics 28:37 Fire in the Equations 43:16 Conditional Probability 54:11 Non-Humean and Humean Accounts of Laws 01:06:44 Probability Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Jonathan Wolff is Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy at the University of Oxford. He works in numerous areas of political philosophy. Some topics he has researched include equality and poverty, and he has worked in applied areas like Covid policy and gambling. In this episode, Jonathan and Robinson begin with a discussion of the nature of political philosophy before turning to some modern historical perspectives on the state, starting with Hobbes and traveling up through Marx and Rawls. They then turn to his current work in partnership with Avner de-Shalit on cities and equality. Some of Jonathan’s books include Disadvantage (Oxford, 2007), An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford, 1996, and soon to be in its fourth edition), and Why Read Marx Today? (Oxford, 2002).  Jonathan’s Website: https://jonathanwolff.wordpress.com OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:35 Introduction 04:17 Jonathan’s Start in Political Philosophy 08:46 What is Political Philosophy? 18:24 Methodology in Political Science and Political Philosophy 22:42 Hobbes and the State of Nature 45:34 Rousseau on Government 51:12 John Stuart Mill on Liberty 1:01:25 Covid Policy and Moral Philosophy 1:08:49 Marx and the State 1:19:07 Rawls and Justice 1:33:07 Political Philosophy and the City Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Anubav Vasudevan is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago, where he works in formal epistemology and the history of logic, though he has published in a number of other areas. Anubav and Robinson talk about his time at Columbia University studying with the mathematician, probability theorist, and philosopher Haim Gaifman before discussing some of Anubav’s thoughts on mathematics, physics, logic, and how they relate to philosophy. In the second half of the conversation they move on to some of Anubav’s work in the history of logic, touching on Leibniz and the Peripatetic school. Background on Classical Logic: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-classical/ OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:50 Introduction 06:30 Mathematics and Philosophy with Haim Gaifman 23:44 From Physics to Philosophy 34:49 Philosophy and Scientific Inquiry 49:37 Why Formal Philosophy 57:05 What is Logic? 01:05:56 Monism and Pluralism in Logic 01:21:52 The Historical Roles of Logic in Philosophy 01:26:18 Peripatetic Logic 01:41:23 Leibniz and Logic Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Pamela Hieronymi is Professor of Philosophy at UCLA. Before that, she did her undergraduate studies at Princeton and received her PhD from Harvard. Her work extends in a variety of directions, but some areas she works in include moral psychology, the philosophy of mind, ethics, and the philosophy of action. In this episode, she and Robinson discuss free will and moral responsibility, the topic of an upcoming book entitled Minds that Matter. Pamela begins by introducing moral psychology and the role of analytic philosophy in the debate over free will. Then she and Robinson discuss the extent to which we control our actions and thoughts, and how all of this relates to the question of moral responsibility. Pamela’s most recent book is Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals (Princeton University Press, 2020). Pamela’s Website: https://hieronymi.humspace.ucla.edu OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:35 Introduction 04:40 - What is Moral Psychology? 06:30 - Agency and Analytic Philosophy 17:57 - Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and Determinism 21:57 - Control Over Thought and Environment 32:46 - Some Shortcomings of Other Accounts 35:50 - Kant and the Two-Standpoints View of Free Will 49:22 - Do We Control Our Beliefs? 54:33 -  Free Will and Moral Responsibility 1:11:16 - How Should We Act? Robinson’s Website: ⁠http://robinsonerhardt.com⁠ Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Rachel Barney is Professor of Classics and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. She received her PhD at Princeton and has taught at the University of Ottawa, Harvard, and the University of Chicago. She has worked widely across ancient philosophy, from the sophists to the Neoplatonists, though her primary focus is on Plato. In this episode, Robinson and Rachel discuss the sophists, beginning with just who they were and why they have been so maligned in contemporary discourse—even the word sophist today has pejorative connotations—and continuing through some of their most important thinkers, like Gorgias and Protagoras. Check out Rachel’s last book, Plato and the Divided Self (Cambridge University Press, 2012). OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode... 00:34 Introduction 04:28 Rachel’s Interest in Ancient Philosophy 09:49 Misunderstanding the Sophists 20:04 What Displaced the Sophists’ Philosophical Practices? 26:17 Philosophy and Protophilosophy 29:39 The Main Sophists 33:43 Gorgias and Non-Being 53:37 On Protagoras 1:07:40 Religion and the Sophists 1:12:55 More on Protagoras 1:17:50 Virtue in Homer and Hesiod 1:28:05 Ancient Philosophy and How to Live Robinson’s Website: ⁠http://robinsonerhardt.com⁠ Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Paul Horwich is Professor Philosophy at NYU. He has worked in a number of areas of philosophy, but is especially well-known for his writing on the philosophy of language, particularly with regard to truth and meaning—naturally, he has books by the same names, Truth (Oxford, 1990) and Meaning (Oxford, 1998). Robinson and Paul discuss the relationship between his work on these topics and the philosophy he started off researching—science and physics—before moving on to the question of philosophical realism across a number of domains before focusing on moral realism and whether there are such things as moral facts.  OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode... 00:20 Introduction 03:26 From Physics to Truth 16:55 Truth and the World 35:24 Realism Across Domains 54:42 Moral Facts Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Stephen Yablo is David W. Skinner Professor of Philosophy at MIT. Before MIT, he taught at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Steve works in metaphysics, philosophy of mathematics, and the philosophy of mind and language, though his work extends into other areas of philosophy as well. In this conversation, for instance, Robinson and Steve discuss the nature of philosophy and what distinguishes it from other fields, as well as the philosophy of jokes and humor. They also speak about the philosophy of language, and more particularly how to deal with negative existential statements (sentences of the form “such-and-such does not exist”). Check out Steve’s latest book, Aboutness (Princeton, 2019), which develops a theory of subject matter and its role in meaning. OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode... 00:35 Introduction 05:55 The Demarcation Problem for Philosophy 34:32 Final Thoughts on What Is Philosophy? 37:47 Non-Existence Questions 1:19:21 Philosophy and Jokes Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Robinson’s Podcast #76 - Nora Boyd, Siska de Baerdemaeker, & Vera Matarese: The Philosophy of Astrophysics Nora Boyd is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Siena College. Siska de Baerdemaeker is a Researcher at Stockholm University. Vera Matarese is Assistant Professor in Philosophy of Science at the University of Perugia. Both Nora and Siska received their PhDs in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Pittsburgh, while Vera received hers in the Philosophy of Science at the University of Hong Kong. Along with Kevin Heng, Chair Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich (and guest on episode #56), they are the editors of Philosophy of Astrophysics—an anthology on the philosophy of the same and the first of its kind—which will be released open access in early June 2023 (link below). In this episode, Nora, Siska, Vera, and Robinson discuss the origins of the project, as well as many of the topics it covers, such as black holes, dark matter, and whether astrophysics should even be considered a science at all. The Anthology: https://link.springer.com/book/9783031266171 Nora Boyd: https://facultyweb.siena.edu/~nboyd/ Siska de Baerdemaeker: https://www.siskadebaerdemaeker.com Vera Matarese: https://sites.google.com/view/veramatarese/home OUTLINE:  00:00 In This Episode… 00:54 Introduction 7:10 What is Astrophysics? 14:24 What Is the Philosophy of Astrophysics? 25:26 Is Astrophysics Science? 38:29 Astrophysical Models and the Tribunal of Experience 45:33 Data and Theory 1:01:32 Astrophysical Simulations 1:14:17 Fictional Objects  1:20:00 Black Holes and Dark Matter 1:28:01 Processes and Pseudoprocesses 1:34:08 Time 1:47:20 Ethical Issues 1:42:06 Evidence, Theory, and Cold Dark Matter Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Jody Azzouni is Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. While Jody is best known for his nominalist stance in the philosophy of mathematics, he is also an author of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Robinson and Jody discuss one of Jody’s poems in detail before moving on to the philosophy of mathematics and logic. They go over the distinction between natural and formal languages, the roles and varieties of proof in mathematics, and whether mathematics can have foundations. This is Jody’s second appearance on Robinson’s podcast. On his first appearance, episode #45, he and Robinson spoke about the debate between nominalists and platonists in the philosophy of mathematics, Jody’s own deflationary stance, and some adjacent concerns about ontological commitment in both formal and informal languages. His latest book is Attributing Knowledge: What it Means to Know Something (Oxford, 2020). Jody’s Website: https://jodyazzouni.com OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:40 Introduction 4:48 “Colored Themes” by Jody Azzouni 36:59 The Difference Between Formal and Natural Languages  1:02:37 The Nature of Mathematical Proof 1:20:36 Can Mathematics Still Have Foundations? 1:26:36 Jody’s Course on Philosophy of Math 1:31:01 Mathematics as a Social Practice 1:37:23 Revolutions in Mathematics  1:40:35 “February” by Giles Goodland Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Stephen Darwall is Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and John Dewey Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. He is a world-renowned moral philosopher who has worked broadly across the ethical landscape, making important contributions to Kant scholarship, legal philosophy, deontology, and countless other areas. In this episode, Robinson and Steve talk about Steve’s strabismus (a visual impairment) and how it affects the way he sees the world, violence and human dignity, second-personal ethics, and Steve’s work on the relationship between philosophy and the heart. This is Steve’s second appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In his first, episode #49, Steve and Robinson discussed the history of modern ethics, beginning with Hugo Grotius and traveling up through Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Bentham, and Smith before ending with Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche’s attack on morality. Check out Steve’s book on second-personal ethics, The Second-Person Standpoint: Morality, Respect, and Accountability (Harvard, 2009). Steve’s Website: https://campuspress.yale.edu/stephendarwall/ OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:35 Introduction 3:57 Creative Pursuits and Strabismus 26:57 Violence and Human Dignity 56:42 Cognitive Science, Violence, and Dignity 1:05:55 What Is Second-Personal Ethics? 1:15:54 Moral Obligation, Recognition, and Second-Personal Ethics 1:27:57 Philosophy of the Heart 1:52:58 Chattel Slavery, Reparations, and the Heart 2:04:22 Steve and the Heart Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.