WHY? Philosophical Discussions About Everyday Life

Emily McTernan, author of On Taking Offence, delves into the complexities of being offended in modern life. The podcast explores the power dynamics and social implications behind taking offense, the role of visible offense in driving social change, and the nuances of feeling offended in different settings like the classroom and societal discourse. It emphasizes the naturalness and importance of taking offense in social negotiation and democracy.

Former FBI agent and current philosophy professor Luke William Hunt discusses police ethics and deception. Topics include trust in law enforcement, public dissatisfaction with police, power dynamics, truth in police encounters, and building trust through honesty. The podcast delves into the ethical dilemmas of police deception and the importance of truthfulness in policing.

Exploring the impact of luck on our lives, the podcast delves into the limitations of predicting income based on conventional factors. It discusses the intersection of sociology and social sciences, the challenges of replicating research, and the role of luck in sociological modeling. The conversation navigates randomness within determinism, life's game of chance, and the importance of humility and gratitude in the face of luck. It advocates for acknowledging luck in decision-making for a more compassionate society.

Tommie Shelby, Harvard Professor, and Dr. Jack Weinstein discuss prison abolition vs reform, including Angela Davis' perspective, the connection between slavery and prisons, and the ethics of private prisons. They question whether the current penal system is effective and just and explore realistic approaches to a more just system.

Host Jack Russell Weinstein visits with Frank Lantz, the director of the New York University Game Center. They discuss the philosophy behind board games, the distinction between physical and digital games, the role of philosophy in game design, the concept of open and closed problems in gaming, the influence of pre-existing relationships with games, and the importance of games as a separate world.

We initially sent out the wrong audio! If you downloaded the mistake, please delete that, refresh your feed, and try again. That should give you the correct conversation as Jack visits with David Livingston Smith in an episode titled: "Why do we dehumanize people?" You can also find that audio HERE.

David Livingston Smith, Professor of philosophy, discusses dehumanization and how to resist it. Topics include the history and importance of dehumanization, effects of language, conflicts between different groups, and ethical considerations.

Catherine Flick, an expert in Computing and Social Responsibility, discusses the history and purpose of money, the importance of privacy in cryptocurrency, the ethics of crypto and the ACM code of ethics, hack spaces and codes of ethics in computing, the speculative nature of cryptocurrency, the problems with NFTs, and the hype, regulation, and personal judgment surrounding cryptocurrency.

Jack Savage, an advice columnist, visits this podcast to discuss various topics related to sex. They explore the taboo nature of discussing sex in American culture, changing attitudes towards sex education, the impact of the HIV AIDS pandemic on public discussions about sex, polyamory, the role of narratives in relationships, establishing boundaries, and the importance of consensual and playful sex.

Jack Russell Weinstein visits with David Mura, the author of “The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives.”