Internationally recognised economist, educator and host of the podcast EconTalk, Dr Russ Roberts, discusses wealth and inequality under capitalism and questions whether there is real harm in inequality. Rather, in distinguishing inequality from poverty he says it’s the damage from poverty, not inequality, that’s more deserving of public concern and political focus. In a wide ranging discussion, we discuss whether the rich really deserve their spoils, how rigged the system actually is, and whether economics as a discipline is able to incorporate all the crucial non monetary aspects of life, like dignity and self fulfillment. Russ RobertsRuss is the President of Shalem College in Jerusalem and the John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. The author of three fiction novels, Russ sought to popularise economic ideas like wealth creation, the unseen forces that sustain economic opportunity and the morality of the marketplace. His passion for teaching and education led him into the world of rap where he produced blockbuster videos on the giants of economics, John Maynard Keynes and FA Hayek.Russ hosts the podcast EconTalk and in his latest book Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions that Define Us he dissects the challenge of making big life decisions - like whether to marry or have children -  when there is little analytical evidence to guide us.~~ You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman. Find Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked in Find Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and Twitter. This Podcast is Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid Find Jonah @JonahPrimo on Instagram.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With guests, Chloe Valdary and Ian Haney LopezIn Principle of Charity on the Couch, Lloyd has an uninhibited conversation with the guests, throws them curveballs, and gets into the personal side of Principle of Charity.Chloe ValdaryChloe is the founder of the Theory of Enchantment, a conflict resolution model for businesses and workplaces that was developed by Chloe. It places compassion at the centre of diversity inclusion training and, as she puts it, endeavours to fight bigotry with love. The Theory of Enchantment stresses character development, social emotional learning and interpersonal growth as ways to combat racism. A black American woman, Chloe is vocal in her opposition to ‘identity politics’ as a way to combat racism. She’s the host of The Heart Speaks podcast.Ian Haney LopezIan is a professor of public law at the University of California, Berkeley. He teaches in the area of race, constitutional law and critical race theory, and is one of America’s leading thinkers on how racism has evolved since the civil rights era. His current research emphasizes the connection between racial divisions and growing wealth inequality in the US. In his most recent book Merge Left he identifies ways to neutralise political racism and build cross-racial solidarity.Monday, 9 August 20216:30 PM~~ You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman. Find Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked in Find Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and Twitter. This Podcast is Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid Find Jonah @JonahPrimo on Instagram.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

International scholar and doyen of critical race theory Prof Ian Haney Lopez and writer and entrepreneur Chloe Valdary are powerful voices in the strident and polarising debates surrounding identity politics. In this episode, we explore the shift in the understanding of racism, from the traditional liberal notion that we should treat everyone equally, to a politics actually based on race consciousness and racial identity. We look at where this shift is helpful, and where it might be less helpful. Does it give us the tools to see through structural racism and unconscious biases and to end racial injustice? Or does this ideology drive a wedge between us, treating us as groups and not individuals, making us feel further apart and less inclined to care for each other? In this conversation, Chloe and Ian bring their very different perspectives, exposing where the intellectual faultlines exist, all within a fierce shared commitment to racial justice.~~ You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman. Find Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked in Find Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and Twitter. This Podcast is Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid Find Jonah @JonahPrimo on Instagram.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Principle of Charity on the Couch, Lloyd has a more relaxed conversation with the guest, throws them curveballs, and gets into the personal side of Principle of Charity.US writer and author of The Constitution of Knowledge Jonathan Rauch, explains what ‘truth’ is and why and how we must defend it. In a fascinating account of how liberal democracies ‘produce’ knowledge, Jonathan describes this unwritten ‘constitution of knowledge’ as a global process of error checking with millions of people around the world, thousands of institutions, all searching for each other’s errors. Rauch says this social production of knowledge which began around 200 years ago turns out to be a species transforming technology that “produces more new knowledge in a given morning than humanity did in the first 200,000 years”. This is a Spotlight episode, where we look for guests who’s work deepens our understanding of the principle of charity. Jonathan RauchJonathan is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. He’s the author of eight books and numerous articles on public policy, culture and government. His latest book The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth provides an account of how to push back against disinformation, canceling, and other new threats to our fact-based epistemic order.An advocate for same-sex marriage, Jonathan wrote Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America.Monday, 9 August 20216:30 PM~~ You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman. Find Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked in Find Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and Twitter. This Podcast is Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid Find Jonah @JonahPrimo on Instagram.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

US writer and author of The Constitution of Knowledge Jonathan Rauch, explains what ‘truth’ is and why and how we must defend it. In a fascinating account of how liberal democracies ‘produce’ knowledge, Jonathan describes this unwritten ‘constitution of knowledge’ as a global process of error checking with millions of people around the world, thousands of institutions, all searching for each other’s errors.  Rauch says this social production of knowledge which began around 200 years ago  turns out to be a species transforming technology that “produces more new knowledge in a given morning than humanity did in the first 200,000 years”. This is a Spotlight episode, where we look for guests who’s work deepens our understanding of the principle of charity. Jonathan RauchJonathan is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. He’s the author of eight books and numerous articles on public policy, culture and government. His latest book The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth provides an account of how to push back against disinformation, canceling, and other new threats to our fact-based epistemic order.An advocate for same-sex marriage, Jonathan wrote Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America.~~ You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman. Find Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked in Find Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and Twitter. This Podcast is Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid Find Jonah @JonahPrimo on Instagram.          Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Season 3 of Principle of Charity, where we explore social issues with curiosity, generosity and humility. It’s been remarkable seeing the growth in our audience over the last season.The big news is, Season 3 launches next week! We’ve got some fantastic topics and guests already in the can, exploring identity politics, inequality, whether we can mould our kids, alternative medicine, and so much more, with the world’s top experts.We’re also trialing a few new ideas, like splitting each topic into two parts, so that we can release new episodes close to every week, making us a more regular part of your lives. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for spreading the word. ~~ You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman. Find Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked in Find Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and Twitter. This Podcast is Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid Find Jonah @JonahPrimomusic on Instagram.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To round off Season 2, Principle of Charity producer Jonah Primo talks with hosts Emile Sherman and Lloyd Vogelman, delving into what they’ve learned from the season, whether they’ve changed their minds, how the podcast has evolved and where it goes from here. ~~ You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman. Find Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked in Find Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and Twitter. This Podcast is Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid Find Jonah @JonahPrimomusic on Instagram.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do we do with our mental suffering? From everyday anger and disappointments, to life defining moments of grief and pain, we are all dealing with our emotional life, much of which can be challenging. In this episode we are going to explore two great models - meditation and psychoanalysis, to look at what they have in common and how they differ. Meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, has made its way into the west and permeates so much of society these days. The catchphrase mindfulness has become a mantra for how we’re meant to approach everything, from how we eat to what we wear. But meditation itself asks us to do what many find unbearable. To simply sit and to become aware of our thoughts and feelings. In creating this little gap, their grip on us loosens.  This is generally where meditation stops. At a calmer, more peaceful, more ‘in control’ place. But Buddhism, the spiritual tradition we most associate with meditation, sees meditation as a key stone on the path to no less than spiritual enlightenment itself. A journey into the dissolution of the ego (in a traditional sense) and a return to a pure state of awareness.  Psychoanalysis comes from an entirely different tradition but strangely shares much overlap with meditation. It too asks us to stop, to listen to our inner voices, and to create a gap of analysis between ourselves and the forces that move and shake us so vigorously. It sees humans as a bundle of contradictory impulses with much of our deep self hidden within our subconscious, out of view of our conscious minds. It sees our suffering coming from adaptations we had to form in childhood which kept us safe and still keep us safe from painful feelings. We can see them in our patterns of behavior and we can only break their spell if we’re prepared to open ourselves up to the repressed and often painful moments that we hide from. All of this plays out in the very live dynamic between patient and the analyst in the room. Psychoanalysis doesn’t promise happiness. It recognises that suffering is a part of life, and it helps us to a life of greater depth, meaning and growth.  Both meditation and psychoanalysis ask us to sit with ourselves, often uncomfortably. But where meditation turns us finally towards the pure space of awareness, psychoanalysis sees healing in unravelling the knot of our selves. To help us through this, we have Buddhist nun and teacher Samaneri Jayasara and psychoanalyst Sonia Wechsler.Samaneri Jayasara has studied and practised Buddhism and meditation for over 35 years.She has a PhD and Master’s Degree in education, focusing on comparative spiritual traditions, Buddhism and psychotherapy. She has taught at secondary, undergraduate and post-graduate levels in psychology and counselling, and also worked as a trainer in mental health and crisis intervention in the welfare sector. Sonia Wechsler is a Clinical Psychologist and Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychoanalyst with over 20 years of clinical experience. She completed her psychoanalytic training with the Sydney Institute of Psychoanalysis and has presented clinical papers on psychoanalysis at national and international conferences. She consults to a number of non-government organisations and Headspace. You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman. Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When someone breaks the law, most of us have an instinct that they should be punished. In fact, that they deserve to be punished. At the base of this is a sense that we are morally responsible for our actions and we should get our ‘just deserts’ if we make bad choices.  This assumption is deeply encoded in the criminal law itself. Sure, there are other reasons we may want to put criminals behind bars – keeping society safe, deterring others from committing the same crime, even rehabilitation. But deep down lies the instinct of ‘retribution’, that a person who has done wrong just deserves to be punished for their wrongdoing.  But why do they? Well, at the root of it is our cherished belief that we have ‘free will’. That we make our decisions freely and that we can choose to act differently.  Our guest Gregg Carusso rejects this idea entirely. He sees free will as an illusion. He asks us to consider a justice system built entirely without retributive justice, where no one is imprisoned because they ‘deserve’ to be punished. Gregg is Professor of Philosophy, State University New York, Corning, Honorary Professor at Sydney’s Macquarie University and Co Director of the Justice Without Retribution Network at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. In his latest book Just Deserts, Gregg debates with fellow philosopher Daniel C Dennett moral responsibility, punishment and free will. Our other guest, Katrina Sifferd believes the justice system can and should be grounded in a concept of free will. She shares some concerns with Gregg that the system is at times overly punitive, but believes that we have the capacity to act as morally responsible individuals. In fact, in her book ‘Responsible Brains’, she looks at the neuroscience at work in our brain, and sees our ‘executive function’ as the seat of our moral responsibility. Katrina is professor and chair of philosophy at  Chicago’s Elmurst University and  co editor in chief of the publication Neuro-ethics.  Katrina earned a Juris Doctorate and has worked on criminal justice projects for the US National Institute of Justice.  She is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on responsibility, criminal law and punishment. You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman. Find Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked in Find Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and Twitter. This Podcast is Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid Find Jonah @JonahPrimomusic on Instagram.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Immigration is such a hot topic. Our borders are, in a sense, our collective skin and the question of who we let in seems to activate our primal instincts. Who comes in can feel and can at times be dangerous.  Yet we want new ideas, new brain and brawn-power to fuel our country. A larger population can bring greater economic growth and prosperity. And with fertility rates below replacement level in most wealthy countries, our population will decline without immigration.  There’s our sense of identity at stake as well – who are we as a nation? Are we defined through an ethnicity or particularly culture, as many nations today still are? Or do we define ourselves through our heritage, our stories, our values? The lens we bring to immigration often colours our reading of the facts. Do immigrants ‘take our jobs’ or do they add to the pool of consumers and producers that make us bigger and more interesting? Are immigrants more likely to turn to crime, or are they in fact harder working than the local population? Will they join and grow the story of our nation, or will they remain foreign?  But most importantly for this episode, how many immigrants can our natural environment and our infrastructure bear before the burden outweighs the benefits for the local population? And are these hard limits or can we invent and invest our way out of them?  To help us through this, we have George Megalogenis and Bob Carr.  George Megalogenis is a strong advocate for greater immigration. He’s a journalist and author of five books including The Australian Moment which won the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-fiction and formed the basis for his three-part ABC documentary series Making Australia Great. George’s other books include Faultlines, The Longest Decade, Australia’s Second Chance, The Football Solution and Balancing Act.Former Foreign Affairs Minister and the longest continuously serving Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr, is an author of multiple books and is currently Professor of Climate and Business at the Institute of Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney.  He is outspoken in his concerns for the environmental limits of immigrationMonday, 9 August 20216:30 PM~~ You can be part of the discussion @PofCharity on Twitter, @PrincipleofCharity on Facebook and @PrincipleofCharityPodcast on Instagram. Your hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman. Find Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked in Find Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and Twitter. This Podcast is Produced by Jonah Primo and Bronwen Reid Find Jonah @JonahPrimomusic on Instagram.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.