Philosopher's Zone

Around the beginning of the 20th century, philosophy began to take what's come to be known as "the linguistic turn". All major philosophical questions, it was argued, were really questions about language, and this conviction would dominate philosophical discourse for the next century. But are philosophers now starting to turn away from the linguistic turn? And what might be coming next?

Life is hard - disappointment, regret and suffering come with the territory - and if the projections of climate scientists and epidemiologists are correct, it's not going to get easier any time soon. But then, life has always been hard. What do philosophical traditions have to say about the incurable toughness of human existence?

Is justice a game? Most of us would say no. But for John Rawls – arguably the 20th century’s most important political philosopher – the answer was a qualified yes. This week we’re wondering if the gamification of justice can create more losers than winners.

If you're a gamer, you might be interested to hear that according to a new study, female characters speak approximately half as much as male characters in video games. But why should philosophers be interested?

Do parallel universes exist? The answer depends on who you ask. Some philosophers and scientists say it's an absurd concept, while others say the existence of the multiverse can be inferred directly from known laws of physics.

What do we mean by good leadership? Leaders in business are generally judged according to how effective they are, how much value they generate for shareholders and so on. But at what point do ethical concerns enter the equation?

Standard philosophical accounts of language present it as a kind of home – a place that we inhabit, and that shapes our sense of self. But what happens when we're not quite "at home" within a language?

What does it mean to study and teach philosophy in prison? Andy West has been teaching philosophy in prisons since 2015, and his memoir The Life Inside is a fascinating account of this experience - as well as a reflection on inherited trauma and the fact that his father, uncle and brother all spent time behind bars.

This week we're exploring the “trans-racial adoption paradox", the feeling of belonging culturally while embodying difference, and the challenges faced by adopted people of colour navigating predominantly white communities and social worlds.

In 1998, the American philosopher Richard Rorty predicted dark days for democracy and the rise of a Trump-like figure in the USA. This week, with the publication of a new collection of Rorty's essays, we're considering the ongoing relevance of his work.

One of the curious things about the history of philosophy is that it periodically throws up thinkers who question the whole business of… doing philosophy. How should we situate these paradoxical figures? Is it possible to be a philosopher if you're arguing that philosophy is an impossible project?

The project of bringing extinct animals back into being is sexy, hi-tech and could confer significant environmental benefits - but at what cost? Some argue that resurrecting extinct species could actually work against the conservation of threatened species that currently exist. Why worry about their possible extinction, if we can just bring them back?

Gene technology has brought us to the point where it's theoretically possible to bring back extinct animals from the "species grave". But the science is not straightforward - and neither is the philosophy.

This week we're exploring the idea that art can say things, and do things, and mean different things according to shifting historical circumstances - and that those sayings, doings and meanings aren't always benign or harmless. How should we respond to morally problematic art - particularly the kind of art that can function as hate speech?

Women have always been philosophers, often highly regarded by their male contemporaries. So why are women philosophers often regarded today as second-tier thinkers? And what happens when we try to uncover their histories?

Ninety-four per cent of Australians do not read privacy policies that apply to them – because who has the time? But the amount of data we all create and share has dramatic implications for privacy and safety. Informed consent is taken very seriously in the medical community, is it time for companies using AI and Big Data to follow suit?

If you don't know much about women philosophers in the ancient Graeco-Roman world, you have a good excuse. They're known to have existed, but hardly any of their works have survived, and historical accounts of their lives tend to come from biographies written by men. This week we try to unravel the mystery.

This week we're exploring the concept of moral creativity - a virtue that can be useful when it comes to negotiating the grey areas in our modern moral universe.

How can learning flourish in a time of war? Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in January 2022, thousands of scholars have fled or been displaced, while nearly 200 institutions of higher education have been damaged or destroyed. This week we explore the possibilities for supporting and restoring the academy, and the role of Ukrainian intellectual traditions in resistance.

As much as we dislike thinking about it, failure is deeply embedded within everything we do and everything we are. From our politics to our bodies, the salient feature is that it all falls apart sooner or later. Failure has inspired a million depressing songs and poems - but it's also fertile ground for philosophy, and for some unexpectedly positive reflections.

For philosopher Martin Kovan, the resources within Buddhism provide an analytical means to gain new perspectives on violence. His book is A Buddhist Theory of Killing: A Philosophical Exposition.

What challenges come with being a minority in philosophy?

When a tennis pro lunges for a difficult drop volley, or a concert cellist rips through the difficult section of a Bach suite, are they thinking about what they're doing? Some would say that elite physical performance is essentially a mindless phenomenon, and that thinking is counterproductive to success. But the reality is more complex - and more interesting.

For more than three millennia, most buildings in China were configured around a central courtyard. This week's guest believes that the courtyard helps us to understand Chinese society and culture, as well as Confucian philosophy. Today, with increasing numbers of people living in urban apartment buildings, the courtyard has become something of a period piece. What does this tell us about Chinese thought and identity in the modern world?

The recipe for living well is simple: develop a morally sound set of values, formulate goals rooted in those values, and achieve those goals. But beneath this basic formula there lurks a number of tricky questions.

When philosophy turns its attention to music, it's traditionally an exercise in high culture. Questions about the nature and function of music are often explored with reference to an established canon of "serious" music – while pop finds itself relegated to the margins. This week we're getting serious about pop, and exploring the ways that the compositional and sonic structures of pop music reflect the social and political structures of the broader culture.

You don’t have to be stupid to be a conspiracy theorist. Many people who buy into paranoid fantasies about stolen Presidential elections and global Satanic cabals are perfectly sane, well-educated individuals. So why do they fall for these myths? This week we consider the possibility that the attraction is primarily aesthetic, and that the experience is fun. But why the perennial focus on Jews?

These days we’re constantly pushed to be more efficient – at work, of course, but also in our leisure pursuits and even while we sleep. How did we get here? And how can we get back to a state that’s governed by principles other than accumulation and profit? This week, a story of two key figures in the history of modern industrial capitalism: F.W. Taylor, the father of “scientific management” theory, and French thinker Georges Bataille, whose economic philosophy was predicated on the notion of spending rather than saving.

Children can teach adults a thing or two when it comes to the getting of wisdom. But does this mean that children are philosophers? And if the answer is Yes, then what kind of philosophers are they?

When billionaires want to make a positive difference in the world, many of them turn to philanthropy. Which is fine in principle, but this week we're asking if giving away money via huge global philanthropic foundations is really an unalloyed good.

Standard philosophical accounts of language present it as a kind of home – a place that we inhabit, and that shapes our sense of self. But what happens when we're not quite "at home" within a language?

Confusion has reigned at Twitter since Elon Musk took the reins of the company, and one of the most pressing questions has to do with whether or not the social media platform will be reshaped to fit its new CEO's ideal of unfettered free speech. Musk has referred to Twitter as the "digital town square" – but how can the town square also be a private estate, owned by a billionaire? This week we're talking property, ownership... and how it all connects with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

What does it mean to study and teach philosophy in prison? Andy West has been teaching philosophy in prisons since 2015, and his memoir The Life Inside is a fascinating account of this experience - as well as a reflection on inherited trauma and the fact that his father, uncle and brother all spent time behind bars.

Like death, causation is something of a riddle. The death certificate of Queen Elizabeth II has "old age" given as the cause of death - but given that old age is simply an outcome of being alive for a certain period of time, what does it mean to pathologise it in this way, and to list it as a fatal condition? Far from being an exact science, death certification is rife with interpretation and contentious decision-making - and this reflects not only death's enigmatic qualities, but the mysterious nature of causation itself.

Günther Anders is the most interesting and important philosopher you've probably never heard of. An exile from Nazi Germany who landed in America in the late 1930s, Anders was a prescient theorist of media and technology whose insights are remarkably pertinent to today's digital landscape. His major work is a best-seller in Europe and he's one of Germany's most well-regarded intellectuals, yet he's almost unknown in the Anglosphere. Why haven't we heard more about him?

Insect farming, we're told by its proponents, is the next big thing in edible protein production, and it may just save the world. But an insect "farm" is more like a manufacturing plant where the tiny organisms are pulped into powder form.What is the moral status of these living things? Can we be sure they're not sentient beings, capable of experiencing pain and suffering? And if we can't be sure, how should we treat them?This program was first broadcast on August 22, 2021.

Modern travel is a commodity: you buy a holiday. But have you ever thought of travel as a philosophical activity? Offering the discovery of new traditions, new perspectives and the acquisition of knowledge, travel should make philosophers of us all. The 19th century was an era in which travel was thought of in this way, and women were out there at the frontiers of discovery. But their independence and daring came at a potentially high cost.

Refugees have been with us for millennia, but the modern refugee exists under a distinctively modern set of circumstances. Moral philosophers often fail to take these circumstances into account, and to acknowledge the ways in which the West can be responsible for refugee crises.

Friedrich Nietzsche is popularly regarded as one of the gloomier thinkers, so people are often surprised to learn that he can be very funny. But the humour in his writing is doing serious work: Nietzsche is looking for a way to find joy in the darkest corners of life - and to do it without falling back on what he sees as false Christian comfort.

How do we know the things we know? The fact is that most of our knowledge comes down to trust - particularly trust in institutions and experts. But in a world where misinformation has become a lucrative industry, how is it possible to trust wisely?

Can a religion be non-theistic, with no God or deity at the centre? It's a question that has exercised philosophers of religion for a long time – but members of The Satanic Temple, which was founded in the USA in 2013, would emphatically say yes. This week's guest expounds some Satanic philosophy, and has a fascinating backstory of his own.

Familiar ideas about value, ownership and market economics can obscure the fact that there are different ways to think about housing. This week, we're looking at housing through the lens of Aboriginal property development and land rights.

Rent is one of those simple market economy mechanisms that seem very natural, as though it's an organic outgrowth of human society. But in fact, rent has a philosophical history, and one that's been traced in a new book by this week's guest.

Your guide throThese days we're increasingly led to think of a house as a commodity. But what does it mean to think of a house as a site of care, rather than an asset in a system of market exchange? This week we're re-centring people in the housing value debate.ugh the strange thickets of logic, metaphysics and ethics.

The recipe for living well is simple: develop a morally sound set of values, formulate goals rooted in those values, and achieve those goals. But beneath this basic formula there lurks a number of tricky questions.

If we cease to exist after we die, then is our fear of death a fear of... nothing?

Death holds a special fascination for all of us - but none more than philosophers, who have been pondering the puzzle of death for centuries. In this two-part series, we take a look at some recent approaches to an ancient mystery.

So you’re feeling sick, and you go to the doctor. The doctor sends you off for a range of diagnostic tests, which come back inconclusive. What happens next?

This week we're exploring the idea that art can say things, and do things, and mean different things according to shifting historical circumstances - and that those sayings, doings and meanings aren't always benign or harmless. How should we respond to morally problematic art - particularly the kind of art that can function as hate speech?

Simone de Beauvoir wrote that “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”. It’s a much-quoted phrase that appears to speak presciently to modern concerns around sex and gender. But how well is Beauvoir understood by contemporary feminists?