Robinson's Podcast

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.

Craig Callender is Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Institute for Practical Ethics at UC San Diego. Craig works across the philosophy of science, and has published research on the philosophy of physics, applied ethics, the metaphysics of time, and other related areas. In this episode, Craig and Robinson discuss the content of a course he’s been teaching called Science vs Pseudoscience. More particularly, they talk about the boundary between science and pseudoscience, as well as case studies of science, pseudoscience, and conspiracy theories, including super-string theory, psychoanalysis, astrology, and more. Craig’s most recent book, What Makes Time Special? (Oxford University Press, 2017), won the prestigious Lakatos Award in 2018. Craig’s Website: https://www.craigcallender.com OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:26 Introduction 7:15 A Course on Science and Pseudoscience 14:43 Karl Popper’s Demarcation Problem 22:56 Superstring Theory 29:26 Psychoanalysis 32:29 Astrology 36:04 Pseudohistory and Expert Selection 47:02 Flat Earth Theory 51:28 Why Clever People Believe Silly Things 1:01:25 Personality Tests 1:14:12 Quantum Mumbo Jumbo 1:25:59 Replicability 1:29:15 Nutritionism 1:35:11 A Perpetual Motion Machine 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.

Eric Trexler received his PhD in Human Movement Science from the medical school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is a professional body builder and a sports nutrition researcher, and the co-owner of Stronger By Science, MASS Research Review, and the MacroFactor nutrition app, as well as the co-host of the terrific Stronger By Science podcast. Robinson and Eric discuss some philosophical concerns in sports science, including methodological limitations in study design and human error in scientific reasoning. Among other topics, they address the ecological validity of mechanistic research, ways in which funding and practical constraints guide experimentation, and ethical considerations that factor into the study of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Eric’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trexlerfitness Eric’s Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/erictrexler Stronger By Science: https://www.strongerbyscience.com MASS Research Review: https://www.strongerbyscience.com/mass/ The MacroFactor Nutrition App: https://www.macrofactorapp.com OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:50 Introduction 3:28 Human Movement Science 8:02 Performance Effects of Citrulline Malate and Beetroot Juice Supplementation 16:06 Interpreting Mechanistic Research 26:40 Reductive Reasoning and the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity 55:59 Limitations of Study Design 01:16:56 Ethical Constraints on Researching Performance-Enhancing Drugs 01:25:40 MacroFactor 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.

Peter Adamson is Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Professor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy at King's College London. He’s also the host of the podcast History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps and the author of the book series by the same name. Robinson and Peter talk about Neoplatonism—a philosophical movement in late antiquity—and its great thinkers, including Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus, as well as the many issues they thought and wrote about, such as evil, theology, logic, and vegetarianism. OUTLINE: 02:14 Introduction 7:30 What’s Interesting About Neoplatonism? 5:35 The Etymology of “Neoplatonism” 11:36 Where was Neoplatonism? 19:48 The Great Plotinus 23:56 Plotinus’ Metaphysics 32:30 Plotinus and Theology 39:46 Plotinus on Evil 1:00:15 Porphyry, His Logic, and Arguments for Vegetarianism CLIP 1:18:31 Iamblichus 1:24:02 Proclus 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.

Elisabeth Camp is Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers, where she works on the philosophy of language, mind, and aesthetics. As she puts it, her research “focuses on thoughts and utterances that don’t fit standard propositional models.” Liz and Robinson spend the first third of their conversation discussing the poetry of Emily Dickinson and its connections to philosophy. They then move on to the substantial corpus of Liz’s work, touching on frames—or representational devices—various difficult-to-analyze speech acts and devices like insinuation and metaphor, and the semantics of maps. Keep up with Liz and her research at http://www.elisabethcamp.org. OUTLINE: 00:00 Introduction 3:30 Liz’s Interest in Figurative Language 12:03 Emily Dickinson’s “The first Day’s Night had come” 29:03 Emily Dickinson’s “This World is not Conclusion” 42:36 Mary’s Room as a Literary Creation 49:46 Imaginative Resistance 58:44 Frames as Representational Devices 1:07:34 Liz’s Taste in Problems 1:11:23 Speech Acts 1:16:41 John Searle 1:23:54 Insinuation 1:47:42 Sarcasm 1:51:00 Metaphors 2:19:42 Slurs 2:32:42 Metaphors in Science 2:40:53 Maps and Sentences 2:57:53 Animal Minds and Mental Language 3:05:37 Cognitive Science at Rutgers 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.

Frank Jackson is Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University. He is best known for the knowledge argument and Mary’s Room—its accompanying thought experiment—but has published widely in the philosophy of mind, epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language. Frank and Robinson discuss conceptual analysis—or the philosophical technique of examining the meaning, content, or definition of a concept to resolve questions about it—as well as physicalism, reference in the philosophy of language, the knowledge argument, and more. Much of the material discussed in this episode can be found in greater depth in Frank’s 1998 book, From Metaphysics to Ethics: A Defence of Conceptual Analysis. OUTLINE: 00:00 Introduction 5:42 Growing Up in a Household of Philosophers 11:06 What Is Conceptual Analysis? 16:01 Physicalism, the Location Problem, and Conceptual Analysis 21:00 Conceptual Analysis and the Sorites Paradox 25:48 A Priori Physicalism 38:13 Physicalism in Math and Elsewhere 43:31 Color and the Location Problem 54:10 Ethics and the Location Problem 1:06:49 Metaphilosophy 1:13:13 Naming, Language, and Mind 1:30:05 One-Spaceism and Two-Spaceism 1:39:12 Mary’s Room and the Knowledge Argument 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.

Simon Blackburn was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Though he has worked in many areas of philosophy, he is best known for his contributions to metaethics and the philosophy of language. Simon and Robinson discuss the distinction between ethics and metaethics before primarily focusing on the latter, where they explore the concept of realism. Simon’s latest books are Lust and Mirror, Mirror. OUTLINE: 4:31 Simon’s History with Metaethics 8:20 Distinguishing Ethics and Metaethics 12:57 On Moral Realism 39:42 Frege and the True 43:57 Moral Quasi-realism 54:52 Moral Quasi-realism and Living a Good Life 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.

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, where he directs the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program. Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU. Both David and Tim are renowned as leading philosophers of physics, though their work extends beyond that to the philosophy of science and metaphysics. David is a prior guest (episodes 23 and 30) of Robinson’s Podcast, as is Tim (episode 46). David, Tim, and Robinson discuss the foundations of quantum theory, beginning with its historical motivation, tracking through some important concepts—superposition and the measurement problem—and then exploring some of its philosophical aspects (such as determinism, realism, the potential for backward causation, and more).   Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com  OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:17 Introduction 2:51 What Motivated the Development of Quantum Theory? 7:05 Superposition and the Measurement Problem 31:42 John Bell’s Theory of Local Beables 44:30 Formalism and Interpretation in Quantum Theory 51:52 The Einstein-Podoksky-Rosen Argument 58:26 On “Interpretations” of Quantum Theory 1:11:17 The Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber Theory of Spontaneous Collapse 1:16:19 The Many Worlds Theory 1:30:46 Determinism 1:46:29 Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory 1:48:28 Realism 1:52:15 Monism and Entanglement 1:58:19 Backward Causation 2:04:32 An Experiment to Further Foundations 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.

Noam Chomsky is Professor of Linguistics Emeritus at MIT and Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona. He not only counts as among the most influential linguists of all time, but he has played a major role in the development of twentieth and twenty-first century philosophy, cognitive science, and political theory. Noam and Robinson talk about some of the major topics in modern linguistics, ranging from generative and universal grammar to innateness hypotheses and the current limitations of large language models for studying human linguistic faculties. There are also philosophical dimensions to the conversation, as Noam touches on his time with Nelson Goodman, Hilary Putnam, and W. V. O. Quine, while other concerns—such as the indeterminacy of reference and the relationship between thought and language—recur throughout the discussion. OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:27 Introduction 8:32 Noam’s Entry into Linguistics 11:03 Ferdinand de Saussure and Twentieth Century Linguistics 23:04 The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis 26:00 Thoughts on Language and Behaviorism 35:24 Innateness Hypotheses in Linguistics 42:00 Innateness and Universal Grammar 46:02 Limitations of Large Language Models 48:42 Impossible Languages and What Linguists Study 1:00:10 Historical Shifts in Linguistics 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.

Tania Lombrozo is Arthur W. Marks ’19 Professor of Psychology at Princeton University, where she directs the Concepts & Cognition Lab. Before that, she did her undergraduate work at Stanford University (!), her graduate work at Harvard University, and then taught at the University of California, Berkeley. Robinson and Tania discuss her work on explanation. Among other things, they touch on our intuitions about what makes explanations good, what makes certain observations seem to demand explanation, some of the differences between religious and scientific explanations, and how we reason about morally charged situations. Keep up with Tania’s work through: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaniaLombrozo Tania’s Website: https://psych.princeton.edu/people/tania-lombrozo The Concepts & Cognition Lab: https://cognition.princeton.edu OUTLINE: 00:00 Introduction 2:23 From Philosophy to Psychology 8:03:39 Tania’s Interest in Learning and Explanation 11:28 Experiments to Test Our Intuitions About Explanation 16:16 Our Intuitions About What Makes a Good Explanation 27:06 Explanation-Based Processes 29:30 What Demands Explanation? 38:33 Religious and Scientific Explanation? 40:51 What Makes a Good Answer? 43:59 Marr’s Levels of Explanation 48:36 Tania’s Work with Neuroscientists 54:05 More on Explanations in Science and Religion 1:00:58 Moral Reasoning and Explanation 1:07:28 Can Science Explain the Human Mind? 1:12:57 Philosophy and Psychology 1:16:39 Psychology in Tania’s Life 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.

Sarah Moss is the William Wilhartz Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Law by courtesy at the University of Michigan. She works primarily in epistemology and the philosophy of language, though in the case of this conversation her work has an important bearing on legal philosophy. Robinson and Sarah talk about her book Probabilistic Knowledge, which argues that you can know something that you believe even if you do not believe it fully, and as she quite aptly points out, “The central theses of the book have significant consequences for social and political questions concerning racial profiling, statistical evidence, and legal standards of proof,” all of which are discussed in this episode. Robinson and Sarah begin by introducing the concept of probabilistic belief before turning to Sarah’s argument in favor of probabilistic knowledge. They then turn to some applications of her work to outstanding puzzles in philosophy and law. Keep up with Sarah on her website, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ssmoss/, and check out Probabilistic Knowledge on Amazon, https://a.co/d/iobL8iZ. Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com OUTLINE: 00:00 Introduction 3:58 Math and Epistemology 7:35 What is Probabilistic Belief? 11:22 Sarah, David Lewis, and Robert Stalnaker 28:26 Credence and Probabilistic Belief 33:40 Are All Beliefs Probabilistic? 56:57 Probabilistic Knowledge and Racial Profiling 1:20:25 Probabilistic Knowledge and Transformative Experience 1:29:30 Statistical Evidence and Legal Proof 1:48:39 Pragmatic Encroachment on Legal Proceedings 2:04:07 Is Belief a Strong or a Weak Attitude? 2:12:39 The Preface Paradox 2:21:06 Probabilistic Knowledge and the Newcomb Problem 2:27:18 Probabilistic Knowledge and the Philosophy of Action 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.

Thomas Ryckman is Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, where he works on the philosophy of physics. Mark Wilson is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, where he works at the intersection of the philosophy of math and physics on the one side and metaphysics and the philosophy of language on the other. Tom, Mark, and Robinson discuss the present state of analytic philosophy, the dominant tradition in the United States, including some potential obstacles and important ideas of the twentieth century that have been forgotten. OUTLINE: 00:00 Introduction 2:07 Tom and Mark’s Friendship 9:46 Problems with Contemporary Analytic Philosophy 15:18 Hertz and a Metaphysical Notion of Force 18:04 Thoughts on Wittgenstein 20:40 Mark and the French Structuralists 29:41 The Single Greatest Problem Confronting Analytic Philosophy Today 37:45 Some Thoughts on Grounding 1:02:40 Mach, Duhem, Hertz, and Analytic Philosophy 1:14:26 A Historical Overemphasis on Logic 1:29:54 Final Thoughts on the Current State of Academic Philosophy 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.

David Papineau is Professor of Philosophy of Science at King’s College London. He also teaches at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and before that he lectured in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge. Robinson and David speak broadly about the philosophy of science. Some topics they touch on include the distinction between realism and antirealism, the role of a philosopher of science in actual scientific practice, and the current replication crisis. They finish with an introduction to the statistical theory of causation. For some background information, listen to David’s episode of Philosophy Bites on scientific realism. The painting used in the “album art” comes by way of David’s daughter, Katy Papineau. See her website for more information. David’s most recent book is the Metaphysics of Sensory Experience (OUP 2021), a discussion of which will have to wait for another episode. You can keep up with David on his website, https://www.davidpapineau.co.uk, or via Twitter, @davidpapineau. Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:38 Introduction 4:51 David and the Philosophy of Science 10:32 The Philosopher’s Role in Science 25:07 Scientific Realism and Anti-Realism 47:11 On Pessimistic Meta-Induction From Past Falsity 55:27 On The Replication Crisis in Science 1:15:21 The Statistical Theory of Causation 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.

Keith Frankish is an Honorary Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Sheffield, a Visiting Research Fellow with the Open University, an Adjunct Professor with the Brain and Mind Program at the University of Crete, and editor of the Cambridge University Press series Elements in Philosophy of Mind. He is best known for his “two-level” view of the human mind, covered in his book Mind and Supermind, and his defense of the philosophical thesis known as illusionism, which holds that phenomenal consciousness is an illusion. Robinson and Keith discuss a variety of aspects of illusionism, including just what it is—and isn’t—its relationship to free will, and how the thesis engages with academic literature outside of philosophy (please see http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/#CB for Kevin O’Regan’s demonstrations of change blindness, which are referenced in the conversation). You can keep up with Keith and his work on his website, Keithfrankish.com, or through his Twitter account, @keithfrankish. He is also, along with Philip Goff, the host of the podcast MindChat, which you can find at https://www.youtube.com/@MindChat/. Robinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 00:43 Introduction 5:42 What Is the Hard Problem of Consciousness? 16:40 Tactics for Accounting for Anomalous Phenomena 22:14 An Illusionism Primer 42:13 Eliminative Materialism and Illusionism 45:18 Reading the Scientific Literature 59:19 Observing Other Minds 1:14:37 Is Free Will an Illusion? 1:23:18 Cognitive Science and Illusionism 1:55:34 A Thought Experiment Concerning Anesthesia 2:02:46 A Poetry Reading 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.

Joel David Hamkins is the O’Hara Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame, where he recently moved from the University of Oxford. Joel is one of the world’s leading set theorists and philosophers of mathematics. Graham Priest is a Distinguished Professor in the philosophy department at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is one of the most influential philosophers of the past fifty years, and has done important work on a wide range of topics, ranging from the philosophy of mathematics (his doctorate is in mathematics from the London School of Economics) to logic and eastern philosophy. Robinson, Graham, and Joel discuss two topics—the liar paradox and the set-theoretic multiverse. More particularly, they address how solutions to the former revolve around questions of logical pluralism (is there more than one “correct” logic, and if so, how should we determine which to use in any given situation?), and regarding the latter, they address the metaphysics of the multiverse, how the multiverse theory squares with its monist alternative, and how it relates to the age-old question: Is mathematics created or discovered? Some resources for background information are included below. Check out Joel’s current project, The Book of Infinity, which is an accessible text on paradoxes and infinity. Joel has made the novel move of serializing it on Substack, so you can participate in its creation by checking out the link below, and otherwise see what he’s thinking about and working on through Twitter, MathOverflow, and his blog. You can keep up with Graham and his ever-growing, immense body of work through his website. Graham’s Website: https://grahampriest.net Joel’s Blog: http://jdh.hamkins.org Joel's MathOverflow: https://mathoverflow.net/users/1946/joel-david-hamkins Joel's Substack: https://joeldavidhamkins.substack.com Joel's Twitter: https://twitter.com/JDHamkins Background: The Liar Paradox on the SEP: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liar-paradox/ Set Theory on the SEP: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/set-theory/ Robinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com OUTLINE: 00:00 In This Episode… 1:12 Introduction 11:16 Graham’s History with the Liar Paradox 12:51 An Explication of the Liar 15:03 Paraconsistent Logic and the Liar 32:32 A Deflationary Account of Truth and the Liar 34:51 Joel’s Approach to the Liar 38:37 Hartry Field and the Liar 41:18 The Yablo Paradox 48:22 When to Change the Logic 56:24 A Difference in Opinion on Logic? 1:01:44 The Set-Theoretic Multiverse 1:14:43 Monism and Pluralism About the Set-Theoretic Universe 1:35:35 Philosophical Answers to Mathematical Questions 1:39:16 On Woodin’s Program 1:46:12 Logical Pluralism and the Set-Theoretic Multiverse 1:58:13 The Metaphysics of the Set-Theoretic Multiverse 2:09:42 Is Mathematics Created or Discovered? 2:16:59 The Continuity From Ancient To Contemporary Mathematics 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.

Tamar Schapiro is Professor of Philosophy at MIT. Her work centers on value theory, the history of ethics, and how this relates to human agency and reasoning. Robinson and Tamar’s discussion center around her latest book, Feeling Like It: A Theory of Inclination and Will, which explores the relationship between the two in a Kantian framework. They also talk about her experience teaching ethics at STEM-focused schools (Tamar taught at Stanford for fifteen years before moving to the east coast), Kant’s thoughts on free will, topics in the history of ethics, and why she teaches Ayn Rand’s philosophy to undergraduates. You can keep up with Tamar and her work through her PhilPeople page, at https://philpeople.org/profiles/tamar-schapiro. Robinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com  OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 4:44 Tamar’s Interest in Ethics 9:35 Teaching Ethics at MIT 11:40 On Inclination and Will 18:10 Distinguishing Inclination and Will 21:23 The Moment of Drama 26:27 Rationalism and Intellectualism 29:56 Tamar’s Theory 36:58 Kant and the Animal Self 38:33 Freud and Analytic Philosophy 40:36 A Normative Component to Tamar’s Theory 53:54 Kant’s Kingdom of Ends 56:53 Kant on Free Will 1:00:50 Rationalism and Sentimentalism 1:07:16 Hobbes on Moral Obligation 1:12:02 On Richard Price 1:15:04 Jeremy Benthem on Utilitarianism 1:20:44 Cognitivism and Non-Cognitivism 1:23:44 The Philosophy of Ayn Rand 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.

Huw Price is the former Bertrand Russell Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and was before that Challis Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Time at the University of Sydney, and then—even before that—was Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh. Huw is an expert across a wide variety of subdomains within the family of philosophy of science and physics, and in this episode he and Robinson discuss topics drawn from the philosophy of time, ranging from its flow and direction to its relationship to causation and quantum mechanics. Huw is also the author of Naturalism Without Mirrors and Time’s Arrow and Archimedes’ Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time. You can keep up with Huw on his website, prce.hu, and via his Twitter account, @HuwPriceAU. OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 2:22 Huw's Background 4:23 The A- and B-Series of Time 12:57 The Flow of Time 25:49 Boltzmann Brains 33:30 The Arrow of Time 38:23 The Fixed Past and The Open Future 50:31 Quantum Mechanics and Retrocausality 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.

Richard Kimberly Heck has been a professor of philosophy at Brown University since 2005, at which time they left their post at Harvard, where they had taught for over a decade. On the way to receiving their PhD in philosophy and linguistics at MIT, they studied at Duke and Oxford. Riki has also been a guest on three prior episodes of Robinson’s Podcast—5, 17, and 41—that covered the philosophy of sex, pornography, and gender. In this episode, however, Robinson and Riki turn to the philosophy of language, and more particularly the reference relation. They pick up with Frege and travel up through Russell, Carnap, Strawson, Kripke, and Lewis, up to the present, covering a range of topics including Fregean senses, the descriptive theory of names, ordinary language philosophy, natural kinds, possible worlds, externalism, and more. Check out http://robinsonerhardt.com and stay up to date! OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:37 The Importance of Names 9:59 Recent Shifts in Philosophy of Language 12:44 Riki’s Interest in Frege 17:35 Who Was Frege? 30:05 Uber Sinn und Bedeutung 48:33 Knowledge by Description and Acquaintance 55:06: The True and The False 1:00:41 Bertrand Russell On Denoting 1:17:50 Distinguishing Representations 1:20:54 P.F. Strawson and Ordinary Language Philosophy 1:31:43 Carnap on Meaning and Necessity 1:34:52 Kripke and Lewis on Naming and Possible Worlds 1:55:19 Current Work on Naming 2:02:15 Experimental Philosophy of Language 2:12:20 On Twin Earth 2:19:31 A Digression on Philosophical Practice 2:25:14 Ty Burge and Natural Kinds 2:27:55 Referential Vagueness 2:33:08 Internalism and Externalism 2:38:40 Sense, Reference, and Sex 2:41:16 Sense, Reference, and The Begriffsschrift 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.

Kevin Heng is Chair Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics of Extrasolar Planets at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. Before that, he was the director of the Center for Space and Habitability at the University of Bern in Switzerland. Robinson and Kevin discuss the search for planets outside our solar system and the importance of—as well as some problems surrounding—our investigations into their atmospheres, all before turning to his recent philosophical work. Kevin, along with three philosophers of science—Vera Matarese, Siska de Baerdemaeker, and Nora Boyd—are the editors of an upcoming anthology on the philosophy of astrophysics, for which Kevin composed an essay on the role of models in astrophysics. Kevin is also the author of Exoplanetary Atmospheres: Theoretical Concepts and Foundations, which is part of the Princeton Series in Atmospheres. Check out http://robinsonerhardt.com and stay up to date! OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:29 Introduction 3:37 Kevin’s Background in Astrophysics 6:53 How Do Astrophysicists Work? 12:34 An Astrophysicist’s Tools in the Search for Exoplanets 22:06 False Color Images in Astrophysics 27:12 More Methods of Atmospheric Analysis 30:42 Kevin’s Research 43:13 The Philosophy of Astrophysics Anthology 47:03 Philosophy and Scientific Models 1:04:19 An Unsolved Problem Concerning Turbulence 1:08:01 Kevin’s Time in Culinary School 1:11:57 Fashion and Bottega Veneta 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.

Alison Fernandes is a professor of philosophy at Trinity College Dublin. Prior to that, she did her graduate work at Columbia University, where she studied with two other denizens of the Robinson’s Podcast universe, David Albert and Achille Varzi. Alison is the author of the upcoming book with Cambridge University Press, The Temporal Asymmetry of Causation, some of the contents of which are the subject of this episode. After rehashing the dominant theories of causation, Alison and Robinson discussion backward causation and time travel, the temporal asymmetry of causation, and Alison’s agency theory of causation. You can keep up with her at alisonfernandes.net. linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode 00:46 Introduction 4:05 Alison’s Interest in Causation 5:36 Hume’s Theory of Causation 8:11 Dominant Accounts of Causation 14:33 Backward Causation and Time Travel 28:42 Causal and Temporal Asymmetry 42:22 Alison’s Account of Causation 53:24 A Return to Time Travel 56:55 Achille Varzi on Time Travel 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.

Luvell Anderson is a professor of philosophy at Syracuse University, where he’s also an affiliate faculty member of Women’s and Gender Studies and African American Studies. He is the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Race and the soon-to-be-released Oxford Handbook of Applied Philosophy of Language. He is also currently working on a book about the philosophy of humor—The Ethics of Racial Humor—which is the topic of this episode. After beginning with a discussion of just what humor is, Luvell and Robinson move on to the distinction between racial and racist humor, Dave Chappelle, the ethics of roasting, what makes comedy human, and more. You can keep up with Luvell at andersonluvell.weebly.com and through his Twitter account, @luvell_anderson. linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode 00:28 Introduction 3:05 Luvell’s Interest in Comedy 5:32 What is Humor? 12:22 Slurs and Hate Speech 17:45 Is Humor Uniquely Human? 23:32 Racial Humor and Racist Humor 32:48 Sexist Humor 38:51 Dave Chappelle 44:05 Roasting Ethics 53:05 A Genetic Approach to Comedy 59:12 Horror and Humor 1:05:15 Comedy, Connection, and Progressive Change 1:09:40 What Makes Comedy Human 1:14:03 Audience Sensitivity 1:17:56 Humor and Media Psychology 1:21:54 Laughing With and Laughing At 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.

Christina Van Dyke is an emerita professor of philosophy at Calvin College and a visiting professor of philosophy at Barnard College, where she specializes in the medieval period. She is the author of A Hidden Wisdom: Medieval Contemplatives on Self-Knowledge, Reason, Love, Persons, and Immortality. Christina and Robinson discuss the philosophy of food and eating—its gendered aspects, its religious history, some ethical concerns, and eating disorders—before turning to animals in medieval philosophy, where they touch on Hildegard von Bingen, medieval bestiaries, and the secret society known as the Brethren of Purity. You can keep up with Christina at cvdphilosopher.net. linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode 00:30 Introduction 3:05 Christina and Medieval Philosophy 5:41 Christina’s Interest in The Philosophy of Eating 6:59 Are Food and Eating Gendered? 23:39 Food, Gender, and Religion 32:40 How Philosophy Might Help Us Eat Better 36:27 Animals and the Brethren of Purity 45:11 Hildegard von Bingen and Medieval Animals 58:05 Hydras, Bestiaries, and Arthurian Lore 1:03:35 Animals, and What Humans Are 1:07:45 Animals, Angels, and Humans 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.

Gabriel Greenberg is a professor of philosophy at the University of California Los Angeles, and currently a visiting professor at Stanford University. He works widely across the philosophy of mind, but in particular studies iconic representation, modality, and computation. Gabe and Robinson talk about the rough divide between representation and consciousness studies in the philosophy of mind before going into the distinction between signs and symbols, and how the brain interprets them. They finish with a departure into the world of philosophy, film, and cognitive science, discussing how our minds stitch together the scenes of a movie and integrate them into a whole. linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 00:39 Introduction 5:17 Gabe’s Taste in Comics 9:53 Gabe’s Interest in Philosophy of Mind 18:14 What is a Representation? 26:02 Gabe’s Dialogue with Linguistics 27:51 Aboutness in the Philosophy of Mind 34:21 The Iconic-Symbolic Spectrum 59:48 A Semantics for Signs and Icons 1:09:33 A Course on Visual Narrative 1:11:20 Film and The Norms of Spatial Coherence 1:15:43 Film Spaces as Abstract Spatial Graphs 1:46:20 Film, Semantics, and Pragmatics 1:51:38 On Scott McCloud 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.

Scott Shapiro is the Charles F. Southmayd Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at Yale Law School, where he is also the founding director of the Yale CyberSecurity Lab. Robinson and Scott talk about studying at Columbia University under the auspices of the legendary Isaac Levi, Sidney Morgenbesser, and Haim Gaifman before discussing the philosophy of law, one of Scott’s areas of expertise. Among the topics they touch on are the distinction between analytic and normative jurisprudence, the problem of the chicken and the egg, and progress in legal thought from Austin to Hart and beyond. Then they turn to Scott’s upcoming book, Fancy Bear goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks, where Scott explores the intersection of cybersecurity, hacking, and legal philosophy. Scott is also the author of Legality and the host of the Jurisprudence Course podcast, the latter of which will soon have a second season. You can keep up with Scott on Twitter at @scottjshapiro, and preorder Fancy Bear Goes Phishing on Amazon. Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: https://a.co/d/aPv2zpY Legality: https://a.co/d/1qYg0OY Jurisprudence Course: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yOIMnVASRLN2nPLlBL0Dn?si=0de8b550346942d6 Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottjshapiro Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 00:20 Introduction 3:35 Scott the Jurisprude 7:49 War Stories From Columbia 18:36 Analytic Versus Normative Jurisprudence 22:23 The Chicken And The Egg Problem For Jurisprudence 28:03 Austin, Hart, and Progress in Legal Philosophy 44:43 Fancy Bear Goes Phishing 43:23: Cybersecurity and Legal Philosophy 59:02:40 Hacking Paris Hilton’s Cell Phone 1:05:07 The Psychology of Hackers 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.   linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

Jonathan Schaffer is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University. He is an acclaimed metaphysician with a unique mind and approach to philosophy (and who has exquisite taste in epigraphs). Jonathan is best known for his work on monism, in which he contends that the cosmos is the lone fundamental object in reality, and on the grounding relation. He and Robinson begin by exploring monism, including its relationship to contemporary developments in physics, and then move on to the grounding relation, explicating just what this is and how it marks a departure from the dominant Quinean view of metaphysics. linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 1:07 Introduction 4:54 Jonathan’s Epigraphs 10:02 What Is a Monist? 14:11 How Jonathan Became a Monist 17:06 Breeds of Monism 24:09 Mereological Nihilism 39:14 Have Jonathan’s Views Shifted Over The Years? 41:25 The Ontological Priority of the Whole 48:16 Monism and Quantum Entanglement 54:42 Occam’s Laser 59:40 Modal Considerations for Monism 1:03:17 Jonathan’s Interest in Grounding 1:06:33 Quinean Metaphysics and Grounding 1:15:22 The Aristotelian View of Metaphysics 1:18:21 Carnap and Grounding 1:21:33 What Grounds What? 1:26:32 Debunking Metaphysical Intuitions With Cognitive Science 1:39:38 Ground Functionalism 1:48:58 Grounding in Feminist Metaphysics 1:55:30 Jonathan’s Philosophical Program 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. Steve and Robinson discuss 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. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 00:22 Introduction 4:04 Steve’s Time at Yale 12:39 Ethics and Normativity 19:56 Hugo Grotius and the Birth of Modern Ethics 30:18 Hobbes on Morality 39:33 Hume on Morality 45:56 Kant on Morality 54:59 Jeremy Bentham on Morality 58:31 Adam Smith on Morality 1:10:51 A Brief Diatribe on Google 1:16:28 The Continental/Analytic Divide 1:23:17 Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche’s Attack on Morality 1:35:21 Are Moral Philosophers Moral?

Patricia Churchland is UC President’s Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of California, San Diego. She is among the most well-known and impactful figures working in the philosophy of mind, and a prominent early neurophilosopher who advocated the importance of neuroscience in the philosophy of mind. Pat and Robinson discuss three broad topics: neurophilosophy and ethics—particularly with reference to two of her recent books, Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality and Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition—what neuroscience has to say about the problem of free will, and the neurophilosophical approach to consciousness. You can keep up with Pat’s work at patriciachurchland.com, as well as on Twitter, @patchurchland. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 00:36 Introduction 3:07 A Family of Neuroscientists 12:27 What Is Neurophilosophy? 15:44 Neuroscience and Morality 22:13 Evolution and Morality 33:00 Mirror Neurons and Imitation 38:56 Neuroscience and Metaethics 47:58 Neurophilosophy, Free Will, & The Self 1:05:24 Neuroscience & David Chalmers’ Hard Problem of Consciousness

Achille Varzi is the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and Bruno Kessler Honorary Professor at the University of Trento. He is a world-renowned metaphysicist and logician, and widely regarded as the greatest living mereologist. Yet despite all this Robinson asks Achille about his sleep habits, though afterward they discuss some more important philosophical questions: What is ontology? What is metaphysics, and how is it different from physics? After some tangents on nominalism and truthmakers, the conversation ends with a reflection on some of the late Saul Kripke’s contributions to philosophy. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 How Kangaroos Got Their Name 00:52 Introduction 4:54 Achille’s Start in Philosophy 11:24 Some Thoughts on Wittgenstein 16:57 Writing Philosophy in a Second Language 23:01 Achille’s Absurd Sleeping Habits 30:41 What is Metaphysics? 43:01 Distinguishing Physics From Metaphysics 50:48 Ontology, Metaphysics, and Truthmakers 01:23:37 Saul Kripke's Contributions to Philosophy 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.

Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU. Before that, he did his undergraduate work in philosophy and physics at Yale and received his PHD from Pittsburgh in the History and Philosophy of Science. Tim is renowned as one of the leading philosophers of physics, and he also works in the philosophy of science and metaphysics. Among other things, Robinson and Tim talk about whether metaphysics should come prior to or after physics, the debates over absolute time and space, free will, the nature of physical laws, and David Lewis’s views on the Humean supermosaic. You can find out more about Tim and his work on his website, www.tim-maudlin.site. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 Introduction 2:35 Studying Physics and Philosophy 8:38 Theoretical Physics, Foundations, and Metaphysics 15:54 Physics and Free Will 26:17 The Mathematical Structure of the Universe 37:49 Hume, Lewis, and the Supermosaic 49:16 Laws of Nature 1:04:02 Moral facts 1:18:03 Absolute and Relative Space 1:34:27 Space and the Ether 1:39:31 The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence 1:46:08 Absolute Space, Time, and Relativity 1:53:07 The Infinity of Time and Space

Jody Azzouni is a 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. He and Robinson talk about his love of writing and how his interest in mathematics bloomed during in his time spent at NYU and CUNY. They then move on to 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. Outline: 00:00 Introduction 3:16 Jody’s Writing Background 9:05 Jody’s Poetry 21:20 The Relationship Between Jody’s Philosophy and Everything Else 32:33 Jody’s Interest in the Philosophy of Mathematics 40:02 The Platonist/Nominalist Opposition in the Philosophy of Mathematics 49:29 The Platonist Conception of Mathematical Objects 52:50 A Nominalist Argument Against Mathematical Realism 1:09:41 Varieties of Mathematical Nominalism 1:18:55 Nominalism in Mathematics and Metaphysics 1:24:39 Ontological Commitment in the Vernacular 1:35:30 A Poetry Reading Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson's Podcast): youtube.com/@robinsonspodcast Apple (Robinson's Podcast) : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/robinsons-podcast/id1636469402 Spotify (Robinson's Podcast): https://open.spotify.com/show/1yYNtEI6kpemLJMlYHVi2d Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinsonerhardt/ Twitch (Robinson Eats): https://www.twitch.tv/robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robinsonerhardt

Sophie Grace Chappell is Professor of Philosophy at the Open University in the UK. Before that she taught at the University of Dundee and Oxford. Sophie has a wide variety of interests, including ancient philosophy, ethics, and the philosophy of literature. She and Robinson speak about her latest book, Epiphanies: An Ethics of Experience. More particularly, their discussion centers around philosophy and literature—including a wonderful reading of Gerard Manley Hopkins—the relationship between ethics and aesthetics, and some potential pitfalls of taking a theory-building approach to moral philosophy. Outline: 00:00 Introduction 2:27 Literae Humaniores 14:42 The Etymology of "Outrage" 19:19 Literature and the Phenomenology of Being Human 36:51 Ethics and Aesthetics 49:13 Poetry and Philosophy 53:40 What Are Epiphanies? 58:56 Gerard Manley Hopkins and His Terrible Sonnets 1:10:20 James Joyce and Epiphanies 1:14:35 Theory-Building Approaches to Ethics 1:24:41 Sophie's Approach to Ethics 1:29:49 Testing Ethical Theories 1:32:12 Sophie the Mountaineer Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson's Podcast): youtube.com/@robinsonspodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinsonerhardt/ Twitch (Robinson Eats): https://www.twitch.tv/robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robinsonerhardt

Eric Schwitzgebel is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of California Riverside. Before that, he did his undergraduate work at Stanford, and then received his doctorate from the University of California Berkeley. Eric has worked on an extremely wide array of topics, ranging from Chinese philosophy to philosophy of mind, metaphilosophy, and metaphysics. In this conversation, however, Robinson and Eric talk about his upcoming book on philosophy and weirdness. In particular, they discuss why the United States might be conscious, what Kant and cyberpunk have in common, the moral value of alien microbes, and a lot more about garden snails than you thought you could ever find interesting. Keep up with Eric through his blog, the Splintered Mind, or on Twitter @eschwitz. Outline: 00:00 Introduction 3:07 A Man of Many Interests 4:21 The Weirdness of the World 12:32 Why the United States May Be Conscious 25:50 Kant and Cyberpunk 35:22 Experimental Evidence for an External World 46:54 Are Ethicists More Ethical Than the Rest of Us? 1:04:47 What It's Like to Be a Garden Snail 1:23:07 The Moral Value of Alien Microbes Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson's Podcast): youtube.com/@robinsonspodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinsonerhardt/ Twitch (Robinson Eats): https://www.twitch.tv/robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robinsonerhardt

Joel David Hamkins is the O’Hara Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame, where he recently moved from the University of Oxford. Joel is one of the leading set theorists and philosophers of mathematics in the world, and he and Robinson discuss a lot—Hilbert’s Hotel, the continuum hypothesis, the set-theoretic multiverse, and even Joel’s dapper hat collection—but the main subject is his upcoming book, The Book of the Infinite, which is an accessible text on paradoxes and infinity. Joel has made the novel move of serializing it on Substack, so you can participate in its creation by checking out the link below, and otherwise see what he’s thinking about and working on through Twitter, MathOverflow, and his blog. The conversation grows technical from 1:10:26-2:00:25, but for those to whom that doesn’t appeal there are timestamps to navigate around this portion of the show. Substack: https://joeldavidhamkins.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/JDHamkins MathOverflow: https://mathoverflow.net/users/1946/joel-david-hamkins Joel’s Blog: http://jdh.hamkins.org OUTLINE:  00:00 Introduction  2:52 Is Joel a Mathematician or a Philosopher?  6:13 The Philosophical Influence of Hugh Woodin  10:29 The Intersection of Set Theory and Philosophy of Math  16:29 Serializing the Book of the Infinite  20:05 Zeno of Elea, Continuity, and Geometric Series  39:39 Infinite Games and the Chocolatier  53:35 Hilbert's Hotel  1:10:26 Cantor's Theorem  1:31:37 The Continuum Hypothesis  1:43:02 The Set-Theoretic Multiverse  2:00:25 Berry's Paradox and Large Numbers  2:16:15 Skolem's Paradox and Indescribable Numbers  2:28:41 Pascal's Wager and Reasoning Around Remote Events  2:49:35 MathOverflow  3:04:40 Joel's Impeccable Fashion Sense Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt  Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinsonerhardt  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinsonerhardt/  Twitch (Robinson Eats): https://www.twitch.tv/robinsonerhardt  YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robinsonerhardt

Richard Kimberly Heck has been a professor of philosophy at Brown University since 2005, at which time they left their post at Harvard, where they had taught for over a decade. On the way to receiving their PhD in philosophy and linguistics at MIT, they studied at Duke and Oxford. While Professor Heck’s primary research focus has been logic and Frege, over the past few years they have shifted to the philosophy of sex and pornography. This is Robinson and Riki’s third conversation on the subjects. Their first and second were episodes 5 and 17, though the installments are not sequential and only linked by topic. Among other things, Robinson and Riki discuss empirical approaches to the philosophy of sex, understanding oneself as a gendered person, and the depiction of oral sex in pornography. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinsonerhardt Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinsonerhardt/ Twitch (Robinson Eats): https://www.twitch.tv/robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robinsonerhardt

L.A. Paul is the Millstone Family Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Cognitive Science at Yale University. After doing her graduate work on causation and time at Princeton under the guidance of David Lewis, Laurie wrote her groundbreaking book Transformative Experience, and since then has been exploring the intersection of cognitive science and metaphysics (in addition to a myriad of other pursuits). Laurie and Robinson talk about how she went from her undergraduate studies in chemistry and biology to philosophy, the origins of Transformative Experience, and what cognitive science can contribute to the philosophy of time and causation.   Twitter: @robinsonerhardt  Instagram: @robinsonerhardt   Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt   YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats   TikTok: @robinsonerhardt

Peter Adamson is Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Professor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy at King's College London. He’s also the host of the podcast History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps and the author of the book series by the same name. Robinson and Peter talk about Islamic philosophy broadly conceived, as well as some of its great philosophers—Avicenna in particular—and its most fascinating debates.   00:00 Introduction 04:46 Can Anything Be the Subject of Philosophy?  11:03 Dead and Living Languages  24:35 What Is Islamic Philosophy?  40:28 Some Distinctive Problems of Islamic Philosophy  50:40 Metaphysical Debates about the Eucharist and Koran  59:21 Free Will, Islamic Philosophy, and the Koran  01:08:56 Islam and the Eternity of the World  01:29:48 Avicenna's Flying Man Argument  01:41:25 Al-Farabi and Illuminationism  01:47:54 What Is Philosophical Mysticism?  01:55:00 Islamic Mysticism and Sufism  01:59:18 Philosophy, Reincarnation, and Vegetarianism  02:03:37 The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps Twitter: @robinsonerhardt   Instagram: @robinsonerhardt  Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt   YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats  TikTok: @robinsonerhardt

Graham Priest is a Distinguished Professor in the philosophy department at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is one of the most influential living philosophers, and has done important work on a wide range of topics, ranging from the philosophy of mathematics (his doctorate is in mathematics from the London School of Economics) to logic and eastern philosophy. In this episode, Robinson and Graham discuss the metaphysics of nothingness and non-being, touching on—among other things—Zen Buddhism, Quine’s conception of ontological commitment, impossible worlds, and why there’s something rather than nothing. (00:00) Introduction  (04:59) Graham's Path to Philosophy  (08:45) On Analytic and Continental Philosophy  (17:33) On Quine  (27:23) Quine, Quantifiers, and What There Is  (41:51) On Nonexistent Objects  (47:02) Noneism and the Philosophy of Mathematics  (01:14:14) On Impossible Worlds  (01:24:35) Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?  (01:30:55) Zen, Buddhism, and Nothingness  (01:46:36) The Nyāya Philosophy of Nothingness  (01:52:59) Graham's Interest in Eastern Philosophy (02:01:04) Philosophy as World-Building  (02:05:36) Sylvan's Box  (02:10:06) Zen and How to Live One's Life  (02:20:28) Zen on Mind and Language (02:30:08) The Basics of Buddhist Ethics  (02:52:08) Graham the Martial Artist Instagram: @robinsonerhardt TikTok: @robinsonerhardt Twitter: @robinsonerhardt Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Paul B Woodruff is a professor in the philosophy department at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the course of his extensive career he’s published numerous books, articles, and translations covering areas ranging from ancient philosophy and Greek tragedy to ethics and aesthetics. In the years between completing his undergraduate work in classics at Princeton and then getting his PhD in philosophy at the same university, he served in the Vietnam War, and it is largely this experience and the philosophical thought that emerged from it which Robinson and Paul discuss. Along with other topics, they talk about the ethics of killing civilians, just war theory, and Socrates’ practical ethics. Instagram: @robinsonerhardt TikTok: @robinsonerhardt Twitter: @robinsonerhardt Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Justin Clarke-Doane is a professor of philosophy at Columbia University, where he works on the philosophy of mathematics, physics, and metaethics. After a long-anticipated catch-up on recent ice cream-related activities, Justin and Robinson discuss the question: What is mathematics? Instagram: @robinsonerhardt TikTok: @robinsonerhardt Twitter: @robinsonerhardt Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Barry Lam is the host of Hi-Phi Nation, which is a much better podcast than this one, and which is devoted to exploring pressing philosophical questions through narrative. He did his graduate work at Princeton, then taught at Vassar, and will soon be picking up a new professorial post at UC Riverside. In this episode Robinson and Barry discuss the philosophical problems posed by certain monsters that were the subject of a three-part series in Hi-Phi Nation (namely zombies, cannibals, and vampires), along with David Lewis, the role of imagination in philosophy, and the risks of devoting time to public philosophy in an academic world that doesn’t prioritize it.   Instagram: @robinsonerhardt   TikTok: @robinsonerhardt   Twitter: @robinsonerhardt   Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt   YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

C Thi Nguyen is a professor in the philosophy department at the University of Utah. Before that, he did his graduate work at UCLA, where he was also a food writer with the LA Times. Robinson and Thi talk about his book, Games: Agency as Art, along with why we call things porn, autonomy and aesthetic judgment, and the difficult epistemic situation of having to select which experts to rely on in fields where we can’t make our own informed decisions. Instagram: @robinsonerhardt TikTok: @robinsonerhardt Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Quayshawn Spencer is the Robert S. Blank Presidential Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. Before taking up his post in Philadelphia, he studied chemistry and philosophy at Cornell and then received his PhD in philosophy and a Masters in biology at Stanford. Quayshawn and Robinson discuss whether or not race in humans is a biological or social phenomenon, the extent and nature of Kant’s of racism, some of the difficulties of researching a sensitive topic in the public eye, and the basics of natural kinds. For more of Quayshawn’s work, you can check out his latest book, "What is Race? Four Philosophical Views.”

Ray Briggs is a professor in the philosophy department at Stanford University. They did their doctoral work at MIT, and have since been working primarily in decision theory, epistemology, and metaphysics. In the last few years Ray has been writing and thinking about sex, gender, and transfeminism, which is what they and Robinson discuss in this episode, along with queer science fiction and thought experiments galore. Instagram: @robinsonerhardt TikTok: @robinsonerhardt Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Haim Gaifman is a professor of philosophy at Columbia university in New York City. He is also a mathematician and probability theorist. In this episode (Haim’s fourth appearance), Robinson and Haim discuss the origins of set theory as the mathematical discipline developed to study the infinite, as well as its relation to Richard’s paradox. Instagram: @robinsonerhardt TikTok: @robinsonerhardt Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and one of the world’s most respected philosophers of physics. He is also the director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia. David and Robinson talk about the relationship between ancient and contemporary physics, the continuum on which lie theoretical physics, the foundations of physics, the philosophy of physics, and metaphysics, scientific anti-realism, the direction of time, and how moral expressivism relates to the naturalistic project.   Instagram: @robinsonerhardt   TikTok: @robinsonerhardt   Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt   YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Christopher Bobonich is the Clarence Irving Lewis Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University. After studying government at Harvard, he went on to do his graduate work at Cambridge and Berkeley. He now works broadly across value theory in ancient philosophy, though he is currently writing about knowledge and action in Plato. Among other things, Chris and Robinson talk about ancient and modern languages, etymology, the relevance of ancient ethics to contemporary life, and how well ancient conceptions of morality are preserved today. Instagram: @robinsonerhardt TikTok: @robinsonerhardt Twitch (Robinson Eats): @robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Nick is a software engineer at a biotech company. He studied politics, philosophy, and economics at the University of Pennsylvania. He and Robinson talk about the events that led him to abandon his deeply-held religious beliefs after a lifetime of Christianity. They also talk about moral facts, whether there are any, and whether their absence should play a role in Robinson deciding to shift toward being a vegetarian. Instagram: @robinsonerhardt TikTok: @robinsonerhardt Twitch: @robinsonerhardt YouTube (Robinson Eats): youtube.com/@robinsoneats

Ronnie is Robinson’s father. They talk about the Elgin Marbles and also a little bit about ice cream and donuts. Instagram: @robinsonerhardt TikTok: @robinsonerhardt Twitch: @robinsonerhardt