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More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/dostoevsky-and-doubting-faith.

All episodes are now to free to listen at philosophytalk.org, so this feed will no longer be updated. Subscribe to the weekly podcast at https://philosophytalk.org/get-the-podcast.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/can-money-buy-well-being. Governments and central banks set economic policies that affect us all. But how do those policies influence our quality of life? And how can that quality even be measured? Gross Domestic Product (GDP) includes many factors that have little to do with the regular person’s happiness. What do people really need, beyond enough to live on? And how can we make sure they get it? Josh and Ray spend some quality time with Jayati Ghosh from UMass Amherst, co-author of" Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/anna-julia-cooper. Born into slavery in the nineteenth century, Anna Julia Cooper received a classical education, attended the Sorbonne, and became the fourth African American in history to be awarded a PhD. Her first book, A Voice from the South, offered one of the first articulations of how Black women are impacted by race, gender, and socioeconomic class. She believed that uplifting Black women through higher education would improve life for all Black people. Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Kathryn Sophia Belle, author of "Beauvoir and Belle: A Black Feminist Critique of The Second Sex." Part of the "Wise Women" series, generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/the-examined-year-2025. What happened over the past year that challenged our assumptions and made us think about things in new ways? Josh and Ray talk to philosophers and others about the events and ideas that shaped the last twelve months. • The Year in Shamelessness with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò from Georgetown University, author of “How Can We Live Together?” • The Year in A.I. Hype with Arvind Narayanan from Princeton University, co-author of "AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference" • The Year in Philosophy (Bowls) with Eli Yetter-Bowman, Founder of Ethereal Films and Director of "The Bowl"

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/gilbert-ryle. Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) was a British philosopher of mind and language best known for his book The Concept of Mind. He developed a novel argument against Cartesian dualism, which he called “the doctrine of the ghost in the machine”—the idea that our minds and bodies are separate substances. Ryle introduced a new term for the problem with this argument: Descartes was making a “category mistake.” But what exactly is a category mistake, and how bad is it to make one? If Cartesian dualism is false, what is the relationship between our minds and our bodies? And what does it have to do with the distinction between “knowing-how” and “knowing-that”? Josh and Ray turn their minds to Michael Kremer from the University of Chicago, author of “The Development of Gilbert Ryle’s Concept of Knowledge.”

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/narrative-and-the-meaning-of-life. Humans are uniquely storytelling creatures who can narrate the events of their own lives. Some argue that our lives derive meaning from our ability to see them as an ongoing story. So is telling our own life story the key to a meaningful life? Is it the events that matter, or how we describe them? Does it matter if we’re unreliable narrators who fudge the facts to make ourselves look good? Josh and Ray tell tales with Helena de Bres from Wellesley College, author of "Philosophy in the First Person."

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mind-sharing. Mind reading might sound like the stuff of science fiction. But in philosophy and psychology, mind reading is something that human beings do whenever we try to guess what another person is thinking. Could it be that people are also natural born mind sharers, unconsciously shaping our behavior to be understood by others? How do we change or exaggerate our actions when others are present? And how can we use these insights to communicate better with our loved ones? Josh and Ray share their mind(s) with Julian Jara-Ettinger, Director of the Computational Social Cognition Lab at Yale University.

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/shakespeares-outsiders. Over 400 years after his death, Shakespeare is still widely regarded as the greatest dramatist of all time. His many plays tackle questions about power, influence, identity, and moral and social status. His characters—be they villains or heroes—are often disdained because of their race, religion, class, disability, or gender. So what do Shakespeare’s plays reveal about identity and status in his time? How might they shed light on who we include and who we exclude today? Could Shakespearian dramas have more in common with modern day soap operas than we think? Ray and guest-host Adrian Daub go inside with David Sterling Brown from Trinity College in Hartford, author of "Shakespeare's White Others."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/im-yunjidang. 18th-century Korean philosopher Im Yunjidang was the first Confucian to argue for women’s equality in matters of morality and to claim that women, just like men, can be sages. She also argued that it isn't just what you do that matters morally—it's also how you decide. So what does it mean to be a sage and how does someone become one? How did Im Yunjidang use traditional Confucian texts to argue for women's spiritual equality? And what did she think was important when it comes to making difficult moral choices? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Hwa Yeong Wang from Duke Kunshan University, editor of "Korean Women Philosophers and the Ideal of a Female Sage: The Essential of Writings of Im Yungjidang and Gang Jeongildang."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/margaret-cavendish. Margaret Cavendish was a writer of poetry, philosophy, polemics, histories, plays, and utopian fiction. She employed many different genres as a way to overcome access barriers for women and build an audience for her subversive philosophical ideas. So, what was so radical about Cavendish's views? Why did she think all matter, even rocks, was at least partially rational? And how did she anticipate the term "epistemic injustice" 400 years before it was coined? Josh and Ray explore the life and thought of Margaret Cavendish with Karen Detlefsen from the University of Pennsylvania, co-editor of "The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy."

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/narrative-and-the-meaning-of-life. Humans are uniquely storytelling creatures who can narrate the events of their own lives. Some argue that our lives derive meaning from our ability to see them as an ongoing story. So is telling our own life story the key to a meaningful life? Is it the events that matter, or how we describe them? Does it matter if we’re unreliable narrators who fudge the facts to make ourselves look good? Josh and Ray tell tales with Helena de Bres from Wellesley College, author of "Philosophy in the First Person."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/mary-astell. Mary Astell (1666–1731) was an English philosopher and writer who advocated for equal rights for women. While she described marriage as a type of “slavery,” she was also a staunch conservative who claimed that women who did marry should accept subordination to their husbands. So what was Astell's vision for the education of women? How did she reconcile her seemingly conflicting views on marriage? And why did philosopher John Locke criticize her views on natural law? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Allauren Forbes from McMaster University, author of the Oxford Bibliography on Mary Astell. Part of the "Wise Women" series, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

More at www.philosophytalk.org/shows/elisabeth-bohemia. Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–1680) is best known for her correspondence with René Descartes. In her letters, she articulated a devastating critique of his dualist theory of mind, in particular on the impossibility of mind-body interaction. So what was Elisabeth's own position on the nature of mind? What can we ascertain about her moral and political concerns based on her various correspondences? And how are her ideas still relevant to current debates in philosophy? Josh and Ray explore Elisabeth's life and thought with Lisa Shapiro from McGill University, editor of "The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/hildegard-of-bingen. Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th century mystic, polymath, and composer whose work spanned visionary theology, philosophy, cosmology, medicine, botany, and music. Her extraordinary intellectual accomplishments belie her humble claim to be “just a woman”. Was her humility justified in the face of the divine, internalizing misogynistic stereotypes, or a strategic decision to get her voice heard? What can mystical experience teach us about the world? And how can we understand ourselves in relation to the divine? Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Jennifer Bain from Dalhousie University, editor of "The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen."