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The simplest questions often have the most complex answers. The Philosopher's Zone is your guide through the strange thickets of logic, metaphysics and ethics.
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- 2 days ago37 min
What is pleasure?
Is everything we do just for pleasure? For the Ancient Greek hedonists, and utilitarians such as Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), pleasure is what motivates us. And for most of us, if we think of a good life, we're probably imagining one filled with things that bring us pleasure. Because of its role in motivation, pleasure is now a major topic in psychology, biology and neuroscience - but pleasure is a surprisingly ambiguous concept. Not all pleasures are good, and in fact some can make us worse off. What can philosophy tell us about pleasure and the role it plays in our lives?Guest: Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Łódź, PolandProducers: Declan Humphreys, Lecturer in the School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, QueenslandDavid RutledgeThe Philosophy of Pleasure: An Introduction by Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek (Routledge, 2024)Lives Well Lived - podcast with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter SingerCan't Unthink It - podcast with Declan Humphreys, about the little ideas philosophers just can't get out of their heads
- 1 weeks ago41 min
05 | Unsteady State | Politics for the future and the past
When your political system runs to a three-year electoral cycle, it's hard to avoid the kind of short-term thinking that aims to please today's voters, while paying little more than lip service to future generations. And while this has long been a concern for liberal democracies, today it's an existential issue, as the decisions we make now about climate change will affect the lives of citizens over decades and even centuries from now. Indigenous philosophies have long recognised the importance of government that honours its obligations to future - and even past - generations. But what does this look like in practice? and what ethical issues come into play when Western philosophy treats Indigenous knowledge traditions as a resource to be 'mined'?This episode is fifth in a five-part series.Guest: Krushil Watene, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Auckland, Aoteraroa New ZealandProducer: David RutledgePursuing Climate Justice: Practice-Centred Theory, Indigenous Communities, and Engaged Philosophical Inquiry by Krushil Watene in Brooke A. Ackerly et al (eds): The Oxford Handbook of Grounded and Engaged Normative Theory (Oxford Academic 2026)Episode 1 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026Episode 2 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 2026Episode 3 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche - The Philosopher's Zone, October 18 2026Episode 4 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis - The Philosopher's Zone, October 25 2026
- 2 weeks ago43 min
04 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis
With liberal democracy in crisis around the world, we're talking about Confucianism and how Confucian political theory addresses such problems as economic inequality and rampant individualism. This week's guest is interested in developing a reconstructed Confucianism that incorporates aspects of American pragmatist philosophy — in particular the work of John Dewey, who visited China in the 1920s and made a huge intellectual and cultural impact there.This episode is fourth in a five-part series.Guest: Sor-hoon Tan, Professor of Philosophy at Singapore Management UniversityProducer: David RutledgeConfucian Democracy: A Deweyan Reconstruction of Confucianism by Sor-hoon Tan (SUNY Press 2004)The crisis of liberal democracy and the Confucian challenge: a pragmatist response by Sor-hoon Tan in Journal of Social and Political Philosophy (2022)Toward Confucian economic democracy: a relational alternative to possessive individualism by Sor-hoon Tan in Democratic Theory: An Interdisciplinary Journal (2026)01 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 202602 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 202603 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche - The Philosopher's Zone, October 18 2026
- 3 weeks ago39 min
03 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche is a difficult figure to pin down politically. He's popularly known as the favourite philosopher of the architects of the Holocaust, and of today's neo-Nazis and far-right ideologues who venerate strength, domination and the exercise of traditionally male-coded virtues. But then there's the other Nietzsche, the Nietzsche who was a fierce critic of German nationalism and antisemitism, and whose work has gone on to become central to feminism and queer theory. What can Nietzsche tell us about today's febrile climate of state and gender politics?This episode is third in a five-part series.Guest: Adrian Daub, Professor of Comparative Literature and German Studies at Stanford University, co-host of the podcast In Bed With the RightProducer: David RutledgeThe Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession Went Global by Adrian Daub (Stanford University Press 2024)What Tech Calls Governing by Adrian Daub (Stanford University Press 2026)Episode 1 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026Episode 2 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 2026
- Oct 7, 202634 min
02 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica?
What can Antarctica teach us about statehood and sovereignty?The continent has no government, no citizens, no permanent human population. Its native inhabitants are mostly seals and penguins who, as far as we know, take little interest in politics.But according to this week's guest, Antarctica offers a remarkable political experiment, one that challenges some of our most basic assumptions about territory and political community.Since the Antarctic Treaty came into force in 1961, the usual question of who owns the territory has been set aside. Instead, Antarctica is governed according to a model of 'joint guardianship', raising the intriguing possibility that this remote frozen continent might have something crucial to teach us about how politics could work elsewhere.This episode is second in a five-part series.Guest: Alejandra Mancilla, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oslo, NorwayProducer: David RutledgeFrom Sovereignty to Guardianship: Governing Antarctica, Governing the World by Alejandra Mancilla (Oxford University Press 2026)Episode 1 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026
- Sep 30, 20261h 10m
The Unsteady State part 1: Politics and the good life
First episode in a five-part series. Liberal democratic theory has traditionally held that it's up to individual citizens to decide for themselves what constitutes the good life, and that the state should have nothing to say on the matter. But increasingly, a number of states around the world are taking it upon themselves to decide what the good life means, and to offer various combinations of carrot and stick in getting their citizens to fall into line. And while many liberals denounce this as authoritarianism, and accuse "good life state" leaders of being motivated by greed or power, this week we're asking if the picture is a little more complex.This episode is a recording of the 2026 Alan Saunders Lecture, produced in collaboration with the Australasian Association of Philosophy.Guest: Alexandre Lefebvre, Professor of Politics and Philosophy at The University of SydneyProducer: David RutledgeLiberalism as a Way of Life by Alexandre Lefebvre (Princeton University Press 2024)
- Sep 23, 202645 min
Technology and the lure of ancient Athens
One of the more utopian promises of technology has always been that it will free us from the necessity of work - but not having to work poses its own problems. What will we do instead? how will we make money? and what might a leisure-oriented society look like? Technophiles - from the early cybernetics enthusiasts to today's AI promoters - have looked to ancient Athens as an example of a society where citizens were free to engage in culture, reflection and political participation. But was ancient Athens really such a place? and how likely is it that today's tech lords will deliver 'the good life' to us all?Guest: Michele Kennerly, Associate Professor Communication Arts and Sciences, and Classics and Mediterranean Studies, Pennsylvania State UniversityProducer: David RutledgeAutomated Athens: Ancient Greek Ideals in the Early Age of Automation by Michele Kennerly (University of Chicago Press 2026)
- Sep 16, 202638 min
Sympathy, himpathy and feminism
Australian feminist philosopher Kate Manne memorably coined the term "himpathy" to describe what happens when a man commits a crime against a woman and finds himself the object of disproportionate sympathy. But as useful as this description is, the psychological mechanism behind himpathy remains unexplored in Manne's account. To remedy this, we're turning this week to Catharine Macaulay, a fascinating late 18th century English philosopher whose work on sympathy provides some valuable psychological insights.Guest: Elena Gordon, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University College DublinProducer: David RutledgeCatharine Macaulay on cultivating our sympathetic potential - Elena Gordon in Journal of Modern Philosophy Volume 7 (2025)About Catharine Macaulay*The 2026 Alan Saunders Lecture* - Alexandre Lefebvre on 'The return of the moral state: philosophy and the good life', Thursday September 24 at 6.30 pmRegister on the 2026 Alan Saunders Lecture event page, registrations close on September 17
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