Episode #075 - How To Win An Argument Pt. 2
Episode #075 - How To Win An Argument Pt. 2
This episode explores why logical fallacies matter, even in a world where emotional arguments often win. It argues that recognizing fallacies strengthens both persuasion and critical thinking, and breaks down common ones like red herrings, appeals to authority, circular reasoning, false dilemmas, and hasty generalizations.
Further Reading:
Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic by Michael Withey and Henry Zhang (2021)
Being Right: A Beginner's Guide to Logical Fallacies and Deductive Reasoning by Stephen Pape (2019)
Informal Logical Fallacies: A Brief Guide by Jacob Van Vleet (2010)
See the full transcript here.
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I could never do this without your support! :)
Episode #074 - Hegel Returns!
Episode #074 - Hegel Returns!
The episode returns to Hegel, exploring his idea that true freedom comes from understanding how our beliefs and values are shaped by culture, time, and constant change. Through the dialectic—thesis, antithesis, synthesis—Hegel shows that self-awareness, not impulse, is the path to real freedom.
Further Reading:
An Introduction to Hegel: Freedom, Truth and History
Stephen Houlgate (2005)
Hegel: The Philosopher of Freedom
Klaus Vieweg (2023)An Introduction to Hegel: The Stages of Modern Philosophy
Howard P. Kainz (1996)
See the full transcript here.
Thank you to everyone who makes this podcast a possibility in the future.
I could never do this without your support! :)
Episode #073 - How To Win An Argument Pt. 1
Episode #073 - How To Win An Argument Pt. 1
On today's episode, we take a look at several common logical fallacies. We analyze what they mean and how they are used in the context of an argument, and then we provide tons of examples that illustrate how to spot the fallacies. The goal here is to give you more confidence in your ability to practically use the raw information that we talk about on the show every week, and to have an episode you can return back to and refresh your memory if you ever forget them.
Further Reading:
An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments by Ali Almossawi (2013)
Mastering Logical Fallacies: The Definitive Guide to Flawless Rhetoric and Bulletproof Logic by Michael Withey (2021)
Being Right: A Beginner's Guide to Logical Fallacies and Deductive Reasoning by Stephen Pape (2019)
See the full transcript here.
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I could never do this without your support! :)
Episode #072 - On Insecurity
Episode #072 - On Insecurity
On today's episode, we take a close look at insecurity from multiple angles. We look at it as a stand-alone method of influencing human behavior and consider how it compares with other methods of influencing human behavior. Ultimately the goal is to understand a little more about why we think and act the way we do. If you want some additional reading, check out the links below on Kant's moral law; there is a strong connection to what we've been talking about in the last few episodes, including this one.
Further Reading:
The Psychology of Insecurity by Joseph P. Forgas, William D. Crano, and Klaus Fiedler (2023)
Psychology of Human Behavior: A Beginner's Guide to Learn How to Influence People, Reading Body Language and Improve Your Social Skills and Relationship. Includes NLP Techniques, Hypnosis and CBT by David Cooper (2021)
An Introduction to Kant's Moral Philosophy by Jennifer K. Uleman (2010)
See the full transcript here.
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I could never do this without your support! :)
Episode #071 - Is Killing Animals for Food Morally Justifiable?
Episode #071 - Is Killing Animals for Food Morally Justifiable?
This episode explores how everyday choices reflect moral reasoning. Using the ethics of eating meat, it shows how common justifications—like taste or biology—often collapse under scrutiny, urging us to rethink the assumptions behind our judgments.
Further Reading:
The Elements of Moral Philosophy by James Rachels and Stuart Rachels (2019)
An Introduction to Moral Philosophy by Jonathan Wolff (2018)
Moral Decision Making: How to Approach Everyday Ethics by Clancy Martin (2013)
See the full transcript here.
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Episode #070 - Off Moodiness
Episode #070 - Off Moodiness
The episode explores practical systems like Stoicism, mindfulness, and positive thinking as tools for emotional self-regulation, emphasizing that real change comes from habit, not information. It argues that the best method isn’t the most profound, but the one you’ll stick with long enough to make it routine.
Further Transcript:
The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness by Jonas Salzgeber (2019)
The Beginner's Guide to Stoicism: Tools for Emotional Resilience and Positivity by Matthew Van Natta (2019)
Stoicism 101: A Beginner's Guide to Peace and Resilience by William T. Harrison (2024)
See the full transcript here.
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I could never do this without your support! :)
Episode #069 - An Appeal To Reason
Episode #069 - An Appeal To Reason
The episode explores how belief is often shaped by comfort, not truth, and urges listeners to stop outsourcing their thinking. Drawing on Kant, it argues that real maturity means daring to think for yourself, even when it’s hard.
Further Reading:
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan (1995)
Kant: A Very Short Introduction by Roger Scruton (1981)
Thinking from A to Z by Nigel Warburton (2000)
See the full transcript here.
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I could never do this without your support! :)
Episode #068 - On Moodiness
Episode #068 - On Moodiness
The episode explores moodiness as a universal trait tied to emotional self-regulation. It questions whether people have a moral responsibility to manage their moods, especially when those moods affect others, setting the stage for upcoming discussions on Kant, Hegel, and Schleiermacher.
Further Reading:
Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: An Introduction by Sally Sedgwick (2008)
Hegel: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer (2001)
Schleiermacher: Lectures on Philosophical Ethics by Friedrich Schleiermacher, translated by Robert B. Louden and Louise Adey Huish (2002)
See the full transcript here.
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I could never do this without your support! :)
Episode #067 - What Hegel Was Saying!
Episode #067 - What Hegel Was Saying!
The episode explains how Hegel challenges Kant’s view that we can’t access reality, arguing that perception itself is reality. He rejects the idea that knowledge comes from fixed truths or raw senses, instead seeing it as shaped by changing relationships and consciousness. This lays the foundation for his broader ideas about history and freedom.
Further Reading:
An Introduction to Hegel: Freedom, Truth and History by Stephen Houlgate (2005)
Hegel: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer (2001)
Practical Philosophy from Kant to Hegel: Freedom, Right, and Revolution edited by James A. Clarke and Gabriel Gottlieb (2021)
See the full transcript here.
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Episode #066 - Hegel Pt. 1 - Introduction
Episode #066 - Hegel Pt. 1 - Introduction
The episode explores two views of freedom: one focused on acting on choices, the other on understanding their roots. It also introduces Hegel’s idea that everything—even consciousness—evolves through a process called the dialectic.
Further Reading:
The Accessible Hegel by Michael Allen Fox (2005)
An Introduction to Hegel: Freedom, Truth and History by Stephen Houlgate (2005, 2nd ed.)
Hegel, Marx, and the Necessity and Freedom Dialectic by Russell Rockwell (2018)
See the full transcript here.
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Episode #065 - Mary Wollstonecraft
Episode #065 - Mary Wollstonecraft
This episode traces Mary Wollstonecraft’s fight against the social conditioning of women, highlighting how she challenged Enlightenment hypocrisy and argued for true equality through education.
Further Reading:
Mary Wollstonecraft: A Revolutionary Life by Janet Todd (2000)
Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft by Lyndall Gordon (2005)
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)
See the full transcript here.
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Episode #064 - Hermeneutics: Interpreting Interpretations
Hermeneutics - Interpreting Interpretations
On this episode of the podcast, we discuss Hermeneutics, or "the art of avoiding misunderstanding." First, we meet Johnny -- a disgruntled Philosophize This! listener who is bored and frustrated by episodes about philosophers who make unverifiable speculations about metaphysics.
Further Reading:
Kant: A Very Short Introduction by Roger Scruton (1981)
Understanding Hermeneutics by Lawrence K. Schmidt (2006)
Reading Philosophy: Selected Texts with a Method for Beginners by Samuel Guttenplan, Jennifer Hornsby, and Christopher Janaway (2002)
See the full transcript here
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Episode #063 - Kant Pt. 8 - Limitations of Knowledge
Kant Part 8: Limitations of Knowledge
On this episode of the podcast, we discuss Kant's views on the limits of human knowledge. First, we ask ourselves why we seek knowledge at all and whether there will ever be an endpoint to our search for it.
Further Reading:
Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant (1781)
Knowledge and Its Limits by Timothy Williamson (2000)
What We Cannot Know by Marcus du Sautoy (2016)
See the full transcript here
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I could never do this without your support! :)
Episode #062 - Kant Pt. 7 - Suicide
Kant Part 7: Suicide
On this episode of the podcast, we discuss the morality of suicide. We begin by questioning our own biases and assumptions about suicide and where they come from. Next, we examine suicide from a Christian perspective by considering the arguments posed by St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.
Further Reading:
Suicide: The Philosophical Dimensions by Michael Cholbi (2011)
The Ethics of Suicide: Historical Sources edited by Margaret Pabst Battin (2015)
How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind by Clancy Martin (2023)
See the full transcript here
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Episode #061 - Kant Pt. 6 - What is Enlightenment?
Kant Part 6: What is enlightenment?
On this episode of the podcast, we discuss Kant's answer to the question "What is enlightenment?" We begin by recounting the story of how Kant came to answer this question in the first place and why this was an important question to consider at the time.
Further Reading:
The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy by Anthony Gottlieb (2016)
The Enlightenment: And Why It Still Matters by Anthony Pagden (2013)
The Enlightenment: A Very Short Introduction by John Robertson (2015)
See the full transcript here
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Episode #060 - Kant Pt. 5 - The Sublime
Kant Part 5: The Sublime
On this episode of the podcast, we attempt to tackle the elusive concept of the sublime. We begin by clarifying everything the sublime is NOT, and then attempt to pin it down by considering a common motif that has been associated with the sublime throughout history.
Further Reading:
The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke: From the Sublime and Beautiful to American Independence by David Bromwich (2014)
Kant's Aesthetics and Teleology by Paul Guyer (2003)
Lyotard: Philosophy, Politics and the Sublime by Hugh J. Silverman (2016)
See the full transcript here
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Episode #059 - Kant Pt. 4 - Categorical Trolley Cars
Kant Part 4: Categorical Trolley Cars
On this episode of the podcast, we analyze the infamous Trolley Car Problem and think about it in relation to Kant's categorical imperative. First, we discuss the value of thought experiments and call into question the concept of "common sense".
Further Reading:
Ethics: A Very Short Introduction by Simon Blackburn (2009)
The Elements of Moral Philosophy by James Rachels and Stuart Rachels (10th Edition, 2023)
The Fundamentals of Ethics by Russ Shafer-Landau (2009)
See the full transcript here
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Episode #058 - Kant pt. 3 - Deontology vs. Consequentialism
Kant Part 3: Deontology vs. Consequentialism
On this episode of the podcast, we continue our discussion of Kant, this time focusing on ethics. We begin with a thought experiment that calls into question whether or not lying is morally justifiable if it results in preserving human life.
Further Reading:
The Elements of Moral Philosophy by James Rachels and Stuart Rachels (10th Edition, 2023)
Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics by Simon Blackburn (2003)
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur (2022)
See the full transcript here
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Episode #057 - Kant Pt. 2 - The Introduction
Kant Part 2: The Introduction
On this episode of the podcast we continue our discussion of Kant, this time focusing on his contributions to the debate between rationalism and empiricism. We begin by reviewing the major point of contention between the rationalists and empiricists regarding how we arrive at knowledge. Next, we learn about Kant's "eureka!"
Further Reading:
Knowledge, Reason, and Taste: Kant’s Response to Hume – Paul Guyer (2013)
Bacon to Kant: An Introduction to Modern Philosophy – Garrett Thomson (2023)
The Worlds of Hume and Kant – James B. Allen & James W. Wilbur (1982)
See the full transcript here.
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Episode #056 - Kant Pt. 1 - An Introduction to the Introduction
Kant Part 1: An Introduction to the Introduction
On this episode of the podcast, we begin our discussion of Immanuel Kant. We first examine the historical context Kant was born into and consider the challenges philosophy was faced with, thanks to David Hume. We also discuss the change in the way humans were beginning to look at the universe during Kant's time.
Further Reading:
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp (2000)
Immanuel Kant (Key Concepts) by Will Dudley (2010)
The Worlds of Hume and Kant edited by James B. Wilbur and H. J. Allen (1982)
See the full transcript here
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I could never do this without your support! :)