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Society & Culture

Philosophy For Our Times

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Latest episodes

  • Blue Labour | Maurice Glasman

    October 13, 2026 · 25 min

    Description Does the left really need to be more conservative? What is the difference between capital C and lowercase c conservatism? Is the Blue Labour movement the best tool against the MAGA agenda and right wing nationalism? Maurice…

  • Evidence in the Dock | Nick Enfield, Timothy Williamson, Genia Schönbaumsfeld

    October 13, 2026 · 47 min

    Should we give up seeing evidence as the truth and instead see it as a persuasive argument? Does evidence settle the matter or is a counter-narrative always possible? And if evidence is not the truth, how are we to choose between competing…

  • The Beautiful World | Nicholas Humphrey

    October 6, 2026 · 53 min

    Are homo sapiens the only organisms capable of creating and experiencing beauty? Can we find beauty in God? Why do we see the hand of an Artist in the Natural, if God does not exist? Beauty is one of the most fundamental truths of the…

  • Permissivism and Irrelevant Influences | Miriam Schoenfield

    September 29, 2026 · 22 min

    What does it mean for rationality to be ‘permissive’? Is rationality more limited than we would like to admit? Does the idea that ‘truth is the aim of belief’ still stand? The concept of irrelevant influences has long been troubling for…

  • Rehumanising science | Carlo Rovelli - Part 2

    September 22, 2026 · 46 min

    What makes humans different from nature? What do Confucianism and Daoism have to do with physics? Is science too realist? In part 2 of our interview with Carlo Rovelli, we help unpick the history of the philosophy of science. From…

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  • Rehumanising science | Carlo Rovelli - Part 1

    September 15, 2026 · 38 min

    Are electrons real? What is the connection between physics and Buddhism? Is now the time to rehumanise science? Eastern philosophies have been an integral part of scientific thought and the development of multiple fields for millennia…

  • Taking down the cultural elite | Catherine Liu

    September 8, 2026 · 37 min

    What is managerialism? Why is the meritocracy sliding into technocracy? Does suffering make us seem more pure? We tend to think that today’s progressive politics advances equality through moral awareness and identity. But Catherine Liu…

  • The chains of freedom | Daniel Markovits, Elizabeth Anderson, Yaron Brook

    September 1, 2026 · 48 min

    Is freedom always an absolute good? For freedom to be beneficial and practical, does it need constraining? Are attacks on freedom really the first step to tyranny? From freedom from tyranny and poverty to the right to free speech, we…

  • The secret history of cool | Joel Dinerstein

    August 25, 2026 · 29 min

    Who was the first person to be cool? What connects the civil rights movement and Albert Camus' 'The Rebel'? How has the coopting of black terminology impacted American society more broadly? From James Dean to Kate Moss, we know cool when…

  • Rebalancing the global order | Kishore Mahbubani

    August 18, 2026 · 34 min

    Is it truly the beginning of the end of Western dominance? Where did it all go wrong? And is this more than just an upheaval of the status quo? For centuries, Western powers dominated the global order and mistook that moment for…

  • The future of the right | Sohrab Ahmari, Gawain Towler, Rachel Maclean, Mark Littlewood

    August 11, 2026 · 44 min

    Is the populist right opposed to liberalism and the free market? Does this mark a change in what it is to be right-wing, or was it a mistake to see populism as far right in the first place? Or is there an unavoidable conflict on the right…

  • Love is more than magic | Alain de Botton

    August 4, 2026 · 35 min

    What do voyeurs want? What can the Greeks teach us about love? Why do we pursue those who we now are going to hurt us? Despite our longing for lasting connection, love often falters on the rocks of misunderstanding and unmet expectations…

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About the show

Philosophy for our Times is a free philosophy podcast bringing you the latest talks and debates from the world’s leading thinkers. We host weekly episodes on today’s biggest ideas in news, society, culture, politics, science and arts. Subscribe today to never miss an episode.