Good in Theory: A Political Philosophy Podcast

46 - Athenian democracy and Plato w/ Graham Culbertson (Everyday Anarchism Podcast)

This episode is a crossover collabo with Graham Culbertson of the Everyday Anarchism podcast. Graham asked me over to talk Athenian democracy, Plato, anarchism and how mo

45 - Humane War feat. Samuel Moyn

War tends to bring out the human propensity for atrocity. Nobody likes indiscriminate killing, torture and so on. What to do about it? One response is to avoid war altoge

44 - Samuel Huntington "The Clash of Civilizations?"

 Samuel J. Huntington’s 1993 “The Clash of Civilizations?” is the most assigned article in American political science. It predicts a worldwide culture war (but not the ki

43 - Tyranny at Work feat. Elizabeth Anderson

Americans hate when the state tells them what to do. They’ve got freer speech, freer access to guns and less regulation on business than any other rich country.  So why

42 - The New Aristocracy feat. Matthew Stewart

Matthew Stewart is a philosophy PhD and author. He’s also a Princeton guy and former management consultant so he knows rich people.  His new book, The 9.9%, is about the

41 - Love in the Time of Big Data feat. Alfie Bown

Big tech companies tell us they’re our servants, existing to fulfill our desires more cheaply and conveniently than ever. Alfie Bown doesn’t think so. He thinks Deliveroo

40 - Is Liberal Democracy the Best We Can Do? feat. The Morality of Everyday Things

Is democracy the worst form of government except for all the others or is it just the worst? This is a crossover with the  delightful Morality of Everyday Things podcas

39 - The Glorious History and Ugly Present of Rhetoric feat. Rob Goodman

Rhetoric is supposed to inspire. Imagine Cicero exhorting the Roman people, Churchill vowing to “fight on the beaches.” Yet, when politicians speak today, it’s almost alw

38 - GiT Holiday Special with Sep

It’s the holidays again! And Theory Elf Sep comes on to help celebrate them. We talk about the past year of working on the pod, where I've been for the past two mont

37 - Thought Lab 4: The Psychology of Horror

Grizzly bears are scary. But what about zombie grizzly bears? What’s makes something horrifying rather than just frightening?  Paul has a theory. It turns out that human

36 - Moral Saints 2: Why Be a Saint?

This episode is about Wolf’s “Moral Saints,” Peter Singer’s “Famine, Affluence and Morality,” and Larissa Macfarquhar’s Strangers Drowning.   Susan Wolf thinks that devo

35 - Susan Wolf, “Moral Saints”

This episode is about Susan Wolf’s 1982 article “Moral Saints.”  You’re probably a moral enough person. But have you ever had that nagging feeling that you should be eve

34 - The Esoteric Plato feat. Earl Fontainelle

Today I speak with Earl Fontainelle of the Secret History of Western Esotericism podcast (SHWEP).  I don’t understand Plato. Partly this is because he never writes in hi

33 - The End of the End of History feat. Philip Cunliffe and George Hoare

I talk to Phillip Cunliffe and George Hoare about their new book The End of the End of History.   In 1989, Francis Fukuyama predicted a boring eternity of liberal capita

32 - Fukuyama’s “The End of History?”

In 1989, Francis Fukuyama was a foreign policy expert with an interest in Hegel. He published a little essay called “The End of History?” in which he argued that the Cold

31 - Thought Lab 3: Utilitarianism & the Great Spreadsheet

Today, Paul Sagar and I get into utilitarianism. We talk about thought experiments that involve: drowning kids, ruined loafers, death squads and bioweapons. The drownin

30 - Plato's Republic 13: Choose Yourself

This episode covers the last bit of book 10 of Plato’s Republic. Imagine you get to choose your reincarnation. You can come back as a tyrant, a sports star, a swan, wha

29 - Plato's Republic 12: Poetic Sweet Tooth

Socrates thinks that poetry is like candy: delicious but bad for us. If we consume too much, it’ll rot our souls. That’s because the poets just pander to our passions wit

28 - Plato's Republic 11: A Tyrant's Life

This episode covers book 9 of Plato's Republic.  In this episode, Socrates is going to finally answer the question that started it all. Back in book 2, Glaucon and

27 - Plato's Republic 10: Degenerate Cities, Degenerate Souls

 How does politics affect personality? In the ideal city, the perfect laws and education create philosopher kings. But what about everywhere else?  In this chapter, Socr