Open Door Philosophy

Ep. 96 The End

Send us Fan Mail It's time we say goodbye. This is the final episode of Open Door Philosophy. We had such a wonderful time doing it and thank everyone so deeply for

Ep. 95 The Self, Part Three: The Existentialist View

Send us Fan Mail Is the self a soul that is immortal? Is the self a thinking thing or a bundle of perceptions? The Existentialists take this question and place at the ce

Ep. 94 The Self, Part Two: The Early Modern Shift

Send us Fan Mail Ancient philosophers believed the self was an immortal soul. This began to shift in the late 16th century when the concept of the self began to radicall

Ep. 93 The Self, Part One: Ancient Conceptions

Send us Fan Mail What is the self? Something immaterial? Something like a soul? Or perhaps consciousness? Is it you? Join us for this episode as we look to ancient expla

Ep. 92 The Ladder of Love, Plato's Symposium, Part Three

Send us Fan Mail Ah love, a many splendored thing. At first you are attracted to their looks, but then you realize there's something more to them, something beautif

Ep. 91 Plato's Symposium, Part Two

Send us Fan Mail Are you destined to be with someone? Is there a soul-mate out there, somewhere, just for you? Is love something that comes upon us, or is it something w

Ep. 90 Plato's Symposium, Part One

Send us Fan Mail What is love? Can it inspire us to be better? Can it bring harmony to opposites? These are of the most enduring questions we have, so much so that Plato

Ep. 89 The Oxford Four, Part Four: Mary Midgley

Send us Fan Mail We finish our overview of The Oxford Four with Mr. Parsons' favorite, Mary Midgley. She wrote on the topic of metaphilosophy, championed a pluralis

Ep. 88 The Oxford Four, Part Three: Elizabeth Anscombe

Send us Fan Mail She protested WWII and abortion. She was the pupil of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the eventual conservator of his work. She turned moral philosophy on it&ap

Ep. 87 The Oxford Four, Part Two: Philippa Foot

Send us Fan Mail Ever heard of the Trolly Problem? Of course you have, even if you don't know you have. This episode we turn our attention to Philippa Foot, the ori

Ep. 86 The Oxford Four, Part One: Iris Murdoch

Send us Fan Mail  Dive into the fascinating world of Iris Murdoch, one of four trailblazing women who revolutionized philosophy at Oxford University before and during Wo

Ep. 85 Character and Virtue with Guest Christian Miller

Send us Fan Mail People do not have any virtues, and people do not have any vices. You wouldn't be blamed for thinking this is a surprising take, but our guest Chri

Ep. 84 Our Fourth Annual Marcus Aurelius Extravaganza!

Send us Fan Mail Roughly 1800 years ago, the most powerful person in the world wrote a book. Actually, back then it was only his journal, but today it is considered one

Ep. 83 Is Morality Relative?

Send us Fan Mail Can morality be entirely relative to an individual or a cultural standard? Does the diversity of moral beliefs across cultures undermine the existence o

Ep. 82 Religious Experience, Part 2

Send us Fan Mail Last weekend, as I was driving down the interstate in Houston, I noticed, not for the first time, a billboard that claims, “Signs, Miracles, and Wonders

Ep. 81 Religious Experience, Part 1

Send us Fan Mail In the book of Exodus, God appears to the biblical patriarch Moses in the form of a burning bush, and tells him he is to lead the Isrealites, enslaved b

Ep. 80 Philosophers on God with Guest Jack Symes

Send us Fan Mail What’s the most important question in philosophy? Our guest Jack Symes believes it to be the question of God’s existence, no matter where you fall on th

Ep. 79 From Wollstonecraft to Wolf: Women Who Shaped Philosophy, Part 3

Send us Fan Mail Included in this episode are feminist icons Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvoir, champions of new ethics Mary Midgley, Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foo

Ep. 78 Ban Zhao and Christine de Piaza: Women Who Shaped Philosophy, Part 2

Send us Fan Mail Throughout the history of philosophy, women have been active, yet markedly absent from much of the scholarship. If you go into a book store or do a goog

Ep. 77 Diotima and Hypatia: Women Who Shaped Philosophy, Part 1

Send us Fan Mail Throughout the history of philosophy, women have been active, yet markedly absent from much of the scholarship. If you go into a book store or do a goog