Footnote to Plato

Is it truly in the eye of the beholder? Or is there something ‘objective’ or ‘universal’ about it?

For tonight’s show we got stuck into the more aesthetic side of philosophy, looking at the concept of beauty and what we experience when we see beauty. In particular, we looked at Immanuel Kant’s understanding of ‘judgments of beauty’. He distinguishes such judgments from ‘judgments of the good’ (moral judgments) and ‘judgments of the agreeable’ (matters of subjective taste). We used, as always, illuminating examples: such as Alistair’s penchance for apple juice – or lack thereof – and the pleasures of a warm bath. But what about the wonder of a special sunset? Unlike the first examples, we’d be justifiably concerned if our friends and family didn’t share that feeling of wonder (of beauty, even).

We also – somehow – managed to fit the Northern Expressway into the discussion. Listen in to see how.

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So you think you’re smart eh?

So your brain does all this stuff yeah? Problem solving, new ideas, sneaky plans etc. But where did all this come from. Presumably, your brain did not appear magically from Aristotle’s aether, much like everything the team discusses, but if not the aether where?

Yup, you guessed it, Evolution with a capital E! According to John Dewey we can thank out smarts on tension, conflict and trying to adapt to our environment. All the things that make life hard appear to be all the things that have allowed us to become such a brilliant species. However, these days we have come to a point where many of the problems that shaped our evolved brains have long since disappeared. Have we become too smart for our own good? Do we create new problems just for the sake of a challenge. It sure doesn’t feel like it, but just because it’s counter intuitive doesn’t mean it aint true.

Hosts:

Bryan, Aaron and Alistair

Tracks:

The Wombats – Girls and Fast Cars

Broken Social Scene – Forced to Love

Podcast:

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Ding Dong Bin Laden’s Dead!

In the event of Bin Laden’s demise at the hands of U.S. forces the team decided it was a good opportunity to focus on fundamentalism. Michael didn’t seem to think it was a problem to  be a little go gung-ho with your beliefs of what is and isn’t just. Anyone you don’t agree with, you can just ignore completely; like the racists! Although Michael did allow room for telling extremists they were wrong. Alistair proposed that an approach intertwined with rationality was probably a better way to go.

Hosts:

Alistair, Michael and Aaron

Tracks:

Maps and Atlases – Solid Ground

Marcus Miller – Power

Podcast:

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Is the word ‘handbag’ a picture of a handbag?

According to many Ludwig Wittgenstein is the rock star of 20th century philosophy. This week the whole team crammed into the studio in an attempt to get the maximum amount of brain power plugged into the task of understanding Wittgenstein’s language games. Listen in to see how things panned out!

Hosts:

Bryan, Michael, Aaron, Alistair

Tracks:

Johnny Git a Boom Boom – Imelda May

This too Shall Pass – OK Go

Podcast:

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Are you really in the Matrix or just stuck in a vat?

This week on the show Alistair and Bryan tackled the problem presented in the blockbuster movie, The Matrix. How do we know for sure that the world we perceive around us is anything the real world? That is, if all we know of the world comes in through our senses and all we perceive is a product of electrical activity in the brain, how can we be sure that we are not being fed all this information by a supercomputer? The short answer is…..we can’t!

Even though The Matrix gained huge popularity bringing this question to the masses it turns out the ideas presented in the film are not new. The team managed to trace the idea back to philosopher Hilary Putnam and his thought experiment Brains in Vat. Putnam proposes the scenario that we are just brains in big jars being fed the real world by a supercomputer programmed by an evil scientist. But ideas of this nature stem even further back than the invention of the computer. Back in the 1600s Rene Descarte tacked the same problem. The only difference was that Descarte was concerned that an evil demon was trying to trick him by feeding him false beliefs.

Just as Alistair and Bryan were almost convinced that they were in fact brains in vats, Aaron appeared at the door of the studio to throw in his 2 cents.

Hosts:

Alistair, Bryan & Aaron

Tracks:

The Machine, Hawkai

Assume the Position, The Oscillators

Podcast:

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This week, we asked: Are you a nihilist? We discussed the work of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his diagnosis of nihilism. We looked at his ideas of the ‘Death of God’, the ‘Eternal Recurrence’, and how to combat nihilism and achieve a life truly worth living.

There was, in the end, some disagreement between the crew: Alistair coming down on the side of Nietzsche’s ethics of authenticity, while Michael focused more on its shortcomings relative to Kant’s moral thinking.

Hosts:

Alistair with Michael

Tracks:

Regina Spektor – Marry Ann

Ani diFranco – Loom

Crosby, Stills & Nash – Hopelessly Helping

Podcast:

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