319 episodes

An 'informal and informative' philosophy podcast inspiring and supporting students, teachers, academics and free-thinkers worldwide. All episodes are available at www.thepanpsycast.com.

The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast Jack Symes | Andrew Horton, Oliver Marley, and Rose de Castellane

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.8 • 314 Ratings

An 'informal and informative' philosophy podcast inspiring and supporting students, teachers, academics and free-thinkers worldwide. All episodes are available at www.thepanpsycast.com.

    Episode 128, ‘Domestic Labour’ with Paulina Sliwa & Tom McClelland (Part I - Affordance Perception)

    Episode 128, ‘Domestic Labour’ with Paulina Sliwa & Tom McClelland (Part I - Affordance Perception)

    ‘The kitchen needs cleaning, but only one of us seems to notice. I mean, he looked straight at the dishes in the sink…and just stacked his dish on top of them. How high does this precarious tower of crockery have to be until he decides to wash the dishes or, more likely, they collapse into an unrepairable heap? I suppose I’ll have to wash them. They won’t get washed otherwise, and I’d rather get them off my mind.’
    The unequal distribution of household labour is a familiar concern amongst feminists. Despite the progress in women’s rights and freedoms, women across the world continue to bear the responsibility of domestic chores and childcare. This raises an important question: why do women in monogamous, opposite-sex relationships continue to shoulder a disproportionate amount of housework work despite their political gains?
    In this episode, we’ll be exploring this question with two outstanding philosophers of morality and mind: Paulina Sliwa (Professor of Philosophy at the University of Vienna) and Thomas McClelland (Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge). 
    According to Paulina and Tom, our disparities and perception of domestic labour are determined by our feelings, beliefs, and social norms. In other words, the way we perceive the world is radically different. The dishes don’t call out to some – in need of cleaning – in a moment of perception, as they do to others. So what can we do to change this disparity…that is, if it’s in need of changing at all.


    Contents
    Part I. Affordance Perception
    Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion





    Links
    Thomas McClelland and Paulina Sliwa, Gendered Affordance Perception and Unequal Domestic Labour (paper)
    Coverage of Gendered Addordance Perception in the media (website)
    Thomas McClelland (website)
    Paulina Sliwa (website)

    • 32 min
    Episode 127, ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ with Jeffrey Rosen (Part II - Further Analysis and Discussion)

    Episode 127, ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ with Jeffrey Rosen (Part II - Further Analysis and Discussion)

    Alongside life and liberty, the Declaration of Independence marked the pursuit of happiness as the foundation of American democracy. Yet, as the history of philosophy has taught us, understanding happiness is no easy task. Pursuing happiness as the cessation of desire, a feeling of perpetual pleasure, or as a state of human flourishing are very different projects…so, which conception of happiness did America’s Founding Fathers take to be an ‘inalienable right’?
    In this episode, we’ll be exploring the nature of happiness with Professor Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center. According to Rosen, in tracing the Founding Fathers’ intellectual development – inspired by Greek and Roman philosophy – we see that the Founders understood happiness as a pursuit of moral excellence rather than immediate gratification.
    No doubt, Western understandings of happiness have shifted…today, happiness means something closer to feeling good than being good. Our question is whether this cultural shift was a mistake. In carving out our futures, ought we look to the past? In defining the purpose of our lives and the destination of our states, should we turn to America’s Founding Fathers and their ancient teachers?
    Contents
    Part I. The Founding Fathers
    Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion





    Links
    Jeffrey Rosen, Twitter
    The National Constitution Center, Website
    Jeffrey Rosen, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America (Amazon)
    Jeffrey Rosen, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America (Simon & Schuster)

    • 34 min
    Episode 127, ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ with Jeffrey Rosen (Part I - The Founding Fathers)

    Episode 127, ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ with Jeffrey Rosen (Part I - The Founding Fathers)

    Alongside life and liberty, the Declaration of Independence marked the pursuit of happiness as the foundation of American democracy. Yet, as the history of philosophy has taught us, understanding happiness is no easy task. Pursuing happiness as the cessation of desire, a feeling of perpetual pleasure, or as a state of human flourishing are very different projects…so, which conception of happiness did America’s Founding Fathers take to be an ‘inalienable right’?
    In this episode, we’ll be exploring the nature of happiness with Professor Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center. According to Rosen, in tracing the Founding Fathers’ intellectual development – inspired by Greek and Roman philosophy – we see that the Founders understood happiness as a pursuit of moral excellence rather than immediate gratification.
    No doubt, Western understandings of happiness have shifted…today, happiness means something closer to feeling good than being good. Our question is whether this cultural shift was a mistake. In carving out our futures, ought we look to the past? In defining the purpose of our lives and the destination of our states, should we turn to America’s Founding Fathers and their ancient teachers?
    Contents
    Part I. The Founding Fathers
    Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion





    Links
    Jeffrey Rosen, Twitter
    The National Constitution Center, Website
    Jeffrey Rosen, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America (Amazon)
    Jeffrey Rosen, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America (Simon & Schuster)

    • 36 min
    Episode 126, ‘Playfulness Versus Epistemic Traps’ with C. Thi Nguyen (Part II - Further Analysis and Discussion)

    Episode 126, ‘Playfulness Versus Epistemic Traps’ with C. Thi Nguyen (Part II - Further Analysis and Discussion)

    There’s great pleasure to be found in make-believe. Instantly shifting our perspectives and belief systems gives rise to new possibilities – possibilities that are unavailable to the serious and sober-minded. Yet, as time passes, so does our desire to play. Adults – and, perhaps more so, philosophers – are instructed to ‘grow up’, to build their lives and views on sensible grounds, and leave their disposition for laughter, disruption, and mischief in the playground. For C. T Nguyen – Professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah – this is a foolish mistake.
    C. T Nguyen is one of the most innovative aestheticians of our time. As well as being published across philosophy’s leading journals, Nguyen’s work – which focuses on art, games, and agency – has earned him several notable prizes, including the American Philosophical Association 2021 Award, for his book Games: Agency as Art.
    In this episode, we’ll be speaking to Nguyen about intellectual playfulness. For Nguyen, playfulness should be understood as a virtue and not a vice. When we explore philosophical ideas through our usual perspectives, we close ourselves off from a rich set of alternative possibilities, and risk re-directing good-faith inquiry into bad-faith results. Playfulness, however, allows us to escape these traps in our thinking, and open ourselves up to the possibility of creativity.


    This episode is produced in partnership with the Aesthetics and Political Epistemology Project at the University of Liverpool, led by Katherine Furman, Robin McKenna, and Vid Simoniti and funded by the British Society of Aesthetics.





    Contents
    Part I. The Ideal Thinker
    Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion





    Links
    C. Thi Nguyen, ‘Playfulness Versus Epistemic Traps’ (paper)
    C. Thi Nguyen, Games: Agency As Art (book)
    C. Thi Nguyen, website
    C. Thi Nguyen, X (Twitter)
    John Gierach, Fly Fishing Small Streams (book)
    Natasha Dow Schüll, Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas (book)
    Monster Train (game)

    • 39 min
    Episode 126, ‘Playfulness Versus Epistemic Traps’ with C. Thi Nguyen (Part I - The Ideal Thinker)

    Episode 126, ‘Playfulness Versus Epistemic Traps’ with C. Thi Nguyen (Part I - The Ideal Thinker)

    There’s great pleasure to be found in make-believe. Instantly shifting our perspectives and belief systems gives rise to new possibilities – possibilities that are unavailable to the serious and sober-minded. Yet, as time passes, so does our desire to play. Adults – and, perhaps more so, philosophers – are instructed to ‘grow up’, to build their lives and views on sensible grounds, and leave their disposition for laughter, disruption, and mischief in the playground. For C. T Nguyen – Professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah – this is a foolish mistake.
    C. T Nguyen is one of the most innovative aestheticians of our time. As well as being published across philosophy’s leading journals, Nguyen’s work – which focuses on art, games, and agency – has earned him several notable prizes, including the American Philosophical Association 2021 Award, for his book Games: Agency as Art.
    In this episode, we’ll be speaking to Nguyen about intellectual playfulness. For Nguyen, playfulness should be understood as a virtue and not a vice. When we explore philosophical ideas through our usual perspectives, we close ourselves off from a rich set of alternative possibilities, and risk re-directing good-faith inquiry into bad-faith results. Playfulness, however, allows us to escape these traps in our thinking, and open ourselves up to the possibility of creativity.


    This episode is produced in partnership with the Aesthetics and Political Epistemology Project at the University of Liverpool, led by Katherine Furman, Robin McKenna, and Vid Simoniti and funded by the British Society of Aesthetics.





    Contents
    Part I. The Ideal Thinker
    Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion





    Links
    C. Thi Nguyen, ‘Playfulness Versus Epistemic Traps’ (paper)
    C. Thi Nguyen, Games: Agency As Art (book)
    C. Thi Nguyen, website
    C. Thi Nguyen, X (Twitter)
    Natasha Dow Schüll, Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas (book)
    Monster Train (game)

    • 38 min
    Episode 125, The Christmas Special (Part III - Further Analysis and Discussion)

    Episode 125, The Christmas Special (Part III - Further Analysis and Discussion)

    Days grow shorter, rain turns to sleet, and nature’s creatures are forced into hibernation. Winter is here; when the world wages war on us, through darkness, danger, and impending depression. But from the clouds of winter’s despair, therein shines a light: gatherings among families and friends, spirits of fellowship and forgiveness, and scenes of feasts and festivities.
    It is Christmas, who shepherds us together – when we would otherwise be apart – and spares us from the cold, and into loving arms. As we shall see, the festival of Christmas has snowballed with the passing of many winters – from the early celebrations of the Romans and Vikings to the Christian nativity and commercialisation – but what has held this snowball together?
    Let us burn candles, logs, and line our homes with dancing lights; let us bring in trees and celebrate the hope of new life; and let us give generously and extend goodwill to our neighbours here, and around the world.
    Contents
    Part I. The Nativity
    Part II. The Nativity Continued
    Part III. Further Analysis and Discussion





    Links
    Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives (book)
    Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (book)
    Judith Flanders, Christmas: A History (book)
    Bruce Forbes, Christmas: A Candid History (book)
    Brent Landau, Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men's Journey to Bethlehem (book)
    Robert J. Miller, Born Divine: The Births of Jesus and Other Sons of God (book)
    Richard C. Trexler, The Journey of the Magi: Meanings in History of a Christian Story (book)





    Attributions
    The following sounds were used with the permission of the copyright holder.
    Medieval City, OGsoundFX; Night Farmfields, klankbeeld; Baby Breath, m3fuss; all other sounds were produced by Epidemic Sound and The Panpsycast.

    • 26 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
314 Ratings

314 Ratings

Stefan Rhys-Williams ,

Really great philosophy podcast

Love this podcast - the episodes on Wittgenstein are especially fascinating. Highly recommended. It’s pretty accessible but still challenging - a hard balance to strike when it comes to philosophy. But they really manage that here x

Chapman457 ,

Really funny

Haven’t gotten into any real content yet but they’ve made me laugh 3 times in the first minute. Deserves 5 stars.

jimy_0009 ,

Amazing!!!

A incredibly thought provoking and most importantly an interesting!!! presentation of subjects relevant to the A-level course.

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