A very sombre topic this week, insanity of the law. Using the tragedy of the high school shooting in Newtown Connecticut as a backdrop we ask the following: Should those who kill because of a mental illness be dealt with as murderers or as unfortunate Read More …
Tag: Idle Talk
Idle Talk 23 12 12 “The false premise of presents”
“Oh come let us Adorno him!” It’s our Christmas special. At this time of year it is customary to buy lots of presents, this week’s topic was “The false premise of presents”. We examine Adorno’s “Articles may not be exchanged” form his book “Minima Moralia”. Read More …
Idle Talk 16 12 12 “The cult of celebrity, Plato in the Big Brother house”
This week we revisited the topic of Fame and the cult of celebrity as first discussed on Idle Talk 11 11 12. We discuss an article by Dr Angie Hobs which discusses what ancient Greek philosophers think of our current culture of celebrity. what with Plato thought Read More …
Idle Talk 09 12 12 “self-inflicted health conditions”
This week’s topic is self-inflicted health conditions and the right to treatment. Should, for example, smokers get lower priority treatment from the NHS because their illness is a result of their choice to smoke? To what degree is it reasonable to hold patients responsible for there Read More …
Idle Talk 18 11 12 “I believe in miracles…”
This week’s topic is religious experience. We attempt to answer questions such as What is a religious experience? Are religious experience is genuine? Can they be used to prove the existence of God? The discussion then looks more closely at miracles and David Hume’s argument against Read More …
Idle Talk 11 11 12- “Fame! I want to live forever…”
This week’s topic is fame and the cult of celebrity. Illustrator Nicola is in the co host corner. We try to answer the questions: “why do we care about celebrities? What is a celebrity? Why do people want to be famous? And is there sociological Read More …
Idle Talk 14 10 12 “Call me a sceptic…”
Our topic this week is, ” does the external world exist?”. How do you know that you are really situated in a physical world? We start by discussing the early sceptics such as Phyrrho (they don’t believe in nothing!), and then attempt to tackle Descarts Read More …
Idle Talk 20 10 12 “What’s your favourite colour? And does it exist?”
This week we are talking about colours. Is the world coloured or not? Are objects such as green hedges, red roses and yellow bananas really coloured? Or is the colour we experience only in our mind? Nicola is cohost. On the show: in “the philosophy Read More …
Idle Talk 23 09 12 free will and determinism
The central topic this weeks show was free will and determinism. Do we have free will? Are we truly in control of our actions or is everything we do is simply a result of something which happened before? Illustrator and all round loon Nicola Patten Read More …
Idle Talk 09 09 12 “From Michael Mcintyre to medical ethics”
A wide ranging and strange assortment of topics this week including: Is Rhodders’s philosophy degree worthless? Doing stand up in Brighton, why comedians hate Michael McIntyre, Frankie Boyle, comedians publicly supporting political parties, political discussion is impossible, debunking stupid Facebook health scare-cold water and leading Read More …