Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Mike Huemer rejoins Spencer to discuss the nature of consciousness. They consider the reasons for thinking that consciousness can't be physical and some prominent physicalist rejoinders to dualist a

Death and Immortality (Thinking About Death Part 2)

May 22nd, 2024 1h 20m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Come for Spencer's funeral home jokes; stay for the unanticipated discussion of the movie Her. Travis Timmerman and Spencer Case resume their discussion about death. This time they talk about annihi

Thinking about Marxism

Apr 29th, 2024 1h 19m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Ben Burgis rejoins Spencer to defend Marx's record.

Debating Israel/Palestine

Mar 31st, 2024 1h 36m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!This episode tackles one of the most controversial topics of the day (really, most days over the last several decades): Israel/Palestine. Craig White, a former diplomat and the author of Iraq: The M

Is it Ok to Own a Gun?

Feb 24th, 2024 1h 14m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Ryan W. Davis, a philosophy professor at Brigham Young University, joins Spencer Case to discuss the ethics and politics of gun ownership in the US. Check out his new book, Why it's OK to Own a Gun

Thinking about Death, Part 1

Jan 25th, 2024 1h 32m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!What is death? Does fear of death affect our everyday lives? And will your death harm you or not? Travis Timmerman, associate professor at Seton Hall University, joins Spencer to discuss these and o

Rant-a-Thon 2023

Dec 20th, 2023 2h 14m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!It's the end of the year again and time to rant! This year's collection of rants includes:Jarrod Blair on bad habits that crush the philosophical spiritMatthew Adelstein on the stupidity and depravi

Political Beliefs (with Oliver Traldi)

Nov 19th, 2023 1h 9m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Oliver Traldi rejoins Spencer Case to discuss the nature of political beliefs. Topics they cover include the bad incentives that influence political beliefs, how political beliefs should be defined,

Discriminating for the Greater Good Part 2: Law and Affirmative Action

Oct 30th, 2023 1h 30m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!His Offensiveness Stephen Kershnar returns to the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about the philosophy of law. This leads to a discussion of the Students For Fair Admissions (SFFA) Supreme C

Trust and the liberal order

Sep 29th, 2023 1h 11m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Kevin Vallier joins Spencer Case to talk about social trust and the role it plays in the psychological and moral foundations of liberal societies.

Gender, Pronouns and Linguistic Negotiation

Aug 7th, 2023 1h 20m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Alex Byrne discusses the controversy around his article on pronouns in the Journal of Controversial Ideas. Byrne and Matt Lutz debate the meaning of the word 'woman.' Alex's view is that women are

American Patriotism

Jul 1st, 2023 1h 23m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Commentator Charles "Concealed Weapon" Cooke joins Spencer to discuss American identity and patriotism.

Wokeness in Science: Critiquing a critique

Jun 9th, 2023 1h 14m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!MIT philosophy professor Alex Byrne and podcast regular Matt Lutz join Spencer to discuss an article that recently appeared in the Journal of Controversial Ideas entitled "A Defense of Merit in Scie

Thought experiments (Special Brain in a Vat co-production)

May 21st, 2023 1h 15m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Mark Oppenheimer and Jason Werbeloff of Brain in a Vat join Spencer to discuss one of their favorite subjects: thought experiments.

Sikh Metaphysics and Ethics

Apr 21st, 2023 1h 11m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Keshav Singh joins Spencer to discuss Sikh religion and philosophy. ("Sikh" is pronounced with the short 'i' sound, and not like "seek"). They cover they history and basic tenets of the Sikh faith

Creating Future People

Mar 30th, 2023 1h 37m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Johnny the Anomaly joins Spencer Case to argue that the potential benefits of genetic enhancement outweigh the risks (Spencer is skeptical).The electronic version of Anomaly's book, Creating Future

Unreasonable Doubt: Rejecting Skepticism

Feb 25th, 2023 1h 33m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Mike Huemer joins Spencer Case for a wide-ranging discussion about epistemology. Mike argues that you should trust the experts rather than relying on your own "critical thinking"; Spencer's not so s

The Dark Side of Technology, Part 2

Jan 28th, 2023 1h 10m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Ryan Jenkins, professor of philosophy at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, rejoins Spencer for the first time since the inaugural episode of Micro-Digressions to resume the conversation about how technology

Rant-a-thon spectacular (2022)

Dec 25th, 2022 1h 35m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Featuring: Mark Oppenheimer and Jason Werbeloff from the Brain in the Vat podcast ranting against each other, Perry Hendericks on biased refereeing, Bob Pasnau on contemporary philosophy versus hi

Black Friday Special episode: Famine, Affluence and Morality, Part 2

Dec 9th, 2022 1h 8m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Jim Skidmore joins Spencer to continue the discussion of Singer's argument in "Famine, Affluence, and Morality."

Black Friday Special episode: Famine, Affluence and Morality, Part 1

Dec 1st, 2022 1h 12m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!The first of a two-part series on Peter Singer's famous argument that we must give our expendable income to highly effective charities. This episode features guest Travis Timmerman of Seton Hall Un

Realism, idealism, and the War in Ukraine

Oct 27th, 2022 1h 53m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Philippe Lemoine returns to Micro-Digressions to talk about the difference between realism and idealism in foreign policy thinking, and why he thinks excessive idealism led to the ongoing Russo-Ukra

Self-Contempt and the Decline of Civilizations

Sep 17th, 2022 1h 17m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Benedict Beckeld joins Spencer Case to talk about his new book Western Self-Contempt: Oikophobia in the Decline of Civilizations. They discuss the phenomenon of oikophobia, which is roughly contempt

Parenting and Philosophy

Aug 21st, 2022 1h 20m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!Big news: Spencer is a father! Jessica Flanigan, mother of four and philosopher, is this episode's guest. The topics they cover include: what are babies' minds like? Do we have good reasons to becom

Is everything becoming political? (Remastered)

Aug 3rd, 2022 1h 4m

Tell Spencer your thoughts about this episode!This first recorded episode of Micro-Digressions has been re-edited for improved sound quality and flow. Justin Kalef and Spencer Case discuss their worries about hyper-politicization, and together