Past Events

Live at the Marsh San Francisco April 7

Date: 
07 April, 2013, 12:00 pm

 

Philosophy Talk returns to the Marsh Theatre in San Francisco for another pair of live recordings! Join us for the next two programs in our 2012-2013 season.

  • 12:00pm - Nations and Borders with Sarah Song
    One’s country of birth has a profound effect on life prospects. It's often best to go elsewhere. But moving is not always so easy. Borders and immigration control restrict people from going where they want to pursue a better life. On the one hand there is the state’s need for security, self-determination, and a functioning economy. But why should arbitrary boundaries, based on past thefts of territory, limit a person's opportunities? Are borders essential to nationhood, or do they form an exclusive club that unfairly keeps certain people from pursuing a better life?  John and Ken lift the gate for UC Berkeley Law Professor Sarah Song, author of Justice, Gender, and the Politics of Multiculturalism.  (buy tickets)
     
  • 3:00pm - Education and the Culture Wars with Rob Reich
    In contemporary democracies, the state is responsible  for providing children with an education. But parents surely have both the right and responsibility for instilling appropriate morals and values in their children. How should we reconcile conflicts between the state’s responsibility to properly educate minors and the parents’ rights to influence their children's values and ideals? Should the government’s approach to education in areas such as history and science always trump that of the child’s most direct guardians? Or should parents hold some veto power when it comes to education about evolution, sex, and other issues that bear on religious and personal values? John and Ken do their homework with Stanford political scientist Rob Reich, co-editor of Education, Justice, and Democracy (forthcoming).  (buy tickets)
 
Tickets can be purchased online, by phone, or in person through The Marsh's box office.
 
The Marsh is located at 1062 Valencia Street in San Francisco's Mission District.
 
 

 

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Live at the Marsh in Berkeley January 27

Date: 
27 January, 2013, 12:00 pm

 

Philosophy Talk returns to the Marsh Theatre in Berkeley for another pair of live recordings! Join us for the next two programs in our 2012-2013 season.

  • 12:00pm - Bioethics: Myths and Realities with David Magnus
    Recent advances in mapping the human genome suggest a vision of the future that might fill us with equal parts hope and dread. On the one hand, the possibility of identifying disease-causing genes may enable us to eradicate cancer, obesity, or depression before they ever develop. On the other hand, the idea that soon we could be “designing” our progeny, choosing physical and psychological traits we deem desirable, is fraught with deep moral complexities. But are these ideas realistic or just the stuff of science fiction? What real ethical problems does the current state of human genomics present? John and Ken map out the terrain with David Magnus, Director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and co-editor of Who Owns Life?  (buy tickets)
  • 3:00pm - Dance as a Way of Knowing with Alva Noë
    Whether it be rhythmic or shuffling, athletic or pedestrian, erotic or just social, dance is an art form that utilizes movement of the body through space. Could the aesthetic experience of being physically present and embodied in the world be considered a way of knowing? Is there something in particular we can come to know by watching or performing dance? And are there broader lessons that dance can teach us about human perception and action? John and Ken hit the floor with Alva Noe from UC Berkeley, author of Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness. (buy tickets)
Tickets can be purchased online, by phone, or in person through The Marsh's box office.
 
The Marsh is located at 2120 Allston Way in Berkeley, California.
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Live at the Marsh in Berkeley

Date: 
11 November, 2012, 12:00 pm

 

Philosophy Talk returns to the Marsh Theatre for another series of live recordings! Join us for the first two programs in our 2012-2013 season.

  • 12:00pm - The Linguistics of Name-Calling with Geoffrey Nunberg
    Sticks and bones may break your bones, but names can also hurt you. And language gives us surprisingly many ways deride, hurt and demean – from a subtly sneering intonation to hurtful and offensive names. How does such language work? And why is there so much of it around these days? Has our acerbic political culture ushered in a new era of name-calling? Or is name calling a phenomenon as old as language itself? John and Ken welcome back linguist and NPR commentator Geoffrey Nunberg, author of Ascent of the A-Word: Assholism, The First Sixty Years.  (buy tickets)
  • 3:00pm - Truth and Other Fictions with Alexis Burgess
    Most of us think that we know the truth when we see it. But what exactly is truth, anyway? Philosophers have offered a blizzard of different answers - ranging from truth as correspondence or coherence all the way to the view that truth is a matter of  pragmatic utility or just a compliment we pay to the things we're prepared to believe or to say. But what is the truth about truth? Is there really such a thing? Or is truth itself a fiction? Join John and Ken as they explore the fickle nature of truth with Alexis Burgess, co-author of Truth.  (buy tickets)
Tickets can be purchased online, by phone, or in person through The Marsh's box office.
 
The Marsh is located at 2120 Allston Way in Berkeley, California.
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Live at Litquake in San Francisco

Date: 
10 October, 2012, 07:00 pm

 

Join us for a live recording at Litquake - San Francisco's Literary Festival - on Wednesday, October 10 at Z Space (450 Florida Street).

"How Fiction Shapes Us" with Joshua Landy

A good novel can do many things—it can distract us from the humdrum of daily existence, stimulate our imaginations, and delight us with its creative use of language. But surely there is more to it than that. While there’s no doubt we read for the pure enjoyment of the experience, isn’t there something more we gain from engaging with fictional worlds and characters? Do we, for example, use literary texts to morally improve ourselves? Is there some deeper truth we’re supposed to learn from a good novel? Or, do we use fiction to fine-tune certain cognitive capacities? Join Philosophy Talk and Litquake to explore the possibilities!

To purchase tickets click here.

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Live in Las Vegas

Date: 
12 September, 2012, 07:30 pm

 

Join us for a live recording on Wednesday, September 12 at the Las Vegas Hotel (3000 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, Nevada). 

"The Sex Trade" with best-selling author Tracy Quan

Despite being considered the "world's oldest profession," prostitution is often critiqued on both moral and political grounds. There are those who consider the commodification of sexual services inherently wrong, something that ought to be abolished outright. Some argue that prostitution necessarily involves the oppression of women, most of whom are forced into it out of economic necessity or lack of appropriate alternatives. However, others claim that prostitution is a legitimate form of commerce and that changing its legal status would reduce or eliminate most harms to sex workers. So, in a just society, are there any conditions under which buying and selling sex are morally acceptable? Does the sex trade inevitably involve coercion of some kind, or can becoming a sex worker ever be a free, fully autonomous choice? John and Ken explore the complexities of the world's oldest profession with Tracy Quan, author of Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl.

Showtime is 7:30 pm. Free registration for this event at http://philosophytalk.org/knpr.

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Live at the Marsh in Berkeley

Date: 
15 July, 2012, 12:00 pm
 

Don't miss the final two programs in our 2011-2012 series at the Marsh theatre.

Tickets for any individual show are $15 dollars in advance or $20 dollars at the door, and can be purchased online at Brown Paper Tickets, by phone, or in person through The Marsh's box office. 

Note: This program may contain material not suitable for younger audiences.

  • 12:00pm - Forbidden Words with Chris Hom.
    Some words are so forbidden that we won't even spell them out here, like n****r, and ch*nk, and k*k*, and c*nt. Decent people don't use these words to refer to others. They are intrinsically disrespectful. But aren't words just strings of sounds or letters? Words have life because they express ideas. But in a free society, how can we prohibit the expression of ideas? How can we forbid words? Where does the strange power of curses, epithets, and scatological terms come from? The Philosophers speak the unspeakble with their guest, Chris Hom from Texas Tech University.  (buy tickets)

 

  • 3:00pm - Turbo-charging the Mind with Anna Salamon.
    The human mind is one of the most amazing products of evolution. But nature's built-in limits have held our minds back for thousands of years. In more recent decades, the rapid advance of computer technology has produced a vast array of intelligent machines that far outstrip us in speed and capacity, but that know far less than we do about almost everything. Is it possible to have the best of both worlds? Can we use new technologies to merge the creator and the created, to break down the barrier between man and machine, and create a hybrid intelligence that seamlessly integrates the vast knoawledge and skills embedded in our biological brains with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our own creations? John and Ken examine the prospects for transcending our biological limits and turbo-charging the human mind with Anna Salamon from the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence.  (buy tickets)
 
The Marsh is located at 2120 Allston Way in Berkeley, California.
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Live at the Marsh Berkeley April 29, 2012

Date: 
29 April, 2012, 12:00 pm

Join us for the next two programs in our 2011-2012 series at the Marsh theatre.

Tickets for any individual show are $15 dollars in advance, or $20 dollars at the door.  Multiple ticket pricing (advance sales only) is as follows: $25 for any two shows (same or different dates) or $45 for any four shows.

Tickets can be purchased online at Brown Paper Tickets, by phone, or in person through The Marsh's box office.

 
  • 12:00pm - Identities Lost & Found in a Global Age with Bharati Mukherjee.
    Throughout human history, people have tended to live and die in the same place, or at least the same region, in which they¹re born. Place is an important part of one's identity. But what happens when people are deprived of this sense of place? What psychological effects do emigrants, exiles, and expatriates endure? What happens to the importance of place when community membership can be based on common interests among people linked by email and facebook? Do we risk losing an important part of human life? Or do we gain freedom from the lottery of birth? John and Ken situate themselves with UC Berkeley English Professor Bharati Mukherjee, author of Miss New India and other novels exploring migration, alienation, and identity.  (buy tickets)
  • 3:00pm - Hypocrisy with Lawrence Quill.
    Hypocrites believe one thing, but do another. Jefferson opposed slavery, but owned slaves. Jesus professed universal love, but cursed an innocent fig tree. Jerry Brown opposes the death penalty, but as governor of California will be responsible for executions. Hypocrites all ­ but vile hypocrites? Surely it was better that Jefferson was a hypocrite, and articulated the case against slavery, than not opposing it at all. Does it take courage to defend a view that you, yourself, don't have the courage or the character to follow through on? John and Ken try to practice what they preach with Lawrence Quill from San Jose State University, author of Civil Disobedience: (Un)Common Sense in Mass Democracies.  (buy tickets)
 
The Marsh is located at 2120 Allston Way in Berkeley, California.
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Have Thought, Will Travel: The Oregon Trail Tour 2012

Date: 
18 April, 2012, 07:00 pm
 
We are thrilled once again to be bringing Philosophy Talk to our friends in Oregon!  It's three recordings in three days on three college campuses, and we have some very exciting discussions lined up:
 
 
 
WHEN: Wednesday, April 18, 7:00 pm
WHERE: Austin Auditorium, Oregon State University, Corvallis
TOPIC: "The Moral Costs of Climate Change"
GUEST: Allen Thompson, Dept. of Philosophy, OSU
Global climate change confronts us with well known pragmatic challenges but also with less commonly acknowledged moral challenges. Who is responsible for responding to environmental catastrophes around the world? What kind of help does the industrialized world owe developing nations? Who should pay for implementing necessary adaptive strategies? As we move forward, what values should we hold onto and which must we discard? Must we, for example, abandon the idea that relentless economic growth is the key to human flourishing, if we are to adapt to the realities of the new global climate?



 
WHEN: Thursday, April 19, 7:00 pm
WHERE: Agnes Flanagan Chapel, Lewis & Clark College, Portland
TOPIC: "The Nature of Wilderness"
GUEST: Jay Odenbaugh, Dept. of Philosophy, Lewis & Clark College
Today we look to the wilderness as an escape, a beautiful and peaceful reprieve from the day-to-day activities of our busy lives. We think of wilderness as a fully natural environment that contrasts sharply with the designed and constructed environments in which we normally move. But does wilderness thus conceived really exist anymore? What is natural and what is artificial about wilderness? Should humans be understood as a part of nature or distinct from it? And how should we approach conservation efforts so that we balance the needs of a growing world population with the need to preserve some aspect of the wild in our lives?
 

 
WHEN: Friday, April 20, 7:30 pm
WHERE: McCready Hall, Pacific University, Forest Grove 
TOPIC: "Why Be Moral?"
GUEST: James Sterba, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
Although we might disagree on what precisely the moral thing to do is in a given situation, most of us would agree that morality divides actions into right and wrong, and can thus guide our choices in life. Morality tells us how we ought to behave, if we want to do the right thing. But is there a reason why we ought to be moral in the first place? Both Plato and Kant believed that morality is dictated by reason and so a fully rational person is automatically a moral person too. But how can we derive morality from reason? Isn’t it possible to be a rational but amoral or even immoral person? And if morality comes from reason, how could we have rational moral disagreements with one another?

Part of Pacific University's 16th annual Undergraduate Philosophy Conference.

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Live at Stanford with former senator Russ Feingold

Date: 
15 March, 2012, 07:00 pm

Former US Senator Russell Feingold joins John and Ken for a conversation about Corporations and the Future of Democracy.

The US prides itself on the strength of its democratic institutions and considers itself a leader in the promotion of democratic values around the globe. But can we consistently maintain this self-image in the face of the growing power of corporations? How are capitalism and globalization subverting the interests of democracy at home and abroad? Does the problem stem from fundamental inconsistencies between global capitalism and national democracy? Can regulations provide a solution, and if so, who has the authority to create and enforce these regulations?

Russell Feingold, the former US senator from Wisconsin, is founder of Progressives United and author of While America Sleeps: A Wake-up Call for the Post-9/11 Era. He is also the Mimi and Peter E. Haas Distinguished Visitor at the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University.

Free and open to the public. More information at http://events.stanford.edu/events/311/31113/.

 

Listen to Russ Feingold on NPR's Morning Edition (Feb.21, 2012).

Watch his extended interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Feb.21, 2012).

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Live at the Marsh in Berkeley

Date: 
22 January, 2012, 12:00 pm

Join us for the next two programs in our 2011-2012 series at the Marsh theatre.

Tickets for any individual show are $15 dollars in advance, or $20 dollars at the door.  Multiple ticket pricing (advance sales only) is as follows: $25 for any two shows (same or different dates) or $45 for any four shows.

Tickets can be purchased online at Brown Paper Tickets, by phone, or in person through The Marsh's box office.

  • 12:00pm - Poetry as a Way of Knowing with Jane Hirshfield
    What is poetry? Mere word play? A pretty, or at any rate striking, way of expressing thought and emotion? Or does great poetry involve an approach to the world that provides insight and information not available in other ways? Ken and John explore how poetry can illuminate what we know with award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield, author of Come, Thief and other poetic works of philosophical richness.  (buy tickets)
  • 3:00pm - What Are Leaders Made of? with Deborah Rhode
    There seems to be a paradox in leadership: the qualities of ruthlessness and opportunism necessary to attain power and become a leader are not necessarily the qualities of morality and a sense of justice that make for a good leader. Do the traits that make it likely that someone will become a leader correlate positively or negatively with the traits that make a good and effective leader? Do our democratic institutions lead to better leaders than, say, a lottery like the Athenians used? Ken and John ask what leaders are – and should be – made of with Stanford Law Professor Deborah Rhode, co-author of Moral Leadership: The Theory and Practice of Power, Judgment, and Policy. (buy tickets)

The Marsh is located at 2120 Allston Way in Berkeley, California.

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