Episode 75: Podcasting and Philosophy

The HBS hosts– now, all four of them!– chat about what podcasting can do for Philosophy.

There are roughly 2.4 million podcasts in existence right now, with over 66 million episodes between them, and recent studies show that 28% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly.  Podcast genres are as diverse as human interests themselves; there are comedy podcasts, social and cultural podcasts, health and fitness podcasts, political podcasts, true crime podcasts (some of which have truly helped to solve crime!), and even a podcast entirely devoted to the pressing question: Whatever Happened to Pizza and MacDonald’s?

A select few podcasts are wildly popular, with millions of weekly listeners, but the overwhelming majority of podcasts barely reach beyond their creators’ close friends and family. (In fact, less than 25% of podcasts have 100 dedicated listeners/subscribers.) So why, oh why, does anyone need another podcast? Much less a philosophy podcast?

This week, HBS co-hosts Rick, Charles, and Leigh are joined by incoming (Season 6) co-host Jason Read to answer just that question.  Podcasting seems to be the new frontier of what is sometimes called “public philosophy,” and like all practices of public philosophy before it, philosophy podcasting comes with its own unique challenges and possibilities. We try to identify what podcasting is doing for and to the discipline of Philosophy, which philosophy podcasts we think are doing both Philosophy and podcasting well, what this new medium offers, and how we hope it might change not only how philosophy gets produced, but what philosophy gets produced.   

In this episode, we discuss the following thinkers, ideas, texts, podcasts, et al:

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