Recently, an article about four “hard problems” in philosophy and their possible solutions came into Rick’s newsfeed. Upon reading it, his first question was whether or not philosophy is about “solving problems” at all, which immediately led him to think not only about progress in philosophy, but progress in general.

Some philosophers have argued that humans, in general, have made great “moral progress.” Others argue that history is essentially progressive: toward greater freedom (Hegel), toward more comfortable lives (Smith), toward equality for all (Marx), or other identifiable ends. And clearly there has been progress in the so-called “hard sciences” like medicine, biology, physics, computer science, mathematics, etc.

So, the question is: are we making progress? Toward what? For whom? And how do we know?

In this episode, we discuss the following thinkers/ideas/texts/etc.:

• RIP, Harry Belafonte
• Dawn Platinum Powerwash
• Odds Against Tomorrow (Film, 1959)
• The Word, The Flesh, and The Devil (Film, 1959)
• W.E.B. Du Bois, The Comet 
• Shelby County v. Holder 
• Stephen Jay Gould, “Evolution as fact and theory” (1994)
• Martin Heidegger, Being and Time 
• Marian L. Tupy, “Human Progress: Not Inevitable, Uneven, and Indisputable” (CATO Institute)
• Malcolm X on being stabbed in the back
• Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else) 
• Chantal Jaquet, Transclasses: A Theory of Social Non-reproduction 
• Moises Velasquez-Manoff, “The Anti-Vaccine Movement’s New Frontier” (NYT, 2022)
• Chris Christie criticizes Governor Ron DeSantis’s fight with Disney
• Our previous discussion (Season 6, Episode 79) of “The History of Philosophy”
• Saswato R. Das, “Mr. Kant’s Planets Come to Light” (Los Angeles Times, 2005)
• Christopher P. Long’s site Blogging a Philosophical Life
• on Tucker Carlson’s firing from Fox News
• on Lenin’s “stickbending”
•  Our discussion of anti-CRT legislation in Season 7, Episode 93 “The University and its Discontents”

If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions.