What can you do with philosophy?

On Philosophy Bites Nigel Warburton and David Edmonds spoke with writer John Armstrong about the question 'What can you do with philosophy?'. For a philosophy podcast that reaches a wide public this is almost an obligatory question. One would almost expect the defining podcast for Philosophy Bites.

As the dialog set out, I was reminded of a radio program I heard many years ago with a mathematician who was addressing the similar question, what practical use does mathematics have. And surely this mathematician set out to tackle the problem of choosing the right partner in life with chance theory, stochastics and deliver the exact answer. Fine, but yet I feel that somehow the mathematician, or the philosopher for that matter, is in a way degrading himself by forcefully applying to the profane and should have some arrogance in not wishing to be practical.

Yet, in the end, John Armstrong seemed to have established more than the reported mathematician as I found myself discussing this episode with others who had heard it and noticed we all began applying the trains of thought and refining questions Armstrong had suggested. And so, especially in hindsight, this was indeed a very good issue of the podcast.

More Philosophy Bites:
Morality without God,
Pascal's Pensées,
Fourth Revolution,
Michael Sandel on what cannot be sold,
Aristotle's Ethics.

Ab Osterhaus - Voor 1 Nacht

KRO's voor 1 nacht sluit aan bij de actualiteit en had viroloog Ab Osterhaus bij Marc Stakenburg in de uitzending. Osterhaus mag daarin een poging ondernemen om de dreiging van de Mexicaanse griep en andere virus-infecties in perspectief te zetten. Daarmee is dit niet de eerste podcast waarin Osterhaus te beluisteren viel. Eerder was hij al te gast bij Martin Simek.

Osterhaus verschijnt kennelijk niet in de media op persoonlijke titel, maar als een man met een missie en die missie is de zaak der bestrijding van virusinfecties te dienen. Daarbij denken we vandaag vooral aan de Mexicaanse griep, maar Osterhaus maakt duidelijk dat die griep vooralsnog nog redelijk meevalt en dat de Nederlandse overheid aardig voorbereid is. Veel problematischer is de situatie met HIV en potentieel veel dreigender was de vogelgriep. Een mondiale ramp als in 1919 met de Spaanse griep, waarbij 50 miljoen mensen, 1% van de wereldbevolking omkwam, is bij de huidige pandemie niet te verwachten, maar ook met de huidige stand der wetenschap evenmin uit te sluiten, niet vandaag en niet met het virus van volgend jaar.

Wat tussen de regels duidelijk wordt is dat Osterhaus nogal eens wordt verweten dat hij te vaak en te nadrukkelijk alarm slaat. Een aantijging dat hij wellicht financieel belang heeft (aandelen in de farmaceutische industrie), blijft onbesproken. Hij is er vrij koel onder en ik kan me dat wel voorstellen; hij heeft een missie en de ergernis laat alleen maar zien dat hij in staat is om de aandacht te trekken. Wie zou het risico durven nemen dat hij toch gelijk heeft, lijkt hij te denken. Je zou in hem een venter van verzekeringspolissen kunnen zien, als je alleen het interview bij Stakenburg hoort. Bij Simek ligt al meer de nadruk op de algemene problematiek en dus op een arme mensendoder als HIV. Dan klinkt hij veel meer integer. In beide gevallen blijft hij een man met een missie.

Meer KRO's voor 1 nacht:
Freek de Jonge,
Bennie Jolink,
Henk Spaan,
Maarten Ducrot,
Candy Dulfer.

Capitalism and Confusion - Amartya Sen

The UChannel Podcast, also known as University Channel Podcast (audio feed, video feed), is a composite podcast which brings together lecture recordings from outstanding institutions all over the world. Among them are, The Council on Foreign Relations, The London School of Economics and the Royal Society for the Arts, which also have their own feeds out of which I review regularly.

The lectures are guest lectures on select topics, held by the leading authorities in the field. One such was a lecture at Cornell University by Professor Amartya Sen titled: Capitalism and Confusion. In this lecture Sen tackles some of the misconceptions about capitalism that are common in the wider public, but for the critical audience should hold no great surprises. Of course socialism has not been definitively defeated by capitalism. Of course capitalism cannot easily be defined. And of course, the crudest ideas about total freedom for market forces are not even held by a capitalist icon such as Adam Smith.

This is the first confusion that Sen addresses, but there is more confusion and more profound at that. Assuming that even Adam Smith accepted some level of government intervention in the market the confusion among capitalists as to how, when and to what extent becomes very compelling in the light of great global problems. Climate change, poverty, human rights and such are recognized by capitalists and are in need of effective address, but fail to get that address, even in capitalist theory.

More UChannel Podcast:
Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and the Middle East,
Taming Religion - Ian Buruma trilogy,
Averting the disasters of climate change,
Interfaith and Compassion,
Talent is overrated.

More Amartya Sen:
Justice.

Hoarding - Wise Counsel

An excellent psychology podcast is Wise Counsel (feed), which consists of interviews conducted by Dr. David van Nuys PhD. with assorted guests. David van Nuys is both a psychologist as well as an experienced podcaster and interviewer. His other podcast, Shrink Rap Radio (feed), also on the subject of psychology can also be warmly recommended.

In the latest edition of Wise Counsel, Dr. Van Nuys spoke with Gail Steketee on the subject of hoarding. Everybody has to a certain extent a hard time throwing away what he no longer needs, but for some people, gathering stuff in the house can become a problem and this is called hoarding. The clutter can take over the dwelling space and get out of control. Apart from the sanitary and other practical problems this entails for those who have to live in the clutter, it will frequently also lead to socially unfit behavior, where the hoarding person will shy away from company, or will let nobody in the house. Steketee has studied this problem and relates on its symptoms and treatment.

The DSM sticks hoarding under OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), but she claims that this classification is not right and predicts that in future editions the classification will accordingly be changed. Hoarding is a disorder of itself. It is most common among peopel over 50, but those who hoard, usually will have shown initial signs already at a very early age. Mostly the hoarding is checked by significant others until later age. The treatment is through CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) as, so far, no medication has been found that has a persistent effect on hoarding. Patients respond to the therapy, relatively well.

At the episode's page, you can also read a transcript of David van Nuys's interview with Dr. Gail Steketee.

More Wise Counsel:
History of Marriage,
Jonathan Engel,
Self-Help with PTSD,
Wise Counsel - Psychology Podcast Review,
Irvin Yalom.

Sowing Crisis - Rashid Khalidi

Last week I announced I was going to review a podcast with Rashid Khalidi again. Khalidi was a guest at the University of Chicago and held a lecture under the title Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East. The lecture was recorded and published (also) in the compiled feed of UChannel Podcast.

Khalidi gives a very convincing historic analysis of the dealings of the Cold War opponents in the Middle East, especially the US. The point he makes is that the powers have used the Middle East to wage their war by proxy and that the tragic consequence of the matter has been, and still is today, that in the region radical and extremist elements are enforced and moderates are at a loss. In most recent times, the USSR has been replaced by Iran and still the cold war with the US is waged in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

If you choose to listen to the podcast (you must), be advised to also sit through the question and answer section. Among others there will be informative dialogs about the Israeli lobby in the US and about the democratic powers in the Arab world. Khalidi proves to be a very engaging, sharp and enlightening speaker.

More UChannel Podcast:
Taming Religion - Ian Buruma trilogy,
Averting the disasters of climate change,
Interfaith and Compassion,
Talent is overrated,
Ronald Reagan, a rebel.

Ferdinand I van Bulgarije - Veertien Achttien

De podcast Veertien Achttien (feed) vereist geen grondige voorkennis over de eerste wereldoorlog, maar ik kan me zo voorstellen dat het wel helpt om de themas, de rivaliteiten en de allianties op voorhand te kennen. De podcast gaat weliswaar chronologisch door de oorlog, maar doordat het dit doet in de vorm van korte biografietjes en springt daardoor van front naar front, van land naar land en van thema naar thema.

De grote kracht daarvan is dan weer dat het de doorgewinterede fan soms op een onverwachte plek brangt, zoals deze week. Hoevelen kennen het reilen en zeilen van de Bulgaren in de Grote Oorlog. Er is wel eens gezegd dat de Eerste Wereldoorlog eigenlijk de derde Balkanoorlog had moeten worden en voor de de Bulgaren was ze dat zeker. Tom Tacken vertelt hoe de Bulgaarse Tsaar (van Duitse komaf) pragmatisch kiest om zich aan de Centralen te verbinden en hoe het met zijn verlanglijstjes met betrekking to grond in Servie, Roemenie, Griekenland en zelfs Turkije schuift.

Dat was dan weer een verrassende en informatieve aflevering en ik verheug me nu al op de volgende. Aangekondigd wordt dat het over Rudyard Kipling zal gaan.

Meer Veertien Achttien:
Veertien Achttien in transit,
Pegoud, Grimm - Veertien Achttien,
Emmeline Pankhurst,
Lord Kitchener,
Walther Rathenau.