Jonathan Birch on the Edge of Sentience

We blame people, and sometimes we blame institutions. Miranda Fricker investigates the nature of blame and its functions, draws some important distinctions, and considers the metaphysical implications of this practice. 

There is a long tradition of caste in South Asia. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Nilanjan Das discusses a pre-modern philosophical critic of the whole system, and particularly of its underlying metaphysical assumptions. This episode was supported by the Ideas Wor ...  Show more

Michael Shermer and Jeff Sebo explore moral philosophy, focusing on animal rights, sentience, and consciousness. They discuss the definitions of morality, ethical pluralism, and the divide between consequentialism and deontology. The conversation examines who belongs in our moral ...  Show more

In this hour of Radiolab, stories of cross-species communication.

When we gaze into the eyes of a wild animal, or even a beloved pet, can we ever really know what they might be thinking? Is it naive to assume they're experiencing something close to human emotions? Or is ...

<div class="post__title__excerpt wysiwyg p italic mb1 mt025 pr2 o4 theme__text ">A group of prominent biologists and philosophers announced a new consensus: There’s “a realistic possibility” that insects, octopuses, crustaceans, fish and other overlooked animals experience consci ...  Show more

Given that more and more evidence shows all kinds of non-human animals are capable of experiencing grief, loss, joy and pain, should they not have some of the same legal rights guaranteed (in theory, at least) to humans? In the second part of this two-part series, Ben, Noel and M ...  Show more