Podcasts, Interviews, and Lectures

Elucidations

Picture of Bertrand Russell at an interview

Developed by Department of Philosophy PhD Matt Teichman, Elucidations is a monthly podcast featuring University of Chicago Department of Philosophy faculty members and faculty guests who talk with Matt and other graduate students about their latest work. The podcasts cover a range of topics from the theoretical to the practical, including perception, moral motivation, and sexual orientation. If you have questions or comments about Elucidations, please contact Matt Teichman.

Into the Coast

Into the Coast is a series of video interviews with academic philosophers. It was created by Octavian Busuioc (PhD in philosophy, Queen's University) and is produced with the help of Katie Howe (PhD, Philosophy, University of Chicago) and Tuomo Tiisala (PhD in Philosophy, University of Chicago). What the series aims to do is capture some of the state of play in contemporary philosophy by sitting down with the people in the thick of it. By doing this in an informal setting, the hope is to give viewers a sense, not just of what excites these people, but also of what it's like to be in conversation with them. The series includes a number of interviews with University of Chicago philosophers.

Faculty Interviews and Lectures

Below you will find a selection of interviews, lectures and podcasts, some recorded in Chicago, most recorded elsewhere, featuring members of the current faculty of the Department of Philosophy below (by faculty name in alphabetical order).

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Matt Boyle

Matt Boyle discusses "five questions" with Kieran Setiya in 2021.

Jason Bridges

"Is The Mind Real?" Video of talk at Humanities Day, University of Chicago, 2016.

"Mind, Brain and Mechanism." Video of talk at MacLean Center for Medical Ethics, 2016

"The Search for the Essence of Human Language in Wittgenstein and Davidson," Wittgenstein Workshop, University of Chicago, 2017.

"Skepticism and Beyond." Audio of talk at Skepticism as a Form of Philosophical Experience conference, University of Chicago, 2017.

Jason Bridges discusses contextualism on the June 2010 episode of Elucidations.

Agnes Callard

Interviewed by Tyler Cowen on the Conversations with Tyler podcast

Interviewed by Robert Wright on The Meaning of Life video podcast

Interviewed by William Nava on "Who Shaves the Barber" podcast 

Night Owls: "Let's Get Philosophical about Sex" (note that there are some difficulties with the microphones).

Night Owls: "Economics vs. Philosophy: The Battle for Your Soul"

Night Owls: "Philosophy of Divorce"

Agnes Callard discusses desire and satisfaction on the July 2009 episode of Elucidations.

James Conant

Interview with James Conant on “Talking to Thinkers” by Johnny Lyons. Part 1Part 2, November 2020.

James Conant, Allan Janik, Ray Monk, and David Stern discuss Christian Erbacher’s “Wittgenstein’s Heirs and Editors.” November 2020.

Philosophy Voiced: Podcast with Cora Diamond and James Conant. April 18, 2019.

Audio Recordings of Intensive Seminar with James Conant and Cora Diamond at the University of Pardubice, October, 2018.

Cora Diamond's Session: Truth in Ethics.
James Conant’s Session: Socrates and Wittgenstein.
Joint Session: Cora Diamond and James Conant.

James Conant, Interview with Octavian Busuioc on "Into the Coast," April 22, 2018.

James Conant, "Alexander von Humboldt Award Recipient Profile."

James Conant, "The Invisibility of Directorial Perfection," at the CCT MFS Film & Philosophy, University of Chicago, January 2017.

James Conant and Konrad Lindner, "Thomas S. Kuhn: Die Struktur wissenschaftlicher Revolutionen" on the German radio show SWR2 Wissen, May 9, 2016.

James Conant, with Robert J. Richards, and Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer, "On Doubt," at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. May 5, 2016.

James Conant and Cora Diamond co-taught the 7th Ludwig Wittgenstein Summer School from the 5th to the 8th of August, 2015 in Kirchberg am Wechsel in Lower Austria. See the course website of this summer schoolTo get access to the protected folders containing recordings and course materials, please contact James Conant.

James Conant, "Some Socratic Aspects of Wittgenstein," St. John's College in Santa Fe, May 1, 2015.

James Conant, "Matter and Form: Two Ways of Distinguishing Varieties of Skepticism", University of Bonn, Wednesday, November 26, 2014.

James Conant and Jay Elliott discuss the analytic tradition on Elucidations, the Department's podcast series. Oct. 16, 2014.

"Die Unsichtbarkeit einer perfekten Regie" James Conant: über Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, USA 1960) (video and audio), July 16, 2014.

"Early and Later Wittgenstein on the Ordinary, on Language, and on Ordinary Language", Amhurst College, March 27, 2014.

Jim Conant, "Benjamin on the Nature of the Cinematic Medium”. Talk at the Benjamin as Philosopher Conference, The University of Chicago, February 16, 2014.

James Conant and Cora Diamond, "The Subliming of the Object of Philosophical Investigation", from the 5th Ludwig Wittgenstein Summer School, on the topic of Wittgenstein's Conception of Philosophy: Philosophical Investigations, Sections 93 - 133, August 6, 2013, Kirchberg am Wechsel, Austria.

James Conant and Cora Diamond co-taught the 5th Ludwig Wittgenstein Summerschool from the 7th to the 10th of August 2013 in Kirchberg am Wechsel in Lower Austria. Check out recordings of the Kirchberg summer school.

James Conant, "Kant's Dove and Wittgenstein's Ice-walker," from the 5th Wittgenstein Summerschool, in August 2013. Link TBA.

“Das exemplarische bei Emerson und Nietzsche”, A lecture at the Nietzsche-Forum München, June 3, 2013 (See various parts of the talk: Greeting and IntroductionLecture, and Q&A).

Jim Conant and others, “Wie man wird, was man ist: Vom Wert der Persönlichkeit”, A Radio interview with Nikolaus Halmer on ORF radio, January 8, 2013 (in German).

James Conant, "On Pippin's Hegel's Kant," Conference on Self-Consciousness and Perception, 21 - 22 June 2012, Department of Philosophy, University of Patras.

(2011) "Nietzsche's Critique of the Layer-Cake Conception of Human Mindedness," Lecture in Bergen 2011, September 21.

James Conant, "Wittgenstein's Methods," at the 4th BWS Annual Conference, Gregynog, Wales July 16-17, 2011.

Videos of James Conant and Arnold Davidson, along with others, speaking at the Humanities Center at Harvard, on Oct. 14, 2010 at an event, celebrating the publication of Stanley Cavell's autobiography, Little Did I Know.

(2009) Thomas Kuhn on the Difference Between a Puzzle and a Problem - Lecture in Bergen 2009, September 10.

Philosophy as History or System - Emptiness or Blindness? Lecture in Bergen, Norway, Aug 27, 2009.

"Family Resemblance, Composite Photography, and Unity of Concept: Goethe, Galton, Wittgenstein" lecture given on September 15, 2005, University of Bergen (Abstract)

"John McDowell's Kant" lecture given on September 19, 2005, University of Bergen.

Varieties of Skepticism, a series of lectures given in August-September, 2005 at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bergen, Norway.

"The Alleged Heresy of Mono-Wittgensteinianism," lecture given on June 2, 2005 at Wittgenstein, Philosophy and Language conference in Skjolden, Norway.

Gretchen Helfridge with James Conant and Robert Richards, "Science and Aesthetics," on WBEZ's "Odyssey", January 3, 2003.

Gretchen Helfridge with James Conant and Arthur Danto, "After Beauty," on WBEZ's "Odyssey", 2003.

Gretchen Helfridge with James Conant, Hilary Putnam, Richard Rorty, "What Is Pragmatism," WBEZ "Odyssey", 24 April 2002.

"The Continuity of Wittgenstein's Philosophy: Why Worry about the Tractatus?" lecture given on December 15, 2001, University of Bergen (Abstract)

Arnold Davidson

Arnold I. Davidson pronounces the "laudatio" for the conferring of an honorary degree on Hilary Putnam by the Università Ca' Foscari Venezia (8:10). The video includes Putnam's "lezione magistrale".

Arnold Davidson gave a one hour radio interview on France Culture for the program Les Nouveaux Chemins de la Connaissance.  The topic was "L'émergence de la sexualité selon Michel Foucault", May 31, 2012.

Arnold Davidson, January 13, 2012 discusses "Foucault and the Courage of Truth" for materiali foucaultiani.

Arnold Davidson discusses "Improvisation" with Vijay Iyer, Composer and Jazz Pianist, and Experimental Music Scholar George Lewis in Concert at Wellesley College (discussion begins at 36:37).

Videos of James Conant and Arnold Davidson, along with others, speaking at the Humanities Center at Harvard, on Oct. 14, 2010, at an event celebrating the publication of Stanley Cavell's autobiography, Little Did I Know.

Arnold Davidson's collaboration with George Lewis: Improvisation as a Way of Life, Autumn 2010.

"Talking back book cover" for La vacanza morale del fascismo: Intorno a Primo Levi (in Italian).

David Finkelstein

Gretchen Helfridge with David Finklestein, "Language and Thought" on WBEZ's "Odyssey", 2004 .

Michael Forster

The 2013 Humbolt Foundation video about Michael Forster and his work.

Michael Kremer

Michael Kremer Wittgenstein in England in the 1930s: as seen through the eyes of Margaret McDonald

"Thomas Aquinas on God and Evil" (video with Brian Davies, Fordham University and Denys Turner, Yale University) Lumen Christi Institute, April 11, 2012.

Gabriel Richardson Lear

2021, Ancient Greece Declassified, hosted by Vanya (Jack) Visnjic (episode about Plato’s Republic VI), https://www.greecepodcast.com/plato-republic-the-good-gabriel-lear/

Gabriel Richardson Lear discusses "five questions" with Kieran Setiya in 2020.

2017, “Myrmecology as a Humanistic Discipline” The Daily Ant, https://dailyant.com/2017/08/11/philosophy-phriday-myrmecology-as-a-humanistic-discipline/

Gabriel Richardson Lear discusses Plato's philosophy of poetry on the August 2009 episode of Elucidations.

Jonathan Lear

Interviewed on The Gray Area with Sean Illing about Imagining the End

Big Brains Podcast: Correcting History: Native Americans Tell Their Own Story (Episode 55).

Five Questions: Jonathan Lear.

Jonathan Lear on Wisdom Won From Illness: Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing: The Top Authors Project 1 (1): 26.

"On Point: The Case for Irony" - On Point with Tom Ashbrook, December 5, 2011.

Transcript and audio of ABC Radio (Australia) interview, January 31, 2009.

Daniel Moerner

Interview with the Stance Undergraduate Philosophy Journal.

Martha Nussbaum

Martha Nussbaum: "The New Religious Intolerance" April 24, 2012, the Diane Rehm Show.

"Nussbaum Proposes a New Way of Assessing National Well-Being" - May 4, 2011 - Eight Forty-Eight on WBEZ Radio.

Legally Speaking: Martha Nussbaum, University of California Television, 11/14/2011.

"In-Depth: C-Span Book TV" June 10, 2010.

Video: Martha Nussbaum, "Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution," The University of Chicago Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Alumni Group Lecture, October 22, 2009.

Martha Nussbaum discusses sexuality and the law on the October 2009 episode of Elucidations.

2008 Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecture. May 14, 2008.

“People as Fictions: Proust and the Ladder of Love” at the Erotikon Symposium.

Robert Pippin

The Phenomenology and the Logic of Life: Heidegger and Hegel at the "Hegel Today" Conference, October 2021.

Book event at Seminary Co-Op on Robert Pippin, Philosophy by Other Means. The Arts in Philosophy and Philosophy in the Arts. UChicago Press, 2021.

New Books Network interview with Robert Pippin on his book Filmed Thought: Cinema as Reflective Form.

Robert Pippin stopped by the office of Critical Inquiry recently to discuss his forthcoming essay, "Psychology Degree Zero? The Representation of Action in the Films of the Dardenne Brothers" (Critical Inquiry 41 [Summer 2015]).

Discussion by Robert Pippin of his Westerns book; American Philosophical Association, San Diego, April 19, 2014.

The Significance Of Self-Consciousness in Idealist Theories Of Logic, 27 January 2014, University of London, The Aristotelian Society.

Robert Pippin spoke at Wright College on "Portrait of a Lady by Henry James" in January, 2013.

"Fate and Film Noir: Some Filmic Philosophy in Out of the Past", Film and Philosophy Conference, January 2010.

2004 Ryerson Lecture: Robert Pippin: “Bourgeois Philosophy? On the Problem of Leading a Free Life”.

The Erotic Nietzsche: Philosophers without Philosophy” at the Erotikon Symposium, March 2001.

Robert Richards

"Darwin’s Biology of Intelligent Design," May 21, 2010.

Darwin’s Origin of Species and Descent of Man course at the University of Chicago, Fall Quarter 2008.

Gretchen Helfridge with James Conant and Robert Richards, "Science and Aesthetics," on WBEZ's "Odyssey", January 3, 2003.

Josef Stern

"The Aqedah and Dying for God," a lecture at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.

Josef Stern on various theological and philosophical issues, short videos for Loyola Productions Munich.

Interview with Josef Stern about The Matter and Form of Maimonides’ Guide (Harvard University Press, 2013), March 14, 2014, Harvard University press.

"Josef Stern on Maimonides and the Unbinding of Isaac" - Lecture Shandong University in Jinan, China April 24, 2012.

"What is Jewish Philosophy? A View from the Middle Ages,” Inaugural opening lecture at the Maimonides Institute for Advanced Studies—Jewish Skepticism of the University of Hamburg, November 2016.

What is Maimonidean Skepticism?” at international conference on "Skepticism from Antiquity to Modern Times,” Maimonides Institute for Advanced Studies—Jewish Skepticism of the University of Hamburg, May 2017.

Candace Vogler

"Ultimate Fulfillment & Human Perfection" at "Made for More: Happiness, Friendship & the Good Life" conference held at the St. Thomas More Catholic Center at Yale University on September 14th, 2019.

It's all about me - a forum on the philosophy of self on "The Philosopher's Zone," ABC National Radio in Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2010.

Gretchen Helfridge with Susan Neiman and Candace Vogler "Philosophy and Evil," WBEZ Odessey 2004.