The Footnotes of Plato: A Philosophy Podcast: Recent Episodes
Audrey Hammer and Henry Nguyen
Two queer teen Philosophy students discussing anything we find interesting. Join Audrey and Evan on a journey through Western Philosophy with detours and dead ends. This can be an A level revision resource for Philosophy and Political Theory... but it is mostly just our ideas!
Hume was a great empiricist so great he’s still left philosophers baffled to this day... what do we do if we can’t use induction?
We welcome our first guest to the show, Sophia brings some extra insights into this episode where we talk about Aristotle's four Causes and Mr. Prime Mover man.
This time we’re talking about a religious theory... the one at the heart of the Catholic Church!!! Aquinas was a 12th Century monk who found some books by Aristotle and realised the copyrights had expired so created his own theory with a lot of ‘inspiration’.
We talk about arguably one of the greatest philosophers of all time and his ethical theory. Kant is undoubtably amazing, however, his work became increasingly incomprehensible as he got older. Although luckily for us we can decipher his ethical theory and basically it says DO THE RIGHT THING CAUSE ITS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO! Well you might find there's a bit more to it when you listen to the episode...
This episode we explain Bentham’s Act Utilitarianism, Mill’s Rule Utilitarianism, and Singer’s Preference Utilitarianism. This moral theory has in part shaped our political morality in Britain... although some tory party members might need to flip through their ethics textbooks again (or listen to this episode!)
This week we discuss the ideas of John Rawls in his book A Theory of Justice. Looking from behind the vail of ignorance how would you design the world..?
I talk all about Plato's idealistic form of the state... which isn't ideal for anyone but him. Listen in to learn about tyranny and the Noble Lie. And how his metaphysics of the Theory of the Forms fits in with Philosopher Kings.
We talk through the basics of DCT and The Euthyphro Dilemma. Audrey adds some interesting comments on 'God' being Synonymous with 'Goodness.' And Henry explores the potential of DCT being somewhere in between Absolutism and Relativism.
The Trolley Problem is a thought provoking ethical dilemma (and yes it is the one from The Good Place) and I discuss three different variations of it as well as giving one possible solution which seems to go with our instincts. But remember there is not one right answer!
This episode is about Plato’s theory of the forms. We discuss some criticisms and the impact that the forms have had on western philosophy.
I talk about two ideas presented in 1984, the totalitarian society and the reality of the past and contemplate how the book presents each and what philosophical ideas it conjures.
The first episode about Liberalism, we discuss the social contract and human nature and how Classical Liberalism extends those principles of freedom to the economy and the role of the state. However, economic liberalism has an overly optimistic outcome whilst being based upon the assumption that people are selfish.
I talk about a conversation I had with a friend after they heard the first episode. A brief introduction to a text we read in Year 13 by Sartre as well.
The Pilot. We are two A-Level students trying to make sense of Descartes and where he went wrong. We cover the scepticism and Cogito of Descartes and his many flaws, albeit his deductive arguments may not be the best, he kick-started Modern Philosophy nevertheless. In general the podcast could be used as revision material, but we want to explore philosophy for the sake of learning.