Five Minute Philosophy

In this episode, Fred introduces how to think philosophically about the laws of nature. Laws are typically taken to relate somehow to stable and exceptionless regularities in the philosophical literature, and this thought is explicated using examples. How exactly laws relate to these exceptionless regularities is then asked, triggering the schism in views about laws of nature, Humean and non-Humean views. Enjoy!

In this episode, Archie Fletcher discusses G.E. Moore’s (1939) famous paper ‘Proof of an External World’ and investigates how hands can be used to counter the external-world sceptic. If you’ve ever wondered, “How can I prove that the world is real?” this episode explains Moore’s argument that the world is real, shows why hands might serve as evidence for this, and sheds light on what this reveals about knowledge. Enjoy! Read Moore's paper here: https://gwern.net/doc/philosophy/epistemology/1939-moore.pdfRead Archie's blog post here: https://substack.com/@thezombieselfreportform/note/p-180346486?r=31bolx&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

In this episode, Finn Thwaite introduces our mini-series on consciousness. We hear about the “hard problem of consciousness”, the subjective certainty of our own point of view, our confidence in the completeness of physics, and how this extrinsic, behavioural story relates to intrinsic, subjective experience. Enjoy!If you want to get in touch to suggest a topic, or apply to record an episode yourself, please email us at [email protected].

In this episode, Archie Fletcher guides us through a brief history of Analytic Philosophy. We hear about the key figures that shaped this style of Philosophy, which itself can be understood in terms of its method and aims, namely: clarity, rigour and logical argumentation. Enjoy!If you want to get in touch to suggest a topic, or apply to record an episode yourself, please email us at [email protected].

In this episode, guest contributor Yolanda discusses Standpoint Theory - the idea that your experience of reality can vary depending on your standpoint. This is particularly salient when applied to the experiences of marginalised groups, Yolanda argues, and by drawing on this theory we can better understand the members of these groups and their unique standpoints. Enjoy, and thank you Yolanda for your contribution! If you'd like to request an episode, or even do an episode yourself, please get in touch via email ([email protected]), Instagram (@fiveminutephilosophy) or Twitter (@fiveminutephil1).