Exploring Minds

Angel was born and raised in a cult called The Family International which she left the age of 23. She shares her experiences living and growing up in a cult, how she was able to get out of it and live a normal life, and her process of recovery from religious trauma.  Her YouTube channel can be found here, which has more information on her experiences in the cult and subsequent recovery. https://www.youtube.com/user/MrAngeladesantis

Tim returns in this episode to criticize the argument in favor of abortion that he built up in part 1 (episode 36). He argues that Marquis' argument against abortion results in contraception also being classified as immoral. 

Tim & Hans are board members of Esperanto USA.  Esperanto is a language created in 1887 by Polish opthamologist LL Zamenhof with the goal being to facilitate international communication between nations. They describe the history and advantages of the language of Esperanto, their reasons for learning Esperanto and later becoming fully fluent, as well as their vision for its future. 

Tim Burkhardt returns for a talk on Don Marquis's essay, "Why Abortion is Immoral." This famous philosophy paper argues that abortion is, except in unusual circumstances, seriously morally wrong. Tim has since earned his Ph.D from Duke University, having successfully defended his dissertation on Epicureanism. He is now the Scholar in Residence at the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at UC Boulder.

Dr. Francesca Minerva is a philosopher who has recently founded the Journal of Controversial Ideas. We discuss her motivations for founding the journal, her views on the ethics of anonymous publishing and engaging with dangerous ideas, and her perspective on the role of a philosopher in our society. We also talk about her work in lookism (discrimination against unattractive peope), plastic surgery, and representations of unrealistic beauty standards in the media. Here's a link to the journal: https://journalofcontroversialideas.org/

Nathan is a philosophy friend of Katelyn's. On voting, he defends the position that most people should not vote. On meta-ethics, we consider whether moral claims are objective facts that can be evaluted as true or false, or if they're just expressions of emotional dispositions towards certain practices (e.g. "Boo murder!"). At the beginning of the episode Katelyn said that he was currently a grad student in psychology, but he actually recently graduated. 

Miles is a philosophy professor at Florida Gulf Coast University who shares his perspective on how to teach philosophy and create an atmosphere where students feel comfortable with having their views challenged. He also describes some of his ethical, political, and epistemological positions relating to Hegelian Marxism and Pyrrhonian skepticism. His introductory course at Stony Brook University ultimately inspired Bobby to pursue a degree in philosophy. 

Brandon is a former heroin addict who lives in rural Ohio. He shares what it feels like to do heroin, stories about developing and living with an addiction as a teenager, and how he ultimately overcame his addiction 7 years ago. He describes the medical, financial, and mental health barriers he continues to face as he strives to put the past behind him. He also paints a picture of what the opioid epidemic currently looks like in his small town and speculates about why so many people are driven to abuse opioids.   If you're currently struggling with addiction and would like to talk directly to Brandon about getting help, please contact us and we'd be happy to put you in touch with him.

Malachi talks about his experiences being raised as a Jehovah witness and his political philosophy as a left-leaning libertarian. He has a dicussion podcast called Honest For Goodness, which you can check out here: https://anchor.fm/malachi-mansfield

Mark Sargent, a prominent Flat Earther, believes that the Earth is a flat disk covered by a dome, physical phenomena and human behavior within the dome are determined by simulations created by unknown actors,  and a small group of elites are aware of these facts but keep it hidden to stay powerful. He rejects mainstream established scientific facts such as gravity, heliocentrism, and the existence of a universe.