What is Agriculture For?

In this episode of WHY: Philosophical Discussions About Everyday Life, host Jack Russell Weinstein explores one of humanity’s oldest and most consequential questions: What is agriculture for?

In this episode of Why? Philosophical Discussions About Everyday Life, host Jack Russell Weinstein and guest Susan Sugarman explore the enduring legacy of Sigmund Freud, one of the most recognizable and controversial figures in psychology.

Drawing from Jennifer Morton’s work on the ethical dilemmas faced by first-generation and low-income students, this episode examines the personal costs of pursuing higher education—fractured family ties, difficult tradeoffs, and the quiet loss of identity that can accompany social mobility. Together, they reflect on why we sometimes deny uncomfortable realities and what those choices reveal about who we are and who we hope to become.

How do we place a value on the things we keep and pass down? Objects can be timeless and multi-generational or they can be a burden to bear. Jack Russell Weinstein and his guest, Wellesley philosophy professor Erich Hatala Matthes explore the question, why should we save for posterity?

Jack sits down with philosopher Adrian Bardon to unpack The Truth About Denial and our strange habit of rejecting what’s right in front of us. Together, they discuss why people deny obvious facts, how self-deception takes hold, and what denial reveals about our fear, identity, and the stories we tell ourselves to get through the world.

Jack sits down with scholar Lowry Pressly to discuss the provocative ideas behind his book The Right to Oblivion: Privacy and the Good Life. They explore what it means to protect our inner worlds in an age of constant exposure, why forgetting can be just as crucial as remembering, and how reclaiming privacy might be the key to living well.

Jack sits down with Elizabeth Minnich, moral philosopher and author, to explore a haunting and urgent question: How is it that ordinary people can commit extraordinary evil? Together, they unpack Minnich’s idea of the evil of banality, a subtle, everyday corruption of thought and conscience that allows atrocities to unfold, and consider what it means for our moral lives today.

Jack sits down with philosophers Jason Hill and Elizabeth S. Anderson to tackle a timely and urgent question: How do we do philosophy during difficult times? From the rise of AI and shifting political landscapes to debates over censorship, diverse student bodies, and evolving educational models, this conversation explores how philosophy can and must adapt.

Jack sits down with Brian Burkhart, Indigenous philosopher and scholar, to explore a radical and timely idea: What if Indigenous thought isn’t just tradition or spirituality, but a powerful philosophical framework—one that challenges Western systems and offers a deeply relational way of understanding nature and community in our time?

Jack interviews Vanessa Wills, philosopher, professor, and author of Marx’s Ethical Vision, to explore a radical and timely idea: What if Marx wasn’t just a political economist, but a moral thinker, one whose ethical critique of capitalism speaks urgently to the injustices of our time?