Podcasts · Society & Culture

Within Reason

Alex J O'Connor

163 episodes · Explicit

For the curious.

More about the show

A philosophy podcast that sometimes flirts with other disciplines, Within Reason has featured guests including Richard Dawkins, Douglas Murray, William Lane Craig, Peter Singer, Konstantin Kisin, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Episodes page 2 of 4

  1. #117 Dan McClellan - The Bible Has More Than One God

    · 1 h 29 min

    Dan McClellan is an American biblical scholar and author of The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About Scripture’s Most Controversial Issues. Timestamps: 0:00 Why Does God Say “We”? 14:36 Does God Create…

  2. #116 Peter Godfrey Smith - Animal Consciousness: What Can We Know?

    · 1 h 56 min

    Peter Godfrey-Smith is an Australian philosopher of science and writer, who is currently Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. Buy his books here. Timestamps: 0:00 How Many Times…

  3. #115 Phil Halper & Niayesh Afshordi - What Came Before The Big Bang?

    · 2 h 00 min

    Niayesh Afshordi is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo. Phil Halper is a science communicator and YouTuber. Together, they have authored a book called "Battle of the…

  4. #114 Simon Blackburn - What is Ethical Emotivism?

    · 1 h 22 min

    Simon Blackburn is well-known both as a writer of popular philosophy introductions (like Think), and also a significant figure in non-cognitivist meta-ethics, having invented the term “quasi-realism” to describe his…

  5. #113 Sabine Hossenfelder - Superdeterminism: Why Are Physicists Scared of It?

    · 1 h 01 min

    Sabine Hossenfelder is a German theoretical physicist, author, science communicator, and YouTuber. She is the author of Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions. Learn more about your ad…

  6. #112 Rick Alan Ross - Do Cult Leaders Believe Their Own Lies?

    · 1 h 55 min

    Rick Alan Ross is an American deprogrammer, cult specialist, and founder and executive director of the non-profit Cult Education Institute. Frequently appearing in the news and other media, discussing groups some…

  7. #111 Helen Bond - The Forgotten Female Disciples of Jesus

    · 1 h 25 min

    Helen Bond is Professor of Christian Origins at the New College, University of Edinburgh, and former head of the School of Divinity there. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2023, she…

  8. #110 The Cultural Tutor - Why Modern Love Fails and How to Rescue It

    · 1 h 16 min

    Sheehan Quirke is The Cultural Tutor. A writer on history, art, and architecture with millions of followers, he is also the author of the forthcoming The Cultural Tutor: Forty-Nine Lessons You Wish You’d Learned at…

  9. #109 David Pakman - The New Threat Donald Trump Poses to America

    · 1 h 09 min

    David Pakman is an American progressive political commentator and host of @thedavidpakmanshow . Buy David's book, The Echo Machine here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  10. #108 Marcus du Sautoy - Do Numbers Exist?

    · 1 h 06 min

    Marcus du Sautoy is a British mathematician, Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, Fellow of New College, Oxford and author of popular mathematics and popular science…

  11. #107 Dale Allison - Did Jesus Rise From the Dead?

    · 1 h 27 min

    Dale Allison is an American historian and Christian theologian. His areas of expertise include the historical Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew, Second Temple Jewish literature, and the history of the interpretation and…

  12. #106 Diarmaid MacCulloch - Sex and Christianity: a Tumultuous History

    · 59 min

    Diarmaid MacCulloch is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was formerly the senior…

  13. #105 John Lennox - Why Science Needs God

    · 1 h 42 min

    John Lennox is a Northern Irish mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist originally from Northern Ireland. He has written many books on religion, ethics, the relationship between science and God, and has had…

  14. #104 Annaka Harris - Is Consciousness Fundamental?

    · 1 h 33 min

    Annaka Harris is an American writer. Her work touches on neuroscience, meditation, philosophy of mind and consciousness. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental…

  15. #103 Rhett McLaughlin - Why I Left Christianity

    · 1 h 53 min

    Rhett McLaughlin is a comedian best known for creating the internet’s most-watched daily talk show, Good Mythical Morning along side Link Neal; their award-winning weekly podcast The pair also host a weekly podcast,…

  16. #102 David Deutsch - You're Not Smarter Than a Caveman

    · 1 h 55 min

    David Deutsch is a British physicist at the University of Oxford, often described as the "father of quantum computing". He is a visiting professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for Quantum…

  17. #101 Brian Greene - String Theory, Fine Tuning, and Divine Design

    · 1 h 20 min

    Brian Greene is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, director of its centre for theoretical physics, and the chairman of the World Science Festival. He is best known for his work on string…

  18. #100 Philosopher Shootout - 16 Thinkers, Ranked (With Joe Folley)

    · 3 h 09 min

    For episode 100 of Within Reason, I'm joined by Joe Folley, from the YouTube Channel "Unsolicited Advice", to tackle a completely arbitrary and ridiculous tournament of thinkers, each of whom are to some degree…

  19. #99 Penn Badgley - My Religious Conflicts With Playing a Killer

    · 1 h 56 min

    Penn Badgley is an actor best known for his roles in Netflix’s You and the popular drama series Gossip Girl. He is less known as a podcaster and member of the Baháʼí Faith, a religion which teaches that there is a…

  20. #98 Jacob Hansen - A Mormon Explains Mormonism

    · 2 h 22 min

    Jacob Hansen is a Mormon YouTuber at the channel Thoughtful Faith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  21. #97 Kipp Davis - What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls?

    · 2 h 15 min

    Kipp Davis (@DrKippDavis) is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway, where he specialises in the assignment and reconstruction of fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls and their…

  22. #96 Music, Mormonism, and Peter Hitchens - 1.25m Subsrciber Q&A

    · 1 h 02 min

    A Q&A to celebrate hitting 1.25 million subscribers on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  23. #95 James McGrath: John the Baptist, the Bible's Most Mysterious Man

    · 1 h 24 min

    James Frank McGrath is the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University. He is the author of two books on John the Baptist: "John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for…

  24. #94 Dan McClellan - What Does the Bible Say About Abortion?

    · 1 h 20 min

    Dan McClellan is an American public scholar of the Bible and religion. His forthcoming book, "The Bible Says So", is available here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  25. #93 The Etymology Nerd - How Social Media is Transforming Our Language

    · 1 h 10 min

    Adam Aleksic is a linguist known online as "The Etymology Nerd". His educational videos are watched regularly by millions. His forthcoming book "Algospeak" is currently available for preorder. Learn more about your ad…

  26. #92 Bart Ehrman - The Dark Side of Christmas

    · 1 h 01 min

    Bart Ehrman is a New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. Get Bart Ehrman's new course, The Dark Side of…

  27. #91 Filip Holm - What is Sufism? Islam and Mystical Experience

    · 1 h 24 min

    Filip Holm is the creator and host of "Lets Talk Religion", a YouTube channel which aims to educate on the subject of religion from an academic perspective. He joins the show to discuss Sufism, which can broadly be…

  28. #90 Rainn Wilson - Reclaiming Spirituality From Traditional Religion

    · 1 h 37 min

    Rainn Wilson is the actor and comedian best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the The Office (US), for which he received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy…

  29. #89 The Cultural Tutor - The Philosophy and Ethics of Art

    · 1 h 02 min

    Sheehan Quirke is the Cultural Tutor, a writer with 1.7 million followers on X. His work on art, history, and architecture is some of the most widely-enjoyed in the world. He writes a newsletter called the Areopagus.…

  30. #88 Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Why I Converted To Christianity

    · 1 h 03 min

    Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch-American writer, activist and former politician. Once an advocate for the new atheist movement, she last year announced her conversion to Christianity. Learn…

  31. #87 Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle - Biblical Slaves, Women, and the Unforgivable Sin

    · 2 h 46 min

    Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle run the extremely popular online Christian ministry 'Give Me an Answer'. In this episode they discuss troubling passages in the Old Testament, New Testament sexism, Job, doubting Thomas, the…

  32. #86 Pre-Election Podcast - Destiny on Immigration, Trump, and Voter ID

    · 1 h 38 min

    Steven Bonnell II, known online as Destiny, is an American live streamer and political commentator. He joins me to talk about Trump, Kamala, Biden, Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Mark Zuckerberg, Voter ID, immigration,…

  33. #85 Magnify - 7 Translation Problems in Genesis

    · 1 h 37 min

    Magnify is a YouTube channel of mostly short-form content, covering interesting details across history, linguistics, and religion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  34. #84 David Nutt - The Truth About Drugs

    · 59 min

    David Nutt is an English neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and sleep. He was the UK Government's chief advisor on drug…

  35. #83 Esoterica - The History of the Demiurge

    · 1 h 50 min

    Justin Sledge is currently a part-time professor of philosophy and religion at several institutions in the Metro-Detroit area and a popular local educator. His YouTube channel is "Esoterica". Learn more about your ad…

  36. #82 Joe Folley - 9 Questions Atheists Cannot Answer

    · 2 h 30 min

    oe Folley runs the YouTube channel Unsolicited Advice. he graduated from Cambridge University with an MPhil in Philosophy, specialising in logic, in 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  37. #81 Nick Bostrom - How To Prevent AI Catastrophe

    · 1 h 02 min

    Nick Bostrom is a philosopher known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, whole brain emulation, and superintelligence risks. His recent book, Deep Utopia, explores what…

  38. #80 The Moustache,The Bible, and The Kalam - 850k QnA

    · 52 min

    Thank you for 850,000 subscribers! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  39. #79 Elaine Pagels - The Origin of Satan

    · 1 h 09 min

    Elaine Pagels is an American historian of religion. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Pagels has conducted extensive research into early Christianity and Gnosticism. Buy…

  40. #78 Rory Sutherland - Why Logical Thinking is Illogical

    · 1 h 49 min

    Rory Sutherland is a British advertising executive, and vice chairman of the Ogilvy & Mather group of companies. His book, Alchemy, is available here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  41. #77 Bart Ehrman - What is the Gospel of Judas?

    · 1 h 51 min

    Bart Ehrman is a New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He was one of the first people in the world to see…

  42. #76 Jonathan Pageau - Deconstructing the Fall of Adam and Eve

    · 1 h 59 min

    Jonathan Pageau is a French-Canadian icon carver, YouTuber and public speaker on symbolism, religion and the Orthodox faith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  43. #75 Destiny on Jordan Peterson, Voting, and Political Principles

    · 2 h 26 min

    Steven Bonnell II is a popular American political streamer known online as Destiny. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  44. #74 Rabbi David Wolpe - What is Judaism?

    · 1 h 19 min

    David Wolpe is an American rabbi, and Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School. He was named the most influential Rabbi in America by Newsweek in 2012. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  45. #73 Arguments for Atheism Tier List w/ Joe Schmid!

    · 2 h 36 min

    Joe Schmid is a PhD student in philosophy at Princeton University. He graduated with a B.A. in philosophy from Purdue University in 2022. He has published articles in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy…

  46. #72 John Nelson - What Did Jesus Really Look Like?

    · 1 h 05 min

    John Nelson holds a PhD in Biblical Studies from the University of Edinburgh. His thesis is the first book-length study of Jesus' physical appearance in the Gospels. He runs a weekly Substack called "Behind the…

  47. #71 Unsolicited Advice - An Introduction to Nihilism

    · 1 h 20 min

    Joe Folley is the creator of the YouTube channel "Unsolicited Advice" which creates short, digestible philosophical videos on a wide range of topics. He joins me today to discuss nihilism: its history, its meaning, and…

  48. #70 Philosophize This! - A Beginner's Guide to Philosophy

    · 1 h 19 min

    Steven West is the host of "Philosophize This!" one of the world's most popular philosophy podcasts. Listen to it here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  49. #69 Iain McGilchrist - The Mind is More Than a Machine

    · 1 h 40 min

    Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, writer, and former Oxford literary scholar. McGilchrist came to prominence after the publication of his book The Master and His Emissary, subtitled The Divided Brain and the Making…

  50. #68 Andrew Mark Henry - What is The Gospel of Thomas?

    · 1 h 24 min

    Andrew Mark Henry is a scholar of religious studies. His research focus is early Christianity and late Roman religion. He earned his PhD at Boston University. His YouTube channel is "Religion for Breakfast". Learn…

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