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Saturday 29 November 2008
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We'd don't put pigs on trial and gazelles don't sue lions, so it looks as though it doesn't make sense to talk about animal rights. But can we do what we like with them or should we recognize not just that they have interests— such as an interest in not being eaten—but that they have capabilities; of enjoyment, for example, or of engaging in social life with others of their kind? In the second part of our conversation with the distinguished American philosopher Martha Nussbaum, we ask what it means to treat animals as members of the ethical community.
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Saturday 22 November 2008
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How much of your personal liberty would you be prepared to give up in exchange for drains that work and trains that run on time? The idea of the social contract has been with us for many centuries now. It embodies the idea that society is a trade-off between liberties and benefits. This week, we discuss the contract and its shortcomings with one of the greatest moral and political philosophers of the age, Martha C. Nussbaum.
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Saturday 15 November 2008
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Have you ever found that you didn't want something until you noticed that somebody else wanted it? Were you picked on at school, or were you one of the pickers on? Welcome to the world of the French thinker Rene Girard, who claims that desire needs to be learned and that, once learned, it leads to the finding of scapegoats. And what do we do with scapegoats? We sacrifice them.
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Saturday 08 November 2008
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There's not much money in philosophy, but then there's not much philosophy in money, either. In classical times and the Middle Ages, philosophers were often interested in money (in thinking about it, that is) but since then they've tended to ignore the subject. This week, we meet an Australian philosopher who has turned his attention to the neglected subject of cash and its role in our practical and moral lives.
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12pm AEDT