Best Patrick D Thompson Podcasts (2025)

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On Jacques Rancière with Stuart Blaney 52:59

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2M ago52:59

52:59

In this episode I talk with Dr Stuart Blaney about the French Philosopher Jacques Rancière, a thinker who has reshaped how we understand politics, equality, education, and art. We begin with his brief time in Algeria and his education in Paris, considering how these experiences shaped his outlook. From there, we trace his involvement in Louis Althu…

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On Freedom with Matt Barnard 1:26:51

3M ago1:26:51

1:26:51

In this episode, I talk to Dr Matthew Barnard from Manchester Metropolitan University. We talk about the question of freedom and it's significance for Philosophy. To do this, we also explore Heidegger’s complex and often misunderstood theory of freedom . Rather than approaching freedom through the usual optic of free will versus determinism, Barnar…

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On Hegel's 'Spirit' with Terry Pinkard 1:09:05

4M ago1:09:05

1:09:05

In this conversation with Terry Pinkard, I discuss Hegel’s famous Phenomenology of Spirit. Terry recently published a brilliant introductory guide to this famously difficult book [Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: A Guide (2023)] which we use as our jumping off point. We discuss the origin of Hegel's book against the backdrop of its turbulent histor…

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On Life, AI and Technosymbiosis with Katherine Hayles 1:07:29

5M ago1:07:29

1:07:29

In this wide-ranging conversation, I met with acclaimed literary theorist, philosopher and technology scholar N. Katherine Hayles, whose pioneering work has reshaped how we understand the boundaries between humans and machines, cognition and computation, biology and code, artificial intelligence and artificial life. We primarily discussed Katherine…

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On Socrates with Agnes Callard 53:02

7M ago53:02

53:02

On this episode I talk to the Agnes Callard about the great Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. We discuss Agnes' new book Open Socrates: The Case for A Philosophical Life [Penguin, 2025]. Agnes and I discuss the themes of Open Socrates, focusing on philosophy as a public, outward-looking practice, Socrates’ call to examine life is framed not just …

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On Remaking Science with Evan Thompson 1:03:52

11M ago1:03:52

1:03:52

In this episode, I am joined for a fascinating conversation with philosopher Evan Thompson as we delve into his thought-provoking book The Blind Spot. We discuss this collaboration with scientists Marcelo Gleiser and Adam Frank, his insights on reconciling the “scientific image” and the “manifest image” of the world, and the interplay between subje…

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On Secular Gurus with Chris Kavanagh 1:22:04

1+ y ago1:22:04

1:22:04

I talk to psychologist Dr Christopher Kavanagh about the phenomenon of secular gurus. We discussed the secularism of latter day gurus, how they differ and compare to traditional cult leaders, what traits it takes to be a secular guru (galaxy brainedness, cultishness, anti-establishmentarianism), psychopathy/sociopathy, narcissism and techniques for…

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On Writing with Lars Iyer 1:02:38

2y ago1:02:38

1:02:38

Lars Iyer is back! On this episode I talk to novelist Lars Iyer about the fiction, the writing process, the relation between literature and the world, a writers compulsion to write. We speak about a whole range of writers like Plato, Samuel Beckett, Maurice Blanchot, Paul Celan, Margaret Duras, Thomas Bernhard. One of the things Lars suggests is th…

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On Richard Rorty with Chris Voparil 1:01:03

2y ago1:01:03

1:01:03

On this episode I talk with Chris Voparil from Union Institute & University about American philosopher Richard Rorty. We discuss Rorty’s biography, his complicated relation with American Pragmatist philosophy and both analytic and continental philosophy, how Rorty dealt with accusations of relativism, his epistemological and moral pluralism, what R…

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On Spiritual Freedom with Martin Hägglund 1:11:24

2+ y ago1:11:24

1:11:24

On this episode of the podcast, I talk to Swedish philosopher Prof. Martin Hägglund from Yale University about his book This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free. The dominant theme of our conversation was the meaning of freedom. Martin has a distinct notion of the demands of being free and we got into a detailed discussion about what freedom really m…

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On Bruno Latour with Joost van Loon 1:10:30

2+ y ago1:10:30

1:10:30

On this episode I talk to Prof. Joost van Loon about French philosopher and sociologist Bruno Latour. We talked about a lot! Joost taught me about Latour’s actor network theory and while we were doing that we ended up chatting about the importance of concrete controversies, how objectivity works, the production of science, conspiracy theories, vacc…

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On Alexandre Kojève with Hager Weslati 1:13:44

2+ y ago1:13:44

1:13:44

On this podcast I talk to Dr Hager Weslati about the philosopher Alexandre Kojève. Kojève is a hugely influential but not very well-known philosophers. Here Hager and I talk about his life, his philosophy, and his famous lectures on Hegel. Kojève was a philosopher, entrepreneur, diplomat, architect of the European Union and possible spy! Hager Wesl…

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On the Truth of Snuff with Mark McKenna 1:05:32

2+ y ago1:05:32

1:05:32

A podcast with my colleague Dr Mark McKenna who is an Associate Professor at Staffordshire University. We talked about horror films. Specifically, we talked about the the snuff movie as a form of horror. We also talked about the cultural mythologies that have grown up around the concept of snuff, how this mythology transformed in the technological …

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On the Embrace of Capital with Don Milligan 1:07:37

3y ago1:07:37

1:07:37

Don Milligan is back to discuss his new book The Embrace of Capital (Zero Books: 2022). In this , Don recounts and analyses his history of social and political activism interrogating the reasons he thinks working people have a love-hate relationship with capitalism but ultimately embrace it. But equally, Don tells us how working people hate insecur…

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On Architecture with Graham Harman 1:02:00

3y ago1:02:00

1:02:00

On this episode Professor Graham Harman returns to talk about architecture and philosophy. We had a fascinating conversation discussing architecture in relation to the history of philosophy. Graham has tackled just this topic in new book Architecture and Objects (2022), which has recently come out with University of Minnesota Press. We discuss a wh…

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On Nietzsche’s Socialism with Robert Miner 1:09:33

3y ago1:09:33

1:09:33

Friedrich Nietzsche is usually considered a staunch critic of socialism. My guest on this episode thinks this picture is a lot more complicated than we suspect. Professor Robert Miner suggests Nietzsche offers a very complex picture of what socialism entails, and we should consider Nietzsche as a critic and proponent of socialism. Robert Miner is a…

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On Simone Weil with Tiff Thomas 1:00:10

3y ago1:00:10

1:00:10

This episode I am talking to Dr Tiff Thomas. We discuss the philosophy, ideas and politics of activist, mystic, worker and educator Simone Weil. Tiff is a lecturer in Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University and specializes in Spinoza. He is also interested in the work of Gilles Deleuze and Simone Weil. You can find out more about Tiff here…

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On Michel Serres with David Webb 56:57

3+ y ago56:57

56:57

On this podcast I am talking to my colleague Prof. David Webb a philosopher at Staffordshire University. David is the author of Heidegger, Ethics and the Practice of Ontology (Continuum: 2011) and Foucault's Archaeology: Science and Transformation (Edinburgh U.P. 2013). He has published several articles on Michel Foucault, Michel Serres, modern Fre…

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On the Formation of the Modern Self with Felix O’Murchadha 59:03

3+ y ago59:03

59:03

On this episode of Thales’ Well I talk to Prof. Felix O’Murchadha who returns to talk about his new book The Formation of The Modern Self (Bloomsbury, 2022). Felix’s book provides a genealogy of the emergence of the self in the early modern period. We had a very wide-ranging discussion moving from ancient accounts of the self to contemporary versio…

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On Propaganda with Colin Alexander 1:17:38

4+ y ago1:17:38

1:17:38

This episode I had a fantastic discussion with Dr Colin Alexander about propaganda. We discussed the nature of propaganda, how to identify it, its ubiquity, as well as things we might do to mitigate the effect of propaganda on ourselves and society. More specifically, we focussed on a particular case study, with Colin explaining how propaganda is d…

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On David Lewis and Possible Worlds with Ben Curtis 58:35

4+ y ago58:35

58:35

On this episode, I discuss analytic philosopher David Lewis' concept of possible worlds with Dr Benjamin Curtis. Ben is colleague at Nottingham Trent University. We talked about possible worlds, actual worlds, probability, causation and time. Ben Curtis lectures in Philosophy at Nottingham Trent University. He has published on a wide-variety of the…

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Episode 5: Fight or Flight 39:41

5y ago39:41

39:41

#man_i_u In this episode, it is time to wrap up all the drama of going through a divorce as a man with kids and talk about a few simple activities I learned to help get through the mess. SPONSORS9:12 Simply De-Lish21:07 Paxton Chiropractic. Also check out Rob T and Big Will's Podcast that touches on mental illness and depression.WHATS ON MY MIND Me…

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Episode 4: The Kids Mancave Misery 27:55

5+ y ago27:55

27:55

#man_i_u In this episode, I give it to you straight about the effects of retreating to your man (she) cave on the children during a divorce. Not good! Also available on YouTube. https://youtu.be/hNmZuzkn3GE --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/man-i-u/support

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Episode 3 Divorce: Prepare for Battle 29:34

5+ y ago29:34

29:34

#man_i_u It is not easy for us men to open up on average. Sometimes, we need another brother to help get us to talk. Well, I'll be that brother for you. I'll talk about things I have gone through and what I have learned in hopes of helping you grow in your journey. No. I am not a ologist of any kind. I'm just a man trying to help other men walk out…

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Episode 2 The Right Mancave at the Wrong Time 27:26

5+ y ago27:26

27:26

#man_i_u It is not easy for us men to open up on average. Sometimes, we need another brother to help get us to talk. Well, I'll be that brother for you. I'll talk about things I have gone through and what I have learned in hopes of helping you grow in your journey. No. I am not a ologist of any kind. I'm just a man trying to help other men walk out…

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Episode 1 Intro To Me, 2 Time Divorcee 33:25

5+ y ago33:25

33:25

In this episode I introduce you to my life as a 2 time divorced father. Video version is also available on Youtube. https://youtu.be/vuDZQcaqvb4 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/man-i-u/support

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On Camus and 'The Plague' with Robert Zaretsky 57:26

5+ y ago57:26

57:26

I had an amazing conversation with Robert Zaretsky who is a Professor of Humanities at the Honors College, University of Houston. We spoke about French novelist and philosopher Albert Camus and his great pandemic novel The Plague. The Plague is currently receiving renewed critical attention due to the Covid-19 pandemic and is set to be re-issued by…

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On Character with Christian Miller 49:07

5+ y ago49:07

49:07

I am talking with Prof. Christian Miller about the nature of character. We discuss different types of character, character psycholgoy, forms of character virtue as well as forms of character vice, the difference between moral habits and instincts, Aristotle's contribution to the theory of character, and the ever-present gap between who we are and w…

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On Plato with Keith Crome 1:06:46

5+ y ago1:06:46

1:06:46

This time we turn to Ancient Philosophy, and I discuss Plato with Dr Keith Crome. We speak about the pedagogical dimension of Plato's work, and focus specifically on Plato's Republic. Keith argues that to understand Plato, it is essential to understand Plato's account of education and how it relates to Socrates, the Sophists, the myth of the cave, …

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On Blockchain with Peter Howson 46:45

5+ y ago46:45

46:45

I am talking with Dr Peter Howson from Nottingham Trent University about blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Peter is a Human Geographer, so we talk about the environmental impact of crypto-currency as well as it’s distribution in space. Largely, Peter explains to me the technological, economic, financial and geopolitical ramifications of these new fo…

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On Online Learning with David Webster 51:39

5+ y ago51:39

51:39

This time I thought it would be useful to try to do something slightly different. Given that many teachers and lecturers have had on-line learning foisted about them due to the Covid-19 crisis, I thought it would be helpful to talk to an expert about ways of delivering on-line learning. I spoke with Dr David Webster who is the Director of the Centr…

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On Difference and Repetition with David Deamer 1:06:36

5+ y ago1:06:36

1:06:36

Dave is back! We speak again about French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. This time we try to crack one of his most famous works Difference and Repetition. We talked about some very abstract concepts such as space, time, motion, representation and identity, and Deleuze’s three syntheses of time, but Dave does a brilliant of job of coherently explaining…

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On Cormac McCarthy with Julius Greve 48:21

5+ y ago48:21

48:21

I discuss American novelist Cormac McCarthy with literary scholar Dr Julius Greve. Cormac McCarthy is known for his often bleak and unwavering take on the Western. He has written over ten novels, as well as plays and screenplays in the Southern Gothic literary tradition. Less discussed is the philosophical dimension of McCarthy’s novels. With Juliu…

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On Nietzsche with Lars Iyer 59:34

6y ago59:34

59:34

I had tremendous fun talking to philosopher and novelist Lars Iyer. We discussed Nietzsche in light of Lars' new novel Nietzsche and the Burbs. We discussed many of Nietzsche's famous concepts such as übermensh, amor fati and suffering, affirmation, nihilism and eternal recurrence. As well, we touched on Maurice Blanchot, Simone Weil, The Invisible…

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On Religion and Violence with Felix O'Murchadha 1:06:43

6y ago1:06:43

1:06:43

This month I spoke to Prof. Felix O’Murchadha of the National University of Ireland at Galway about religion and violence. We discussed the nature of religious experience, and more specifically the relation between violation, witnessing and perpetration. This led on to a further discussion of temporality, sexual violence and forgiveness. Our discus…

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On Social Work with Joe Smeeton 55:03

6y ago55:03

55:03

This month I am talking to Joe Smeeton. We had a brilliant chat about the nature of social work, anxiety, risk, child protection, the political backdrop to social working in the UK, and just what it is like to be a social worker. Joe provided an impassioned defence of the value of social work, as well as an honest account of the challenges and pitf…

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On Levinas with Will Large 1:08:22

6y ago1:08:22

1:08:22

I spoke with Will Large about the Jewish philosopher Emmanual Levinas. Levinas is a philosopher who had a unique conception of ethics, one resistant to many of the traditional ways we approach ethics in Philosophy. Many of Levinas' writings were composed during his time in a prisoner of war camp, and his work unsurprisingly embraces notions of esca…

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On Shame with Luna Dolezal 55:39

6y ago55:39

55:39

This month I am talking with Dr Luna Dolezal from the University of Exeter. Luna is Senior Lecturer in Medical Humanities, with a particular interest in applied phenomenology, philosophy of embodiment, philosophy of medicine and medical humanities (esp. through literature and philosophy). I chatted to Luna about the notion of shame, medicine, Sartr…

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On Denial, Conspiracy and Post-Truth with Keith Kahn-Harris 55:34

7y ago55:34

55:34

This week I discuss the nature of denial, post-truth, and conspiracy theories with Dr Keith Kahn-Harris. We ended up talking about Holocaust denial, anti-vaxxing, climate change, and the resurgence of flat-earth theory. Keith tries to unpick the similarities and differences between all these different types of discourse. He argues that there are ma…

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On Dirt with Olli Lagerspetz 57:30

7y ago57:30

57:30

This week I am talking to Olli Lagerspetz about his recent book A Philosophy of Dirt (Reaktion, 2018). This book is a fascinating exploration of what we mean by dirt, how we can use Philosophy to examine it, and whether dirt is an objective or subjective phenomenon. We talked about how dirt is conceived in science, art, politics, anthropology and h…

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On Metaphysics, Objects and Decent Politics with Graham Harman 1:12:07

7y ago1:12:07

1:12:07

This week I had a fantastic conversation with Prof. Graham Harman about his unique theory of Object-Oriented Philosophy. Our discussion was wide-ranging, we discussed Graham’s background, metaphysics, HP Lovecraft, art, architecture, Bruno Latour, contemporary Marxism, and Graham's views on the current politics of the United States. Graham is a Pro…

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On the Geography and Politics of Light with Tim Edensor 57:56

7y ago57:56

57:56

I had a fascinating discussion with Tim Edensor this week on the geography and politics of light. Tim has a brilliant talent for making us think differently about something we take for granted. During our chat we talked about our changing perceptions of light, the politics of light, the aesthetic appreciation of light, and how one's willingness to …

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On Forensic Linguistics with David Wright 57:45

7y ago57:45

57:45

This week I am talking about forensic linguistics with Dr David Wright from Nottingham Trent University. We chatted about how forensic linguistics is used in crime detection, authorship analysis, expert witnessing, aiding policing investigation as well as some of the landmark cases where forensic linguistics has been used. We also spoke about David…

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Horror, Ghosts and Monsters with Sorcha Ní Fhlainn 1:02:09

7y ago1:02:09

1:02:09

This week, as we approach All Hallows Eve, we turn to the ghastly, the monstrous, the shocking, the ghoulish, the spooky and the downright eerie. I am talking to Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn who is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies and American Literature. She is a founding member of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan Univers…

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On US Politics, Edmund Burke and Trump with Michael Baranowski 1:00:34

7y ago1:00:34

1:00:34

With the upcoming US elections I thought it would be a good time to see what a political philosopher has to say about it all. I am joined by Michael Baranowski who is a political scientist from Northern Kentucky University. We talked about Mike’s intellectual origins, the political philospher Edmund Burke, the legacy of John McCain, the possibility…

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On the Law, Consent and MeToo with Heidi Matthews. 1:09:33

7y ago1:09:33

1:09:33

This week I had a really interesting discussion with Prof. Heidi Matthews about law, consent, and the MeToo movement. Heidi is an Assistant Professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. She co-directs the Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security. Her research area is international criminal law, the law of war, po…

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On Sex Robots and Personhood with Kathleen Richardson 1:08:38

7y ago1:08:38

1:08:38

This week I talk to Dr Kathleen Richardson about sex robots and notions of personhood, consent, loneliness and inter-dependence between humans. Kathleen is a professor of Ethics and Culture of Robots and AI at De Montfort University. She completed her PhD at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge. Her fieldwork was an invest…

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On Emile Zola with Dan Rebellato 1:11:02

7y ago1:11:02

1:11:02

This week I am talking about the great French novelist Emile Zola with Prof. Dan Rebellato of Royal Holloway University. We talk about Zola's life, his novels, the place of philosophy in his work, and Zola's famous "J'accuse...!" which is celebrating it's 120th anniversary this year. Dan is an academic and playwright whose expertise focusses on pos…

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The Philosophy of Football with Stephen Mumford. 1:04:09

7y ago1:04:09

1:04:09

This week I am talking about football with Prof. Stephen Mumford. We talk about how football makes you think, the role of causes, dispositions, luck, space and of course victory. Stephen also explain why football is a far superior game to rugby. Stephen is a Professor of Metaphysics at the University of Durham. He is the author of, among other thin…

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On the Mind and Panpsychism with Philip Goff 59:29

7y ago59:29

59:29

This we talk about all things mind. Philip Goff is a philosopher and consciousness researcher at Durham University. He works mainly on the problem of how to integrate consciousness into our scientific worldview. Goff’s 2017 book Consciousness and Fundamental Reality (Oxford University Press) argues against materialist accounts of consciousness and …