Hotel Bar Sessions (Leigh M. Johnson, Devonya N. Havis, Rick Lee)
Explore every episode of Hotel Bar Sessions
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06 Oct 2023 | The Problem Spaces of Philosophy (with William Paris) | 00:59:43 | |
The HBS hosts are joined by Will Paris to talk about Du Bois, public philosophy, podcasting, and carving out "problem spaces." In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois famously asked the question “What is it like to be a problem?,” highlighting the stigmatizing and dehumanizing treatment of Blacks in the post-Reconstruction but Pre-Brown v. Board of Education United States. The purpose of his question was two-fold: on the one hand, Du Bois was urging his readers to consider the emotional and psychological toll on Black Americans living in a society where their very identity was reduced to a “problem” that others must grapple with; and on the other hand, by clearly articulating “what is it like to be a problem?” as a question, Du Bois was carving out a “problem space” of discourse, where the ugliness and urgency of anti-black racism was brought to the fore and itself demanded to be grappled with. We suspect that most people intuitively understand what a “problem” is— How do I find the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle? Should I pay off my debts or invest in my retirement? When is the exact right time to quit Twitter?—and also that most people understand what a person qua “problem” is, whether they are made problematic by social conditions and systemic prejudices or whether they just don’t know how to act right. But what is a “problem space”? According to today’s guest, Will Paris (University of Toronto), it is NOT simply a location where problems occur or a problematic people show up, but rather a discursive space where ready-made answers are insufficient, critical thinking is necessary, complex societal issues can be made even more complicated, and actual problems are, although rarely “solved,” at least made intelligible. Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 21 Feb 2025 | Ambiguity | 00:58:19 | |
When nothing is clear, how do we decide? Many people prefer their morality to be straightforward—right or wrong, good or bad, clear as day. But more often than not, human life is a mess of contradictions, competing values, and gray areas. In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Rick, Leigh, and Devonya wade into the murky waters of ambiguity—what it means, how we experience it, and why we’re often so uncomfortable with it. From moral dilemmas and political rhetoric to aesthetics and queer theory, the hosts explore how ambiguity can be both a site of oppression and a tool of resistance. Is ambiguity a lack of knowledge, or does it open the door for deeper understanding? How does power exploit uncertainty to maintain control? And why do we crave clarity in some parts of life but celebrate ambiguity in art, music, and literature? With philosophical insight, a dash of humor, and a deep appreciation for the chaotic bartender that is moral life, the hosts wrestle with the question: Can we ever truly escape ambiguity—or do we just have to learn to live with it? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 26 Apr 2024 | REPLAY: YouTube's Alt-Right Rabbit Hole (with Caleb Cain) | 01:00:34 | |
The HBS hosts chat with Caleb Cain about his experience being radicalized by the Alt-Right internet. [While the HBS hosts are on break between Seasons, we're releasing REPLAYs of some of our favorite episodes from the past. This episode is from Season 5 and originally aired on August 22, 2022.] In June 2019, the New York Times featured a story about Caleb Cain, entitled “The Making of a YouTube Radical.” That piece was meant to highlight the subtle, severe, and devastating IRL effects of YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, which has been proven many times over to promote what (in internet slang) is called “red-pilling”—that is, the conversion of users to far-right beliefs. Today, we’re talking to Caleb Cain, a person who has been down the alt-right rabbit hole and somehow found his way back out of it, and we want to introduce our listeners to a first-person account of how right-wing radicalization actually happens on the internet, how it is sustained, and how it might be combatted. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 05 Jul 2024 | Off-Grid Living (with Eric Mack) | 00:59:04 | |
What motivates people to live off-grid in the 21st C? And how hard is it to survive out there? This week, the HBS hosts are joined by journalist and co-host of the Our Uncertain Future podcast Eric Mack, who decided in 2020 to move his family "off-grid." Currently residing in a 100% water- and energy-independent compound in the New Mexico desert, Eric chats with us not only about the skills and resources necessary for making a home off the grid, but also his (and others') philosophical reasons for doing so. Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 06 Aug 2021 | Conspiracy Theories | 00:59:01 | |
The HBS hosts discuss conspiracy theories and what motivates people to believe in them. The word "conspiracy" derives from the Latin con- ("with" or "together") and spirare ("to breathe"), and it seems like more and more people are breathing in the thin air of dubious explanations and bonding together over them. From Q-Anon to flat earthers to anti-vaxxers to climate change deniers to people convinced that a pedophilic, blood-drinking, sex-trafficking, deep state cabal is orchestrating our lives, conspiracy theories have captured the hearts and minds of many in the 21st C. United States. Is this new? Should we worry? And what really happened to Jeffrey Epstein? Leigh M. Johnson take the lead in this episode's conversation and, together with co-hosts Rick Lee and Charles Peterson, tries get to the bottom of what motivates people to believe in conspiracy theories. We take a brief tour through the history of conspiracy theories before getting to their benefits (making the world seem to make sense) and harms (too many to list), and then confronting the 800lb internet gorilla: QAnon. We also try to tease out the difference between believing in a conspiracy theory and "conspiratorial thinking," and we consider what Thi Nguyen's thoughts on echo chambers and epistemic bubbles might tell us about conspiracy theorists. Full episode notes available at this llnk. | |||
| 19 Nov 2021 | Thought Experiments | 01:04:21 | |
The HBS hosts discuss the pedagogical pros and cons of thoughts experiments. Philosophy has its own laboratory! While it doesn’t have graduated cylinders or Bunsen burners, it is a “clean room” in which philosophers can distill the essential elements of a theory. We talk about the pros and cons of thought experiments, their uses, and their abuses. We give some examples of famous thought experiments and, yes, we talk about the trolley problem. Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 30 Dec 2022 | Human Nature | 00:57:07 | |
The HBS hosts ask not what is human nature, but what is at stake in this constant recourse to human nature.
The history of philosophy can in part be understood as one long rumination on the question of human nature. Throughout its history philosophers have put forward multiple definitions of what it means to be human and what sets humans apart from other animals: political animal, rational animal, tool making animal, etc., but these definitions have come under scrutiny for both the way they maintain both hierarchies separating humanity from non-human animals as well as hierarchies within human societies, as rationality, tools, and politics become instruments of exclusion. Is it possible to dispense with the idea of human nature, or is it an unavoidable question, framing how we understand ourselves in relation to not just animals but also our increasingly intelligent machines? In other words, human nature, can’t live with it, can live without it. Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 04 Oct 2024 | Aristotle and Feminist Materialism, Troubled (with Emanuela Bianchi) | 00:59:12 | |
Philosophy has traditionally associated the feminine with matter, implying passivity. Why? And to what ends? In our previous episode on materialism (Season 6, Episode 83), we came to see that in more recent years, two, often related, forms of materialism have been developed: “new materialism” and feminist materialism. New materialism tends toward a philosophical reflection on advances in science, particularly neuro-science and biology, but feminist materialism is not so easy to define, as it takes many forms. There is, however, one unique issue that feminist materialists must contend with: the way that the tradition of philosophy in the West has associated "the feminine" with "matter" and contrasted matter with form, reason, and structure, evidencing yet another way in which the masculine has been privileged throughout the history of philosophy in the global North and West. This week, we are joined by Dr. Emanuela Bianchi (Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, NYU), expert in ancient philosophy and feminist philosophy, to find out what’s the matter with "matter"? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 04 Jun 2021 | Hey, Biden! | 00:57:59 | |
Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 25 Oct 2022 | REPLAY: Style | 01:02:47 | |
While the HBS hosts are taking a break between Season 5 and Season 6, we're re-playing some of our favorite conversations you might have missed. Enjoy this episode from Season 4 on "Style" and check out the full episode notes at this link: If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe, submit a rating/review, and follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast. You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 09 Sep 2022 | Democracy in Peril (with Linda Alcoff) | 00:57:16 | |
The HBS hosts ask Dr. Linda Alcoff just how close to the edge of the bed is the United States sleeping? A year and a half ago, as an angry, armed mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building in what was, thankfully, an unsuccessful insurrection attempt, many of us watching the event unfold on television asked ourselves: is democracy itself in peril? This is, of course, a question we should have been asking for many years prior to Jan 6, 2021. And it is a question we should still be asking. At the federal level, an activist and regressive Supreme Court is aggressively chipping away at the rights of citizens, and an almost perpetually-stalemated Congress refuses to act on real existential threats (like climate change, COVID, and income inequality). At the state level, more than half of the legislatures have restricted voting rights, gun regulation, and protections for BIPOC, women, LGBTQ people, and the poor. States’ legislatures are busy gerrymandering districts, under-funding public education, over-funding police, and extending corporate welfare tax benefits carte blanche, while at the same time refusing to raise the minimum wage for workers, mitigate the affordable housing crisis, repair crumbling infrastructure, or exhibit even the most minimally-decent concern for the good of their citizens. Meanwhile, the average U.S. citizen is sick, indebted, demoralized, underinformed (or misinformed), and disillusioned. Why vote? Why care? What has democracy done for me lately? Today, we’re going to be talking about the peril(s) that democracy is facing, how we should think about them, and what, if anything, we can do about them. We are honored to be joined by Linda Martin Alcoff, Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center. Prof. Alcoff is the author, most recently of Rape and Resistence: Understanding the Compoexities of Sexual Violation and The Future of Whiteness. Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 11 Aug 2023 | The Master/Slave Dialectic | 00:55:01 | |
The HBS hosts struggle for recognition. The dialectic of lordship and bondage, more commonly known as the “Master/Slave dialectic,” is a moment in a much longer and exceedingly difficult-to-read (much less understand!) text by G.W.F. Hegel entitled The Phenomenology of Spirit. It’s probably a passage that is referenced in a wide number of fields– psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, literary analysis, any number of “area studies,” and even economics-- though very few of the scholars who reference it have slogged all the way through Hegel’s Phenomenology. Nevertheless, like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave from the Republic and Nietzsche’s story about the lambs and the birds of prey from Genealogy of Morals, both of which we’ve discussed before on this podcast, Hegel’s dialectic of Lordship and Bondage manages to capture, in a concise and powerful way, something both intuitively true and yet, at the same time, utterly mystifying. This week we ask the question, why has this passage become the hit single off of the dense concept album that is the Phenomenology. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 07 Feb 2025 | Judgment | 01:02:27 | |
Who gets to judge right and wrong? And on what grounds?
Can a decision be right or wrong if we can’t fully predict its consequences? Do moral rules always apply, or do some situations require exceptions? What happens when judgment operates within systems of power? These questions lead to reflections on everything from friendship to legal pardons to the ethics of AI. Whether you think of yourself as someone with good judgment or someone just trying to make better choices, this episode gives plenty to think about. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 01 Mar 2024 | Breaking Things at Work (with Gavin Mueller) | 01:10:10 | |
The HBS hosts discuss how the Luddites were right about why we hate our jobs. The term “luddite” generally functions as an insult these days. It is something people are accused of, and a term that no one would claim for themselves. To adopt and adapt to new technologies is part of what it means to be progressive and modern, not to mention hip. However, the history of actually existing technologies paints a different picture, technologies from the laptop to the cellphone have been used to extend the working day and insert consumption into the pores of social life. Is it time to reconsider what it means to be luddite? Joining us to discuss Luddism is Gavin Mueller, author of Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites were Right About Why You Hate Your Job. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 15 Sep 2023 | The Subversive Seventies (with Michael Hardt) | 00:51:37 | |
The HBS hosts ask Michael Hardt why we so quickly jump from the 60's to the 80's in our political imagination? Most histories of the present either overlook the seventies, jumping from the sixties of radical struggle to the eighties of Reagan/Thatcher and repression, or dismiss it as just the end point of the previous era struggles, the point where the sixties fell apart, collapsing into infighting, or went too far, devolving into violence. What do we overlook in not thinking about the seventies as a decade of struggle? Moreover, what does an examination of the history of that period offer for thinking about politics today? Joining us this week to talk about what we can learn from the seventies and his recently published book, The Subversive Seventies, is Michael Hardt. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 21 Apr 2023 | REPLAY: Vulgarity | 00:55:27 | |
While the HBS hosts are taking a break between Season 6 and Season 7, we're re-playing some of our favorite conversations you might have missed. Enjoy this NSFW episode from Season 2, in which our co-hosts parse the difference between obscenity, profanity, and vulgarity! Full episode notes at this link: ---------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 23 Dec 2022 | HBS Goes to the Movies: Casablanca | 00:52:44 | |
The HBS hosts return to the movies and this week we are discussing Casablanca.
Shot in 1942, a year after the U.S. entered The Second “World War,” Casablanca makes it onto many lists of the best movies of all time. It is part caper movie, part romance, part war flick, and part resistance movie. These are woven together in a fairly complex plot that is beautifully shot, has gorgeous characters, and has given us some memorable lines. On top of all of that, the entire movie takes place almost exclusively in a bar! The writers of the screen play, Julius and Phillip Epstein (Penn State Alums!) were swept up in the Red Scare, though they were never called to testify in front of the House Unamerican Activities Committee. When asked on a questionnaire whether they belonged to any subversive organizations, they answered “Yes. Warner Brothers”). The film is obviously anti-fascist, pro-resistance, has a complex depiction of its one protagonist who is a woman, Ilsa Lund, played by Ingrid Bergman, and even portrays a fraught, from today’s perspective, relationship between Rick (Humphrey Bogart), who is white and Sam (Dooley Wilson), who is black. Complex history, complex politics, complex social relations taking place in bar? It’s just like Hotel Bar Sessions! Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 27 May 2022 | Philosophers on the Internet | 00:56:24 | |
The HBS hosts sit down with Justin Weinberg of the Daily Nous to talk about philosophers on the internet. While everyone is on the internet, many philosophers (some of whom may be on this podcast!) seem resistant to blogging, social media, and other forms of web presence. In this episode, we look at philosophers on the internet. What benefits does the internet bring to philosophy and/or philosophers? Is the internet our new “town square?” If so, should philosophy be brought to the town square? Another way to ask that is “should there be public philosophy?” and/or “should all philosophy be public?”. What are some better practices for being a philosopher online? Who are our favorite philosophers online and what are our favorite sites, Twitter accounts, YouTube channels, etc.? This week we are joined by Justin Weinberg, philosopher and creator/editor of The Daily Nous. Full episode notes at this link: ---------------- FOLLOW Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/hotelbarpodcast LIKE Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/hotelbarsess... VISIT the Hotel Bar Sessions webpage here: http://hotelbarpodcast.com/ | |||
| 18 Aug 2023 | REPLAY: Revolutionary Mathematics (with Justin Joque) | 00:54:29 | |
The HBS hosts chat with Justin Joque about how we might get Thomas Bayes' robot boot off our necks. Why does Netflix ask you to pick what movies you like when you first sign on in order to recommend other movies and shows to you? How does Google know what search results are most relevant? Why does it seem as if every tech company wants to collect as much data as they can get from you? It turns out that all of this is because of a shift in the theoretical and mathematical approach to probability. Bayesian statistics, the primary model used by machine learning systems, currently dominates almost everything about our lives: investing, sales at stores, political predictions, and, increasingly, what we think we know about the world. How did the "Bayesian revolution" come about? And how did come to dominate? And, perhaps more importantly, is this the best mathematical/statistical model available to us? Or is there another, more "revolutionary," mathematics out there? This week we are joined by Justin Joque, visualization librarian at University of Michigan who writes at the intersection of philosophy and technology. He is the author Deconstruction Machines: Writing in the Age of Cyberwar and, most recently, Revolutionary Mathematics: Artificial Intelligence, Statistics and the Logic of Capitalism. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 21 Mar 2025 | The Establishment Clause | 00:54:01 | |
This week, we're pulling up a seat at the intersection of faith, governance, and democracy as we take on the Establishment Clause—that little First Amendment provision that’s supposed to keep church and state in their own lanes. But is that how it’s really playing out? Leigh, Rick, and Devonya dig into the history and contemporary implications of the separation of church and state, from school prayer to Supreme Court decisions, faith-based government offices, and religious encroachments on reproductive rights. We tackle the tension between private belief and public reason, the way religious institutions have both challenged and reinforced state power, and whether the U.S. is creeping toward a civic religion of its own. Along the way, we take detours through Southern Bible Belt culture, the moral status of fetuses, and even a surprise debate over whether capybaras are too cute to eat. (Spoiler: they are.) As always, we’re serving up straight shots of wisdom, no divine intervention required. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 23 Aug 2024 | Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation | 00:55:04 | |
Welcome to the desert of the real. Hotel Bar Sessions podcast is predicated on the idea that the three of us meet up at bar, order-up some drinks, and then settle in to talk philosophy. But—spoiler alert—none of that is true. There is no bar, sadly there are not drinks, and the conversation takes place through the instrumentality of digital technology without us ever meeting up and being together in the same space. It’s all an artifice, or what Jean Baudrillard called "simulation." We point this out not to ruin your enjoyment but because it is this very issue—simulation—that we are examining in this week's simulated conversation. In keeping with our tradition of ending each season with a "deep dive" episode, we're focusing this week on the short book that made this a subject of conversation: Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation, originally published in French in 1981. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 20 Dec 2024 | Kant's Categorical Imperative | 01:06:55 | |
What if morality was law-governed in the same way as logic and physics? The Hotel Bar Sessions hosts close out Season 11 with a deep dive into one of philosophy’s most important moral principles: Immanuel Kant’s “Categorical Imperative.” They carefully unpack Kant’s three formulations of the “moral law”—the Universality formulation, the Humanity formulation, and the Kingdom of Ends formulation—to demonstrate how Kant sought to ground morality in rationality, universality, and freedom. Through accessible examples– punctuality, lying, slavery, and even prostitution– the hosts illustrate Kant’s vision of the moral law as an unconditional principle, independent of personal preferences or consequences. They also clarify common misconceptions, like conflating Kant’s universality formulation with the Golden Rule, and examine how his ideas prioritize duty over subjective inclinations. This is a spirited debate about Kant’s relevance today, questioning the challenges of applying the rigid moral framework of the Categorical Imperative to complex modern realities. The co-hosts address critiques of Kant’s metaphysical assumptions, his treatment of non-human entities, and the potential for misusing his ideas to justify exclusion. Despite these critiques, the hosts argue for the enduring importance of Kantian ethics in safeguarding the dignity and autonomy of all rational beings. Filled with humor, thoughtful analysis, and practical insights, this episode invites listeners to reflect on the philosophical foundations of morality and their own ethical commitments. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 12 Mar 2021 | Shannon M. Mussett on Freedom | 00:56:13 | |
For our first episode of HBS, Shannon Mussett is in the hot seat to explain how the existentialist conception of freedom remains useful and important for Philosophy. Co-hosts Ammon and Leigh make her seat hotter with questions about how "radical" human freedom is, whether or not it is an illusion, why Shannon feels the urge to spontaneously drop babies, and the possibility of freedom for non-human animals, Nature, or machines. Check out the full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 20 Aug 2021 | Superheroes | 01:03:05 | |
The HBS hosts discuss the role of superheroes in culture and popular media. In American graphic fiction and contemporary film, the superhero stands at the center of many popular narratives. Superhero stories published by DC Comics and Marvel are a multi-million dollar per year industry and, in 2019 alone, superhero movies grossed 3.19 billion dollars in revenue. Although it may seem to the novice as if these publishing houses and film studios just recycle the same stories (and sequels) over and over, connoisseurs of the genre know that the figure of the "superhero" has changed and evolved dramatically over the last half-century. What does the figure of the superhero represent? Who does it serve? How has it adapted to reflect broader cultural, political, and social changes? In this episode, Dr. Charles F. Peterson-- a bona fide connoisseur of comics and superhero films-- schools his novice co-hosts on the nuances of superheroes and their development, as well as the deep and often profound philosophical truths that they help to reveal about us ordinary (not super and not heroic) humans. Check out the full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 22 Mar 2024 | Academic Freedom | 00:54:46 | |
The HBS hosts consider a case study testing the limits of academic freedom. Nathan Cofnas, holder of an Early Career Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust, is being threatened with losing his position because he is a “race realist” and, in particular, has stated that there is a difference in natural intelligence in people of different races. What is more, he has argued that race realism, if widely adopted, would be the end of what he has called “wokism.” He unsurprisingly argues that he has the right, because of Cambridge University’s free speech policy “to work on a project on the biological basis of moral norms. I am free to express my views on science, politics, and culture.” This case raises several issues. Does a mathematics professor have the academic freedom and free speech right to teach that 2+2=7? Cofnas is not, himself, a biologist, physician, physiologist, or neuro-scientist. Does he have the right to teach something that is false or, at best, well outside the consensus of scientists researching the field? Is there an actual clash of values here? Finally, should we not consider the fact that Cofnas is on the record as wanting to “poke the bear” of “wokeism,” and, therefore, is more interested in controversy than truth? And can we finally put away the notion that there are “two sides” to every issue? ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 03 Jun 2022 | Utopia | 00:57:41 | |
The HBS hosts discuss the where, when, and how of utopic imagination. On the one hand, utopia as an ideal place, space, political arrangement, or future has been criticized because it delays action to some, perhaps impossible, future. On the other hand, something like utopia just might be necessary for political struggles. We begin with Cruising Utopia by José Esteban Muñoz and move on to discuss the importance, problems, and possibilities of utopia. Full episode notes at this link: http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-58-utopia ---------------- FOLLOW Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/hotelbarpodcast LIKE Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/hotelbarsess... VISIT the Hotel Bar Sessions webpage here: http://hotelbarpodcast.com/ | |||
| 28 Jan 2022 | Superstition | 01:04:36 | |
The HBS hosts discuss the nature, origin, and deployment of superstitions. It seems as if superstitions just evidence a misunderstanding of the relation between some cause and some effect. So, training in critical thinking *should* help to allay superstitions… and, yet, it doesn’t. How important are behaviors to superstitions? Do superstitions require a belief in the supernatural? Are there harmless superstitions? Full episode notes at this link: SUPPORT Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Patreon here: | |||
| 01 Nov 2024 | Does God Exist? | 01:17:27 | |
Are you there, God? It's us, Hotel Bar Sessions. This week, our co-hosts jump headfirst into one of philosophy’s biggest questions: "Does God exist?" Rick kicks things off by asking whether a final answer would even matter: would knowing God exists (or doesn’t) shift our lives and choices in any real way? Might belief in God itself just be a placeholder for the unknown? Why is the idea of an "Intellligent Designer" or an "Unmoved Mover" or a "First Cause" so compelling, even in the absence of evidence? Each host weighs in with their own take on faith, doubt, and the questions that keep us all up at night. Our resident medievalist, Rick, also breaks down the classic proofs for God’s existence—from Aristotle, to Aquinas, to Descartes and Kant—motivating a lively debate on whether these arguments help us see more clearly or simply add to the mystery. Leigh introduces what might be evidence of AI creating its own gods, and asks: if an artificial agent can invent deities, what does that mean for our own understanding of God (and our belief in their existence)? David brings in the polytheistic perspective, and together they explore the human urge to find meaning, even if it eludes rational proof. So, does God exist? Maybe there’s no simple answer, but that’s exactly where things get interesting. Listen in and decide for yourself: is belief the answer, or just the beginning? Full episode notes available at this link:
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| 25 Oct 2024 | The Ethics of Refusal (with Devonya Havis) | 00:58:05 | |
When is it right, or even necessary, to say "no"? Refusing can be a powerful act—whether it’s standing up to authority, rejecting harmful norms, or pushing back against injustice. But when is saying “no” the right thing to do? And what are the stakes when we decide to refuse? Often our refusals are quotidian and inconsequential, but sometimes, and sometimes without our knowledge, they’re huge. We often underestimate how often we issue refusals, both large and small, and we don’t consider carefully enough the moral and political dimensions of those acts. It’s not always easy to decide when it is appropriate to refuse, and even when we know it’s necessary, it’s not always easy. Our guest today, Dr. Devonya Havis University of Buffalo), has been thinking about the ethics and politics of refusal for some time, and how how refusing to go along with something can be an act of courage, rebellion, or survival. We’re going to ask what happens when-- in the immortal words of Nancy Reagan-- you “just say no.” Full episode notes available at this link:
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| 01 Apr 2022 | Memory | 01:03:53 | |
The HBS hosts discuss the role of memory in the constitution of human intelligence, subjectivity and culture/civilization. As we age, we often lose the ability to retain our past experiences. In doing so, we seem to lose a part (or even all) of our selves. What is the role of memory in the constitution of human intelligence, subjectivity and culture/civilization? In this episode, the HBS hosts discuss memory and its relation to personal identity and social identity. This means that we also confront forgetting. Full episode notes at this link: Support HOTEL BAR SESSIONS podcast on Patreon here: | |||
| 26 Mar 2021 | One Year with COVID | 00:48:47 | |
For Episode 5, the HBS hosts consider the last year living with COVID: what can we not believe that we did before COVID? what can't we wait to get back to doing? and what do we hope we never go back to doing? Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 27 Sep 2024 | The Gutenberg Parenthesis (with Jeff Jarvis) | 01:04:27 | |
Are we nearing the end of the "Age of Print"? And, if so, what comes next? The concept of "the Gutenberg Parenthesis" suggests that the era of print – which began in the 15th century, when the printing press was developed by Johan Gutenberg, and extended to the 20th century, when radio and television muscled in – was a unique period for human communication. However, as this week's guest Jeff Jarvis argued in his book The Gutenberg Parenthesis: The Age of Print and Its Lessons for the Age of the Internet(Bloomsbury, 2023), our emphasis on literacy is historically situated in ways we may find difficult to recognize. After, all, there were not always authors, publishers, editors, or newspapers-- all of which are recent inventions, in the grand scheme of things-- and we may in fact be coming to the end of this age. Printing as a technology brought with it all manner of social, political, religious, and cultural effects that we now take for granted: for example, that we know who the "authorities" are, that grammar is fixed, that spelling must be consistent, or that our information must be curated for us. If the age of printing is coming to an end, and if the web is our "new" technology, then we might not be in the best position to understand its potentials and implications. Some contours of the closing of this parenthesis are coming into view, to be sure, but the full extent is not entirely clear. What did print allow and what did it deny? What does the end of print mean for the ways in which we find and digest information about our world? What happens to our ability to communicate complex and subtle ideas? Are we headed toward the promised land... or the apocalypse? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 03 Sep 2021 | Guns | 01:02:30 | |
The HBS hosts try to figure out why there are 150 guns for every 100 Americans. In the midst of a pandemic, as COVID-related deaths creep closer towards 1 million, it's easy to forget the other public health epidemic plaguing the United States, namely, gun violence. Nearly 10,000 people had already been killed by gun violence by June of 2021, with no sign of slowing numbers. Schoolchildren regularly practice "active shooter" drills and, in states like Tennessee, gun-control laws have been relaxed so much that they are practically non-existent. A study published earlier this year shows that gun suicides are rising steeply in 2021, including among teenagers and children. Between January 1 and August 31 of 2021, there were 242 days. A mass shooting occurred in the United States on all but 44 of those days. How did we get here and who have we become? Who is suffering the most from gun violence in our country, and who is most guilty for gun deaths? Is the Second Amendment's guarantee that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" been interpreted too loosely? Should the Second Amendment be repealed? In this episode, we take a close look at all of those questions, as well as Dr. Carol Anderson's new book The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America. Full episode notes available at this link: | |||
| 23 Apr 2021 | The Philosophical Canon | 00:57:55 | |
Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 13 Dec 2024 | The Significance Impulse (with Josh Glasgow) | 01:04:22 | |
What if our cosmic unimportance is itself not all that important? This week, the Hotel Bar Sessions hosts welcome Joshua Glasgow, author of The Significance Impulse: On the Unimportance of Our Cosmic Unimportance, to unpack humanity’s seemingly irrepressible drive to seek significance and the societal and psychological effects of this pervasive impulse. Glasgow argues that the quest for cosmic importance is not only unrealistic, but detrimental, and he urges us to embrace our smallness as a path to greater freedom and fulfillment. From cultural pressures to excel to the personal burdens of striving for greatness, Glasgow highlights how letting go of the need to be “the greatest” can both foster joy and realign our assessment of our own significance in more honest ways. Drawing on examples like Muhammad Ali, Andre Agassi, and Frida Kahlo, the conversation explores the interplay between morality, aesthetics, and well-being in shaping human values. The hosts reflect on how society’s emphasis on individual greatness can distort priorities and undermine happiness, while Glasgow introduces the concept of "irreverent contentment" as a counterbalance. Whether you're pondering your place in the cosmos or just trying to enjoy a good game of cribbage, this episode offers fresh insights into what it means to live a meaningful life. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 15 Mar 2024 | Immediacy (with Anna Kornbluh) | 00:57:40 | |
The HBS hosts discuss the style of "too late" capitalism with Anna Kornbluh. Immediacy would seem to be the defining cultural style of our moment. From video to social media and from autofiction to autotheory, the tendency is towards direct intensity of experience and away from the mediations of form, genre, and representation. What drives this turn to the immediate in art, culture, and even politics? What do we lose in this turn to immediacy? Anna Kornbluh, author of Immediacy: Or, the Style of Too Late Capitalism, joins us to discuss the effects of "disintermediation."
------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 27 Jan 2023 | Hospitality (with Michael Naas) | 00:56:49 | |
The HBS hosts invite Michael Naas to make himself at home on the podcast. There are two popular ideas about hospitality that seem to be at odds with one another. The first is an understanding of a bygone era in which our ancestors were frequently forced–- through battles, famines, the search for water, etc.–- to move frequently and, for many of them, regularly. Under such conditions, the virtue of welcoming a guest was prized among many other virtues. “Tomorrow I might need this hospitality,” leads one to provide it to the one from elsewhere, to the stranger or the traveler. The second emerges with the rise of the nation-state. Each country has a right to its “territorial integrity” and therefore to decide who is let in and who is not. At the rise of the nation-state, many thinkers of the “law of nations” saw that hospitality was necessary because otherwise nation-states could not co-exist, or not peacefully. There also seems to be a personal or individual and even corporate relation to hospitality. Hotels are in the “hospitality industry,” and people are praised for being “great hosts.” We say things like, “make yourself at home,” or “welcome,” meaning “no matter how hard your journey, you have come to a place where you will be well.” And yet, we want to “build that wall!” or prevent those who are fleeing violence or climate disasters from coming into “our" country. Hospitality is a dicey business. So, in this episode, we are talking with Michael Naas (Professor of Philosophy, DePaul University) about the complicated question of hospitality. Full episode notes available at this link:
You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 04 Aug 2023 | Too Soon? | 00:52:26 | |
The HBS hosts discuss timing, prudence, discretion, and propriety. When we talk about propriety, there are a lot of “gray” areas, largely because propriety demands that we conform to conventional rules of speech or behavior… and “conventional rules” are often more the product of “convention” than they are actual “rules.” Propriety requires that we develop prudence and discretion, our capacities of judgment, sagacity, and interpersonal awareness, which are arguably quite different from our capacity to apply a rule or logically reason from premise to conclusion. Comics (perhaps the least interested in “propriety” among us) call this “timing,” and they spend years perfecting optimal joke delivery. When their timing fails, or when they can’t “read the room,” they bomb. Sometimes that’s the consequence of a deficit in their delivery– their rhythm, cadence, tempo, or pausing– but sometimes the joke itself fails. For example, in the months immediately following 9/11, most comics who joked about the attacks of that day were met with gasps and groans from their audience. "Too soon," the audience would heckle with the bad taste of “bad taste” in their mouths, too soon. Today we’re going to try to unpack what “too soon” means, how we determine how soon is “too soon,” and whether or not there are, in fact, some “rules” of propriety. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- | |||
| 03 Dec 2021 | Legally Right, Morally Wrong | 01:00:06 | |
The HBS host discuss the criminal justice system’s failure to produce morally right outcomes. The "not guilty" verdicts in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial made plain the often dramatic difference between what is legally permissible and what is morally permissible. In this episode, we talk about where that difference should be maintained and where it should be diminished or abolished. Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 10 Feb 2023 | Influencers | 00:48:23 | |
The HBS hosts ask themselves why and how they are under the influence of influencers. Although humans have been influencing other humans for as long as we’ve been around each other, the category of “influencer” is a relatively recent phenomenon, really only emerging in the last decade. In fact, the term “influencer” as we currently understand it—a thoroughly platformized figure who documents, optimizes, and monetizes their self as “brand”—wasn’t officially included in English dictionaries until 2019. Today, influencers are everywhere: primarily on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, but also in less glamorous professional and even academic fields, where they sometimes moonlight as trendsetters, thought-leaders, entrepreneurs, or just garden-variety “celebrities.” Today, we’re going to chat not only about influencers—what they are, what they do, and to what ends—but also influence. What does it mean to influence or be influenced by someone? What difference does it make if an influencer is “authentic”? What dangers may underlie the monetization of influence or, in what may amount to the same thing, the political manipulation of influence? Are we all being subtly influenced to mimic influencers—not just in terms of what they eat or buy or how they work out or moisturize their skin, but their self-conscious practices of self-documenting and self-branding? And, finally, can influence really be “measured,” or are the follower counts that climb every time someone is influenced to smash that like and subscribe button just a whole lot of smoke and mirrors? Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 03 Feb 2023 | Materialism | 00:48:13 | |
The HBS hosts talk about "stuff." Materialism seems to be both one of the oldest and most contended philosophical positions. From Thales saying “all is from water,” to Hobbes saying “whatever is, is a body” to the New Materialism of both feminist philosophers and those influenced by cognitive science, something called “materialism” that has some kind of preference for or gives priority to matter seems to always tempt philosophers. Yet, philosophy is a way of thinking about things, and thought has demands that take us outside of matter and the material world, even if thinking is "an activity of the brain." So, it’s time to take a look at the philosophical implications of materialism. What is it? Are there different kinds? Is it a metaphysical position, an epistemological position, a political position? Or maybe all of these? Full episode notes available at this link:
You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 15 Apr 2023 | REPLAY: YouTube's Alt-Right Rabbit Hole (with Caleb Cain) | 01:01:16 | |
The HBS hosts are on break between Seasons 6 and 7, so we're REPLAYing our Season 5 episode on "YouTube's Alt-Right Rabbit Hole." In this episode, we interview Caleb Cain (@FaradaySpeaks) about his experience of being radicalized by the al-right internet. n June 2019, the New York Times featured a story about Caleb Cain, entitled “The Making of a YouTube Radical.” That piece was meant to highlight the subtle, severe, and devastating IRL effects of YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, which has been proven many times over to promote what (in internet slang) is called “red-pilling”—that is, the conversion of users to far-right beliefs. Today, we’re talking to Caleb Cain, a person who has been down the alt-right rabbit hole and somehow found his way back out of it, and we want to introduce our listeners to a first-person account of how right-wing radicalization actually happens on the internet, how it is sustained, and how it might be combatted. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 17 Jun 2022 | Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics | 00:57:19 | |
The HBS hosts try to get to the truth of untruths. Mark Twain famously claimed that there are three kinds of untruth: lies, damned lies, and statistics. In an age of widespread misinformation, where it has become considerably more difficult to distinguish between truths and lies, the HBS hosts make an impassioned plea for us to think seriously about what a lie is, what it is not, and why it matters. We consider the whole menagerie of falsehoods: from trifling fibs ("you look great in those pants!") to catastrophic lies ("the only the thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun") to seemingly antiseptic, but no less dissimulating, statistical misrepresentations. This is our last episode of Season 4 and we want to send out a huge THANK YOU to all of our listeners! We'll be taking a couple of weeks off to detox, but Charles, Rick, and Leigh will be back with an exciting new slate of topics and guests for Season 5 starting on July 8! Full episode notes at this link: ---------------- FOLLOW Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/hotelbarpodcast | |||
| 07 Jan 2022 | Resolve | 00:55:25 | |
The HBS hosts talk about resolutions and the resolve behind them. It is close to the start of a new year and at this time resolutions are in the air. But what is it to make a resolution? And if you make a resolution, do you have to also have the resolve to carry it through? And what is resolve? In this episode, let’s talk about resolutions and resolve. Full episode notes at this link: WEBSITE: www.hotelbarpodcast.com | |||
| 29 Mar 2024 | Whose Anthropocene? | 00:53:25 | |
The HBS hosts look for the cause of the Golden Spike. The term “Anthropocene” was coined in the 1980’s, although it wasn't until 2000 that Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer suggested that we are living in a new geological epoch marked by the impact of humans on the Earth and its inhabitants. Geological epochs are determined by profound and measurable changes in the rock layers and changes in the fossil record. For example, the end of the last ice age marks the beginning of the Holocene, in which we find an explosion of a new and different fossils and profound changes in the composition of rock layers. There is no question that since that time, humans have expanded their presence and increased their populations. During that time, we have hunted various species of animals to extinction, turned millions of acres of forests, wetlands, and plains into farmland. The burning of fossil fuels has altered our climate in drastic and perhaps irreversible ways. Many scientists and scholars have argued this is why we are in a new geologic epoch. There are, however, reasons to push against this label. Many scholars have pointed out that it is not all of humanity that has had this profound impact, but mostly the well off (mostly white) countries of the global north. Others have argued that the changes are due to capitalism and not human existence as such and have proposed we call it the “capitalocene.” This week, we're rolling up our sleeves to dig into the sediment of the Anthropocene.
------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 07 Jun 2024 | Friendship | 00:58:36 | |
The HBS hosts discuss how friendships are forged, maintained, and sometimes broken. In The Politics of Friendship, Jacques Derrida invokes a statement originally attributed to Aristotle: “My Friends, there are no friends," capturing something that seems to be fundamental about friendship. Friendship is essential to human thriving, but also difficult, if not impossible, to attain and maintain. We make all sorts of fine distinctions between friends, "best" friends, acquaintances, colleagues or "work" friends, etc. But what makes someone that you know a "friend" vs. an acquaintance or a colleague? Is that a permanent condition? What do we owe to a friend, and what do they ow us? Is there a political dimension to friendship? This week, friends of the podcast, we're talking about friendship: how it's forged, how it is nurtured and sustained, and how it is broken. Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 24 Sep 2021 | Generations | 01:04:34 | |
The HBS hosts discuss whether or not generational tags– “Boomer,” “GenX,” “Millennial,” and “Gen Z”– are useful descriptions or just gerrymandered groups. Are you Gen Z, a Boomer, Gen X? We don’t know either but in this episode Dr. Rick Lee leads a discussion to try to figure out whether these generational designations have any stable meaning. Do they make sense as organizational categories. Are they Objective Types, Natural Kind, or Gerrymandered Sets? Do generational markers say more than gender, racial, class, ability in terms of identity? We ask about the dates of generations, the characteristics of generations and generational self-consciousness. | |||
| 15 Nov 2024 | Posthumanism | 00:56:29 | |
What are the limits of the "human"? And what comes after us? This week, we’re taking on the big questions: What does it mean to be “human,” and is it possible we’re already moving beyond that? Starting with Foucault’s provocative claim that “the human is an invention… perhaps nearing its end,” we look at how history, culture, and technology have shaped—and continue to shape—our understanding of ourselves. Are we still the “rational, autonomous individuals” of the Enlightenment’s humanist legacy, or are we becoming something more complicated? Our conversation tackles the key ideas of posthumanism and transhumanism: while transhumanists seek to enhance human abilities with technology, posthumanists want to question the very boundaries that define “the human” and its place at the center of everything. Drawing from feminist thinkers like Donna Haraway, we consider what it means to challenge traditional notions of the human, especially in a world where the line between humans, animals, and machines is increasingly blurred. Finally, we get into the ethical and practical stakes. With gene-editing tools like CRISPR and advanced AI systems on the rise, how do we draw the line between human and machine—or should we? And if freedom is what makes the human worth preserving, does technology ultimately support that freedom or put it at risk? Grab a drink and join us as we ask what “posthuman” could mean for our future—and whether we’re already there.
Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 21 May 2021 | Teaching | 01:02:07 | |
Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 03 May 2024 | MINIBAR EPISODE: Meet Our New Co-host, David Gunkel! | 00:24:13 | |
For this "mini-bar" episode, HBS introduces our newest addition to the co-host gang, Dr. David Gunkel! David Gunkel is an award-winning author, educator and researcher, specializing in the philosophy of technology, with a focus on the moral and legal challenges of artificial intelligence and robots. He is the author of a number of important texts on emergent technology, media studies, and philosophy (see his list of books here). Dr. Gunkel is internationally recognized for his innovative work on the moral and legal status of artificial intelligence and robot rights, his efforts to diversify the theory and practice of AI ethics, and his agenda-setting contributions to the new field of human-machine communication (HMC). He currently holds the position of Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University (USA) and associate professor of applied ethics at Łazarski University in Warsaw, Poland. David will be joining Leigh and Rick at the hotel bar as the new co-host for Season 10, which begins on May 17! Full episode notes available at this link:
Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 06 May 2022 | Algorithms | 01:02:14 | |
The HBS hosts discuss the pervasiveness and perversity of algorithms in our lives. Algorithms measure, and increasingly influence/determine, our behaviors. Yet, most people don’t know or understand what an algorithm is! Algorithms are essential to the logic of late capitalism and people need to understand them in order to work toward more ethical AI. Full episode notes at this link: Support Hotel Bar Sessions on Patreon here: | |||
| 16 Sep 2022 | Critics and Criticism (with A.O. Scott) | 00:55:21 | |
The HBS hosts chat with A.O. Scott about the role and responsibilities of the critic. The critic is frequently seen as a parasite who lives of the creative life of others but not producing a work of art through their criticism. In this episode, we are honored to be joined by A.O. Scott to discuss the role of the critic, the creativity of criticism, and the mutual dependence of art and criticism. A.O. Scott is chief film critic (along with Manohla Dargis) for The New York Times. He also write for The Book Review as well as The Times Magazine. He is the author of Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth (Penguin Books, 2016). In addition, he is currently a distinguished professor of film criticism at Wesleyan University. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 10 Sep 2021 | Music | 01:01:29 | |
The HBS hosts talk about music, mathematics, groove, and "altar calls." Dr. Charles Peterson takes the lead in this week's discussion of the power of music in our lives. After a quick run-down of each co-host's own musical likes and dislikes, the HBS gang jumps right into a consideration of the effect that music has on us both as individuals and collectively. Does music give us some singular insight into what it means to be human? What does music evoke within us? How does it seem to have the power to inspire, to sadden, to terrify, and to comfort? How can it be used to manipulate? Is music a key to understanding the order of the Universe? Is it a universal language? And, if music is a common "human" denominator, how do we explain people who have no rhythm, who are "tone-deaf," or why our musical tastes vary so widely? Full episode notes available at this link. | |||
| 10 Mar 2023 | Death | 00:58:28 | |
The HBS hosts confront the inevitable. It is most obviously true that we are all going to die. The very fact that anything is alive seems to entail that it is going to die. Death confronts us as an ultimate cancellation and nullification in the face of which one might ask, “what does it matter if I am going to die?” The chorus in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus says that the best thing is never to have been born at all. This is especially true if one’s life is filled with suffering and then death. Kant, not able to provide a reason why living is so great, simply says that it is the parents’ job to reconcile their children to existence! On the other hand, we have the 20th century philosopher, Martin Heidegger, arguing that we will only be authentically what we are when we take on our own death as the possibility that is the condition of our existence. Co-host Rick Lee is fairly confident that death is "stupid." As he notes, when a loved one dies, our thoughts do not go to authenticity but to the fact that it sucks and is painful that there is now a hole, a gap, in my world that cannot possibly be made good again. It’s no wonder that people turn to the hope or wish that all will be made right again in the end. So, he asks: “what is death?” and what is the “meaning" of death? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 27 Oct 2023 | Debt | 00:55:19 | |
The HBS hosts wonder why it is so hard for us to think of ourselves as "we, debtors"? Debt has an odd function within modern capitalist societies. On the one hand, the economy cannot function without debt; it provides the oil that eases the friction of production, circulation, and consumption. On the other hand, there is a lot of moral language surrounding debt. In many languages, the word for debt is related to or even the same as the word for guilt or sin. During the financial crisis of 2007-2008, it was not uncommon to hear reprobation for those who took out mortgages that they couldn’t afford. And there was a lot of beating up of people who “walked away” from their “obligations.” This same mixture of morality and economics is exposed by Marx in relation to both debt and to the moral value of saving money. Marx points out that the Friday payday, or even bi-weekly payday, is the first advance of credit in a capitalist economy. Labor works before they are paid, thereby lending their labor power, and the value it produces, to the capitalist. This form of debt is never seen as morally suspect, nor are the bankruptcies that capitalists like Donald Trump have gone through. A lower class, blue collar worker finds that they are no longer able to afford to pay back their debt, and that is somehow a “sin.” A billionaire walks away from their obligations and that is seen as “good business.” Why do we have this weird, dual relationship to debt? Is debt a moral obligation? Should we all walk away from our debts? Why does that seem more catastrophic than global climate change?!
------------------- Follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 05 Nov 2021 | Whose History? | 01:06:13 | |
The HBS hosts sit down with Dr. Charles McKinney, Jr. to talk about whose history is (and isn't) being taught. Following on the heels of a recent and very contentious political debate over the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools, we invited Dr. Charles McKinney, Jr. (Neville Frierson Bryan Chair of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of History at Rhodes College) to sit for a few rounds at the hotel bar as we explore the dynamics of power, liberation, and Truth as they play out in the teaching of history. Full episode notes available at this link. | |||
| 20 May 2022 | Musical Theater | 01:02:09 | |
The HBS hosts chat with actor, dancer, and choreographer Blake Zolfo about what makes musical theater so unique. What could possibly make musical theater important or relevant to three philosophers? We all love musicals! The affective appeal of musical theater is clear, even though there are those (philistines?) who do not find it enjoyable. Although Hegel, in his Lectures on the Philosophy of Fine Art claims that opera puts text in the service of music, he also recognizes that the libretto of opera is the sole contributor of ideas, and therefore of properly human freedom. In musical theater, it might be that the situation is reversed: music is put in the service of the text. The HBS hosts are joined by Blake Zolfo (@blakezolfo on the socials) to talk about musical theater. Full episode notes at this link: Support Hotel Bar Sessions on Patreon here: | |||
| 31 Mar 2023 | The Allegory of the Cave | 00:56:08 | |
The HBS hosts consider the merits and demerits of the red pill/blue pill option. The Allegory of the Cave (a section from Plato's longer dialogue entitled Republic) is one of the most famous and widely referenced passages in the history of Western philosophy. Many, even those who are not "professional" philosophers, are at least noddingly familiar with Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Yet, those who have never had the opportunity to read it may wonder: what does Plato actually say in the Allegory of the Cave? What are the details of this strange story? Which ones of them matter? Is there a right or wrong way to understand this allegory? This week, the HBS hosts are taking a long stroll through the text of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, parsing what is actually said within it, and taking time to entertain diversions into its contemporary reformulations (e.g., in films like The Matrix and They Live). Should we all be motivated to exit the "cave," despite the pain involved in doing so? Or, alternatively, is there a way to justify choosing to remain in the cave? Full episode notes available at this link: You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 02 Feb 2024 | Back to "Normal" | 00:54:18 | |
The HBS hosts discuss post-COVID demands to get "back to normal." In 2020 the NCAA canceled its basketball tournaments for the year. Over the next several months, mitigation measures became more widespread and strict. In some places more quickly than others, we all eventually “returned to normal.” Did we though? In some ways, normalcy seems to be an irresistible pull. But is “normalcy” not the same as the status quo? And shouldn’t we be critical of both? We can look at other contexts in which we either have found a normalcy or feel the need to get back to normal: Climate change (who is doing anything about it?), anti-democratic presidents (well, that’s just the new normal!), xenophobia is now a baseline in the U.S., the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, the list can go on and on. It is the "new" normal? And what do we do about the intransigence of normality? Full episode notes available at this link:
Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 07 May 2021 | Privacy | 01:00:51 | |
Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 24 Jan 2025 | Authority | 01:05:26 | |
Is ChatGPT usurping the authority of the "Author"? Or is it just a pretender to the throne? We're opening up the question of "authority" to extend well beyond the usual suspects of kings, generals, or politicians. To borrow a line from Tennyson's poetry: “authority forgets the dying King.” That is, power begins to slip from the grasp of political authorities as they weaken, as respect for and obedience to them wanes. Now almost 60 years after Foucault announced the “death of the author,” we might actually be living through what he imagined. ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 03 Mar 2023 | Fascism (with Alberto Toscano) | 00:53:54 | |
The HBS hosts chat with Alberto Toscano about the long shadow of racial fascism. Since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, the word "fascism" has moved from the historian’s archives to the editorial pages of newspapers. The point of comparison has generally been drawn from European history, but drawing our analogies and checklists from the trajectory of fascism in Europe obscures both the connection between what is happening now in American politics with the history of racism and racial capitalism in this country, and the manner in which we might be seeing an entirely new form of fascism emerge. Alberto Toscano argues that to understand the contemporary form of fascism in the US, we are better served by looking at the history of black radicalism, from Black Panthers to the contemporary prison abolitionist movement. How does studying that history change our understanding of fascism? Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 21 Jul 2023 | Prestige TV | 01:08:40 | |
The HBS try to decipher what makes prestige TV "prestigious." The 21st Century hasn’t given us a lot of reason to recommend it so far—terror, war, fascism, plague, climate disaster, and an impending technopocalyps... but, hey, at least we’ve had good tv! Often referred to as “Peak TV,” the so-called second (or “new”) Golden Age of Television began in the very late 90’s and really cemented its influence in the first decade of the 2000’s. The plots were complex and protracted, not episodic. The protagonists were antiheroes, not heroes, morally ambiguous, hard to endorse, but impossible not to like. There was foul language and graphic violence and full-frontal nudity. And since nobody could access this content with an antenna and tin-foil, we paid for it. It’s since been dubbed “prestige tv,” in part (I think) to assuage the consciences of all those snooty people who looooooved to say that they “didn’t watch tv.” Prestige tv included shows you couldn’t not watch—not because you wouldn’t be “cool” or you might be left out of the most recent water-cooler small-talk, but because prestige tv was quite literally re-shaping culture itself. The Sopranos. Lost. Mad Men. The Wire. Breaking Bad. House of Cards. True Detective. Game of Thrones. Atlanta. Today we’re going to talk about prestige tv, in my opinion one of the most significant, and uniquely American, artistic movements since rock n’ roll. What makes prestige tv prestigious? How do we know it when we see it? What are some of the best examples of it? And, perhaps most importantly, why are we seeing less of it? Full episode notes available at this link:
You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 07 Mar 2025 | Decorum | 00:56:54 | |
When does decorum keep us civil-- and when does it keep us silent? From courtroom etiquette to the Oval Office, from department meetings to NFL sidelines, decorum shapes our public interactions—but who gets to decide what counts as “proper” behavior? In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Rick, Leigh, and Devonya take on the contested role of decorum in social and political life. Is it a necessary lubricant for peaceful coexistence, or a tool for policing and silencing dissent? The hosts explore decorum’s history, its role in institutions like Congress and the courts, and its power to both reinforce and resist social hierarchies. From Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling protest to Zelensky’s wartime wardrobe, the conversation turns to moments when violating expectations becomes an act of defiance. Does focusing on breaches of decorum distract from deeper moral and political failures? And if we abandon the language of decorum, what do we lose—or gain? With their signature mix of philosophical insight and barroom banter, the hosts wrestle with the real stakes of politeness, propriety, and protest. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 17 Mar 2023 | ChatGPT | 00:55:26 | |
The HBS hosts try to figure out how much of the ChatGPT panic is warranted. There seems to be a real panic among not only the professoriate, but also employers, about what ChatGPT is doing to "kids these days." The concern in higher education is that ChatGPT makes cheating easier and, by extension, the worry among employers is that all of the college-educated candidates they might interview in the coming years are really not as "college-educated" as they may appear on paper. Is this panic justified? ChatGPT, no doubt, represents a major advance in publicly-accessible artificial intelligence software. ChatGPT, also without doubt, makes "cheating" easier for college students and makes the "misrepresentation of one's skill-sets" easier for employment candidates. However, ChatGPT is also a genuinely novel learning/working tool that is practically unprecedented in its sophistication.
Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 13 Oct 2023 | Fan Culture | 00:57:34 | |
The HBS hosts chat about the symbiotic relationship between cultural products and their fandoms. For a long time, the image of the fan and fan culture was summed up by an infamous skit by William Shatner on SNL, in which he implores the trekkies to “get a life.” To be a fan was to be a passive stooge of the culture industry, one who mindlessly buys its products, and memorizes its trivia at the expense of their own creativity and life. Gradually this image began to change. The field of “Cultural Studies” demanded that we see fans as not just passive recipients of the culture industry, but active producers, who create their own interpretations, their own meaning, and their own activities with fan fiction, cosplay, and creativity, by poaching the commodities of the culture industry. Lately, however, the division between official product and consumption have broken down in a different way, as fan activity has become integral to marketing and maintenance of the value of intellectual property. Fans rabidly defend their favorite franchises online, harassing critics and anyone seen to deviate from canon. Suzanne Scott had dubbed this practice the convergence culture industry, it is fan activity not passivity that drives the industry. At the same time that fan culture and practices have changed in popular culture, the fan has moved beyond the confines of popular culture to become a general figure of political and cultural participation. The platform formerly known as twitter is dominated by Elon Musk fanboys who rush to defend his increasingly erratic actions. Therapists have had to adjust to the way in which Taylor Swift has become the dominant cultural force in the lives of young women. Last, but not least, the Trump rallies seem to be both fan service and rallies around the particular cult of personality of Trump. The fan has become a cultural, political, and economic force in our society. What has caused this transformation? What does it mean for us? What can be done about it? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 14 Mar 2025 | DEI Then and Now (with Paul Breines) | 00:55:30 | |
Who's afraid of DEI? And why? Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) initiatives have become institutional mainstays in corporate and academic settings—but they are currently under attack. In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Leigh and Devonya sit down with Freedom Rider and retired Associate Professor of History at Boston College, Paul Breines, to reflect on the evolution of social justice movements from the civil rights struggles of the 1960s to today’s embattled DEIA programs. How did a radical movement for racial justice morph into bureaucratic diversity training? And how should we understand the backlash against DEIA as part of a longer history of reactionary politics? Is what we're seeing in today’s political climate a Second Reconstruction or a Second Redemption? The hosts discuss the ideological shifts that have transformed how both the left and right frame issues of race, gender, sexuality, ability, and inclusion—asking whether the language of justice has been co-opted by those seeking to dismantle it. From the Freedom Rides to contemporary campus activism, we dig into what has changed, what remains the same, and whether today’s movements need a more radical edge. What kind of activism does this moment demand? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 26 Aug 2022 | YouTube's Alt-Right Rabbit Hole (with Caleb Cain) | 01:00:33 | |
The HBS hosts chat with Caleb Cain about his experience being radicalized by the Alt-Right internet. In June 2019, the New York Times featured a story about Caleb Cain, entitled "The Making of a YouTube Radical.” That piece was meant to highlight the subtle, severe, and devastating IRL effects of YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, which has been proven many times over to promote what (in internet slang) is called “red-pilling”—that is, the conversion of users to far-right beliefs. Today, we’re talking to Caleb Cain, a person who has been down the alt-right rabbit hole and somehow found his way back out of it, and we want to introduce our listeners to a first-person account of how right-wing radicalization actually happens on the internet, how it is sustained, and how it might be combatted.
------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 30 Apr 2021 | Love | 00:55:48 | |
The HBS hosts talk about love. What is love? Is it a feeling? Is it a cosmic or metaphysical force? Is it a primary motivating drive to propagate the species or to create ideas? What happens when love goes wrong? Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 08 Dec 2023 | Decartes' Second Meditation | 00:50:44 | |
The HBS hosts don their nightgowns, cozy up to the fire, and contemplate wax. There is, perhaps, no more famous statement in the history of philosophy than Rene Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am.” This conclusion is reached in the Second of Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy and is seen as one of the crowning achievements of modern philosophy, at least that kind of philosophy usually called “rationalism.” In fact, this claim can be said to be the founding moment of a trajectory in philosophy that goes from Descartes, through Spinoza and Leibniz, Kant and Hegel, into Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology. It has been the target of a great deal of criticism as well. Some insist it is the origin of a dualism of mind and body. Others insist that it is the founding moment of a kind of subjectivity that is set over and against the material world. And others point to the class antagonism that is contained in the statement. Enrique Dussel goes so far as to insist that before there is the “ego cogito” there is the “ego conquero.” What does Descartes actually argue in this founding text? How does he conclude that “I exist as long as I am thinking?” And what consequences does he draw. Let’s bring Descartes into the bar and ask him WTF? ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 10 Dec 2021 | The Global South | 00:48:36 | |
The HBS hosts discuss philosophy and theory in relation to the global south with Prof. Surti Singh. We does it mean to theorize from the Global South? What tools can theory bring to the global south? And is there such a thing as The Global South? We talk with Prof. Surti Singh, the co-principal investigator of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s project “Extimacies: Critical Theory from the Global South” about these issues and what theorists in the global south challenge the “north” to encounter in its theorizing. Full episode notes available at this link. | |||
| 14 Feb 2025 | Trust | 00:59:15 | |
Can anyone be trusted anymore? Trust is the glue that holds our social world together, yet it’s one of the most fragile bonds we have. In this episode of Hotel Bar Sessions, Rick, Leigh, and Devonya dive into the complexities of trust—what it means, how it functions, and why it’s so easy to break but so difficult to restore. From everyday acts of trust, like believing the grocery store clerk’s name tag, to the deep-seated political crisis of trust in institutions and democracy, the hosts explore trust as an epistemic, moral, and affective structure that shapes our relationships. Along the way, they discuss Derrida’s take on truth-telling, the role of consistency and shared values, and why mistrust often seems more apparent than trust itself. But what happens when trust is shattered—whether between friends, citizens and their government, or even entire political factions? The conversation takes a sobering turn toward our current crisis of trust, examining how unmoored we feel when institutions, democratic processes, and even long-standing social contracts seem to be unraveling. Is trust something we can rebuild, or are we slipping toward a Hobbesian world of raw power? With humor, philosophical insight, and a healthy dose of frustration, the hosts wrestle with the question: how do we live together well when trust is in such short supply? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 29 Sep 2023 | The Uncanny Valley | 01:03:35 | |
The HBS hosts discuss why humanlike robots are sooooo creepy. In 1970, a Japanese roboticist by the name of Masahiro Mori published a short essay in the journal Energy entitled “The Uncanny Valley," in which he attempted to explain humans' reactions to robots that looked and acted almost human. Mori hypothesized that when we encounter humanlike technological objects, our feelings of affinity toward them tend to increase as their verisimilitude increase. (To use a Star Wars example, think of the way we’re more positively drawn to C3PO than to R2D2.) However, the moment robots appear or behave in a too humanlike way, our attitude towards them immediately shifts to revulsion. (Think about the difference in your attitude toward C3PO and your attitude toward the King from the Burger King commercials.) Crossing that line between “humanlike” and “too humanlike,” Mori hypothesized, is like stepping off a precipice. Things just get creepier and creepier. In the 50 years since Mori first hypothesized the uncanny valley, as we all know, technology has advanced at light-speed. Improvements in robotics, computer generated imagery, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence technologies have made it increasingly difficult for us to readily perceive the difference between the human and the humanlike. All of this sparked renewed interest in Mori’s hypothesis: cognitive scientists and neuroscientists engaged in experimental “testing” of the uncanny valley. Psychoanalysts reopened their Freud, Jentsch, and Lacan books for reconsideration. (Philosophers did, too, but they added Schelling, Nietzsche, and Guy de Bord.) Philosophers of technology were born, as film and literary critics congratulated each other on hitting the lottery. Also important to note: Mori’s original essay states that his was an “incomplete” theory, and he very explicitly calls for readers to “build an accurate map of the uncanny valley.” So, today, we’re going to talk about the uncanny, the uncanny valley, whether or not our ability to distinguish between the human and the humanlike is fading, and if that matters. Prepare to be creeped out. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 22 Apr 2022 | Immortality | 00:53:55 | |
The HBS hosts talk about the striving to live forever in physical, psychical, and social dimensions. Immortality seems to be a spoken and unspoken obsession within contemporary culture, whether through the obsession with maintaining youthful looks through diet, exercise or, medical procedure or the hope for a future where people can live on as memories or even as digital intelligences. We talk about the underlying motivations for this hope, what it may say about the underlying dynamics of our culture in regard to existential/metaphysical concerns or the ways we struggle with certainty/uncertainty. How are these ideas examined in both popular and philosophical contexts? Full episode notes at this link: Support HOTEL BAR SESSIONS podcast on Patreon at this link: | |||
| 02 Apr 2021 | Metrics | 01:00:02 | |
For Episode 6, the HBS hosts take a look at several of the metrics by which we are rated and ranked. We talk about grading, student evaluations, the Philosophical Gourmet Report (in professional Philosophy), social media algorithms, China's social credit systems, and we delve into some of Cathy O'Neal's arguments in *Weapons of Math Destruction.* Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 05 May 2023 | HBS Goes to the Movies: The Conversation (1974) | 00:56:49 | |
The HBS hosts discuss Coppola's classic treatment of Nixon-era surveillance and paranoia. Released in 1974, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation is often hailed as one of the defining films of the post-Watergate era, a film dealing with surveillance, conspiracy, and paranoia. While it is definitely about that in many ways, it is also an interesting study of a particular kind of subject, and a particular ideal of subjectivity. Gene Hackman’s Harry Caul is a man who endeavors to be an island, to have no connections with anyone, and to focus just on the pure technical details of his work, without thinking about its larger implications. “It has nothing to do with me” is his general attitude, even as he wrestles with the implications of his work. Lastly, through its use of sound and surveillance, it is a film which asks the question of both its characters and its viewers, what does it mean to know something? What is the connection between fear and knowledge, desire and knowledge? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 26 Jan 2024 | Real Life Heroes | 00:59:30 | |
The HBS hosts chat about heroes without capes. In a world saturated with fictional caped crusaders and masked vigilantes, we want to redirect our attention to the unsung champions who make a tangible impact in the lives of others, in other words, “real life” people who display acts of courage, compassion and commitment and who transcend the confines of comic book fantasies. Not all heroes wear flashy costumes or flashy costumes, and they don’t all possess superhuman abilities. Often, they emerge from diverse but garden-variety backgrounds, with regular lives and more or less regular jobs, but find a way to navigate challenges that test the limits of human fortitude, and mange to exhibit the skills or qualities of character that we want to emulate. What makes a “real life hero” heroic? And how can we keep ourselves from turning them into idols? Are heroes a "childish" fantasy that we should dispense with, or are they necessary to character formation? Full episode notes available at this link:
Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 16 Jul 2021 | Digital Afterlives | 01:03:52 | |
Co-host Leigh M. Johnson is in the hot seat for this episode's discussion of digital afterlives. If we consider the "digital," information-based self to be distinguishable from the meatspace self, we should ask: how long can the Digital Me live on after my meatspace body dies? Technology already enables us to "re-animate" archives of personal information in many ways, and some futurists believe that we may, someday, be able to upload our consciousnesses to the cloud. Who owns that information? What are they currently allowed (or not allowed) to do with it? What would happen if we insisted that all of our information being "deleted" after we physically die? Whether or not you believe in a Heaven or Hell, all of us need to think more seriously about our digital afterlives. Rick, Charles, and Leigh work through some of that thinking-- and much more-- at the hotel bar! Check out the links below to learn more about thinkers and ideas referenced in this episode:
Check out this episode on the HBS website here. | |||
| 26 May 2023 | Progress | 00:57:33 | |
The HBS hosts ask: how do we know if we're getting where we're going? Recently, an article about four "hard problems" in philosophy and their possible solutions came into Rick's newsfeed. Upon reading it, his first question was whether or not philosophy is about "solving problems" at all, which immediately led him to think not only about progress in philosophy, but progress in general. Some philosophers have argued that humans, in general, have made great “moral progress.” Others argue that history is essentially progressive: toward greater freedom (Hegel), toward more comfortable lives (Smith), toward equality for all (Marx), or other identifiable ends. And clearly there has been progress in the so-called "hard sciences" like medicine, biology, physics, computer science, mathematics, etc.
Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 24 Mar 2023 | Late Capitalism | 01:00:05 | |
In a passage that could be considered the motto of our historical moment, Fredric Jameson writes "It seems to be easier for us today to imagine the thoroughgoing deterioration of the earth and of nature than the breakdown of late capitalism; perhaps that is due to some weakness in our imagination." Why does capitalism seem so inescapable? Why do we see it not just as an economic system that came into existence at a particular time, and will end at some point as well, but as a reflection of some fundamental truth about the world and ourselves–what Mark Fisher calls Capitalist Realism? At the same time, given Jameson’s allusion to the weakness of our imagination, might we be missing the way that capitalism is already mutating, changing into something else, not a revolutionary transformation into communism, but into a kind of digital feudalism in which we pay rent in information to a new class of tech overlords just to survive? How can we both imagine alternatives to capitalism and recognize the transformations it is already undergoing?In other words, can we evict the capitalist that lives rent free in our head, or at the very least start charging it rent. Full episode notes available at this link: You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 18 Apr 2025 | Fearless Speech (Foucault on Parrhesia) | 01:07:28 | |
Who, if anyone, is speaking truth to power these days? In the Season 12 finale of Hotel Bar Sessions, we take a deep dive into Michel Foucault’s late lectures on parrhesia, the ancient Greek concept of "fearless speech." But don’t be fooled—this isn’t a dusty historical exercise. With campuses erupting in protest, free speech weaponized by the powerful, and truth-tellers increasingly under threat, parrhesia has never felt more urgent. What does it mean to speak truth to power today—and who is still brave enough to do it? The HBS co-hosts unpack Foucault’s insights with characteristic wit and depth, drawing connections from Socrates to student protestors, from trans youth testifying in state legislatures to comedians canceled by the White House Correspondents’ Association. Is free speech still possible in a fractured political landscape? Can parrhesia survive in an age of rhetorical manipulation and moral cowardice? And what’s the difference between being “canceled” and actually being in danger? This episode doesn’t just explain Foucault's concept of parrhesia—it performs it. If you’ve ever wondered whether truth-telling still matters in a time of disinformation, performative politics, and rising authoritarianism, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss. Tune in for our Season 12 send-off, and stick around to find out who we believe the real parrhesiastes are today. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 28 Jul 2023 | Tenure | 00:48:56 | |
The HBS hosts discuss the pros and cons of tenure. There are many good ideological reasons to defend tenure in higher education, not least of which among them is that tenure is perhaps the only institutional guard that society has established to protect its researchers, scientists, and intellectuals against the pressures of the market. That’s no small thing. But we also understand that, to the non-academic public, tenure may seem like nothing more than a guarantee that haughty academics with cushy jobs can’t be fired unless, as the old adage goes, “they’re caught with a dead woman or a live boy”? Who doesn’t want job security? As with all things that we discuss on this podcast, though, the question of tenure is much more complicated that it appears at first glance. Once established as a institutional protection of academic freedom, the dynamics, significance, and real-world effects of the granting and/or denial of tenure have dramatically changed as the University, the culture, and the political intervention of state legislative bodies have changed. In this episode, we’re talking about tenure: “get out of jail free card” or the necessary codification of a social good? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 30 Jun 2023 | Community | 00:57:51 | |
The HBS hosts try to determine who's in and who's out. In 1887, Ferdinand Tönnies published a groundbreaking book, Community and Society (an excerpt from his text that lays out the argument can be found here), in which he argues that community is a different form of social group from society. The main distinguishing characteristics are that community is a group in which members are personally connected, relying on each other, close in worldviews and values, while society is impersonal, disconnected, with members that are independent and may not share values. (Think about small town vs. big city!) A debate subsequently arose in Germany about whether one was better than the other and Tönnies seems to have expressed more positive views about community than about society. More recently, though, “community” has taken on a somewhat different resonance. We speak of the "queer" community/communities, the "Latin American" community, et al, and it seems we are referring to a group that has affinities in terms their members' interests and values, but may not be constituted by personal connections and direct relations. For Tönnies, community appears to name a group gathered under the principle “we don’t do that here,” and therefore can be oppressive or repressive. Yet, today, community often indicates an association that is affirming and enabling.... even if that latter community can also, at times, turn repressive as a community calls one of its members a turncoat, or worse. Today, we ask: is "community" the appropriate ground of politics? Or is it, rather, a menace to "society"? Full episode notes available at this link:
You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 09 Feb 2023 | Afterthoughts: Season 6, Eps 79-81 | 00:32:54 | |
The HBS hosts rewind the tapes to reconsider episodes 79-81. They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, so we designed “Afterthoughts” to give us a first chance to make a second impression. Whether it’s diving into a particularly thought-provoking comment, exploring new angles, or uncovering a new idea that we missed the first time around, “Afterthoughts” is all about plumbing the depths of our previous conversations. We look back over our last three Season 6 episodes—episode 79 on “The History of Philosophy,” episode 80 on “Attention and Distraction,” and episode 81 in which we were joined by Michael Naas to discuss “Hospitality”– and try to articulate what we woulda, coulda, and shoulda said the first time around. So sit back, relax, and join us as we delve into what kept us thinking long after the recording stopped! ——————- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 07 Jul 2023 | What's YOUR Philosophy? | 00:56:30 | |
The HBS hosts celebrate our 100th episode by asking each other the question "what's YOUR philosophy?" Hotel Bar Sessions, as a podcast, is committed to the idea of "public philosophy," but is there such a thing as a “private philosophy"? Not private in the sense that it is kept out of the public, but private in that it is a philosophy that belongs to an individual. As professional philosophers, we often find that when were out in public and tell people what we do, they will often ask: "what's your philosophy?. So, this week, we're asking each other that same question. What does it mean to have a philosophy of one’s own? Do each of the hosts have “a philosophy”? Full episode notes available at this link:
You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 12 Aug 2022 | Sex Robots (with Kate Devlin) | 01:05:13 | |
The HBS hosts sit down with Dr. Kate Devlin to talk about social relationships between humans and machines. When most people think about our future with robots, they tend to ask the following three questions: (1) Will robots take my job?. (2) Will they kill us?, and (3) Can I have sex with them? This week, the HBS hosts are joined by Dr. Kate Devlin, Senior Lecturer in Social and Cultural Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Digital Humanities at King's College London and the author of Turned On: Science, Sex, and Robots (Bloomsbury, 2018). We talk to Dr. Devlin about the many variations of ethical, social, and sometimes sexual relationships we have with machines. What is the nature of our love, hate, desire, and envy of our robot companions? Why are we so often "creeped out" by them? And what might our para-social relationships with robots tell us about our own moral dispositions? Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast ad-free by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 16 Feb 2024 | Growing Old(er) | 00:56:28 | |
The HBS hosts consider the sands through the hourglass. It seems as if, when we’re young, the solution to all of our problems is just getting older—when will people take me seriously? when will I understand my own body? when will I gain the confidence to assert my own will? or, just be myself? Then, as we age, it paradoxically occurs to us that the only solution to our problems is to be young again: if I only knew then what I know now, if I only had a chance to do that thing over, if I only could move like when I was young, if I only had my whole future ahead of me …. This week, we're talking about the phenomenology, the physicality, and the psychology of growing old(er). Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 12 Jan 2024 | HBS Goes to the Movies: "The Magnificent Seven" (1960) | 00:57:50 | |
The HBS hosts return to the movies to learn why men are cheaper than guns. The Magnificent Seven, produced in 1960 and directed by John Sturges, has a significant place in the history of the western in the U.S. Some have claimed that it is, in fact, the last true western. In fact, the movie practically says this itself. It is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film, The Seven Samurai, placing it in a different genre and a different cultural context. Kurosawa, apparently, told Sturges that he loved the film. The Magnificent Seven deals with questions of the use of force, the capitalist function of thieves and bandits, the meaning of courage, and the loss that war brings. And it has an amazing score, written by Elmer Bernstein. So why are we watching this film? “It seemed like a good idea at the time!” Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 29 Apr 2022 | Metaphysics | 00:55:43 | |
The HBS hosts get to the bottom of what is real, what exists, and what is virtual. In this episode, we take head on the question of whether an analysis, understanding, and assumption of reality, in other words, metaphysics, is a crucial task for philosophy. We argue about whether metaphysics should come before social and political theory, political engagement, and ethics. We come clean about our own positions on what is real. In short, we get real with reality. Full episode notes at this link: Support HOTEL BAR SESSIONS podcast on Patreon at this link: | |||
| 25 Aug 2023 | REPLAY: Death | 00:59:12 | |
The HBS hosts confront the inevitable. It is most obviously true that we are all going to die. The very fact that anything is alive seems to entail that it is going to die. Death confronts us as an ultimate cancellation and nullification in the face of which one might ask, “what does it matter if I am going to die?” The chorus in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus says that the best thing is never to have been born at all. This is especially true if one’s life is filled with suffering and then death. Kant, not able to provide a reason why living is so great, simply says that it is the parents’ job to reconcile their children to existence! On the other hand, we have the 20th century philosopher, Martin Heidegger, arguing that we will only be authentically what we are when we take on our own death as the possibility that is the condition of our existence. Co-host Rick Lee is fairly confident that death is "stupid." As he notes, when a loved one dies, our thoughts do not go to authenticity but to the fact that it sucks and is painful that there is now a hole, a gap, in my world that cannot possibly be made good again. It’s no wonder that people turn to the hope or wish that all will be made right again in the end. So, he asks: “what is death?” and what is the “meaning" of death? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 14 May 2021 | WhoDunnIt? | 01:03:59 | |
Is the world in itself a mystery that science and philosophy take different routes to try to solve? How do luck, logic, empirical investigation, and intuition all work together to make sense of the world? What would a solution even look like? Are philosophers basically just detectives? Is a crime requisite to initiate investigations in mysteries? Is the unknown connected to Aristotle’s idea that philosophy begins in wonder? Is the mystery genre mostly a battle of reason over unreason? Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 09 Apr 2021 | Nostalgia | 01:04:20 | |
The HBS hosts take a look at the political, philosophical, cultural, and personal dimensions of nostalgia. Full episode notes at this link. | |||
| 31 Dec 2021 | Work | 01:02:41 | |
The HBS hosts sit down with Dr. Jason Read to talk about how to understand work in the 21st C. In this episode, Jason Read (Philosophy, University of Southern Maine) joins us to examine the Boots Riley‘s film Sorry To Bother You (2018) and what it might be able to tell us about the dystopic situation of the 21st C. worker. Why has it become so important that the worker demonstrate that they “love” their work? How much of our work demands “emotional labor”? Why is it necessary for (some) workers to abdicate their real or “authentic” voice in order to survive? How have we become so accustomed to accepting less and less, even as more and more is demanded of us? Are workers in the 21st C. just a pot of boiling frogs? Full episode notes at this link: | |||
| 08 Jul 2022 | The Public Intellectual (with Eddie Glaude, Jr.) | 01:03:29 | |
The HBS hosts sit down with Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr. to talk about what constitutes a "public intellectual." Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr. is the James S. McDonnel Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Princeton University, and one of America's leading public intellectuals. He is also on the Morehouse College Board of Trustees. He frequently appears in the media, as a columnist for TIME Magazine and as an MSNBC contributor on programs like Morning Joe and Deadline Whitehouse with Nicolle Wallace. He also regularly appears on Meet the Press on Sundays. Combining a scholar's knowledge of history, a political commentator's take on the latest events, and an activist's passion for social justice, Glaude challenges all of us to examine our collective American conscience. Full episode notes at this link: ------------------ | |||
| 08 Sep 2023 | Forgiveness | 00:56:34 | |
The HBS hosts wonder how a hard heart is melted and mended. In a world often colored by misunderstandings, hurtful actions, and lingering grudges, the concept of forgiveness emerges as a beacon of hope and healing. For some, its transformative power to mend relationships, free us from the shackles of resentment, and grant us the gift of emotional liberation make forgiveness a moral imperative. Forgiveness is not merely an internal journey; it's also a dynamic force that shapes societies and mends the fabric of communities torn apart by conflict and strife. But what does it mean to forgive? What does forgiveness do, and for whom? Does forgiveness require the forgetting of wrongs done? Is real forgiveness even possible? Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 21 Jan 2022 | Optimism and Pessimism | 00:56:20 | |
The HBS hosts talk about optimism and pessimism in its personal, political, and philosophical senses. We tend to think of optimism and pessimism as personal, psychological characteristics. Betty White said that her secret to living to just so shy of 100 was that she never ate anything green and that she was a “cockeyed optimist.” But it seems as if there are non-personal, non-philosophical senses of optimism/ pessimism. There is clearly a political sense–can we work together to amass power to make the world, society, or a particular country better? Or is it all futile? There might also be a philosophical sense–can philosophy make individual or collective lives better or is it impotent? Full episode notes at this link: SUPPORT Hotel Bar Sessions podcast on Patreon here: | |||
| 19 Jul 2024 | Ideology and Self-Emancipation (with William Clare Roberts) | 00:59:00 | |
Ideology is said in many ways. Which one is emancipatory? This week, we are joined by Dr. William Clare Roberts, Associate Professor of Political Science at McGill University, to discuss his recent essay "Ideology and Self-Emancipation: Voluntary Servitude, False Consciousness, and the Career of Critical Theory." This is the second part in our "Ideology" series. You can listen to the first part (Episode 142) here. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 20 Jan 2023 | Attention and Distraction | 00:55:32 | |
The HBS hosts focus their attention on... oh, look, a squirrel! It is said that we are living in an attention economy, an age in which attention has become both a scarce resource and a source of wealth. Devices and apps do everything in their power to solicit our attention and keep us glued to our screens, turning minutes scrolling and clicks into revenue. Because of this demand on our attention, distraction has become an ongoing problem; from the road to the classroom we are worried that we are not truly paying attention. Is it time to pay attention to attention, to reflect on how we perceive what we perceive and why? What might it mean to reclaim our attention? Full episode notes at this link: ------------------- You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions. | |||
| 04 Apr 2025 | Totalitarianism (with Peg Birmingham) | 00:49:56 | |
Can democracy be saved from totalitarianism? In this episode, the co-hosts are joined by political theorist Dr. Peg Birmingham (DePaul University) for an urgent discussion on the topic of totalitarianism. Starting with a critique of what counts as “the people” in democratic systems, our conversation unpacks the entanglement of nationalism and racism, the dangerous erosion of the rule of law, and the troubling resurgence of executive overreach in the United States. Drawing from theorists like Hannah Arendt and Carl Schmitt, we unpack how nationalistic democracies easily pivot toward authoritarian structures—and why naming, resisting, and reimagining democracy remains critical in this moment of global precarity. We also detail the signs of creeping totalitarianism, including terror tactics, de-nationalization, and the centralization of political power, while also reflecting on possibilities for resistance. What can be salvaged from democracy when the demos itself is fractured? What role can listening, ridicule, and justice-oriented solidarity play in resisting fascist creep? Birmingham emphasizes the need for collective action rooted in material justice and care for the most vulnerable, while co-hosts Leigh, Rick, and Devonya wrestle with how to reignite meaningful political opposition and build new coalitions of resistance. This powerful conversation challenges listeners to reckon with our political present and what might still be possible within it. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Blue Sky @hotelbarpodcast.bsky.social, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||
| 02 Aug 2024 | Overcoming Sexuality (with Nir Kedem) | 00:54:25 | |
Can queer theory overcome its ties to sexuality? Toward the end of the 20th Century, French Philosopher Michel Foucault called into question the ways in which a variety of practices, relations, institutions, and discourses came to be organized under the concept of "sexuality." The construction of sexuality as a thing, as a category, as a concept that seemingly identifies something crucial about us, operates as a way to make certain individuals, practices, and relations visible: scientifically, institutionally, juridically, and politically. There is, of course, a danger with this visibility, as it brings into the open and identifies individuals so that they can become subject to regimes of power. Queer theory, and queerness itself, seems inextricably tied to the notion of sexuality: how can some one or some thing be queer if we give up the concept of sexuality? On the other hand, the very notion of sexuality sexualizes everything it touches and thereby reduces the possibilities of queerness itself. Can we think queer without sexuality? Why should we think queer without sexuality? What possibilities are opened by queer thought once it is not longer bound by the image of sexuality? This week, we are joined by Dr. Nir Kedem, author of A Deleuzian Critique of Queer Thought: Overcoming Sexuality (Edinburgh UP, 2024) to talk about how Deleuze might aide us in the project of liberating queer theory from sexuality. Full episode notes available at this link: ------------------- Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel! | |||