ABOUT THIS PODCAST 🔗
The most interesting ideas from ethics and political theory. Where every episode contains a surprise.
Surprising Ethics is an accessible philosophy podcast exploring the striking ways in which philosophers are trying to upend received wisdom about politics and how to live ethically. In the battle between the status quo and surprising alternatives, which will win out?
By Dr William Gildea, McGill University and Centre for Research in Ethics. Artwork by Ana Otelea.
Hosts:
Update frequency:
monthly
Average audio length:
40 minutes
English
United Kingdom
15 episodes
since Aug. 21, 2025
episodic
LATEST EPISODE 🔗
Are breakups actually *good*? Do they unlock striving, freedom, and authenticity? Or is anchoring and commitment the ideal path? Is the trend towards non-committal, undefined 'situationships' bad or good, and why? And how should we break up? Should partners have a “clean break”, or do the…
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PREVIOUS EPISODES 🔗
Being straight: a fair sexual preference or discrimination? What about not wanting to date people of certain races? Or screening dates based on height? What counts as discrimination in dating, and what is simply following your preferences? Two leading philosophers of dating have a new take. We disc…
Are activists who fight for a good cause with a bad strategy on the hook morally? The episode begins with a striking thought experiment which suggests the answer may be ‘yes’.
The episode also asks: Are hard-line approaches to activism ineffective? What can the case study of extreme vegan activism …
What actually counts as self-defence when waging war? The 21st century has seen a pivot towards ‘preventive wars’: wars fought in anticipation of a possible future attack. The war in Iran is the latest example. What can philosophy tell us about these wars?
My conversation with Prof David Rodin, a w…
Research shows it’s love – not money or social status – that can soothe the suffering many men are feeling today. But is the manosphere taking this balm away from men? It encourages men to see women as stereotypes and as commodities. This could render them incapable of romantic love with a woman, a…
Many countries are considering lowering the voting age. But right now it’s 18 nearly everywhere. Why? Why not 14, 12, or even 6? Don’t teenagers and kids have interests in having a voice? Adults may on average have more experience than teenagers, but then again some 15-year-olds may be politically …
How do we craft a diet in the child’s best interests? That’s the question Rachel Fredericks and Jeremy Fischer set out to answer, leaving behind the usual arguments about climate and animals. These two ethicists combined philosophy, psychology and nutrition science and came up with an intriguing an…
Are new year’s resolutions a golden opportunity for self-improvement, or do they reinforce a damaging ideology of work and “self-improvement”? And how can we best decide on a resolution?
This episode explores two philosophical challenges to the way we set new year’s resolutions. First, Bertrand Rus…
Envy is seen as a deadly sin. But not by Professor Sara Protasi, who argues that envy is often good – even *virtuous*. Envy drives progress, she claims. Feeling envious is natural. And without it, we might never leave the couch. But how can such a destructive emotion be morally good? And even if en…
We normally think: how can we stop AI harming humans? We may also have to ask: how can we stop humans harming AI? After all, there’s a surprisingly strong case for the rights of future AIs. If future (or present!) AIs have rights, why? And what actual specific rights could some future ChatGPT assis…
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr William Gildea, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.
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