https://simplecast.com Minerva Minerva is a growing collection of philosophical conversations. Created by Joshi Gottlieb. Minerva en Tue, 24 Sep 2024 20:42:46 +0000 Sat, 24 May 2025 17:48:31 +0000 https://www.minerva.audio Minerva https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/fbf5d0a8-34dc-4a6e-be64-0e02bf06a4d4/7b84ba87-9378-4ef8-8cc8-352759472f32/3000x3000/experimentation.jpg?aid=rss_feed https://www.minerva.audio episodic Minerva is a growing collection of philosophical conversations. Created by Joshi Gottlieb. Joshi Gottlieb false https://feeds.simplecast.com/VAuXBC_l aesthetics, analytic philosophy, continental philosophy, ethics, metaphilosophy, moral philosophy, philosophy, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, political philosophy Joshi Gottlieb podcastminerva@gmail.com 19c9e8ab-65e5-4e36-9fd7-b7a7a8cdec4c Environmental Aesthetics My most powerful aesthetic experience didn’t happen in an art gallery — it happened in a forest at dusk. I couldn’t quite make sense of it until I came across Dr. Emily Brady's work.

In this episode, she explores what it means to engage with nature on its own terms, why interpretation doesn't require an artist, and how aesthetic virtues relate to environmental care.

Created by Joshi Gottlieb.

]]> Tue, 24 Sep 2024 20:42:46 +0000 podcastminerva@gmail.com (Emily Brady, Joshi Gottlieb) https://www.minerva.audio/episodes/nature-7AaBR_uB My most powerful aesthetic experience didn’t happen in an art gallery — it happened in a forest at dusk. I couldn’t quite make sense of it until I came across Dr. Emily Brady's work.

In this episode, she explores what it means to engage with nature on its own terms, why interpretation doesn't require an artist, and how aesthetic virtues relate to environmental care.

Created by Joshi Gottlieb.

]]> Environmental Aesthetics Emily Brady, Joshi Gottlieb 00:33:33 Can aesthetic engagement with nature save the planet? Can aesthetic engagement with nature save the planet? false full 5 95a190a3-cdeb-45be-bfbf-a320057cbbc9 The Well-Rounded Life Are you living your best life, given the circumstances? According to Amy Berg, there's probably room for improvement. She thinks that, for most of us, the good life is a well-rounded life – one full of diverse pursuits, projects, goals, hobbies and interests. This episode explores why, and how, to live that way.

Created by Joshi Gottlieb.

]]> Sun, 7 Apr 2024 14:02:41 +0000 podcastminerva@gmail.com (Amy Berg, Joshi Gottlieb) https://www.minerva.audio/episodes/roundedness-SsR4NNMZ Are you living your best life, given the circumstances? According to Amy Berg, there's probably room for improvement. She thinks that, for most of us, the good life is a well-rounded life – one full of diverse pursuits, projects, goals, hobbies and interests. This episode explores why, and how, to live that way.

Created by Joshi Gottlieb.

]]> The Well-Rounded Life Amy Berg, Joshi Gottlieb 00:32:49 Being well-rounded is good for most of us. How can we live this way? Being well-rounded is good for most of us. How can we live this way? false full 4 b6ed23f0-50e0-43c5-8671-b8e532afffbb Psychedelic Therapy Psychedelic therapy is remarkable, and tempting. More and more studies indicate that substances like LSD or psilocybin can play a helpful role in the treatment of anxiety, depression, or alcoholism — even when more conventional substances come up short.

Many of the patients in these studies report having had a mystical experience as their ordinary sense of time, space, and self fell away. They feel, moreover, that they’ve learned something during their trip, leaving the lab with new or altered beliefs and the sense that they now have a better grasp on the world.

These studies draw a correlation between such mystical experiences and psychological benefits. People who felt that they caught a glimpse of reality as it really is ended up being less anxious, less depressed.

So the beliefs stemming from psychedelic experiences seem to be helpful, but are they true or meaningful? Is there any reason to believe that stimulating our serotonin 2A receptors leads us to a worldview that’s closer to reality? And what if the answer is no? What if psychedelics do not just produce visual hallucinations, but also metaphysical ones, and give us an unwarranted sense of confidence in a misrepresentation of the world? And what would that say about the ethical status of psychedelic therapy, given that most of us don’t want to be deceived?

In this episode, I talk to Chris Letheby. He teaches philosophy at The University of Western Australia and has written a book about the philosophy of psychedelics.

Created by Joshi Gottlieb.

]]> Thu, 26 Oct 2023 20:41:14 +0000 podcastminerva@gmail.com (Chris Letheby, Joshi Gottlieb) https://www.minerva.audio/episodes/psychedelic-therapy-lJFKc8ZF Psychedelic therapy is remarkable, and tempting. More and more studies indicate that substances like LSD or psilocybin can play a helpful role in the treatment of anxiety, depression, or alcoholism — even when more conventional substances come up short.

Many of the patients in these studies report having had a mystical experience as their ordinary sense of time, space, and self fell away. They feel, moreover, that they’ve learned something during their trip, leaving the lab with new or altered beliefs and the sense that they now have a better grasp on the world.

These studies draw a correlation between such mystical experiences and psychological benefits. People who felt that they caught a glimpse of reality as it really is ended up being less anxious, less depressed.

So the beliefs stemming from psychedelic experiences seem to be helpful, but are they true or meaningful? Is there any reason to believe that stimulating our serotonin 2A receptors leads us to a worldview that’s closer to reality? And what if the answer is no? What if psychedelics do not just produce visual hallucinations, but also metaphysical ones, and give us an unwarranted sense of confidence in a misrepresentation of the world? And what would that say about the ethical status of psychedelic therapy, given that most of us don’t want to be deceived?

In this episode, I talk to Chris Letheby. He teaches philosophy at The University of Western Australia and has written a book about the philosophy of psychedelics.

Created by Joshi Gottlieb.

]]> Psychedelic Therapy Chris Letheby, Joshi Gottlieb 00:39:32 Everyone’s talking about how psychedelic therapy makes you feel. But how does it make you think? Everyone’s talking about how psychedelic therapy makes you feel. But how does it make you think? psychedelics, anxiety, philosophy, lsd, depression, therapy, psilocybin, epistemology false full 3 d51a85d5-076e-436d-9225-cac3b14d5573 Changing Emotions Not long after his daughter died, Freud wrote a letter to a friend: “Although we know that after such a loss the acute state of mourning will subside, we also know we shall remain inconsolable and will never find a substitute. No matter what may fill the gap, even if it be filled completely, it nevertheless remains something else. And actually this is how it should be. It is the only way of perpetuating that love which we do not want to relinquish.”

This conversation touches on so much of this. Oded Na'aman argues that emotions about the past, like grief or regret, are appropriate. That it can even be right to feel them. Medicating them out of existence would get in the way of truly appreciating what happened. At the same time, these backward-looking emotions aren't easy to make sense of: they change and diminish over time, even though the reasons for them persist. The past, after all, cannot change.

Oded Na'aman teaches philosophy at the Hebrew University and writes about ethics, moral psychology, political philosophy, and literature. He also writes long-form essays and fiction. I recorded this conversation back in 2018.

Created by Joshi Gottlieb.

]]> Wed, 18 Jan 2023 21:32:40 +0000 podcastminerva@gmail.com (Joshi Gottlieb) https://www.minerva.audio/episodes/changing-emotions-OIrjNJoo Not long after his daughter died, Freud wrote a letter to a friend: “Although we know that after such a loss the acute state of mourning will subside, we also know we shall remain inconsolable and will never find a substitute. No matter what may fill the gap, even if it be filled completely, it nevertheless remains something else. And actually this is how it should be. It is the only way of perpetuating that love which we do not want to relinquish.”

This conversation touches on so much of this. Oded Na'aman argues that emotions about the past, like grief or regret, are appropriate. That it can even be right to feel them. Medicating them out of existence would get in the way of truly appreciating what happened. At the same time, these backward-looking emotions aren't easy to make sense of: they change and diminish over time, even though the reasons for them persist. The past, after all, cannot change.

Oded Na'aman teaches philosophy at the Hebrew University and writes about ethics, moral psychology, political philosophy, and literature. He also writes long-form essays and fiction. I recorded this conversation back in 2018.

Created by Joshi Gottlieb.

]]> Changing Emotions Joshi Gottlieb 00:14:20 Our emotions about the past change, but the past doesn't. What does that tell us about backward-looking emotions like grief? Our emotions about the past change, but the past doesn't. What does that tell us about backward-looking emotions like grief? grief, bioethics, philosophy, emotions, regret, moral psychology, ethics, psychology, feelings, philosophy of emotions false full 2 fb17cc54-2eb1-47ce-818a-38fb7433fcdf Implicit Bias Most of us like to think of ourselves as unprejudiced, but psychologists tell us otherwise. Even if we don't have any conscious biases, stereotypes might still influence our judgements and our actions implicitly. In this episode of the Minerva podcast, Robin Zheng talks about how we can hold ourselves and others accountable for these biases – and whether they make us blameworthy.

Created by Joshi Gottlieb.

]]> Sun, 10 Nov 2019 10:08:51 +0000 podcastminerva@gmail.com (Robin Zheng, Joshi Gottlieb) https://www.minerva.audio/episodes/implicit-bias-g0rvU7rR Most of us like to think of ourselves as unprejudiced, but psychologists tell us otherwise. Even if we don't have any conscious biases, stereotypes might still influence our judgements and our actions implicitly. In this episode of the Minerva podcast, Robin Zheng talks about how we can hold ourselves and others accountable for these biases – and whether they make us blameworthy.

Created by Joshi Gottlieb.

]]> Implicit Bias Robin Zheng, Joshi Gottlieb 00:27:10 Even if we don't have any conscious biases, racist and sexist stereotypes might still influence our judgements and actions implicitly. Does that make us blameworthy? Even if we don't have any conscious biases, racist and sexist stereotypes might still influence our judgements and actions implicitly. Does that make us blameworthy? sexism, attributability, accountability, ethics, call out, racism, implicit bias, political philosophy false full 1