Hotel Bar Sessions

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 …

The HBS hosts survey theories of justice from the ancients to the present.

What does it mean to think justice, to pursue justice, or to act justly? Are we servicing justice, or just serving our self-i…

What can the Indian dualist philosophy of Sāṃkhya teach us about matter and consciousness?

In this captivating episode, we explore the fascinating interplay between matter and consciousness as articul…

This week, the HBS hosts are joined by Dimitris Vardoulakis (Associate Professor of Philosophy at Western Sydney University) to discuss the phronetic tradition and its significance for ethics, politi…

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? Startin…

What do we mean when we say "Nature"? And what, if anything, is "natural"?

In this week’s episode, we’re pulling up a chair at the bar to ask: What do we really mean when we talk about “nature”? From …

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 an…

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 “…

Should we eat meat?

Humans have been eating other animals for close to 2.5 million years--a fact that is evidenced by cut traces on fossil animal bones, surviving stone tools, and analyses of our ance…

What can Frantz Fanon and Friedrich Nietzsche teach us about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?

This week, we're joined by Zahi Zalloua (Whitman College) to discuss the final chapter of his most recent…

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 …

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 printin…

What counts as evidence? What makes it good or bad? How do we know?

In court cases, the prosecution, plaintiff, and defendant present “evidence” that something happened or didn’t happen, that it happe…

When did Jesus start hating immigrants and gays, and loving guns and capitalism?

Many Christians on the political left today no longer recognize the Jesus of the political right in the United States. …

The HBS hosts struggle for recognition.

[NOTE: This is a REPLAY episode, first aired on August 11, 2023. The HBS hosts will be back with new episodes for Season 11 starting on September 13, 2024!]

The …

The HBS hosts ask Devin Shaw whether and how to punch Nazis.

[NOTE: This is a REPLAY episode, first aired on Jun2, 2023. The HBS hosts will be back with new episodes for Season 11 starting on Septembe…

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 al…

Does voting matter?

Voting is often heralded as the cornerstone of democracy, a fundamental right that empowers citizens to influence the direction of their government and society. Proponents argue th…

What happens when AI overtakes the role of human journalists?

The HBS hosts are joined this week by Dr. Andrea Guzman, one of the leading experts in human-machine communication studies, to chat about …

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, instit…