Hotel Bar Sessions

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…

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 movi…

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 3 "Whose History?" (wit…

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 …

The HBS hosts-- now, all four of them!-- chat about what podcasting can do for Philosophy.

There are roughly 2.4 million podcasts in existence right now, with over 66 million episodes between them, a…

The HBS hosts reflect on four fantastic seasons with the inimitable Charles Peterson.

Co-host Charles F. Peterson has been the beating heart of Hotel Bar Sessions for the last four seasons. Throughou…

The HBS hosts consider the possibility of sentient artificial intelligence with Dr. Regina Rini.

The debate about the possibility of emergent AI sentience has staunch defenders both for an against, ma…

The HBS hosts discuss legal personhood and rights for rivers, lakes, and mountains with Dr. Stewart Motha.

In most discussions about extending rights or legal personhood to non-humans, the focus tends…

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 a…

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, tha…

The HBS hosts wonder whether the call is coming from inside the house.

Fear is a one of the most complex of human affects. It is both physical and psychological. It can be intensely private or shared …

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 YouTu…

The HBS hosts talk with Dr. Joel Michael Reynolds about what bodies are afforded and denied.
 
As we come to recognize more and more the occlusions that occur in, and often constitute, philosophy and i…

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 qu…

 The HBS hosts ask Dr. Charles Hughes for water, and he gives them gasoline.
 
According to co-host Charles Peterson, the blues is "as American as apple pie and as Black as the Funky Chicken." The blue…

The HBS hosts try to go viral with Andrew Baron, creator of KnowYourMeme. 

Memes: if you get them, you get them... and if you don't, you don't. But how is a meme created? How does it spread? And how d…

The HBS hosts investigate the limits of Reason alone and, more importantly, in real human history.

Many, rightly, understand the discipline of Philosophy as primarily defined by its commitment to Reas…

The HBS hosts attempt to measure the real stakes of cheating.

According to a recent study, almost 60% of college/university students in the United States admit to having cheated at least once during …

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 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 …