Dilemma Podcast

You know that strange nagging restlessness that you feel in your core? That difficulty focusing on what's in front of you? That flittering from one path to another to another in the hopes of finally feeling your purpose? That deep dissatisfaction with the ignorance we have about the deepest existential questions of life?

This episode is about that restlessness...

Is abortion ever morally permissible? Is it always wrong? Are there any morally valid exceptions? Do any if the answers to these questions demand a certain kind of legal limitation? Where and how do we ground any of these contemplations?

In this philosophical dive into the fraught issue of abortion, Jay tangles with Bethel McGrew (Esther O'Reilly) who brings her deeply Christian perspective to the table. Together they look for existential overlap and their deep points of departure...

What if much of what we do to our children works directly against what we profess we ultimately want for them?

Alfie Kohn argues that things like homework, grades, systems of praise and punishment, reward and sanction, and generally the enforcement of an atmosphere of fierce competition in education all undermine our stated goals...

Is it possible that the default position of libertarianism which has so deeply influenced politics, economics, and philosophy since the enlightenment could produce an ecosystem which stalls our ability to handle the existentially daunting task of freedom? Does the political structure of libertarianism dissolve into a fantasy the moment it encounters a problem of the commons like COVID or climate change? Is a conception of libertarianism as a "freedom from" preferrable to a conception of it...

Does 2+2 really equal 4? What realm of truth am I in when I speak about my pain? What kind of truth claim is it to speak about the existence of "Poland"? How about the existence of ghosts and gods?

Spencer Greenberg breaks down his taxonomy of truth claims to help us better understand what we and others might be saying when we declare something to be true...

How many countries are there? 197? 193? 180? It depends who you ask and who is counting. What constitutes a "state"? How does that differ from a "nation"? Why do certain claims of self determined statehood go unrecognized while others are accepted and others are disputed...

Is there any hope for that strained or broken relationship that's become a causality of the political divide? Is common ground found best by going towards our superficial commonalities or in the direction of our deepest existential fears and hopes? Are the toxic business models of social media too much for us to overcome?

Monica Guzman is the blue leaning daughter of two Trump voting Mexican immigrants and is the head of storytelling for Braver Angels - an organization dedicated to...

What is it like to be a baseball bat?

This episode is a dive into the philosophical approach known as Object Oriented Ontology (OOO) with the author and philosopher Ian Bogost. Ian Bogost is a video game designer, author, and philosopher known for his most recent book Play Anything, but this episode is all about his book Alien Phenomenology: or What is it Like to be a Thing?

A nuanced look at the morality of intentions and self-deceptions in the Israel Palestinian conflict.

A look at the moral distinction between collateral damage, intentional civilian targeting, and something much more common and psychologically complex which the Jewish experience makes Israel particularly suspectable to...

Jay Shapiro's personal essay and account of how the disfigurement of American Judaism has forged an existential crisis for something much bigger than survival of the state of Israel.