Philosophy? WTF??

Episode 226: Human Identity Part Four

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:56:49 +0000

Our forth and final part of our exploration into human identity.

Episode 225: Human Identity Part Three

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 12:00:00 +0000

The third part of our chat on Human Identity!

Episode 224: Human Identity Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 16:14:31 +0000

The next part of our chat on Human Identity.

Episode 223: Human Identity Part One

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Danny and Dr. Mike return with a discussion on the importance of keeping our human identity in the coming AI revolution!

Episode 222: Special BONUS episode 'My Mt. Rushmore

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 08:00:00 +0000

Special BONUS episode 'My Mt. Rushmore. A pilot for a new show!

Episode 221: Persistence and Memory Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 08:00:00 +0000

Persistence and Memory Part 3

Episode 220: Persistence and Memory Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 08:00:00 +0000

Persistence and Memory Part 2

Episode 219: Memory and Persistence Part One

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0000

That's right Danny and Dr. Mike are back! Pull up your bar stool and join us as they dive into the tangled web of persistence and memory. This week they unravel how our memories shape who we are, how we persist through time, and whether our sense of self is more than just a collection of recollections.

Episode 218: Age and Ageing Part 5

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 20:33:44 +0000

Age and Ageing Part 5

Episode 217: Age and Ageing Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 04:49:58 +0000

Age and Ageing Part 4

Episode 216: Age and Aging Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 04:39:20 +0000

Age and Aging Part 3

Episode 215: Age and Ageing Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 29 May 2024 04:37:36 +0000

Age and Ageing Part 2

Episode 214: Age and Aging Part One

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 15 May 2024 04:46:42 +0000

In youthful spirits, the fresh faced Danny and Dr. Mike take a look at what it's like to get old and mine all the philosophical chat they can from it.

Episode 213: Freewill and Determinism Final Episode

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 01 May 2024 04:43:46 +0000

In this final episode of the series, Danny and Mike explore the idea that human being can be reduced to their DNA. Does your genetic make up determine how your life unfolds and the choices you make. Plus, should we develop a method to control our impulses and even develop a 'code' in which to follow. Thus, everything has been covered completely in this series! Nothing has been left out! Oh, and listen out for a quick section of what might have been overlooked.

Episode 212: Free Will and Determinism Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 04:16:55 +0000

Yes, we're back for another round of Free will and determinism! Remember you chose to tune in and hear the latest from Danny and Mike as they get deeper into the limits of of freedom and free speech. Or did you? Join us and remember you can say what you like about the podcast - as long as its good!

Episode 211: Freewill and Determinism Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 06:07:45 +0000

Are you really free to eat anything you like for breakfast? Even turkey? Maybe, How about wear any clothes you want? Even slippers outside? Could be. But what about having children and keeping them? Is there really an option not to procreate and not to keep a child you produce? Is evolutionary biology controlling us to maintain the human species above your immediate desires? Tune in to find out!

Episode 210: Freewill and Determinism Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 05:24:18 +0000

See, we knew you would be back! This time Danny and Dr. Mike consider whether or not they are truly 'good' people or perhaps 'bad' without knowing it? If morality changes as time moves on, can you be 'good' one moment and 'bad' the next because the world has changed its mind on what is moral? You should tune in this time as our moral, upright podcasters honestly give their take on ethical thought because next time they could considered nasty pieces of work!

Episode 209: Freewill and Determinism Part 1

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 05:48:37 +0000

You were always going to end up here, why fight it?

Come and join Danny and Dr, Mike from your own free will, as they discuss, from their own free will, er... free will. Are we truly completely free or are we determined in our actions through social, psychological or political forces? Tune in and find out!

Episode 208: Existentialism Final Part

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 05:34:11 +0000

Where do you live? In the real world or online? Danny and Dr. Mike finish off their existentialism chat with a discussion about the way we have recorded our lives and how we present ourselves online. Also, a rigorous talk on what Dr. Jakyll gets up to when his fiancé is 'taking the waters in Bath'.

Episode 207: Existentialism Part 8

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 05:39:35 +0000

This week, Dr. Mike whisks Danny of into the mists of time and recalls his days as Earth's first line of defense against Alien invasion! You heard correctly, Mike once was part of a crack team of first responders who were engaged in monitoring the night skies for suspicious flying objects and scouring the countryside for extraterrestrial vehicles etc. That's right! They did all these amazing things and still made sure they were home in time for tea!

Episode 206: Existentialism Part 7

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 07:21:21 +0000

It's a new year and everyone is feeling optimistic and about the year ahead! Everyone except for Dr. Mike and Danny who return with more of their chat on the dark side of existentialism. Come join them as they talk Sisyphean ordeals, Star Trek and being 'Beach Ready'.

Episode 205: Philosophy? WTF?? 2023 Christmas Special!

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 15:50:46 +0000

So here it is the 2023 WTF?? Christmas Special!

Episode 204: Existentialism Part 6

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 17:14:10 +0000

Welcome back for another round of Existentialism talk with Danny and Dr. Mike. Listen as they continue to look for answers in the structures and traditions of life. Listen out and see if you can find order and rules in their chat about Kafka's Trial!

Episode 203: Existentialism Part 5

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 08:01:18 +0000

Yes dear listener, we have returned to continue our exploration of Existentialism. This time we focus on the depths of despair as we look at the absurdness of existence! Danny and Dr. Mike will take you through the darkness and look for any signs of meaning along the way. Strap in and think positive thoughts!

Episode 202: Existentialism Part Four

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 06:07:48 +0000

To not make a choice is still a choice have some good faith and tune into the final part of Danny and Dr Mike's Existentialism discussion! They chat about the return of philosophy to schools and the importance of critical thinking in our world where the answer to all questions is most certainly 42!

Episode 201: Existentialism Part Three

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 05:24:19 +0000

Once again you have made the correct choice! This week in their continuing chat on Existentialism, Danny and Dr. Mike turn to Kierkegaard and the different stages of life. Are you still in the throes of hedonism, or have you reached the stage in which you want to give something back? Find some meaning in your life by listening to the duo examine these stages and then they turn once again to the movies and Kurosawa and has given so much philosophical advice in the past!

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Episode 200: Existentialism Part Two

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 04:37:26 +0000

This week Danny and Dr. Mike find themselves on the stage of life continuing their discussion on Existentialism by asking are we more than just decision makers? Do we bring more to the table then just our ability to make a decision? Listen while stroking your chin in wonder as the pair present the despair of choice in our current world on inauthentic news and misinformation.
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Episode 199: Existentialism Part One

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 04:11:55 +0000

Congratulations! You have chosen wisely to listen to this podcast! This week Danny and Dr. Mike tackle Existentialism. Stroke your beards, adjust your berets and light up your Gauloises as you listen to the truth seeking pair as they steer their way through the nihilism of our current world. Hold on tightly and in good faith as they bravely throw themselves into the void of our foundationless world and order coffee and pain-au-chocolat!
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Episode 198: Holiday Time 'Leisure' special!

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 08:04:31 +0000

Yes its holiday time in Philosophy? WTF?? world! Open up your deck chair, unscrew a bottle of ambre solaire lay back and listen as Mike muses on the purpose of leisure time!

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Episode 197: AI - Episode Three

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 04:26:17 +0000

Danny and Dr. Mike conclude their discussion on AI with a wider chat on who gets the keys to the social media platforms we all use and the fallibility of the humans that are in charge of them. Also, with ChatGPT and similar are we removing humans from the creative process and does this spell the end of art? Tune in to hear all this and more with your 'all too human' hosts!

Episode 196: AI - Episode Two

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 31 May 2023 05:21:34 +0000

This week gasp in suspense and delight as Danny and Dr Mike, without any computer assisted aides whatsoever, tightrope walk across the twin philosophical concepts of the Turning Test and the Chinese room! You will hold your breath as the Turning test brings us closer to the idea that the machines could take over and then laugh in relief as Searle arrives to save humanity (for now) with the Chinese Room thought experiment! Yes, the future and your job is safe for a while as Philosophy?WTF?? prove that humanity will win and the machines have no chance... probably.

Episode 195: AI - Episode One

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 17 May 2023 04:36:38 +0000

Join us this week as Dr Mike and Danny get super topical and chat ChatGPT! That's right, PhilosophyWTF has caught up with the 21st Century and is getting to grips with cutting edge thought! Listen with growing concern as our fearless thinkers discuss the rise of computer generated Artificial Intelligence and then sigh with relief as they cheerfully explain that actual artificial intelligence is impossible - well at least for the moment!

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Episode 194: A Chat with Hunter: Final Part

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 03 May 2023 04:26:13 +0000

Welcome listeners to the final part of the talk with Hunter! As Danny's and Mike's chat with Hunter winds down, inevitably the chat turns to politics and Science Fiction! Also we have a chance to listen in and hear more about Hunter's life, how he encountered the podcast and how he realised that philosophy should be accessible for everyone (especially if Danny and Mike can do it!)

Episode 193: A Chat With Hunter Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 20:25:00 +0000

This week Danny, Hunter and Mike have had enough of the breakneck speed of technology and discuss whether we should destroy ChatGPT and 'go back to the 50s'. Then, listen in horror as Danny raises the idea that maybe there were upsides to George Bailey not existing and whether we should be able to 'reset' our lives. All this plus the inevitable Star Trek talk!

Episode 192: A Chat With Hunter Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 04:41:49 +0000

Welcome back to part two of our chat with Hunter. This week we talk nation and identity and ask ourselves: 'are we where we come from?', 'How much of ourselves do we take with us when we travel?' 'Where does our culture come from?', 'Is a man an island even if he lives on one?' So relax, sit back and take back sovereignty with Hunter, Mike and Danny!

Episode 191: A Chat With Hunter

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 05:15:08 +0000

In this week's episode Danny and Mike have a cosy chat with American friend-of-the-pod Hunter Campbell Royall! With a focus on our relationship to the land, Identity and culture we ask who we really are and where did we come from?

Episode 158: Essence and Identity Part 6

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 05:45:52 +0000

Ok, it’s the last cast of the year, you all know the drill, I’m not sure I can be bothered this week so I’m just going to phone this one in if that’s ok with the rest of you? Right, so welcome, it’s Danny and Mike, listen to us talk about stuff. Sit in amazed silence as this happens, then that, then some other stuff, possibly about social construction, possibly about Luce Irigaray, to be honest I can’t rightly remember, we are just on the other side of Christmas here, cut us some slack for pity sake. I think Danny mentions menstruation and hysteria - one of us says something meaningful about gender… yeah, pretty sure that was this cast. All this plus what, exactly, does it mean to be “non-binary”? Don’t look at us, how should we know? But, as luck would have it we have with us Sorren, the non-binary archeologist, who was prepared to share her own experiences with us for the promise of a free meal. Who are we to turn down such an offer in these difficult times?

Episode 156: Essence and Identity Part 5

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 05:42:34 +0000

This week, as we approach that festive time of the year, join Mike and Danny as they invite a few friends over for drinks and nibbles. Listen in as de Beauvoir tries to bogart all the vol-au-vents while arguing that she is free to range with absolutely liberty across the entire buffet and who are we to try to constrain her with our fascist party hosting ideologies. Well, there is always at least one guest like that, right? They bring the cheap ass supermarket larger and drink all your Prosecco. Across the room you might just make out Jacques Lacan checking himself out in the mirror - I bet he thinks this cast is about him. Don’t worry, Foucault is right there taking the piss and telling him there is something caught in his teeth that he can see - that guy, anything for a laugh. Yes, it’s a party in your brain and everyone is invited but I’m not cleaning up in the morning and don’t come crying to me if you wake up with your own ID, what happens at the WTF Christmas party, stays at the WTF Christmas party.

Episode 155: Essence and Identity Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 05:16:59 +0000

This week, join Mike and Danny here in our bodies where we feel safest of all, we can lock all the doors, it’s the only way to live in bodies… or is it? Certainly Merleau Ponty would agree. Yes, it’s time for the physical body to not only take centre stage but to actually become the stage upon which we strut and fret and access the world. Bet you wish you’d kept it in better shape now don’t you? But don’t worry, Mike and Danny are on hand to socially reconstruct your entire reality. Gather round as they sensibly put on their philosophical hard hats and high-vis vests and set about knocking through that unsightly personal identity considered sooooo essential back in the day to create a whole new self with a lighter, airer feel to it that you will just love to invite people back to. I mean, we aren’t saying it won’t run into money and any thing we say up front is just an estimate, but totally worth it, right?

Episode 154: Essence and Identity Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 06:03:32 +0000

This week Mike confuses Danny with someone else, after all, how is Danny to be distinguished from anyone else? One needs to be tolerant of each other, right? Or perhaps, as Popper tells us, the tolerant society can only be tolerant by not tolerating the intolerant. To secure the essence of humanity what must we deny? How do we police our fundamental identity? What are we prepared to go to the stake for? Human dignity? Human freedom? Gender distinctions? Pineapple on pizza?? Where do we draw the line and what do we draw it in? - indelible pen? Pencil?? Chalk??? But what is this creeping up behind us smelling all sweaty and making odd noises? Yes, it’s the physical body preparing to make a reappearance and stake it’s claim to being an essential component in the quest for human identity. Watch it as it lumbers up on stage, takes the mic and starts to sing “Who You Are” by Jessie J. Yes, we are all down with the banging tunes on the WTF dance floor. All this and a retro reference to Paul McCartney and Wings for no good reason, watch out for it.

Episode 153: Essence and Identity Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 05:15:44 +0000

This week Mike and Danny get down to essentials but where do they take us? What is a good Danny? Who is it that decides on the “Danniness” of a thing? Yes we are coming after you Plato, we have a guzungada and we are not afraid to use it. Also, in todays cast, beer - what is it? Is there an essential beer or is it simply a label we hang on a particular beverage? To be honest, who cares as long as it's Wittgenstein’s round, right? But who have we here traveling towards us at a reckless pace? Why I do believe it’s Aristotle… he’s traveling awfully fast… I don’t think he’s going to be able to stop…he’s going to run into Plato and there is going to be an accident if I’m any judge you just wait and see. Yes it’s essence and accidents at WTF and who is to say which is more significant?

Episode 152: Essence and Identity

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 05:17:36 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny in the Philosopher’s Kitchen as they seek to impress the judges with their philo-culinary delights. Will the guest diners enjoy Danny’s Wittgenstein soufflé or will it collapse at the last minute proving to be insubstantial and nothing more than hot air? Will Mike’s Platonic pie flavoured with 'essence of human form' and served with a side of totalitarian taurine pique palates or send people scurrying to the toilet? As our conceptual cooks round off the evening with a desert constructed from leftover suspicion, a smidgin of Karl Popper sprinkled with nuts, the whole sorry mess is capped off with a nightcap of Mike over-sharing about his restaurant habits. Yes, this is where it starts guys, a feast for your minds - but remember, chew your food, enjoy it, you aren’t animals…

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Episode 147: Philosophy is Where You Find it! Part 6

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 04:33:13 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they attempt to build a scale model of Danny from bits of information gleaned by rummaging through his bins during the hours of darkness. Is it possible to create an accurate scale model of the world using nothing but words and statistics? Develop a new found respect for data analytics as we identify Danny’s perfect partner by noting his preference for whisky, Wittgenstein and women and concluding from this that he is ideally paired with a drunken Scottish lady who likes to kick ladders away. Yes, it’s time to reduce the world and everything in it to convenient data sets for easy storage and eventual reconstitution via the inevitable replicator technology, or perhaps just to sell you stuff and make you easier to file. All this and Danny channeling Yoda towards the end of the cast - “All his life has he looked away to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was, What he was doing”. Makes you think, right?

Episode 146: Philosophy is Where You Find it! Part 5

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 04:30:16 +0000

This week, who knows what’s going on because we certainly don’t. Danny has been struck down by the virus (he’s fine and recovering so don’t pander to him, he’s just looking for attention) and Mike can’t recall what they talked about when this cast was recorded. All we can say with any certainty is that the whole thing will be its usual mixture of insight and delight - which is more than most of use deserve. I think we talk about a couple of films, oh yes, and a book … or was it a cat? No, I remember now, we definitely discussed desserts … or was that deserts? Pretty sure it had sand in it somewhere…

Episode 145: Philosophy Is Where You Find It! Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 04:21:19 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they get just what they deserve. Yes, who are you and what do you want? Is there an ontology behind consumerism? What do we need to own in order to be complete? Join us as we ride into town on the mule of philosophy and play what we deserve off against what we lack. Yes, it’s an anthropological showdown with everything to play for if we get caught. What are we being told about ourselves when the marketplace tells us what we need to be truly complete? If money can’t buy you happiness you don’t know how to shop, am I right?

Episode 144: Philosophy is Where You Find it! Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 04:17:46 +0000

This week join us as Mike and Danny bunk off school to hide behind the bike sheds and talk lifestyles. Yes, you heard right, we’re bucking the system and biting the very hand that feeds us. Listen in mute disbelief as your two cheeky chappies from the lower 6th sass their teachers and serve up shade to their betters. What do you mean you don’t want to take your place in the market? You can’t fly kites and feed birds all day! Stay after school and write 1000 times “I must not question the status quo and mistake life style for career”. Yes, we are finding philosophy hidden away in the musty lockers and defaced text books of education. All this and Orson Wells - is Harry a bastard or a realist? We will meet you in the sewers of Vienna to find out.

Episode 143: Philosophy is Where You Find It! Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 04:20:36 +0000

This week, join Mike and Danny as they delve into the depths of the fridge, behind the the milk, cheese and other fresh dairy products to rummage amongst the fetid remains of dinners past. Yes, stand amazed, and slightly nauseated as your two ragged philosophical gastronauts engage in the thinking persons equivalent of coming home late from the pub and prodding at dangerously out of date pizza in the hope that it is just this side of toxic. Is the best philosophy conducted by poking around at things that we find on our journey through life or do we need to invest heavily in primary texts and an expensive academic education? Are fried up leftovers just as satisfying a meal as an expensive 5 star tasting menu? Only you and your toilet will ever know for sure

Episode 142: Philosophy is Where You Find It! Introduction

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 04:28:54 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they scavenge through the philosophical skips and bins in search of discarded gold. Yes, we are up-cycling preowned and well used ideas that others have simply thrown out. I mean really, senseless waste. Look at this passing phrase from a 1940’s film - still plenty of good ontological wear in that. And here, see that? A sentence from Jane Austin that with a little invisible mending will continue to do solid epistemic service. It’s a disgrace what people chuck out these days, consumer philosophy, that’s what it is, nothing built to last. Ah well, at least we can do our bit for sustainable thought. Underground, overground Philosophising free, the philosopher of WTF are we, making good use of the ideas that we find, things that the everyday thinker leaves behind

Episode 141: How to Build a Philosophy Part 7

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 04:26:43 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny simply because they tell you too. Yes, that’s right, you can trust us, we’re reliable, when have we ever steered you wrong? I mean, who else are you going to believe? After all, what do you really know? A handful of shabby first hand experiences mediated through highly questionable sense organs and the rest is all hearsay, am I right? So, who ya gonna trust? Wikipedia? The evening news? The government? Dave from down the pub (he seems to know everything). No, you stick with Danny and Mike, we’ll tell you how it really is. As Abba once said, knowing me, knowing you, aha! And who are we to argue with them - am I right?

Episode 140: How to build a Philosophy Part 6

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 05:07:02 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they question your life style, yes YOURS! After all, who are you people to come in here with your uniqueness, strutting your difference around like it was no thing? I mean, it’s taken us ages to sort things out and to figure out the how and why of things and then in you people trot with your thinking and opinions and various sexualities and throw the whole delicate edifice into jeopardy. You people sicken me, why can’t you be like us? Why rock the boat with your … your… ways? Surely you can all see that it’s much better to conform to the Mike and Danny standard? So, as we say, join us in the back of the cave where things are the same and not different. Remember, fear the other, even people from round here aren’t from round here.

Episode 139: How to Build a Philosophy Part 5

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 04:43:30 +0000

This week; being here, being there, being neither one thing or another, being in, being out, being real, being fake. To be, or not to be and bebop a Lula, she's my baby. Yes, it's ontology week at WTF mansions where Mike and Danny are being themselves and loving it. Existence is very much as you find it and we find it everywhere but what is it? Do things exist because we perceive them and stop when we aren't looking. Do trees ever really fall in the forest? Questions like this, and others, must be left for the time being but who is the time being and what is he doing in our house!?

Episode 138: How to Build a Philosophy Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 04:49:33 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they dare to tug at the knicker elastic that alone holds up the underwear of Reality. Will the boxer shorts of infinity be found to be adequately supported or will we be left with faces scarlet with shame, our ontologies around our ankles? What, exactly, covers up our philosophical modesty? Are our epistemological private parts tastefully held in place by the comforting infrastructure of a flexible metaphysic or are they left swinging in the breeze, the objects of public ridicule and derision? Metaphysics, woolly thinking Doctor? Perhaps, but very comforting when worn next to the skin.

Episode 137: How to Build a Philosophy Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 04:38:58 +0000

This week, join Mike and Danny as they examine the very foundations of reality because it looks like there are some nasty cracks appearing in your plaster work. What’s it all built on, eh? What sort of cowboy builders did you get in to do the original work? Listen in as your two philosophical construction workers don their hard hats and high vis vest and go at it with pneumatic drills to see what lies beneath the surface. When your philosophical pipes burst who ya gonna call? When your very ontology begins to subside and your epistemology is not up to current specs and needs completely stripping out then it’s time to call in the professionals. Cheap, professional, cheap, competitive and cheap! Yes, let us shore up your crumbling metaphysical foundations so that your belief system can, once again, support the towering edifice of your philosophically informed world view. Or, you can slap a couple of coats of paint on it and try and flip it for some easy cash, it’s all the same to us.

Episode 136: How to Build a Philosophy Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 04:28:16 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny, back in the lab again, as they tentatively extract dangerous metaphysic from the safety of its lead lined container. Have they instituted all necessary safety protocols or are they being recklessly cavalier with this most dangerous of philosophical substances? Catch your breath as Danny dons a protective suit and attempts to hold the highly volatile raw metaphysic stable using nothing but a pair of bbq tongs as Mike seeks to guide it into the Philoso-genorator (TM). Surely there is nothing to fear here, right? Mike and Danny are trained researchers with years of experience handling dangerous ideas behind them. But wait a moment, what’s that, dangling above the exposed metaphysic? It looks like a proposition from Wittgenstein, it’s falling through the metaphysical radiation and is starting to glow… Oh my gods! IT’S BITTEN DANNY! Who knows what effect this could have. And thus, a legend is born.

Episode 135: How to Build a Philosophy.

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 04:29:10 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they lay out their tools and scavenged resources and commence construction. Yes, what, exactly is required to build a philosophy? The toe bone's connected to the heel bone, the heel bone's connected to the foot bone, the foot bone's connected to the leg bone, the leg bone's connected to the knee bone… but what is the ontology connected to and where are the Allen keys clearly indicated as present in the instructions? So, by all means join us as we begin or exploration into the wonders of flatpac philosophy. But before we start, what about this heat, right? I mean, there is such a thing as too much isn’t there or isn’t there? Perhaps there is never enough of a good thing. We, for our part, are committed to moderation in all things - as much moderation as we can get and as often as we can get it, that’s our motto, or is it life in the fast lane, everything, all the time? Easy to get those two confused.

Episode 134: Coming up.

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 04:37:37 +0000

This week something unnatural stalks the corridors of WTF Mansions. Join Mike and Danny as they set themselves against the gods in a mad bid to create a philosophy from nothing but spare parts and hubris. Yes, this week we prepare the lab, provide instructions to our hideous underlings and power up those things that go buzz buzz. Dare we fly in the face of nature? Is it possible to breath life into that which never lived? Let us pull the lever together whilst the storm is at its height and find out. Yes, that is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die. Fhtagn y’all!

Episode 133: A Well-earned Break

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 04:58:59 +0000

This week, take your pick and join Danny down in the WTF mines digging for pure philosophy or leave your pick behind and take your leave with Mike by the seaside. Yes, it's Morlocks and Eloi at WTF Mansions today as we continue to explore the masks we wear. As Danny slaves beneath the earth Mike labours to engage with true human identity behind a succession of masked automata whose only wish is to provide him with beer, food and other services. The struggle is real.

Episode 132: Philosophy and Theatre p5

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 04:28:59 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny - but not the same Mike and Danny as you joined last week by any means - as they grow a beard, change their look and adopt posher accents. Yes, it's time to flip the script and change costume as we ask the question, "wtf do you think you are?" As we all intermingle at the grand masquerade of life what have you come as? Who is the dude in the gorilla suit? When the clock chimes midnight and the masks come off who will we appear to be? Will there just be another mask underneath the first one? Who will we wake up next to? As for me, my disguise must be able to strike terror into peoples hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible, a… a…

Episode 131: Philosophy and Theatre Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 04:34:54 +0000

This week Danny tells us about Wittgenstein’s penchant for gumshoe detective magazines and films. Join Mike and Danny on a dark and stormy night as they hit the streets playing the hunches and collecting 50 bucks a week plus expenses. Listen in as Sherlock Holmes pits his abstract intellect against Marlow's gut in an attempt to figure out which of the Vienna Circle killed British philosophy. Whose pipe is that still smouldering in the ashtray? Is that a size 10 boot print by the window?? What do these signs all signify?? Who had the most to gain by the death of subjectivity??? Danny insists that Ludwig has been set up but by who and why???? The stage is set, the players have all adopted their persona’s and adjusted their masks. Now it’s time to dance. Also this this week Danny says nice things about Mike, which is nice.

Episode 130: Philosophy and Theatre Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 04:41:11 +0000

Saturday night at the movies, who cares what picture you see? Yes, Mike and Danny are talking too loudly in the cinema again and pissing everybody off. Join us this week as we plot spoil and comment through every scene while checking our podcast stats on our phones and kicking the seats in front. Listen in as Danny covertly accuses Mike of dissing the romantic novel. Yes, life is a cathartic performance and there is always someone sat in front of you wearing a big hat. If theatre allow us to conduct thought experiments then, perhaps, we are always free to rewrite our own personal scripts, give ourselves more and better lines, perhaps a few jokes even. How about a costume change? Maybe a change of makeup? I know, what about an unusual accent and a new back-story? Yes, the magic of performance can make it happen. So, keep your auditions for somebody who hasn’t got so much to lose ‘cause you can tell by the lines I’m reciting I’ve seen that movie too.

Episode 129: Philosophy and Theatre Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 04:39:27 +0000

This week listen in as Mike and Danny order up a mess of popcorn and broccoli and head to the movies. But who do we find protesting outside? Yes it’s Plato waving a “Down with This Sort of Thing” placard. Yes, once again Plato shines his torch into the dark corners of the cave which is theatre and tells us to stop doing that. Do theatre and the arts hold a mirror up to nature or lead us further away from the ideal forms? Is all of existence nothing more than a series of performances for specific audiences in which case when do we get the opportunity to rehearse? Are we inevitably typecast for every person we meet or can we freely adopt new and exciting roles? I for one am a trained actor reduced to the status of a bum!

Episode 128: Philosophy and Theatre

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 04:35:27 +0000

There’s no business like show business, there’s no business I know! Yes, this week listen in as Mike and Danny strut and fret their hour upon the stage. Are we nothing but wastrels, slatterns and ne'er-do-wells or glittering celebrities admired and envied by the masses? If all the world really is a stage then are we constantly pretending to be who we are simply to be what we are? Yes, the pressure to perform weighs heavily upon us all but who writes the script and provides the costumes? Are there awards? Have we all become type cast? I don’t know about you guys, but I need to talk to my agent.

Episode 127: Aristotle Eudaimonia and Virtue p4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 26 May 2021 04:27:26 +0000

This week you say potato and I say er...potato (no it doesn't really work when written down does it?). Yes, who is to say which one of us is right? This week Danny and Mike pitch their stall in the WTF farmers market and seek to tempt you with there virtuous produce. Lovely juicy honesty, ripe courage, only £1 a scoop, plump self-sacrifice picked fresh today! But what's this? Another stall has pitched up trying to undercut us with their over ripe greed and past its best self serving duplicity, what a cheek! Who would choose such shabby goods as these when compared to our dew fresh selection eh? Er...no...come back...perhaps we can arrange a discount...

Episode 126: Aristotle, Eudaimonia and Virtue p.3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 19 May 2021 04:40:14 +0000

This week listen in as Mike and Danny give up and simply do what works. Yes, it’s enlightened self interest time here where what is right plays second fiddle to what happens to do the job. Yes, it’s big fish verses bigger fish in the turbulent waters of ethical theory as we carefully avoid gobbling up the tiny clown fish just in case it happens to be good friends with a gang of whale sharks. I mean, where are the gods when you genuinely need someone around to make an absolute judgement about something? Everything counts in large amounts, right? All this plus a shout out to Sorren the archaeologist. Don’t blame us, we aren’t responsible, it was the devil that made us do it… or society… or my upbringing … but not us, never us, we had no choice in the matter, no choice at all. Anyway, everyone’s doing it.

Episode 125: Aristotle, Eudaimonia and Virtue Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 12 May 2021 04:26:39 +0000

Join us as Danny presents his virtue for all to see. Go on, have a good long look, take a photo, it will last longer. Meanwhile, and across town, Mike is prepared to settle for simply appearing virtuous. As long as people consider us to be “good people” does it matter if we actually are? Why do even bastards prefer not to be seen as bastards? Why do politicians still make the effort to appear to be decent human beings rather than just own their sleazy and duplicitous characters? Yes, this week listen in as Mike and Danny struggle to reject the One Ring even though they would, without a doubt, use it for good. I mean, you don’t get Darth Vader trying to argue that he is, basically, a misunderstood good guy or Sauron going on about his charity work. These are the bad guys and they embrace it - they dress in black, they have the whole red eye thing going on and they step on bunnies and small children. If virtue is appropriate to the object of virtue then perhaps a virtuous politician is Machiavelli’s Prince? All this and whether baking flapjacks is more virtuous than beating someone up in the street for their phone. Wtf?? - bad to the bone, right?

Episode 124: Ep.136 Aristotle, Eudaimonia and Virtue.

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 05 May 2021 04:27:20 +0000

This week, listen in as Mike finally confesses to delusions of godhood and his complicity in a slew of failed student relationships. How many cooks does it really take to spoil the broth? Who actually still eats broth these days?? Yes, the recipe for the perfect life, too much salt and the whole thing goes straight into the bin. Join us as we work through the spice rack of virtue - a little bit of honesty, a smidge of courage and the merest soupçon of temperance. Ok, now little it simmer gently for a few… GENTLY FOR GODS SAKE! DON’T BOIL THE CRAP OUT OF IT, YOU’LL SPOIL IT! … Ah, it’s too late now. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Virtue is like oxygen, right? You get too much you get too high, not enough and you’re gonna die. Or is that love? Sounds pretty Sweet either way, right?

Episode 123: A Small Interval

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 04:45:05 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they ... well, just hang out, nothing more than that really. I mean, Danny pops down the shops for a few bits but other than that nothing much to see this week. Seriously, we've decided to take it easy for the week, you'll need to make your own entertainment. Alternatively, you could join us both as we scream into the void, probably sometime after lunch idk

Episode 122: Ep. 135 Permanence and Change p5

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 05:04:17 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they throw their past selves under the bus. No, that’s not me, it might look vaguely reminiscent (apart from the hair) but other than that I have never set eyes on ether of those guys before. Can we ever go home again? How does Mike's mum still recognise him? Do all of Danny's former romantic partners look on in horror at what he has become and utter that well known phrase, “what WAS I thinking??” Yes, at the existential school reunion who actually attends? All of this and Pythagoras thrown in just to make up the numbers. Oh what fun we had but did it really turn out bad?

Episode 121: Ep.134 Permanence and Change p.4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 05:16:15 +0000

This week, what happens when worlds collide? Do they both erupt in twin fire balls spinning off into the void as a sleek silver space ship cuts its way through the darkness on its way to a new home and a fresh start? Does encounter with otherness and difference inevitably lead to a diminution of the very essence of who and what we are? I mean, you said you wouldn’t try to change me but here we are, years down the line with your curtain fabric and furnishings throughout the house and all my stuff boxed up and in the loft! Well enough is enough, I don’t accept things as they are anymore, it’s time for a change… then again, isn’t that how this whole business started in the first place? No, you’re right, it’s time for a fresh start, all my shit SHOULD go in the bin, now is the time to reset and rewrite the script. All this and Danny, "the arse man”, compromising his eternal digital footprint for the ages. Am I living in a box, am I living in a cardboard box?

Episode 120: Ep.133 Permanence and Change P.3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 05:17:21 +0000

"What kind of fool do you think I am? You think I know nothing of the modern world? Well, this week, let Danny and Mike prove you wrong! Join us as we ask the question - do we really need to change? What’s the matter with the old ways? Why can’t we ever be content with things as thy are. What is baby and what is bathwater? Is it your kids, Marty? Are our progeny the capsules into which we pour the essential, unchangeable aspects of our reality and fire them off into the future? Say what you like ‘cause I don’t care, I know where I am and going too. It’s somewhere I won’t preview, don’t have to explain myself to you …”

Episode 119: Ep. 132 Permanence and Change part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 05:16:03 +0000

This week, what have the gods ever done for us? Join Mike and Danny in Thales hot tub where everything is water but full of bubbles and not always the good kind. Yes, it’s time to get back to basics, strip away the unnecessary and discover the very foundations of reality. Will you do the necessary prep work, sand down, clean and fill all those annoying little holes and cracks or will you simply slap a coat of paint on over the dirt and hope for the best? We, of course, plan to build our city on rock n roll - Danny knows a guy who can hook us up wholesale, totally legit.

Episode 118: Ep.131 The Pre-Socratics: Permanence and Change

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 06:07:49 +0000

This week everything changes, or does it? Is change inevitable? What do we build on that might provide a solid foundation for our identity and understanding of the world? Join Mike and Danny as they turn and face the strain. Enjoy a relaxing trip through Miletus noting, as we go, Thales and the Pre-Scratics on our left. You know what? This time we are going to stop and get out, actually spend some time with these guys, grab a glass of wine and chill. After all, what else have we got to do?

Episode 117: Ep.130 Alternative Lifestyles Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 05:19:23 +0000

This week we are just never satisfied are we? There is always some itch that needs scratching, some desire yet to be fulfilled, some patch of grass just ever so slightly more green. Never fear, join Mike and Danny as they seek out new vistas - this time it will work, this time we will discover the promised land, settle down with our partner(s) of choice, grow goats and herd root vegetables. What do you mean “what’s the wifi like?”??? No, there won’t be Netflix and it won’t be a convenient walk to the nearest shopping mall! This is gods damn utopia we are talking about here, who are you to question it?? What the hell do you people want? Danny and I have worked very hard to help create an ideal world for you to inhabit and now you say it’s not good enough? Right, well, get out, go on, sod off out of it and form your own utopia - good luck to you. Er… will yours have beer and snacks? Room for two more?

Episode 116: Ep129 Alternative Lifestyles P.3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 06:01:34 +0000

This week join Danny and Mike. That’s it, just join Danny and Mike, nothing more, just hangout in the world we have carved out for ourselves. Sacrifices will have to be made, you will have to ditch some of your baggage and adapt to our way of life but it’s a small price to pay for the sense of belonging we offer. Of course some of you will find it difficult to adjust, some of you might even nurse a rebellious spirit, perhaps even have some ideas of your own. No matter, everybody has to learn, a few days alone in the “happiness box” will soon rid you of those antisocial tendencies. All this and Danny mentions Wittgenstein - listen out for it, it’s the best bit.

Episode 115: Ep. 128 Alternative Lifestyles P2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 06:21:31 +0000

This week, what is our ultimate destination? Join Mike and Danny as they set out along the path of natural order to identify our individual fate. But wait, who says we can’t stop and smell the roses? In fact, why don’t we turn off destiny highway and follow this rough unbeaten track to gods know where? Yes, once again Mike and Danny reveal their penchant for flared jeans, reasonably priced, if not free, love and the sounds of the Grateful Dead. Don’t harsh our buzz man, we are sticking it to the essentialists and setting out as sailors on the sea of fate. But what is it that we want to do? Well, we want to be free, we wanna be free to do what we wanna do and we wanna get loaded and we wanna have a good time. Yes join us once again on a journey to your density! All this plus Star Trek and Henri Bergson for the price of a few megabytes of bandwidth - and what can you buy with that these days?

Episode 114: p. 127 Alternative Lifestyles

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 05:51:48 +0000

This week Danny is fed up and miserable but the sun is starting to shine and a new day is dawning! Tune in and join Mike and Danny, the merry philosonauts, on a magical mystery through the realms of possibility. Yes, this week we are talking revolution… or are we? Is it time to re-engage with normality or are we on the frontiers of the new normal? What, exactly, IS the normal way to be? What are the standards for identifying normal human existence? Is it essence or is it existence? Where is our instruction manual? Where does this washer go? Is it important?? All we can say is that all right thinking people will be joining us this week and that people who agree with what we have to say will be the kind of people who find this sort of thing agreeable.

Episode 113: Ep. 126 Family Part 5

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 05:36:39 +0000

This week, join Mike and Danny, after a year of lockdown, as they stare into the face of the other and ask “who the hell are you people?” Yes, what do we do with the other after so long with only the Cartesian cogito for company? Will we finally emerge from pandamic isolation desperate for human contact or having developed an antipathy for human connection? Has all this time, huddled with our families, simply rendered us intensely tribal to the detriment of the body politic? Perhaps it’s time to explore alternative communalities, to go Further? Yes, it’s time to get onboard the WTF bus and head on out towards the philosophical highway as Mike and Danny squeeze back into their tye dyed shirts, give away their kids and go in search of free love and a different way to be. We’ll fly our astral plan, take you trips around the bay, bring you back the same day…

Episode 112: EP. 125 Family Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 05:58:39 +0000

This week we are family, I got all my siblings with me! Yes join Mike and Danny as they continue their exploration into the murky depths of family life. Should Danny beat his children? Would this contribute to the dialectical development of the universal spirit? Do philosophers give us the families their philosophies deserve? Just how natural is the family? Does “speaking as a parent” give one greater access to epistemic certainty or simply render as opinionated elitists? Can any one person or group provide us with everything we need for an existentially satisfying life? Are Mike and Danny deliberately trying to undermine your confidence in the ideal status of the nuclear family and and reveal your nearest and dearest as nothing more than self-serving parasites? You decide. All this and a secret message from Dr Mike. Remember folks, you are our family - whether you like it or not.

Episode 111: Ep.124 Family Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 06:39:03 +0000

This week, we didn’t ask to be born, right? Who is responsible for dragging us into this whole situation? Listen with mounting existential dread as Mike and Danny inform you that this is not your fault but your are stuck with it, there is nothing you can do about it, you just have to suck it up. Be dumbfounded with the revelation that as a parent you are empowered to grab the epistemic crayons and scrawl all over your children psyche. Yes! Go ahead! knock yourselves out and join in the pedagogic graffiti fest that is your child's upbringing in a world they were never invited into. Come to the awful realisation that Kant is staring at you and shaking his head in judgment. All this and Mike mistaking John Stuart Mill for John Locke. I mean, you’d totally pay for this stuff, right?

Episode 110: Ep. 123 Family Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 06:29:14 +0000

This week listen in as Mike and Danny tell you that you aren’t bringing your kids up properly. Yes, in this offensive episode we upset both parents and the entire education industry by suggesting that one doesn’t know what it’s doing and the other is simply in it for the money. That’s right folks, here at WTF we play no favourites and know no fear in our quest to usher in a glorious utopian future. We built this city, we built this city on ideal forms and not on children reared on TV, celebrity gossip or even rock ’n’ roll. If this cast causes you to reconsider your parenting obligations please feel free to contact "WTF and Sons and Daughters and Non-Binary Progeny (The Old Firm) est 2018” where a bed can be found under the counter for a hardworking youngster with ambition.

Episode 109: Ep. 122 Philosophy and Family

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 06:25:02 +0000

It’s 2021 and we are back to bring philosophy to the masses! Join Mike and Danny as they emerge blinking from the darkness of 2020 bloated with the excesses of the festive season. Listen in with mild disappointment as Mike stuffs his face with leftover Christmas cake and Danny confesses, to his enduring shame, that he consumes sell-by mince pies behind closed doors to the everlasting embarrassment of his family and amidst the sound of his crying children. Yes, families, what are they for exactly? You can choose your friends so they say, but your family is part of the un-negotiated thrownness of being. Can philosophy help us understand the nature and purpose of family? Which of the major philosophers would provide us with the most useful dating advice? Is there an ideal form of the perfect partner or do we simply have to leap into the dating game and trust to faith? Check out this weeks cast and swipe right.

Episode 104: Ep. 121 Humanity Part 5

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 05:58:40 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they seek to establish their unique identities in the world. Marvel as Mike admits to bizarre restaurant based existential choices. Is anything enough for Danny? Does existence precede essence? Does the chicken precede the egg? Some of these questions and more will be on the agenda this week as our gift to you. But hang on, there is more! Yes, let Mike and Danny unfold the instructions to human existence and search in vain for the allen key that will allow them to put it all together. Why are there a pile of spare screws and brackets? Are they important to our becoming? Will our existence collapse when too much weight is put on it? Listen in, let go and trust to gravity.

Episode 103: Ep. 120 Humanity Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 05:47:53 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they strip humanity down to its boxers to see what is left of its identity. Are we nothing more than the sum of our memories and if that is true what effect does it have when I forget where I put my key? What happens when the JPEG that is humanity has too many pixels removed for the picture to be clearly seen? When we get to the point where we start singing “daisy, daisy, give me your answer do” has the essence of what we are been lost? Listen in as Mike and Danny skilfully manage to avoid answering any of these questions by distracting you with reminiscences of 'The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin’. Yes, once again more questions than answers in this weeks cast but you knew what you were signing up for from the start, right?

Episode 102: Ep. 119 Humanity Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 05:41:35 +0000

This week join Danny and Mike as they subject subjectivity to the subjective gaze. Is one person's meat really another’s poison? Is there no accounting for taste? Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Is humanity really something absolute that establishes us as unique and inviolable or is it a sliding scale? A moveable feast of ingredients that is endlessly variable? Wrinkle your nose up in mild disgust as Mike brings dog poo to the table - is it really, objectively less lovely than, say, Marilyn Monroe, or is it just different strokes for different folks? Join us as we are thrown through the salon doors of existence and into the street of situatedness. All this and advice from Mike’s mum.

Ep. 118 Humanity Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 06:26:17 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they play "Plato’s Republic the Role Playing Game”! Yes, join in the fun and excitement of living in a utopian society but first you need to roll a character. Grab your dice and see what you end up with - will you be a leader, a philosopher king? Perhaps the dice will not fall exactly in your favour and you end up with high organisational stats and have to settle for the somewhat less exciting life of an administrator or military leader. If you really suck at this you might roll low numbers in all stats except for constitution and strength in which case its physical labour for you - and no, you don’t get to re-roll and there are no modifiers. If the dice roll off the table by accident and you end up with zeros for all your stats don’t despair, you can still play as a woman but only if you are in a party with at least one man and only if you promise not to play but just watch and don’t touch anything. Yes it’s not fair but it’s all in the roll of the dice, right? All of this and Mike confusing Plato with Descartes, twice, along with guest appearances from Aristotle and god.

Ep. 117 Humanity Part 1

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 06:07:29 +0000

This week join Danny and Mike as they indulge their animal appetites to see just how far they can go before compromising their essential humanity. What, exactly, is a human being? Are you one? How do you know? Don’t give me that! Oh, we can all SAY that we are human beings but talk is cheap - unless of course you are Wittgenstein. Is humanity something that happens to us or do we in some way make it happen? Is it passive or active? When does protection of an essential human characteristic become a violation of difference? Why are you looking at me? I have no clue, I’m only human after all.

Ep.113 Knowledge Wars Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 05:09:57 +0000

This week join our know-it-all podcast as Mike and Danny once more don the vestments of the epistemological priesthood and lead you, but only if you are truly repentant, into the light of clear and certain understanding. Bow in veneration at the combined feet of your gurus as we, the custodians of all that is true and real, weigh you in the balance. Will you be found wanting or will you pass into blessed enlightenment? Is your salvation dependent upon the sum total of all your experiences? Is knowledge of Australia a necessary condition for true knowledge or have we got the wrong end of our own stick? Tune in and sort the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff and the priori from the a priori. Only the penitent man will be saved…the penitent man…penitent man… swoooosh!

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Ep.112 Knowledge Wars Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 04:43:58 +0000

This week listen in as Mike provides entirely the wrong blurb for this episode! Blink in disbelief and confusion as that blurb mysteriously vanishes to be replaced by this one. Did the original blurb ever truly exist? If it did, where is it now and ought you to receive immediate therapy? Perception, can it really be trusted to provide you with an accurate account of reality or is reality merely what we perceive and are some of you still tenaciously clinging to the original blurb? Join us for adventures into Idealism with our old friends Plato and Hegel - now you knew where you were with those guys, none of this “oh the blurb is only available to sense perception”. Why does Danny persist in talking about wax? Embrace the illusion, dream the dream - everything will be better in the morning with a nice cup of tea.

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Ep.111 Knowledge Wars Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 04:58:17 +0000

This week join Mike and Danny as they draw data from the physical world thus challenging the gods themselves! Listen in as they assault the very heavens armed with nothing more than a doughnut and their 5 senses. Yes knowledge, what does it taste like? how do we gain it? What do we do with it when we have it? Is there big knowledge and small knowledge? Knowledge is power but ignorance is bliss - place your bets ladies and gentlemen! Let Mike and Danny be your gatekeeper to the secret knowledge after all the truth will set you free right? Right??

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Ep.110 Knowledge Wars Part 1

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 04:52:26 +0000

This week, knowing me, knowing you! Listen in as Mike and Danny ask the question “Do you know enough?” Look on in mild amusement as we feverishly search for the instruction manual to the thrownness of being. Encounter rising panic as Danny freezes up creating a period of embarrassing dead air around about 10:18. Are we born with enough knowledge to find our extremities with both hands? Can we walk in a straight line or do we need to be taught? Do we need words to form knowledge? What if “the bird” really is the word?? All of this and the usual references to Star Trek. Shaka, when the walls fell indeed.

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Ep.109 Kant Vs. Bentham The Final

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 05:29:59 +0000

This week we come to the end of the Kant/Bentham rumble. Who will be judged victorious and who will have to swallow the bitter dregs of defeat? Listen in as Kant delivers his signature “categorical smack down’ move. Will Bentham’s "hedonic round house” be sufficient to counter the Crusher from Konigsberg? Bow your heads in reverence and let Mike and Danny root out the evils of the world and join them as they punch it on the nose and teach it a righteous lesson. Is a straightforward list of do's and don’t preferable to having to work things out from first principles? Are you old school lego - a box of random bricks to arrange as we choose - or new Lego that always comes with instructions to build something specific? Whatever your choice, be excellent to each other, I mean, why not?

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Ep. 108. Kant Vs. Bentham Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 05:20:30 +0000

This week - do we really want the truth? What would we do with it? Better a comfortable lie, right? Consider, if you will, the existential anguish of the “extensive menu” - do we get incapacitated by indecision the more options we are given? What would you prefer, Mike’s Spam Egg & Chips, Spam and Chips or just plain Spam OR will you go for Danny’s 150 dish tasting menu with a selection of starters and deserts? Will you be lusting after what other people have ordered once the food arrives anyway? Is ethics simply a matter of smacking people over the nose with a rolled up newspaper when they pee on the carpet? Listen in carefully and hear Mike doing covert research as he types out a search string into Google to check his facts. Why do things matter? How do we win? Me? I’m off to count my toys.

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Ep.107 Kant Vs. Bentham Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 06:03:55 +0000

This week, if you’re happy and you know it please contact Mike and Danny with details. Yes, it’s the greatest happiness for the greatest number folks. Join Mike and Danny as they decide on the minimum amount of happiness required for them to get up in the morning. What, exactly, do we have a right too? Are we really “worth it”? Listen in as Danny all but admits to speeding at 2 o’clock in the morning because, what harm can it do, right? Nod in sage wisdom as Mike shakes his head in smug condemnation. Are hazard warning lights a licence to do as you please including parking outside my local chippy blocking both lanes? Yes, listen careful to this weeks cast, it isn’t just your right it is your obligation…unless you have something better to do, I mean, there may be more worthwhile ways of spending 20 mins, who are we to say?

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Ep.106 Kant Vs. Bentham Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 05:24:35 +0000

This week join Dr Mike as he gives a mad axeman Danny’s exact postal address and contact details, just in case. Listen carefully and take extensive notes as Mike and Danny consider what the untestable beliefs are that ground their understanding of reality. Do we have to assume an absolute judge in order to be good guys or can we work it out as we go along? Just how fast can nonsense travel on stilts? Settle back and lightly oil yourselves down as Bentham argues for an ethic based on the happy ending principle. What is the hedonic calculus and is there an app that can be downloaded on to your phone? Hubba, hubba, hubba, who do you trust? Me, I’m giving away the categorical imperative but where is Jeremy Bentham? He’s at home, washing his pig.

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Ep. 105 Philosopher Cage Fight! Kant Vs. Bentham Part 1

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 06:12:08 +0000

Join Mike and Danny this week as they pull up at the traffic lights and start revving the engine to show off to their mates. Stick with them as the lights change, they drop the clutch, release the breaks and the philosophical wheels start to spin. Gaze on in uncritical adoration as they screech away burning philosophical rubber to play chicken with Kant and Bentham. Who will blink first, how far will this go? Squeeze up onto the back seat, jump on the running board and live dangerously as Mike and Danny begin the journey into right, wrong, good, bad, god and beer pumps. Buckle up everyone, we aren’t insured.

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Ep. 94 Postmodernism Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 05:55:09 +0000

This week listen in with all due deference as Danny and Mike … no, hang on, I’m not doing this. Why should I impose a narrative on you? The cast is out there now, you make of it what you will. Look, I’ll even leave you space to construct your own blurb, enough of this authorial priority, you go to it. I’ll just sit here and watch. Away you go then. [

] There, see, not as easy as it looks is it? Oh yes, we all want to march to the beat of our own drum and throw away the rule book but then what? I’ll tell you what, it’s straight back home to mum and dad to borrow money and do your laundry. Get a job ya hippy!”

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Ep. 93 Postmodernism Part 3

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 27 May 2020 05:04:53 +0000

Pst, hey, kids, do you want some po-mo? Don’t sweat it brah, this is the good stuff won’t make you go blind or nothing. No this is quality stuff and the best of it is the first hit is absolute free. Yeah, you heard us, Danny and Mike are hooking you up with the real deal and it will set…you,,,free! No more living in a world that’s already written oh no, with our high grade po-mo you can play by your own rules like it weren’t no damn thing. That’s right, it’s the hottest thing on the streets and we mean territory not some damn street map. Don’t you be fooled by none of that bogus stuff people be scamming you with, this stuff is 100% pure local, uncut with any of that meta shit. So don’t be getting all grand you dig? Put some swagger in your walk with po-mo and say “Foucault You” to the man. (Don’t do drugs, stay in school).

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Ep. 91 Postmodernism Part 2

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 20 May 2020 05:34:11 +0000

This week, Mike succumbs to the pressures of the time and mentions Wittgenstein before Danny does. Listen in with mounting disappointment as Danny makes the obvious Lyotard gag - low hanging fruit bro, low hanging fruit. What is the condition of postmodernity? Who was the irritating student who suggested that the movement following postmodernism should be called post-postmodernism? Guess at the kind of grade they received for their final philosophy exam, go on, guess! Yes this week, as with every week, perception is all and incredulity stalks the streets looking for gods to dispatch. In a fair fight, who would win out of a Foucault and a Chomsky? What is your story? Do you like green eggs and ham? Where would you eat them? Here or there? Perhaps you wouldn’t eat them anywhere? Yeah Sam-I-Am, peddle your green grand narrative elsewhere we ain't buying!..well, perhaps just a bite

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Ep. 90 Postmodernism

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 13 May 2020 04:58:28 +0000

This week the pressures of lockdown start to get to Danny and Mike. Listen in as their narratives begin to unravel and they appear to waffle on about anything that comes into their heads under the pretext of a postmodern disposition. Join them in their new stories or are these just the old stories seen from a different perspective? Are they absolutely right in abandoning their previous absolute convictions? Are scones and jam part of an imperialist metanarrative? Were the Tracy family philanthropists or glory seekers and where did all their money come from? All of this and whatever else you'd like to read into it is yours this week for the low low cost of 20+ minutes of your life. What would you be doing with it anyway?

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Ep. 89 Wittgenstein Part 4

Danny O'Donnell & Dr. Michael Alsford — Wed, 06 May 2020 05:17:18 +0000

This week listen with your head cocked to one side, in a bemused and slightly suspicious way, as Mike confesses that while he loves fish and chips he has no desire to sleep with them. Raise your hand and fan you face in the wake of Danny’s confession that he built his daughter out of leftover body parts - he says that, right? Yes, wacky Wittgenstein is at it again, taking the words and phrases we love so well and making them perform for us in a Renaissance ruff while riding a unicycle. In this final episode on the great man see Ludwig leaning up against language, his leather jacket open to the waist and a tooth pick playing around his mouth - rules? He plays by his own rules.

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