Peter Boghossian
309 episodes listed below
Peter Boghossian applies street epistemology to guests debating free speech, immigration, and belief.
Conversations with Peter Boghossian is a long-form interview series built around patient questioning and uncomfortable premises. Recent episodes move from animal ethics and rights theory to censorship, immigration, Islam, epistemology, global markets, and bird language.
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The show is a single-host interview format: Peter Boghossian sits down with one guest per episode for extended conversations typically running 35 to 100 minutes. A recurring throughline is free speech and de-platforming, covering topics like eSafety censorship cases in Australia, contamination logic around who is permissible to debate, and legal battles over online speech. A second major cluster covers immigration and demographic change in Britain, the Netherlands, and Australia, often featuring researchers or commentators who argue current policy threatens national cohesion or cultural continuity. A third cluster covers epistemology, skepticism, and pseudoscience, reflecting Boghossian's own background, including his signature 'street epistemology' approach of asking what evidence would change a guest's belief. Political philosophy episodes examine the erosion of liberal norms, polarization, and the willingness of both left and right to silence rather than argue with opponents. Occasional episodes depart into applied ethics, such as a debate over whether humans have a moral duty to eat animals, or into contemplative and spiritual territory, such as a conversation on augury and meaning. Guests include skeptics, political scientists, demographers, former progressives now critical of that movement, and philosophers defending minority positions. The tone is dry and argumentative rather than casual, with Boghossian frequently interrupting to test definitions and follow claims to their logical conclusions. Listeners drawn to free speech debates, immigration policy argument, and heterodox or contrarian philosophical positions make up the core audience. Production is conversational and unscored, centered entirely on the dialogue itself with no narrative or panel elements evident in the sample.
Made for: Listeners interested in free speech and censorship debates, Western immigration and demographic policy, and heterodox or contrarian philosophical argument.
What sets it apart: Applies a street-epistemology, define-your-terms interrogation style to politically charged topics like immigration and censorship, rather than staying in academic or purely abstract philosophical territory.
"No dogma. Just dialogue." Conversations with Peter Boghossian features candid, intellectually rigorous dialogues with leading thinkers, dissidents, and public figures on today's most divisive cultural, political, and philosophical issues.
This is the show that asks your sacred belief to surrender its diplomatic immunity.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A provocative argument about care, duty, and whether animals can self-determine.
The discussion opens with a deliberately provocative question about whether caring for certain animals creates an obligation to eat them. From there, it stays close to definitions, rights, paternalism, and self-determination, with repeated pressure on whether animals can…
A censorship fight grows into a broader, harder-edged argument about speech and demographic change.
The piece opens with Baumgarten's clash with the Australian government and does its best work when it stays close to the 53-second video, the removal from social media, and the claim that the platform's legal team said it had to geoblock the post at eSafety Commissioner Julie…
A forceful discussion of Britain’s future, clear in its argument and heavy on warning.
Peter Boghossian and Matt Goodwin use the conversation to make a blunt case that England, Britain, and the United Kingdom are heading into a demographic shift that could reshape public life over the next few years and decades.
A blunt, patient argument about tolerance, offense, and whether liberal culture can defend itself.
This discussion keeps circling immigration, offense, education, and the harder question of whether any belief should be off limits to challenge.
A bird conversation that becomes a meditation on freedom, rhythm, and a less self-centered way of seeing the world.
The discussion treats birds as more than a curiosity. It uses them to think about freedom, attention, and the self, and it lands best when the speaker says he is the least interesting thing in his own life.
A sharp conversation about truth, culture, and whether liberalism can sustain its own premises.
Hunter Ash frames his break from progressivism less as a change in values than in judgment: he points to a long-standing consequentialist streak and a desire to know what is true, then traces the shift through Oklahoma, college, and other intellectually charged settings.
A hard-edged border argument, kept honest by a host who refuses vagueness.
Jan Vandebeek lays out a blunt, high-contrast case for borders, national identity, and a very narrow view of asylum, while the host keeps pulling the discussion back toward concrete policy instead of leaving it at slogans.
A tense exchange that keeps circling back to proof, definitions, and who gets to speak for whom.
This episode is a hard-edged debate about alleged assaults, antisemitism, Islam, and Israel, with Harvard sitting in the background and proof pushed to the front.
Ryan Holiday pairs daily Stoic lessons with long-form guest conversations at his Texas bookstore.
Philosopher Barry Lam turns reported stories — gig algorithms, AI music, vampires — into philosophical inquiry.
Economist Glenn Loury interviews one guest at a time on race, religion, and geopolitics.
Vox's narrative reporting on factory farming, pandemic risk, and its Good Robot AI safety series.
A duty to eat animals?
A 53-second video lit the fuse.
Tolerance reaches its breaking point.
What is happening to Britain?
Birds are not just birds in this one.
"Why are you no longer a progressive?" Hunter's answer is that his values mostly stayed put while his political home moved.
This episode discusses how the war in the Middle East is disrupting global energy supplies and petrochemicals, leading to widespread economic consequences including inflation and affecting financial markets worldwide.
A discussion on the compatibility of Islam with Western democracy, immigration policy, and cultural integration, using polling data and provocative questions.
Peter Boghossian and a guest critique queer theory, discussing its origins in academia and its influence on society.
Peter Boghossian discusses the importance of confronting challenges, philosophical concepts like eudaimonia, and the value of open dialogue across perspectives.
Peter Boghossian interviews Angela about how progressive policies are harming Portland, Oregon, focusing on homelessness, mental health, and public safety.
Jan Vandebeek calls Europe's migration path cultural and demographic suicide.
Peter Boghossian interviews Hakeem about Muslim integration, fear, and demographic projections in France.
Peter Boghossian interviews a French think tank head about the immigration debate and the conflict between rational and moral truth.
This episode discusses the challenges of immigration and radical Islam in Europe, exploring why people hesitate to address these issues openly and how Western societies' values are being exploited.
Peter Boghossian interviews Venezuelan political commentator Franklin Camargo about immigration, due process for illegal immigrants, and the political situation in Venezuela under Maduro.
A fact-check becomes the argument.
A dialogue on why privacy matters for liberty, discussing how modern technology enables surveillance and manipulation by corporations and governments.
Pluribus ends in mystery, and the room does not rush to tidy it up.
A dialogue analyzing Trump's geopolitical strategy, including tariffs, energy politics, and the 'inverse Gorbachev' thesis.
Peter Boghossian engages in a philosophical dialogue about reciprocal radicalization, extremism, and the role of illiberalism in society.
Peter Boghossian and Lino discuss immigration policy, ICE raids, and the political implications of open borders during the Biden administration.
Peter Boghossian interviews Kevin about the homeless, addiction, and mental health crisis in Portland, criticizing failed policies and lack of effective solutions.
A dialogue exploring the nature of Islam, its evangelical character, and the concept of 'woke Muslims' in America.
Peter Boghossian and his guest discuss the nature of violence and the roots of anti-Semitism, critiquing societal responses to crime and political slogans.
A dialogue analyzing the cultural and economic shifts in modern dating, including online dating, gender imbalances, and societal impacts.
The hosts discuss their initial impressions of the TV show Pluribus, praising its unpredictable sci-fi narrative and deep philosophical themes about identity and consciousness.
Liberalism has lost track of its basics.
Peter Boghossian and his guest discuss the controversy around the St.
Peter Boghossian and Brett engage in a philosophical dialogue about atheism, epistemology, and the nature of belief.
Peter Boghossian and a guest discuss the failures of college and advocate for alternative paths that emphasize real-world experience and self-discovery.
Peter Boghossian and a guest discuss the incoherence of equality, the search for meaning, and the West's self-hatred (oikophobia).