The Morality of Everyday Things: An E...

The Morality of Everyday Things is a philosophy podcast (top 0.1% most listened to, in fact!) that guides you through the moral questions we may all wonder in life, from "Should billionaires exist?" to "Is God a good thing?" Join Jake and Ant, two friends who studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford before founding Stasher.com together, as they still find time to enjoy philosophy in their sparetime when they break down the key arguments on these and other everyday ethical issues.

This podcast is for anyone who wants to learn more about philosophy and morality in a fun and accessible way. Jake and Ant are experts in their field, but they also know how to make complex ideas easy to understand. They're also not afraid to have a bit of fun, so you can expect to hear some interesting and thought-provoking conversations.

Check out Ant's newsletter (loosely related) here: https://ants-musings.beehiiv.com/

Whether you're a seasoned philosophy buff or a complete beginner, The Morality of Everyday Things podcast is sure to teach you something new about ethics, morality and philosophy. So subscribe today and start exploring the big moral questions in life!

Society & Culture
Philosophy
Education
26
Does AI actually understand us, and what does i...
27 min
27
Should we censor children's books?
46 min
28
Replay: should we make the covid vaccine mandat...
62 min
29
Hot-take: Gary Lineker was right, and the unexp...
34 min
30
REPLAY: When is lockdown justified?
66 min
31
Update on upcoming epsidoes on the podcast...
2 min
32
Greta Thunberg is selling a book...noble move o...
23 min
33
Are strikes selfish extortion or justified and ...
58 min
34
Is it wrong to ghost someone?
24 min
35
Should teenagers get a vote, or should we limit...
36 min
36
Should it be a legal requirement to vote? Can I...
And what if you could sell your vote?
36 min
37
Am I a bad person if I don't vote?
30 min
38
Should you bother voting? Intrumental vs Expres...
29 min
39
REPLAY: Should we lie to kids about Santa Clause?
55 min
40
Work: money or meaning? Discussion - Part 2
20 min
41
Work: money or meaning? Discussion - Part 1
<p>In a slightly different format to normal, today we have a discussion around the role that work should have in our lives. Should jobs that make us have to choose between doing good and making money even exist really? Why is there a cultural dichotomy between making money and pursuing meaning, has this always been the case?</p><br><p>This is a loosely scripted/planned episode based on an essay written by Ant, which can be found here: https://adonic.medium.com/work-money-or-meaning-why-has-this-become-a-choice-we-have-to-make-b4628fb2a337.</p><br><p><br></p> <p>If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt">https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt</a>.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
24 min
42
Should we have a death tax? - part 2 - Why have...
<p>The second in a two-parter where we discuss taxes and specifically inheritance tax. The series explores why taxes make sense at all, and then apply this thinking to inheritance tax - both whether it meets the ideological/moral aims we have for taxes more generally, and indeed whether they seem to actually effectively meet their intended aims!</p><br><p>In this episode, we get into the specifics of inheritance tax - context, policy, ideology. We discuss the intended moral impact of inheritance taxes - avoiding the "paris hilton" effect, a country with too many indolent heirs and landed aristocracy - and also the policy implications, which have some surpising differences vs the ideology. Who's actually paying inheritance tax? Is the law too complicated? Do the rich, with their offshore accounts and tax advisors, even pay it?</p><br><p><strong>Support the show:</strong></p><p>Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.</p><br><p>Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/</p> <p>If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt">https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt</a>.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
41 min
43
Should we have a death tax? - part 1 - Why do w...
<p>The first in a two-parter where we discuss taxes and specifically inheritance tax. The series explores why taxes make sense at all, and then apply this thinking to inheritance tax - both whether it meets the ideological/moral aims we have for taxes more generally, and indeed whether they seem to actually effectively meet their intended aims!</p><br><p>In this episode, we focus a lot on the point of taxes in general and break it down into 3 points: supporting public goods that it wouldn't make sense to privately provide, nudging behaviour and internalizing externalities and finally support general redistribution of wealth. It makes a great pre-cursor to any future tax episodes!</p><br><p><strong>Support the show:</strong></p><p>Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.</p><br><p>Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/</p> <p>If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt">https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt</a>.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
58 min
44
Are landlords evil? Part 2
<p>The second in a two-parter where we discuss whether landlords are evil. In a world where more and more urban centers in the western world are becoming unlivably expensive, should we be permitting people to treat homes as investment assets and sources of incomes? We also specifically discuss this in the context of 'leverage', which is basically when you use a mortgage to multiply your gains and losses.</p><br><p>In this episode, we discuss whether asset ownership in general should be a means of generating returns with specific reference to Rawls and Piketty. After some back and forth on this, we look at the example set out by some other countries around the world with different living situations which haven't led to the same issues and also some discussion of potential policy solutions, and of course whether it is wrong for landlords to continue to partake in the market given the crisis.</p><br><p><strong>Support the show:</strong></p><p>Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon, go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.</p><br><p>Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/</p> <p>If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt">https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt</a>.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
38 min
45
Are landlords evil? Part 1
<p>The first in a two-parter where we discuss whether landlords are evil. In a world where more and more urban centers in the western world are becoming unlivably expensive, should we be permitting people to treat homes as investment assets and sources of incomes? We also specifically discuss this in the context of 'leverage', which is basically when you use a mortgage to multiply your gains and losses. </p><br><p>In this episode, we give some very wide context on the housing crisis, what's driving it etc, and discuss generally around generating returns from assets, speculation versus true investment and reference to classic libertarian arguments and specific consideration given to when an asset class is something we truly need.</p><br><p><strong>Support the show:</strong></p><p>Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription of just $1 goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel pretty great too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.</p><br><p>Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/</p> <p>If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt">https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt</a>.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
38 min
46
Replay - Is it time to get rid of the royals?
<p>REPLAY - in light of the queen's death and power transfering to Charles III, whilst we offer our condolensces it's more pertinent than ever to ask during these lavish ceremonies and high air-time events...should we even be maintaining our royal families? Here's a replay of our old episode, previously titled 'should we abolish the monarchy?'</p><br><p>Previous description:</p><br><p><strong>In this episode, Jake and Ant look at the ethics of abolishing the monarchic institutions that are present in the UK and several other EU countries (but really focusing on the UK as a specific example).</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> The key arguments discussed and considered are:</strong></p><p><strong> 1 - democracy, 2 - elitism, 3 - corruption/abuse of power, 4 - history &amp; tradition, 5 - entertainment, 6 - soft power, 7 - the practical nuisance of disbanding the royals.</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> Ant is writing this and I maintain that it's a grossly inequitable institution that doesn't much contribute cash beyond what would be achieved regardless of their maintenance (not that money would even be a good justification anyway)...but hey, listen to the whole pod and form your own opinion!</strong></p><p> </p><p> <strong>As always, reviews really help us, please follow and review on your podcast platform of choice and contact us on your social media of choice. Sign up to our newsletter here to receive a breakdown of the arguments presented, some memes and updates on future episodes: https://moedt.substack.com/ If you'd like to support the show, checkout our patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/moedt</strong></p><br><p><br></p> <p>If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt">https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt</a>.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
83 min
47
Are luxuries immoral? Part 2
The opportunity cost of wasting your money on frivolities
39 min
48
Are luxuries immoral? Part 1
Part 1 - what counts as a luxury?
45 min
49
When is it ok to put down a human being? Part 3
<p>The third in our series on euthanasia and assisted suicide - later named with the much more provocative title, <em>'When is it ok to put down a human being?'</em>. In this series we explore how much control we (and other people) should have over our own death. This is primarily focused on circumstances where death is near and inevitable, and life/treatment is becoming pretty horrible in the interim, but we do broaden the discussion a little beyond these boundaries. As we clarify in the episode, agency creates an extremely important distinction between <em>assisted suicide</em> and <em>euthanasia</em>, but even the most liberal countries draw some lines on where agency is not enough to bring us to support someone's wish for death.</p><p>In this episode, we talk through some of the pros and cons, including the classic 'slippery slope' argument as a negative and the limits of our autonomy, specifically bodily autonomy, in the pros column. We draw on some of the philosophical concepts from last episode as well as religious context and actual context. Ultimately, Jake and Ant - in classic Jake and Ant fashion - end up largely agreeing that respect for autonomy wins out in contexts where one can't be considered impaired in their judgement, in a way that can't be altered (physical pain may be an unavoidable impairment on your normal judgement, when near death).</p><p><strong>Support the show:</strong></p><p>Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.</p><p>Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/</p>--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/moedt/message <p>If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt">https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt</a>.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
28 min
50
When is it ok to put down a human being? Part 2
<p>The second in our series on euthanasia and assisted suicide - later named with the much more provocative title, <em>'When is it ok to put down a human being?'</em>. In this series we explore how much control we (and other people) should have over our own death. This is primarily focused on circumstances where death is near and inevitable, and life/treatment is becoming pretty horrible in the interim, but we do broaden the discussion a little beyond these boundaries. As we clarify in the episode, agency creates an extremely important distinction between <em>assisted suicide</em> and <em>euthanasia</em>, but even the most liberal countries draw some lines on where agency is not enough to bring us to support someone's wish for death.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode, we talk through some typical moral/philosophical frameworks and what they may have to say about choosing, or being designated, to die. We romp through the typically out-there (by modern standards) ancient greek perspectives - you better be a 'good citizen', or else you're in trouble... - up to typical Kantian/utilitarian perspectives and also looking into "<em>What we owe each other</em>", which is much more than a pop framework that gets a mention in 'The Good Place'.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Support the show:</strong></p><p>Please leave us a review! Spotify even now let's you do it - see that little star icon - go on, give it a click. Reviews are a great way to help others find the show, and it makes us feel all warm inside. If you’re a fan of the show, please consider signing up to our Patreon. A small subscription goes a long way towards supporting the show - and it makes us feel all warm inside too. https://www.patreon.com/moedt.</p><p>Know anyone who likes to think about or debate the kind of topics we cover? Spread the word - and you’ll have our gratitude. Keep up to date with future episodes on our website here: https://moedt.substack.com/</p>--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/moedt/message <p>If you'd like to listen ad-free (on any podcast app) and support us as creators, become a member for as little as $2 per month at: <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt">https://plus.acast.com/s/moedt</a>.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
26 min