The Philosopher's Zone - Program podcast Folgen

Strangers, people from other countries immigrating to our territory, endangering our authentic culture, destroying what is valuable, good and familiar. But do they and does that idea make any sort of sense at all?  And if we can’t talk about the authenticity of cultures, what about the authenticity of individual persons?  This week, we investigate authenticity, the personal and the political.

We’ve heard a lot in recent times about the legal wrangles of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange but there is another Wikileaker facing life in prison who has been given much less attention: Private Bradley Manning. Bradley Manning is accused of leaking thousands of classified defence documents and faces life in prison if found guilty. Over two hundred legal scholars and philosophers have signed a petition claiming his treatment has been unconstitutional and unethical. This week we look at the literal trials and tribulations of Bradley Manning.

These days, you can go to war without shouldering a pack and carrying a rifle: you can take out the enemy’s installations (and, indeed, take out the enemy) just sitting in an office not far from home.  But what are the ethics of a war fought for us by machines, where the only deaths we see are on TV monitors?  This week, we ask how we can bring a moral imagination to bear on a world of robot wars.