Naked Humanity - TopPodcast.com

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Naked Humanity — Philosophy
Naked Humanity

Existentialist philosophers such as Albert Camus and Hannah Arendt once said the modern world has rendered us naked: we are stripped of traditional beliefs, grasping for truths constantly out of reach, and devastatingly aware of our finitude. Is this true? Where do we go from here? Who are we? Who COULD we be? For Season I of this podcast (all currently posted episodes) I ask historians, psychologists, sociologists, and biologists: what does it mean to be human in the modern world?

Latest Episodes:

25: Why Do We Believe in Gods? with Connor Wood Apr 15, 2019

Show notes

Why do we believe in Gods? Why is belief in supernatural deities found universally around the world? This is a question that has baffled scientists and scholars for centuries. Dr. Connor Wood comes on today’s podcast to discuss some of today’s hottest theories and to fill us in on what might be the missing piece of the puzzle.

24x: The Type of Self-Esteem that Can Save the World Apr 10, 2019

Show notes

Building on conversations with recent guests, Stefani argues that there are two different kinds of self-esteem. One has the power to melt our societies to the ground; the other has the power to lift us up and progress with hope into the future. Which kind of self-esteem do you have?

24: How Death Affects Everything You Do with Sheldon Solomon Apr 08, 2019

Show notes

You might not think about death very often, but the work of today’s guest has demonstrated that death plays a crucial role in our psychological make-ups. Sheldon Solomon is an expert psychologist and one of the world’s leading theorists in Terror Management Theory, which is a subfield of psychology that explores how pretty much everything we do and think is an attempt to evade the prospect of death. Death makes us feel vulnerable, so we become more entrenched in our cultural worldviews, more violent against outsiders, and more invested in our own egos.

23x: Are We Morally Obligated to Help Others? Apr 04, 2019

Show notes

A lot of people in the world today think that all you have to do is make yourself happy. But is that any way to live? Is that actually how the world works? In this episode, Stefani tells the history of the debate, weighs the pros and cons of various arguments, and tells you eventually why yes, we are most certainly obligated to help change the world.

23: A Religion of Nature with Donald Crosby Apr 01, 2019

Show notes

Continuing where we left off in episode 22, today philosopher Donald Crosby and I explore in depth all of the ways in which he thinks nature is better at meeting our spiritual needs than traditional religion. We discuss his new ideas about nature and God, morality, the flow of time, purpose, meaning, death, and more.

22x: The Spirituality of Nature Mar 28, 2019

Show notes

Did you know there is a whole academic field dedicated to the study of how to be spiritual and still believe in science? It’s called religious naturalism, and today I tell you all about it’s history, some of its forerunners, major themes, and what it can offer that traditional religion can’t.

22: Why are We so Nihilistic? with Donald Crosby Mar 25, 2019

Show notes

Donald Crosby is the best philosopher you’ve never heard of. One of Stefani’s all time favorite thinkers, Crosby comes on the show today to discuss the problem of nihilism in today’s world: where does it come from, and how is it impacting us today? What do traditional religion and traditional conceptions of God have to do with it? As it turns out, everything. This is the first in a two-episode series with Professor Crosby.

21x: How Much do you Need Certainty? The NFC Scale Mar 21, 2019

Show notes

How much are you personally persuaded by demagogues, emotional argumentation, and the crowd? How much is Stefani? In this episode Stefani takes and walks you through a quiz designed to answer these questions. Remember: be as honest with yourself as possible, and there are no wrong answers.

21: Extremism in the Modern World with Arie Kruglanski Mar 18, 2019

Show notes

Arie Kruglanski was born in Nazi Poland is today one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of extremism, terrorism, and close-mindedness. In this episode he chats with Stefani about how badly humans tend to need certain kinds of certainty and significance. Without them we (usually) become close-minded, easily persuaded by demagogues and the crowd, and begin to hate those who oppose us. These problems are especially important for the modern world. Listen in to get a keen understanding of how and why our world has become as tense as it has.

20x: How Uncertainty is Killing Us Mar 14, 2019

Show notes

Stefani explores one of the background principles of her current book--that uncertainty is often one of the most stressful and problematic things we can feel. She explains various experiments and theories in the field of psychology that lead her to believe the management of uncertainty is one of the keys to both having a better life and also saving the world.

Related Podcasts