talkPOPc's Podcast
talkPOPc (Philosophers' Ontological Party club), is public philosophy + cognitively-engaged art nonprofit founded by Dr. Dena Shottenkirk, who is both a philosopher and an artist. As a topic-based project (we are now on our fourth) talkPOPc sponsors one-to-one conversations between a participant and a philosopher (who always dons our amazing gold African king hat, along with our mascot Puppet!) These conversations are consensus-building conversations and feed back into Shottenkirk's related artworks and published philosophy. The conversations become collaborative acts of making both philosophy and art. Thus, each topic - #1. nominalism, #2. censorship, #3. art as cognition, and #4 power - has three "pillars" the associated artworks, the published philosophy book, and podcast conversations. Various philosophers participate (see our website talkpopc.org for the list of philosophers) and these conversations happen in various places. For example, we go into bars and have one-to-one conversations. We sit down next to the deli counter and hold a conversation with someone who has walked in to get a ham sandwich and walked out knowing so much more about their own thoughts. We go into the MDC prison in Brooklyn and have conversations. We set up in galleries where the artworks and the philosophy are also displayed. And we listen. Here are some of those conversations.
Change happens when people talk.
talkPOPc's Podcast
Episode #133 R.P. Tyler Olds talks with talkPOPc participant Maggie about philosophy, power, and justice
Timestamps:
00:10 Introductions
01:00 Thoughts on Philosophy, ethics as a branch of Philosophy
02:05 Concern over monetary power, the world our children will inherit
03:05 Meritocracy, intelligence, and kindness. The Republic and the philosopher kings and access to virtuous rearing
04:15 Exploring old ideas, but leaving room for criticism. We don't live in Ancient Greece
05:30 What happens to those without power? In an ideal society, we don't have folks without power
06:15 Defining power, thinking about money and the physical world // UBI, housing as a basic right and the power to live freely
08:25 Access to new technologies for a just society, but how do we enforce equity we write into law? A central court system?
09:35 Suspicion of life-time appointments. Engaged citizenry requires the free-time and space to own our citizenship
11:40 Strengthening power by taking it from others. Is power an infinite resource, or is it a zero-sum game?
14:30 Elie Wiesel and refusal. We can refuse to grant power to others
17:50 Willpower as an internally derived force vs social power