Feb 21, 2020
Humans are living longer, delaying disease and decay later and later. It's conceivable that we could eradicate the big killers and attain a certain kind of infinite postponement of death. But what would this mean for our humanity? What does philosophy have to say about this, and about the state of our ongoing social experiment with democracy?
Ben sits down to chat about all this and much more with Queen's University political philosopher and National Scholar, Colin Farrelly.
About the Guest
Colin received his PhD from the University of Bristol in England in 1999. Over his 20 year academic career he has held academic appointments in 10 different departments in Political Science, Philosophy and Public Policy in England, Scotland, the United States and Canada. Previous appointments include Visiting Professor in UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, Fulbright Visiting Research Chair at the University of Manoa in Hawaii, Research Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University, Visitor in Oxford’s Program on Ethics and the New Biosciences, as well as permanent academic appointments at Waterloo University, Manchester University and the University of Birmingham. For the past 5 years Colin has been involved in teaching philosophy to male inmates.
The author and editor of 6 books and approximately 50 journal articles, Colin’s publications include articles in journals in political science, philosophy, feminism, law, science and medicine. He has published on a diverse array of topics, including the health challenges posed by population aging, the creation and evolution of patriarchy, virtue ethics, virtue epistemology, virtue jurisprudence, play and politics, freedom of expression, judicial review, non-ideal theory, gene patents, deliberative democracy, nanotechnology, sex selection, toleration, a citizen’s basic income, enhancing soldiers and economic incentives.
Colin’s next major research project explores the idea of the “playful” society as a realistic utopia and draws on empirical insights from evolutionary biology and positive psychology.
Learn more about Colin, watch his TED Talk and check out his blog, In Search of Enlightenment.
Mentioned in this Episode
- Colin's TEDxQueensu Talk on global aging and longevity science.
- An article by Colin about the naked mole rat's resistance to cancer
- Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
- Thomas Hobbes, 17th century English philosopher known for his work, the Leviathan, and its theory of the social contract
- 'Epistemic virtues'
- John Dewey (1859-1952), American philosopher and psychologist
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
The Quote of the Week
"Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than
answers you cannot question."
- Yuval Noah Harari