The Here and Now Podcast
The Here and Now Podcast with Dave Monds explores topics in psychology and philosophy. Each weekly episode translates big ideas from science and the humanities into meaningful themes for everyday life. We also feature regular interviews with a diverse range of guests. Travel to the edge of the universe or to the deepest recesses of the mind with The Here and Now Podcast.
Episodes
95 episodes
Phenomenology
You are an experience machine, everything that has ever happened to you and everything that will ever happen to you is experience. Reflecting on your experience offers a unique insight into the nature of reality and forms the basis for the phil...
•
Episode 92
•
28:27
Sanctuary
In this brief reflection, I consider the idea of psychological sanctuary, it's importance and its dangers. The Here and Now Podcast on Facebook
•
Episode 91
•
8:55
Cognitivism
The cognitive revolution in psychology began in the mid 20th century and supplanted behaviourism as the dominant theoretical paradigm explaining human cognition and behaviour which continues today. We explore the origins of cognitive psychology...
•
Episode 90
•
29:34
Behaviorism
Behaviorism is a tradition within the field of psychology which came to prominence during the early to mid 20th century through the work of John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner. It includes the theories of classical and operant conditioning and was...
•
Episode 89
•
23:01
Materialism
The prevailing philosophical paradigm underpinning the physical sciences is materialism, also known as physicalism. Simply, everything that exists is material in some sense. However there are many concepts which seem immaterial so how are these...
•
Episode 88
•
26:18
The meaningless life with Professor James Tartaglia
To kick off the new year I recently spoke with philosopher James Tartaglia, a professor at Keele University, about nihilism and the meaning of life. It turns out, there isn’t one. But all hope is not lost as we also discuss what a modern day ph...
•
Episode 87
•
55:54
Nihilism
We conclude our brief exploration of existentialism with this final chapter on its darkest philosophical interpretation, nihilism. Nihilism means literally, an ideology of nothing, which has led philosophers to a range of conclusions from the d...
•
Episode 86
•
19:21
Absurdism
An area of existentialist philosophy is absurdism which considers the conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent value and meaning in life and the inability to find these with any certainty. The work of French nobel prize winning writ...
•
Episode 85
•
10:11
Existentialism
Existentialism is a philosophy which inquires into the nature of human existence and what it means to live an authentic life. While its concepts can be traced as far back as ancient Greece, it came to prominence during the immediate post second...
•
Episode 84
•
22:46
Sycophancy
Brownnosing, bootlicking, apple polishing and sucking up are among many the synonyms for the term sycophancy. Psychologists also know it as ingratiation. In this episode we explore several types of ingratiation and learn that while true sycopha...
•
Episode 83
•
19:05
Libertarianism
Libertarianism is a political philosophy based on John Locke's philosophy of natural law, that each is entitled to freedom for oneself and ones property and society should require minimal intervention by government. It is closely associated wit...
•
Episode 82
•
34:23
Nuance
In this reflective episode I discuss something that bugs me - the always or never fallacy. We often exaggerated and use hyperbole to emphasis our stories, but society is often a reflection of our complacency at recognising the things that make ...
•
Episode 81
•
19:50
Diversity in Science with David Latchman
David Latchman is a science communicator and host of the Science Bloggers Podcast. He trained as a physicist before becoming a full time science journalist and freelance science writer. He is passionate about sharing ideas from science with a g...
•
Episode 80
•
48:54
The Dialogical Self
It might feel like you are a distinct and continuous identity, but the theory of the dialogical self asserts that you inhabit many different I-positions that represent different aspects of You. In this episode, we briefly explore the origins of...
•
Episode 79
•
28:07
Utilitarianism - The Greatest Good
Utilitarianism is a principle of ethical philosophy which considers that the most morally correct action is one that produces the most good. This idea was first tackled seriously by 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham, however it is not wit...
•
Episode 78
•
25:16
Universal Basic Income
The concept of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been growing in popularity so I decided to explore it for a recent research project. I began as a sceptic but after considering a variety of social justice arguments I now believe a UBI should b...
•
Episode 77
•
36:04
Tackling Social Issues with Professor Darrin Hodgetts
Societal and community psychologist Professor Darrin Hodgetts joins me to discuss his work with marginalised communities most affected by social injustice and structural violence. Prof Hodgetts is a highly respected figure in New Zealand ...
•
Episode 76
•
1:08:12
Distributive Justice
In this episode we consider the limits of wealth distribution in society, inherent inequalities to life and the role of luck. We also explore the economic ideas of the commons and public goods and the role these play in free market and state ca...
•
Episode 75
•
31:23
Social Justice
In this episode we explore social justice, namely: what is it, why is it so contested, and why are you probably sick of hearing about. It has taken a while to write this episode, largely because it is a challenging topic which introduces politi...
•
Episode 74
•
40:03
The Social Contract
What is the role of government? Should it exist to provide safety and security for its citizens or to maintain order because humans are fundamentally selfish? Is an equitable society possible? What would such a society look like? Episode 73 is ...
•
Episode 73
•
25:22
Integrity
Integrity is one of the most hallowed virtues but is it one we can ever truly attain? Is acting with integrity always the best path to follow? We explore integrity and its opposite in this episode and find that integrity may be more complicated...
•
Episode 72
•
24:10
Pointlessness
What is the meaning of life? That age old, philosophical cliché has had no shortage of answers but what if there isn’t one? What if life is pointless? Philosopher Rivka Weinberg p...
•
Episode 71
•
29:10
Meaning and Purpose at Work
We often struggle to find a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives. In this episode we consider the psychology of how we find meaning and consider a few strategies to help to you find meaning and purpose in both your professional and private...
•
Episode 70
•
22:31
Turning back and Living Well with Bruce Grierson
Bruce Grierson is a social science writer whose work has featured in many well known print and online publications including New York Magazine, Popular Science, Time Magazine, Psychology Today and Scientific American. He is a five times Canadia...
•
Episode 69
•
1:00:53
Language IX - Absolute Language
We conclude the language series by considering the final question: Do words actually mean anything? This may sound like a strange question to ask, considering the many aspects of language we've covered over the last eight episodes, but when we ...
•
Episode 68
•
21:00