American Socrates

95 Episodes

Reverse

Are Good Intentions Good Enough?

2026-10-1429:35

Send us Fan Mail What makes an action morally good: What actually happened, or what you meant to do? This episode opens a study of Kantian ethics by making the positive case for intention as the foundation of moral evaluation. Aristotle argued that intention reveals character more accurately than action ever can; the same deed can flow from generosity, vanity, or guilt, and only the intention tells you which you're dealing with. Kant went further: the good will is the only thing in the world ...

What if the Consequences Don't Matter?

2026-10-0730:07

Send us Fan Mail Is consequentialism, the idea that what makes an action right or wrong is entirely its consequences, the right framework for morality at all? This episode examines three structural failures that can't be fixed: moral luck, the doing/allowing collapse, and the license for atrocity. Consequentialism captures real moral truths, but it fails as a complete moral theory. And the alternative, a morality grounded not in outcomes but in the dignity of persons, might be where the cure ...

Do the Needs of the Many Outweight the Needs of the Few?

2026-09-3026:21

Send us Fan Mail This episode of American Socrates deals with the trolley problem, drone strikes, COVID triage, and more to press the objection against utilitarian ethics: that it licenses using innocent people as instruments whenever the arithmetic favors it, with no principled basis for refusal. We also look at Bernard Williams's integrity objection that goes deeper still: a moral theory that requires you to always override your deepest commitments when the calculation demands it doesn't pr...

Are Some Pleasures Better Than Others?

2026-09-2326:59

Send us Fan Mail If pleasure is all that matters, a contented pig lives better than a struggling philosopher — and you should plug into a machine that gives you perfect simulated happiness for the rest of your life. Most people find both conclusions obviously wrong. This episode of American Socrates asks why. It works through Mill's famous quality distinction — his argument that it is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied, and why that argument quietly breaks the utilitaria...

Does the Happiness Calculator Run Your Life Without You Even Knowing It?

2026-09-1627:36

Send us Fan Mail You've been living under utilitarian ethics your whole life, even if you didn't know it had a name. This episode of American Socrates introduces Jeremy Bentham's felicific calculus: the system that measures pleasure and pain across populations and chooses the action that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Then it shows what that system looks like in the real world. Ford calculated that your life was worth $200K and decided your life wasn't worth as much ...

#box-pro-ellipsis-179197883205891{-webkit-line-clamp:2;}American Socrates