The Lust for Certainty

Do we suffer from a lust for certainty? This is an edited version of a talk given to a Sea of Faith Network conference in London earlier this year.

Sam Harris on Science and Morality

In the latest microphilosophy podcast I talk to Sam Harris about his claim in The Moral Landscape that science can determine human values. Download from this link or iTunes.

John Gray on Immortality

In the latest microphilosophy podcast I talk to John Gray about some of the ideas that emerge from his latest book, The Immortalization Commission: The Strange Quest to Cheat Death. Download from this link or iTunes. The podcast was recorded at the Bristol Festival of Ideas in May, at the Arnolfini.

New podcast series

I've replaced my Philosophy Monthly with a new, more frequent, less regular series of shorter interviews, discussion, talks and features called microphilosophy. The first two episodes are already out. The first is an interview with the philosopher and theologian Richard Swinburne on souls; the second an interview with the writer and poet Brian Christian about his book on what artificial intelligence tells us about being human. The iTunes feed is here.

Is Radical Politics Still Possible?

An MP3 recording of my recent talk in Indianapolis (New York redux) is available here.

Why the Science vs. Religion Debate Won't Go Away

There is a decent (not excellent) quality mps download of my recent talk at Transylvania University at this link.

The Infinite Monkey Cage - BBC Radio Four

Podcast is available indefinitely of this BBC Radio Four Programme, broadcast yesterday, on which I appeared with other guests Ray Tallis and Alexei Sayle, with hosts Robin Ince and Brian Cox, discussing the question, “Is philosophy dead?” Click here for show’s website and podcast link.

December podcast +

This skeptical edition features founder of The Skeptic magazine, Wendy Grossman; journalist, broadcaster and writer Simon Hoggart; and psychologist Christine Mohr. Recorded at the Bristol Festival of Ideas to mark the publication of Why Statues Weep, the best from the first twenty years of The Skeptic. You can buy the book at 10% discount here: just enter the code SKEPTIC at checkout.

Click here to listen or download now from


Also, I neglected to update on other podcasts since July, including the August and September editions. You can catch up here and at the iTunes link above.

July Podcast

This edition includes a report from the 2010 Philosophers’ Football Match, where I talk to AC Grayling, Laurie Taylor, comedian Mark Steel, former England manager Graham Taylor, and many more. Find out what the tribute to the famous Monty Python sketch was really about. Plus, there’s an interview with historian and philosopher of science Jay Kennedy, whose claim to have cracked “The Plato Code” is provoking an international scholarly debate.
Click here to listen or download now from

Complaint podcast

George Miller of Podularity has produced a new podcast for Blackwell, in which he interviews me about my book Complaint, which is now out in paperback. You can listen to it here.

Guardian Daily podcast

I contributed to yesterday's (15 July) edition, which you can listen to here.

Two "new" podcasts

I've just discovered that there are podcasts of two talks I gave at the RSA's website.

The first is about The Duck That Won The Lottery - which in paperback is Do They Think You're Stupid?, and was given at the Birmingham Book Festival in October 2008. You can listen here.

The second is about Complaint, and was given at the RSA in London in June 2008. You can listen or download it here.

June podcast

This edition is all about “How to Live” and was recorded live at the Arnolfini Centre as part of Bristol Festival of Ideas in May. Joining me are John Cottingham, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Reading; Sarah Bakewell, author of How to Live or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer; and Michael Foley, author of The Age of Absurdity.
Click here to listen or download now, or download from


BPM is produced by Julian Baggini in association with The Philosophers’ Magazine.

May podcast

I’m back after an April break with Daniel Dennett talking about the new atheism, and a guest report by Antonia Macaro on the relevance of stoicism for today, with interviewees Richard Sorabji and John Sellars.

Click here to listen or download now, or download from

March podcast

In this four-star edition, I talk over the background hubbub of hotel bars and conference lunch tables with Jerry Fodor about what Darwin got wrong; Ben Goldacre on good philosophy and bad science; Michael Sandel on the problem with secular liberalism; and Philip Zimbardo on good people gone bad.

Click here to listen or download now, or download from

February podcast

February's Philosophy Monthly is now out. In this programme, I’m reporting on the debate surrounding the growth of the well-being agenda, and talking to the winner of the Lakatos Prize for the philosophy of Science, Samir Okasha, about evolution.

Click here to listen or download now, or download from

December podcast

In the last Philosophy Monthly of 2009, I’m featuring previously unreleased extracts salvaged from the cutting room floor from six of the best interviews of the year: Michael Frayn, AC Grayling, Jonathan Sacks, Peter Singer, Timothy Williamson and Tony Wright MP.

Click here to listen or download now, or download from

July podcast

In the latest edition of Baggini’s Philosophy Monthly, I’m talking to two philosophical antagonists, AC Grayling and John Gray, discussing belief in progress and the power of reason. Plus I meet Labour MP and political theorist Tony Wright, who reveals how much Blair and Brown really care about ideas.

Download from here or from iTunes.

New podcast

In this special extra edition of Baggini’s Philosophy Monthly, I’m chairing a discussion between five shortlisted authors for the 2009 Bristol Festival of Ideas book prize. This £10,000 prize is for the best book of ideas published in Britain in 2008. Taking part are Nick Davies (Flat Earth News), Misha Glenny (McMafia: Seriously Organised Crime), Richard Holmes (The Age of Wonder), Mark Leonard (What Does China Think?) and Sara Maitland (A Book of Silence). Also shortlisted was Susan Faludi (The Terror Dream). More information on the prize and the books is here.

The discussion was recorded live at the award ceremony at the Arnolfini Centre, Bristol.

Listen or download here or download from iTunes.

BPM is produced by Julian Baggini in association with The Philosophers’ Magazine. If you enjoy the podcasts, please support our work.

June podcast now out

In the third edition of Baggini’s Philosophy Monthly, I’m off to a new philosophy and music festival at Hay, talking to its founder, Hilary Lawson, radical Tory Philip Blond, and the composer Michael Nyman. Plus I’m debating science and religion on Premier Christian Radio.

Download here or at iTunes