Ethics and Masculinity, or, Being Hatched or Going Bad

Ethics and Masculinity, or, Being Hatched or Going Bad

Content Warning: In this episode I’m going to be talking about the recent investigative report by CNN into the traffic and activity on a website called Motherless.com. While the episode’s focus is not sexual assault itself, there still will be frank conversation about it, and about the harm done by men who prey on others for their own gratification. If that’s not something you’re looking to hear about in a podcast, I totally understand. You can just skip it, or come back to it when you feel ready. If you or someone you know and love are the victims of domestic or sexual violence, in the United States you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or chat online at thehotline.org [http://thehotline.org]. All calls are free and confidential. You matter, and you don’t have to endure abuse, coercion, or manipulation to deserve love. There are people who care about you and support you. There is hope. What do we do when we experience the worst that masculinity has to offer? Is there a way for men who use their masculinity as a weapon to become better? Is there a way for any of us to become better, and if so, how? We'll discuss this along with what makes something philosophical, how we can learn from those who "fence the Torah," and just what the heck we mean when we talk about "toxic masculinity." 1:55 | “Exposing a global ‘rape academy’” A CNN As Equals Investigation [https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2026/03/world/expose-rape-assault-online-vis-intl/index.html] 7:35 | “Making Fences Around the Torah,” Rabbi David E Ostrich [https://www.britshalomstatecollege.org/torah-commentaries/2017/11/20/making-fences-around-the-torah] 15:20 | Deleuze and Guattari, What is Philosophy?, pg. 2 25:20 | Todd May, Deleuze, pg. 19 27:18 | Lectures on Liberation : Angela Davis : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/LecturesOnLiberation/mode/2up]  40:28 | Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Hackett Publishing,   pp. 63-64 42:05 | Ibid., pg. 65. 45:12 | Selection from Speaking Freely: Bell Hooks. newseuminstitute.org [http://newseuminstitute.org]  51:50 | Plato, Republic, 392b 58:08 | CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 198-199

"I aim to misbehave." | TYCD: Great Speeches in Ethics

In this inaugural "Great Speeches in Ethics," we'll reflect on how Mal Reynolds's resolve to speak for others represents a mode of speech in classical antiquity that French philosopher Michel Foucault calls "fearless speech." 6:15 | Fearless Speech, 18. [https://monoskop.org/images/b/ba/Foucault_Michel_Fearless_Speech.pdf ] 9:05 | Who am I -- Alfie Boe (Les Miserables in Concert -The 25th Anniversary) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVtb62zY8HM]  10:10 | Ramin Karimloo - Valjean's Soliloquy - Broadway - 2014 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m7tSHsAIM4] 11:05 | Ibid. 12:45 | Fearless Speech, 13-14. [https://monoskop.org/images/b/ba/Foucault_Michel_Fearless_Speech.pdf ] 21:05 | "Touchstone, Metallurgy."  [https://www.britannica.com/technology/touchstone-metallurgy] 21:15 | Venable, Shannon L. (2011). Gold: A Cultural Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC. p. 264. ISBN [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)] 978-0313-384318 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0313-384318]. Retrieved 2025-07-14  22:15 | Fearless Speech, 102. [https://monoskop.org/images/b/ba/Foucault_Michel_Fearless_Speech.pdf ] "The Culture of the Self" audio of Foucault lecturing at Berkeley on YouTube. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaXb8c6jw0k&t=322s]

The Hunt for Gollum's Conscience: An LOTRAMAPOD/Things You Can Do Crossover Event

In today's episode, Matthias Austin from the Lord of the Rings AMA Podcast and I talk about Gollum. What motivates him? What's wrong with him? Should we pity him or fear him? Or something else? Come along for a journey into the ethics of Middle Earth where we'll discuss good and evil, pain and addiction, love and pity, and incontinence. Also, Frodo and Sam's Special Boat for Boys™ . 9:30 | Illustrated Hobbit Reddit Post [https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/vy7vij/before_the_1966_edition_of_the_hobbit_it_wasnt/] 11:30 | Film Depiction Blog Post [https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2019/11/20/representations-of-gollum-on-screen/] 23:45 | Anti-Climacus (Soren Kierkegaard), The Sickness Unto Death (Normally I try to put the edition and page, but I got this off the internet because I couldn't find my copy of this text - it's probably in a box somewhere in the basement, but I promise a cursory google search will confirm it's factuality!) Things You Can Do, Season 1 Soundtrack [https://youtu.be/y8sgOz-Cjrk]

TYCD: Extra Credit - Utilitarianism, Drowning Hitler, Stealing the Enterprise

In today's Extra Credit, I talk a little (okay, a LOT) more about utilitarianism, some of its strengths and weaknesses, some important thinkers in its history, and my view on why the way that we currently teach it is missing something. 10:05 | RM Hare, "Ethical Theory and Utilitarianism [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/utilitarianism-and-beyond/ethical-theory-and-utilitarianism/FE61351A1594DB4C054DB7DA195C76CD]" 14:16 | JJC Smart, "Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism," [https://philosophyintrocourse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/smartextremerestricted.pdf] pg. 353 15:34 | Ibid., pg. 347 ***Godwin's Law [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law] says that the longer a discussion goes on, the more likely it is that someone will invoke a comparison to Hitler. It has conceptual overlap with the logical fallacy reductio ad Hitlerium. 21:32 | John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, pg. 32 (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2001). 23:09 | Shelly Kagan, "Does Consequentialism Demand Too Much? Recent Work on the Limits of Obligation" [https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/campuspress.yale.edu/dist/7/724/files/2016/01/Does-Consequentialism-Demand-Too-Much-14mwbda.pdf]

Teaser: "The Hunt for Gollum's Conscience" - a LOTR AMA Podcast/Things You Can Do Crossover Event!

Ever wished that I would hang out more with Matthias Austin, host of the acclaimed* podcast The Lord of the Rings AMA Podcast? Well, turns out - me too! Matthias and I sit down and talk about Gollum, a figure regarded with suspicion and hatred, a form cloaked in shadow and deceit. What makes him tick? How should we feel about him? What was JRR Tolkien thinking when he wrote this character? Matthias and I dive in - just the way that we do: with research, thoughtful questions, ethical conundrums, and just a little bit of trivia. Check it out on May 8 when it drops in my feed, or May 11 when it drops over at his feed [https://rss.com/podcasts/the-lord-of-the-rings-ama-podcast/] - subscribe to the Lord of the Rings AMA Podcast wherever you get your podcasts!