Teaching

Hi-Phi Nation approaches philosophy in a way that maximizes engagement; we harness the power of storytelling, about everyday life, law, science, or the arts, to make philosophy essential to the resolution of a conflict. And because students love podcasts, and can listen on commutes, during walks, chores, or exercise, it is an ideal addition to your syllabus, particularly if you’re involved in remote teaching. Every episode is also transcribed for easy access for the hearing-impaired.

Through four seasons, we have thirty-eight episodes for educators to pick and choose from. You can even design entire course syllabi with Hi-Phi Nation forming a backbone, as the hook piece into a more in-depth unit.

“I rely on Hi-Phi nation in my course on public philosophy and it plays several pivotal roles. Students come away inspired by the power of philosophy, as well as how creatively it is leveraged in Lam’s podcast. Second, Hi-Phi nation stands out as an example of what’s possible for students’ final projects, and several choose to create podcasts clearly modeled on Hi-Phi Nation. Third, the content, logic, and critical thinking going on in each episode serve as topics of philosophical discussion. Hi-Phi Nation combines excellent philosophical content with compelling stories, and they are expertly produced. The web site is beautiful and it’s easy for students to browse and to be drawn in to the world that Lam creates. It’s been nearly three years since the first time I taught this class, and I’ve heard from students that they continue to follow the podcast.” -Jill Gordon, NEH/Class of 1940 Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Philosophy, Colby College

Sample Syllabi (includes readings)

Here are our episodes, organized by theme. Full episodes, transcripts, and abstracts available on the episode page.

Themes

Criminal Justice and Responsibility

  • Criminal Minds– An episode looking at the dispute over mens rea requirements for crimes, and an examination of the wrongdoing/culpability distinction.
  • The Precrime Unit*-A look at the spread of predictive policing technologies and the ethics of profiling.
  • Police Discretion-The history of fourth amendment litigation in Supreme Court giving increasing power to police, and a Rawlsian approach to political ethics of police discretion.
  • The Informant-The use of informant deals in sting and undercover operations, and the tension between police discretion and the rule of law.
  • Risky Business*-The use of predictive algorithms in pre-trial detention and sentencing, and whether future danger can justify imprisonment now.
  • Gender Justice-The use of police and prosecutorial discretion to prosecute domestic violence and sexual assault in the interest of a more feminist state, and its contribution to mass incarceration.
  • Willful Acts*-Two cases of litigation on whether addiction should be an excuse in the law, and the disease/choice distinction in the theory of action.
  • The Loophole-A murder in Maine and the use of acquitted and uncharged conduct in sentencing raises questions of judicial discretion and aggravating/mitigating factors for crimes.
  • Redemption in the DDU-The story of a man sent to solitary confinement in Massachusetts, and the existentialist questions about humanity and dehumanization.
  • Punishment without End-The story of a girl picked up for cocaine trafficking, and whether collateral consequences after prison should count as part of official punishment.
  • Justice and Retribution-Prison abolitionism and its philosophical basis; the case for and against retributive justice.

Feminist Issues

  • Be a Man-How much are gender-norms derivable from social demands for violence and reproduction? We look at the case of warrior masculinity and women in the military.
  • For Women Only Part 1-Our first part on gender ontology by looking at the origins of radical feminist critiques of transgenderism and the founding of transgender studies.
  • For Women Only Part 2-The second part on gender ontology, focusing on the gender-identity certificates in the UK and the many definitions of “woman” over the various waves of feminism.
  • Gender Justice-The use of police and prosecutorial discretion to prosecute domestic violence and sexual assault, and its contribution to mass incarceration.

War, Ethics of Killing, Self Defense

  • Soldier Philosophers 1: Moral Exploitation*-An army whistle-blower discovers the official use of torture, and a philosopher-veteran examines how moral decision-making and blame gets outsourced.
  • Soldier Philosophers 2: The Morality of War*-Why ethics is mandatory for officers, and the ethics of war and self-defense, from traditional to revisionist just war theory.
  • Be a Man*-How much are gender-norms derivable from social demands for violence and reproduction? We look at the case of warrior masculinity and women in the military.
  • The Forever War-A retrospective on the Afghanistan War, especially concerning moral and financial costs, sunk costs, and justice and responsibility after war.

Social-Political Issues

  • The Wishes of the Dead*-The story of the Hershey chocolate fortune, and why the state enforces the wishes of the dead contrary to those of the living.
  • Freedom and Hostile Design*-A theory of awesomeness and suckiness, and how it manifest in urban design against homelessness.
  • No Offense-A man sues another for calling him a racial slur, and the tricky balance between harm and freedom of speech in two political societies.
  • The Chamber of Facts*-Do people of different political parties live in alternative realities? We look at the research, and the theory of belief, that suggest the answer to be complicated.
  • The Demons of Democracy*-We go into democratic schools, and look at American voters, to see whether decision-making in the hands of the ignorant is good or bad.
  • Uncivil Disobedience-Vegan activism in Australia is getting disruptive and uncivil. Do causes ever justify the means?

Music, Aesthetics

  • The Cops of Pop-The invention and proliferation of the mash-up meets Theodor Adorno on popular music.
  • Cover Me Softly*-The curious history of “Killing Me Softly” and what the cover song says about the developing metaphysics of musical artwork.
  • The Illusionist-Deep into one of his symphonies, Tchaikovsky scored a passage to contain a musical illusion. Why he put it there, and what sound illusions say about the human mind.

Existentialist Questions

  • The Wishes of the Dead*-The story of the Hershey chocolate fortune, and why the state enforces the wishes of the dead contrary to those of the living.
  • A Better Love– The philosophy of love by looking at motherly love at every stage, the new mom, the mother of teenagers, to the mother preparing her child for her own death.
  • Bottom of the Curve-Happiness takes an inevitable dip during mid-life, requiring us to consider the value and shape of our lives when facing the importance and inevitability of death.
  • Yolo Apologetics-Two college buddies enter the Malaysian jungle looking to find the true meaning of YOLO, and one philosopher examines what “you only live once” actually requires.
  • Redemption in the DDU-The story of a man sent to solitary confinement in Massachusetts, and the existentialist questions about humanity and dehumanization.

Epistemology, Philosophy of Science

  • Hackademics Part 1*-We follow researchers studying psychic and telepathic phenomena to try and draw the boundaries between science and pseudoscience.
  • Hackademics Part 2*-We examine the use of statistics and “statistical significance” in the human sciences to figure out just what to believe.
  • The Ashes of Truth-Errol Morris had an astray thrown at him for challenging Thomas Kuhn, so we look at that dispute and Kuhn’s contributions to the philosophy of science.
  • Creed and Credences-Dave travels the world looking for prehistoric creatures to prove young-earth Creationism, and we examine whether there is a difference between scientific and religious belief.

Metaphysics,  Mind, and Language

  • The Name of God*-One woman claims that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, so we examine what it means for that to be true or false.
  • Drowned at Sea*-According to legend, a man was drowned at sea for proving the existence of irrational numbers. We examine the cult he was a part of, and figure out whether mathematical objects really can be proven to exist.
  • The Illusionist*-Deep into one of his symphonies, Tchaikovsky scored a passage to contain a musical illusion. Why he put it there, and what sound illusions say about the human mind.
  • The Self and Survival-A woman remembers a past life, and a psychiatrist decides to study children who report past lives, opening up the question of whether anyone can survive the death of the body.

*. Indicates a prominently used episode in courses (as of beginning of 2020).

Some institutions where Hi-Phi Nation is taught:

CUNY, Fordham, NYU, USC, Colorado, Boulder, Australia National University, Canterbury, Birkbeck, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Iowa State, UC Irvine, U Mass Lowell, Tuskegee, Carroll, Elon, and more.