FAQ

What is Philosophy TV?

We enable philosophers to eavesdrop on other philosophers’ conversations. Eavesdropping is not just a pleasant pastime (though it is that). It’s also an easy way for professional philosophers to keep informed about what’s hot in a discipline that is both rapidly growing and increasingly compartmentalized.

Why aren’t my comments appearing?

We have to approve comments on an individual basis in order to keep the site spam free. We will only approve comments that include a full name and a real email address. If your comment doesn’t show up within a day or so, that may be why. Please contact us if you have any questions.

How do I suggest participants for Philosophy TV?

Email us: contact@philostv.com. We check our email diligently and keep a list of suggested participants.

Why isn’t there an episode on X (or featuring Y)?

We do our best to represent a wide variety of topics and to keep programming balanced. Many factors are involved in decisions about which episodes to pursue and prioritize. Hopefully we’ll have an episode on X (or featuring Y) soon. If there is a particular topic or philosopher you want to see on Philosophy TV, email us: contact@philostv.com.

How do I watch the videos on my mobile device?

We currently support mobile devices in two ways.

1. You may download an .mp4 file of each episode. To download an episode for transfer to your device (or to stream the episode, if supported), navigate to the episode of interest and follow the instructions at the bottom of the post.

2. You may subscribe to our podcast feed. Click here to go to the iTunes feed. If you use non-iTunes software to manage your podcasts (such as doubleTwist) to sync with your mobile device, you may add our feed URL to your subscription service manually. The URL is: http://www.philostv.com/atom/

Are episodes available as video podcasts?

You bet! We just rolled out integration with iTunes. You can subscribe to our podcast feed via itunes directly by searching for the name of one of our episodes, or simply click here.

If you use non-iTunes software to manage your podcasts (such as doubleTwist) to sync with your mobile device, you may add our feed URL to your subscription service manually. The URL is: http://www.philostv.com/atom/

Are .mp3 versions of the episodes available?

Not yet. We are currently in the midst of perfecting our video production process. Once we have everything sorted out, we plan to discuss new distribution formats. We hope that we can offer easy access to audio only versions of Philosophy TV in the near future.

Can I download, use, and distribute episodes of Philosophy TV?

Absolutely. Feel free to use our videos in your classroom, and feel free to send our videos your friends, family, and students.  But please do not manipulate or edit our videos without consent, and please do not use our videos for profit.

Is there any Philosophy TV merchandise?

Not yet, but perhaps in the future.

Can I donate to Philosophy TV?

Some viewers have asked us whether and how they can contribute to Philosophy TV. Philosophy TV is a labor of love and we are happy to pay the costs out of pocket. Our viewers shouldn’t feel any obligation to pay for our services. That said, in the near future we will make a donate button available on the site. Please note that we will not accept donations that are contingent on our performing additional services or changing policies. We promise that any and all donations will be put towards maintaining and improving Philosophy TV.

Who created Philosophy TV?

Four UW-Madison graduate students:

John Basl works on philosophy of biology, science, and applied ethics. Outside of philosophy, he loves to boulder and play foosball. Website: http://johnbasl.com

David Killoren works in ethics. He is interested in moral intuitions, moral dilemmas, group agency, animal ethics, moral perception, and other topics. Website: http://www.davidkilloren.com/

Jonathan Lang works on issues at the intersection of philosophy of science, consciousness studies and philosophy of mind. He is also interested in the question of how moral status relates to consciousness, and what this can tell us about the nature of our duties to different kinds of conscious entities (e.g., artificially conscious systems, cerebral organoids, minimally conscious systems).

Brynn Welch works in social/political philosophy and ethics. Her work focuses primarily on issues pertaining to the family and justice.

Does anyone else work for Philosophy TV?

Not at the moment.