What do we mean when we say "Nature"? And what, if anything, is "natural"?

In this week’s episode, we’re pulling up a chair at the bar to ask: What do we really mean when we talk about “nature”? From the world outside us—plants, animals, and landscapes—to the idea of human nature itself, we’re questioning our often contradictory and complex ideas of what counts as “natural.” Are we referring to the non-human world or to something essential and intrinsic within us? And is either way of thinking about it as simple as it seems?

We look at how the concept of nature has been shaped by culture, philosophy, politics, and technology. Why, for instance, does a bird’s nest seem “natural” while our own homes do not? Does labeling something “natural” ever settle an argument, or does it just spark new ones? We also talk about the climate crisis, asking if we should see ourselves as part of nature or as caretakers of something separate. And should we trust that technology will resolve environmental issues, or do we need to challenge some of our own longstanding assumptions about nature itself?

Pour a drink and join us as we rethink what it means to be “natural” in a world where the line between nature and culture is more blurred than ever.

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-156-meat

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Are you there, God? It's us, Hotel Bar Sessions.

This week, our co-hosts jump headfirst into one of philosophy’s biggest questions: "Does God exist?" Rick kicks things off by asking whether a final answer would even matter: would knowing God exists (or doesn’t) shift our lives and choices in any real way? Might belief in God itself just be a placeholder for the unknown? Why is the idea of an "Intellligent Designer" or an "Unmoved Mover" or a "First Cause" so compelling, even in the absence of evidence? Each host weighs in with their own take on faith, doubt, and the questions that keep us all up at night.

Our resident medievalist, Rick, also breaks down the classic proofs for God’s existence—from Aristotle, to Aquinas, to Descartes and Kant—motivating a lively debate on whether these arguments help us see more clearly or simply add to the mystery. Leigh introduces what might be evidence of AI creating its own gods, and asks: if an artificial agent can invent deities, what does that mean for our own understanding of God (and our belief in their existence)? David brings in the polytheistic perspective, and together they explore the human urge to find meaning, even if it eludes rational proof.

So, does God exist? Maybe there’s no simple answer, but that’s exactly where things get interesting. Listen in and decide for yourself: is belief the answer, or just the beginning?

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-158-the-existence-of-god

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If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!

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When is it right, or even necessary, to say "no"?

Refusing can be a powerful act—whether it’s standing up to authority, rejecting harmful norms, or pushing back against injustice. But when is saying “no” the right thing to do? And what are the stakes when we decide to refuse? Often our refusals are quotidian and inconsequential, but sometimes, and sometimes without our knowledge, they’re huge.

We often underestimate how often we issue refusals, both large and small, and we don’t consider carefully enough the moral and political dimensions of those acts. It’s not always easy to decide when it is appropriate to refuse, and even when we know it’s necessary, it’s not always easy. Our guest today, Dr. Devonya Havis University of Buffalo), has been thinking about the ethics and politics of refusal for some time, and how how refusing to go along with something can be an act of courage, rebellion, or survival.

We’re going to ask what happens when-- in the immortal words of Nancy Reagan-- you “just say no.”

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-157-the-ethics-of-refusal-with-devonya-havis

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If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!

Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

Should we eat meat?

Humans have been eating other animals for close to 2.5 million years--a fact that is evidenced by cut traces on fossil animal bones, surviving stone tools, and analyses of our ancestors' teeth. Does this evolutionary fact render meat-eating physiologically necessary and morally justifiable? Our ancestors did a lot of things to survive; is that sufficient reason to continue the practice? How they obtained this meaty source of protein was arguably very different from the industrial practices of animal agriculture that are justifiably criticized for their cruelty to non-human sentient creatures and their contribution to the global climate crisis.

Can we as a species continue to eat meat? Or in doing so are we literally eating ourselves out of house and home? What about lab-grown Franken-meat, which Governor Ron DeSantis recently made illegal in the state of Florida? Is lab-grown meat a solution, or does it just feed the problem?

How and why is the unassuming "Impossible Burger" now a subject of the culture wars?

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-157-nature

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If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!

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What can Frantz Fanon and Friedrich Nietzsche teach us about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?

This week, we're joined by Zahi Zalloua (Whitman College) to discuss the final chapter of his most recent book The Politics of the Wretched: Race, Reason, and Ressentiment (Bloomsbury, 2024)-- entitled "Zionist ressentiment, the Left, and the Palestinian Question"-- which offers a fresh lens through which to understand the complex affects and power dynamics that continue to fuel this ongoing struggle by focusing on what 19th C. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called ressentiment—a deep-seated feeling of injustice and grievance.

Zalloua unpacks how a collective sense of moral outrage on the part of Zionists has been deployed to shield Israel from criticism by accusing pro-Palestinian advocates, and the Left more generally, of a “new anti-Semitism.” He contrasts this with Palestinian ressentiment, which he frames as a legitimate response to the ongoing reality of settler-colonialism and displacement. His work both critiques the complicity of liberal Zionism in maintaining the status quo and challenges us to reframe the way we understand both Zionist and Palestinian anger.

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-155-the-palestinian-question-with-zahi-zalloua

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If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!

Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

Philosophy has traditionally associated the feminine with matter, implying passivity. Why? And to what ends?

In our previous episode on materialism (Season 6, Episode 83), we came to see that in more recent years, two, often related, forms of materialism have been developed: “new materialism” and feminist materialism. New materialism tends toward a philosophical reflection on advances in science, particularly neuro-science and biology, but feminist materialism is not so easy to define, as it takes many forms.

There is, however, one unique issue that feminist materialists must contend with: the way that the tradition of philosophy in the West has associated "the feminine" with "matter" and contrasted matter with form, reason, and structure, evidencing yet another way in which the masculine has been privileged throughout the history of philosophy in the global North and West.

This week, we are joined by Dr. Emanuela Bianchi (Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, NYU), expert in ancient philosophy and feminist philosophy, to find out what’s the matter with "matter"?

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-154-troubling-feminist-materialism-with-emmanuala-bianchi

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If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!

Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

Are we nearing the end of the "Age of Print"? And, if so, what comes next?

The concept of "the Gutenberg Parenthesis" suggests that the era of print – which began in the 15th century, when the printing press was developed by Johan Gutenberg, and extended to the 20th century, when radio and television muscled in – was a unique period for human communication. However, as this week's guest Jeff Jarvis argued in his book The Gutenberg Parenthesis: The Age of Print and Its Lessons for the Age of the Internet(Bloomsbury, 2023), our emphasis on literacy is historically situated in ways we may find difficult to recognize. After, all, there were not always authors, publishers, editors, or newspapers-- all of which are recent inventions, in the grand scheme of things-- and we may in fact be coming to the end of this age.

Printing as a technology brought with it all manner of social, political, religious, and cultural effects that we now take for granted: for example, that we know who the "authorities" are, that grammar is fixed, that spelling must be consistent, or that our information must be curated for us. If the age of printing is coming to an end, and if the web is our "new" technology, then we might not be in the best position to understand its potentials and implications.

Some contours of the closing of this parenthesis are coming into view, to be sure, but the full extent is not entirely clear. What did print allow and what did it deny? What does the end of print mean for the ways in which we find and digest information about our world? What happens to our ability to communicate complex and subtle ideas? Are we headed toward the promised land... or the apocalypse?

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-153-the-gutenberg-parenthesis-with-jeff-jarvis

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If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!

Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

What counts as evidence? What makes it good or bad? How do we know?

In court cases, the prosecution, plaintiff, and defendant present “evidence” that something happened or didn’t happen, that it happened in one way or another, that someone did something or did not do something. Evidence is meant to point to something as-yet undetermined. The same goes with scientific evidence, statistical evidence, and anecdotal evidence. Yet, because evidence points to something unknown, sorting it out is often messy business! How do we judge whether evidence is trustworthy or good? Can we determine shared "rules" of evidence? And what about so-called "self-evident" things or claims? This week, we're diving right into this messy business of evidence.

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/evidence

-------------------
If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe and submit a rating/review! Better yet, you can support this podcast by signing up to be one of our Patrons at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions!

Follow us on Twitter/X @hotelbarpodcast, on Facebook, on TikTok, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!