Best Philosophy Podcasts

This contains a list of philosophy podcasts suitable for beginners:

Philosophy Podcasts for Beginners

The Philosopher’s Arms – The Philosopher’s Arms is a philosophy podcast set in a pub featuring a live audience. The Philosopher’s Arms is in my opinion the best philosophy podcast for beginners because it tackles philosophical questions from a wide variety of perspectives. The audience are asked their opinion on philosophical issues and a panel of experts use these answers as a jumping off point. The panel usually contains a professional philosopher, someone from another academic department (scientist, economist etc.) and someone from outside of academia. Produced by David Edmonds. Episodes are around 30 minutes. Unfortunately, there are only around 20 episodes. Try these episodes for starters:

The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps – An ambitious podcast attempting to cover the entire history of philosophy. Consistently high quality. The History of Philosophy podcast is the best audio resource available for someone who wants to understand the entire history of philosophy. Episodes are approximately 20 – 30 minutes. There are currently over 250 episodes but only philosophy up to the medieval period has been covered so far. You should probably start from the beginning and listen in chronological order. Here is episode 1: Everything is Full of Gods: Thales.

Philosophy Bites – Very short podcast episodes on bite-sized topics. Aimed at beginners and featuring episodes on a very wide variety of topics. Episodes are usually under 20 minutes. You can find a list of episodes arranged by topic here or try one of these episodes for starters:

In Our Time: Philosophy – Melvin Bragg’s long running BBC radio show on the history of ideas. Each episode Bragg hosts a live discussion featuring a panel of experts on a particular topic. Each episode is either approximately 30 or 45 minutes. There are currently around 120 episodes on philosophical topics and many more on scientific, historical and religious topics. Try listening to one of these for starters:

The Partially Examined Life – The Partially Examined Life has a much looser feel and is less formal than the other podcasts on this list. Episodes are usually around an hour and a half. Try these episodes for starters:

Other Philosophy Podcasts


For more philosophy audio resources, have a look at these pages:


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A Collection of the Greatest Philosophical Quotations

A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations is a collection of the greatest thoughts from history’s greatest thinkers. Featuring classic quotations by Aristotle, Epicurus, David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, Michel Foucault, and many more, A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations is ideal for anyone looking to quickly understand the fundamental ideas that have shaped the modern world.

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