Do you divide your friends into tiers or levels? If so, what does it take to get into the first tier, to count as a close friend? In this episode, Luke Russell discusses the nature of friendship with Associate Professor Sam Shpall from the University of Sydney. They ask what makes friendships so valuable, and whether it is possible to live a good life without having any friends. Associate Professor Shpall also explores the rivalrous friendship that is at the heart of the Neapolitan Quartet of novels written by Elena Ferrante.

“Workists” are people who find most of their life’s meaning through their work. Critics have bemoaned the fact that workism is on the rise, encouraging us instead to find meaning in family relationships, or in helping to make the world a better place. Associate Professor Matthew Hammerton, a philosopher from the Singapore Management University, defends workism. He argues against common criticisms, saying that finding meaning primarily in your work will not necessarily lead you to live an unbalanced life, and is no more risky than finding more meaning in relationships or in other activities.

In what sense is forgiveness a choice? Is forgiving something that is under the victim’s voluntary control, or do some victims find themselves unable to forgive, no matter how hard they try? Guest Professor Lucy Allais, a philosopher who holds academic positions at both the University of the Witwatersrand and Johns Hopkins University, discusses whether we should always choose to forgive those who have wronged us. To highlight this issue, Professor Allais tries to make sense of June Steenkamp’s decision to forgive Oscar Pistorius – the man who murdered her daughter – despite June knowing full well that Oscar remains unapologetic and unrepentant.

Is a life without art worth living? Some philosophers have suggested that appreciating art makes your life better because it brings you pleasure, or because it gives you valuable knowledge of the world, or because it helps to shape your moral character. In contrast, guest philosopher Professor David Macarthur, defends the view that engaging with artworks acts as a model for engaging with other human beings, and that shared appreciation of art is an important source of intimacy in otherwise isolated lives.

Victims of wrongdoing are frequently encouraged to forgive and move on, but we seldom pause to ask what forgiveness amounts to. In this episode, Luke Russell and guest Glen Pettigrove discuss why forgiveness is beneficial, and ponder the question as to whether sometimes it might be too dangerous to forgive. The episode also looks at the connection between forgiveness and love, and asks whether it makes sense to forgive someone for blamelessly breaking your heart.

Liberalism – a value system that prioritises equality, reciprocity, tolerance, and fairness – is under attack from all sides. In this episode, Luke Russell and Alex Lefebvre consider whether liberalism could count as a free-standing and defensible conception of the good life. They examine the relationship between liberal values and other things that matter, including knowledge and achievement, and they explore the tensions that can arise within liberalism itself.

Self-help gurus often recommend that you stop blaming yourself. In this episode, Luke Russell and Hannah Tierney ask whether this really is good advice. They outline the nature of self-blame, explore the ways in which it can become dysfunctional, and try to figure out when blaming yourself might help you to repair the damage done by your own wrongdoing.

Everyone hopes to find happiness, but what is that they are seeking? In this episode, Luke Russell and Caroline West discuss the difference between feeling good and living well, and explain some of the ways in which we fail to predict what will make us happy. They also consider whether it would ever make sense to choose a more meaningful life over a happier life.