In episode 133 of Overthink, Ellie and David close out their four-part series on the elements with air. They consider Anaximenes of Miletus’s belief that all things are made of air, Luce Irigaray’s belief that air is feminine, and the modern use of air as a weapon of battle. What can the TV series The Last of Us tell us about the inescapability of air Why have some philosophers thought the soul is made of air? And how does air allow itself to be forgotten?

In episode 88, we explore the philosophy of food, discussing everything from Glaucon’s speech in Plato’s Republic, to the link between cultural identity and culinary taste. They welcome food critic and philosophy professor Shanti Chu for conversation on the gendering of meals, the ethics of food systems (lab-grown meat, anyone?), the future of restaurants, and much more. Bon appetit!

What does it mean to live in a world? Animal spirit masters in Labrador to the foundations of climate science, they investigate concepts of nature, culture, and the idyllic nurturing earth with Hannah Arendt and Arturo Escobar. Do animals have worlds? And what is a world where many worlds fit?

Were you harmed by coming into existence? Is it unethical to have children? Ellie and David investigate the philosophical position of anti-natalism.

Trees tower over us and communicate via fungal networks beneath us, but all too often are overlooked. Why was Socrates wrong to say we can’t learn anything from trees? And was Nietzsche right to say it’s a tree-eat-tree world out there?