Thales' Well

In this episode, I talk to Dr Matthew Barnard from Manchester Metropolitan University. We talk about the question of freedom and it's significance for Philosophy. To do this, we also explore Heidegger’s complex and often misunderstood theory of freedom . Rather than approaching freedom through the usual optic of free will versus determinism, Barnard argues that we need to think of freedom as beyond cause and effect. We also talk a lot about Kant! Dr Matthew J. Barnard is Lecturer in Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he also completed his BA, MA, and PhD in philosophy. A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, his teaching spans contemporary continental philosophy, phenomenology, and existentialism, with a research focus on post-Kantian thought. He is the author of Heidegger’s Conception of Freedom: Beyond Cause and Effect (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) and has published widely on themes in Continental Philosophy. You can follow Matt on Bluesky here. If you would like to study with me you can