Ethics Untangled cover art

Ethics Untangled

Ethics Untangled

Written by: Jim Baxter
Listen for free

About this listen

Ethics Untangled is a series of conversations about the ethical issues that affect all of us, with academics who have spent some time thinking about them. It is brought to you by the IDEA Centre, a specialist unit for teaching, research, training and consultancy in Applied Ethics at the University of Leeds.

Find out more about IDEA, including our Masters programmes in Healthcare Ethics and Applied and Professional Ethics, our PhDs and our consultancy services, here:

ahc.leeds.ac.uk/ethics

Ethics Untangled is edited by Mark Smith at Leeds Media Services.
Music is by Kate Wood.

© 2026 Ethics Untangled
Philosophy Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 53. How should social media platforms regulate AI-generated content? With Jeffrey Howard
    Jan 19 2026

    AI-generated content is a familiar and increasingly prevalent feature of social media. Users post text, video, audio and images which have been created by AI, sometimes being clear that this is what they're doing, sometimes not. This isn’t always a problem, but some ways of using AI-generated content do raise significant dangers. So do social media platforms need to have policies in place specifically to deal with this form of content? Jeffrey Howard is professor of political philosophy and public policy at University College London. In a paper co-authored with Sarah Fisher and Beatriz Kira, he argues that policies that target AI-generated content specifically aren't necessary or helpful. It was great to get the chance to talk to him about why he thinks this, and how platforms should moderate this type of content without shutting down valuable free speech.

    Ethics Untangled is produced by IDEA, The Ethics Centre at the University of Leeds.

    Bluesky: @ethicsuntangled.bsky.social
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ideacetl
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/idea-ethics-centre/

    Show More Show Less
    44 mins
  • 52. Should we all be activists? With Josh Hobbs
    Jan 5 2026

    Josh Hobbs is back in this episode for his second appearance. Again the subject is political. This time we're discussing whether we should all be activists. More specifically, does the existence of global structural injustice give us a responsibility to respond to those injustices, and should that response take the form of activism? Josh thinks there are reasons to think not everyone could or should be an activist, and introduces some other ways in which people can contribute, including something he calls 'scaffolding activism'.

    Here's Josh's article on the topic:

    Between activism and apathy: global structural injustice and ordinary citizens

    Further reading:

    With Power Comes Responsibility: The Politics of Structural Injustice — Maeve McKeown

    What is My Role in Changing the System? A New Model of Responsibility for Structural Injustice

    The Politics of Politeness: Citizenship, Civility, and the Democracy of Everyday Life | Oxford Academic

    Ethics Untangled is produced by IDEA, The Ethics Centre at the University of Leeds.

    Bluesky: @ethicsuntangled.bsky.social
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ideacetl
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/idea-ethics-centre/

    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
  • 51. What can a shallow pond teach us about ethics? With David Edmonds
    Dec 15 2025

    Imagine this: You’re walking past a shallow pond and spot a toddler thrashing around in the water, in obvious danger of drowning. You look around for her parents, but nobody is there. You’re the only person who can save her and you must act immediately. But as you approach the pond you remember that you’re wearing your most expensive shoes. Wading into the water will ruin them - and might make you late for a meeting. Should you let the child drown? The philosopher Peter Singer published this thought experiment in 1972, arguing that allowing people in the developing world to die, when we could easily help them by giving money to charity, is as morally reprehensible as saving our shoes instead of the drowning child. Can this possibly be true? In Death in a Shallow Pond, David Edmonds tells the remarkable story of Singer and his controversial idea, tracing how it radically changed the way many think about poverty - but also how it has provoked scathing criticisms.

    David Edmonds is a brilliant philosophical and biographical writer, not to mention an OG philosophy podcaster - if you haven't checked out any of Philosophy Bites's nearly 400 episodes then you definitely should - and ex-BBC broadcaster. His latest book is about the fascinating history of a philosophical thought experiment, from its origins in the work of Peter Singer through its influence on the Effective Altruism movement. In this conversation we focus on some of the philosophical questions surrounding this thought experiment: is it, as Singer claims, analogous to our own position with regard to distant others, and does it have the practical implications that he and the Effective Altruists have taken it to have?

    Ethics Untangled is produced by IDEA, The Ethics Centre at the University of Leeds.

    Bluesky: @ethicsuntangled.bsky.social
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ideacetl
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/idea-ethics-centre/

    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
No reviews yet