Podcast

 
 

Waking Up with Sam Harris PodcastJoin neuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author Sam Harris as he explores important and controversial questions about the human mind, society, and current events.

Harris is the author of the best-selling books The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, and Waking Up—along with the forthcoming Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz). The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction. His writing and public lectures cover a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, spirituality, violence, human reasoning—but generally focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live.

Harris's work has been published in more than 20 languages and has been discussed in The New York Times, Time, Scientific American, Nature, Rolling Stone, and many other journals. He has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The Times (London), The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, The Annals of Neurology, and elsewhere.

Harris is a cofounder and the CEO of Project Reason, a nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.

Support the Podcast

Listeners can support the Waking Up podcast by donating directly to this website or by becoming a member of Audible, the world's leading source for audiobooks. You can try Audible free of charge for 30 days by enrolling at www.audibletrial.com/SamHarris. Audible will exchange any audiobook you don't like for a new one, and you can cancel your subscription at any time. I use Audible myself and love it.—SH

 

The Waking Up Podcast Archive

 

Ethics | Podcast | Politics | Science | Violence | August 25, 2015

The Dark Side

A Conversation with Paul Bloom

In this episode of the Waking Up podcast, Sam Harris and Paul Bloom talk about Donald Trump, torture, trophy hunting, and other terrors.

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(Photo via Woody Hibbard)

In this episode of the Waking Up podcast, Sam Harris and Paul Bloom talk about Donald Trump, torture, trophy hunting, and other terrors.

Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on morality, religion, fiction, and art. He has won numerous awards for his research and teaching. He is past-president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and co-editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, one of the major journals in the field. Dr. Bloom has written for scientific journals such as Nature and Science, and for popular outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic Monthly. He is the author or editor of six books, including Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil.

Ethics | Meditation | Podcast | Religion | Self | Spirituality | August 11, 2015

Questions Along the Path

Further Reflections on the Practice of Meditation with Joseph Goldstein

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(Photo via Lorenzoclick)

Joseph Goldstein has been leading meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society, the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and the Forest Refuge. Since 1967, he has practiced different forms of Buddhist meditation under eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet. His books include The Experience of Insight, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma, and Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening.

In this episode of the Waking Up podcast, Sam and Joseph discuss the practice of meditation and answer questions that came from listeners in response to their first conversation, The Path and the Goal.

For those interested in practicing mindfulness, Joseph and Dan Harris have developed a short meditation course as an app, 10% Happier: Meditation for Skeptics. You can begin the course for free, and if you choose to purchase the full course, you will receive a 20 percent discount by using the code: WAKINGUP (all caps required).

Ethics | Neuroscience | Philosophy | Podcast | Politics | Psychedelics | July 29, 2015

The Virtues of Cold Blood

A Conversation with Paul Bloom

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In this episode of the Waking Up podcast, Sam Harris speaks with psychologist Paul Bloom about the limitations of empathy as a guide to moral reasoning.

Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on morality, religion, fiction, and art. He has won numerous awards for his research and teaching. He is past-president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and co-editor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, one of the major journals in the field. Dr. Bloom has written for scientific journals such as Nature and Science, and for popular outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic Monthly. He is the author or editor of six books, including Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil.

Announcements | Ethics | Podcast | Politics | Violence | July 20, 2015

The Moral Gaze

A Conversation with Joshua Oppenheimer

 


In this episode of the Waking Up podcast, Sam Harris speaks with the filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer about his remarkable documentaries, The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence.

Atheism | Cults | Podcast | Religion | Christianity | July 3, 2015

Leaving the Church

A Conversation with Megan Phelps-Roper

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In this episode, Sam Harris speaks with Megan Phelps-Roper, granddaughter of Fred Phelps of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church.

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