American Socrates
Think Deeper. Live Better.
Most podcasts give you answers. American Socrates gives you better questions.
Host Matt Rupert — Professional Philosopher, Part-time Podcaster — applies the lost art of Socratic thinking to the decisions, relationships, and cultural debates shaping everyday American life. This is not a philosophy class. It's not another self-help podcast. Just rigorous, honest thinking that helps you sift through the rhetoric and live more deliberately.
New episodes every Wednesday. Check your assumptions at the door.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere you listen.
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/corals/mountain-pine
License code: NT1UAGETRXVL46SM
American Socrates
Latest Episodes
Am I Kinder Than God?
Have you ever looked at the suffering of an innocent person — a sick child, someone who never had a chance — and thought: no loving God would allow this? You're not alone. Dostoevsky's Ivan Karamazov asked the same question in 1880 and has neve...
Are Faith and Reason Enemies?
Can a serious, thinking person believe in God? William James says yes — and has a rigorous philosophical argument for why. Bertrand Russell says the evidence isn't there — and has an equally rigorous argument for that. This episode of American ...
Can a Rich Man Go to Heaven?
In 1896, William Jennings Bryan invoked the crucifixion to defend working people from the gold standard. Today, prosperity gospel preachers invoke Jesus to extract money from working people and live in mansions. Same religion. Opposite directio...
What Does It Mean to be Christian?
This episode of American Socrates asks what Christianity actually teaches — from the Sermon on the Mount to the Jesus/Paul distinction and poses the question the tradition itself demands: if blessed are the poor is the standard, how much of wha...
What Did Confucius Say?
Most Americans already live a Confucian ethics — they just don't know it. If you define yourself by your roles as a parent, child, friend, or worker, if your deepest moral instinct is about loyalty and not letting people down, Confucius gave th...
Contributors
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
The Ezra Klein Show
New York Times Opinion
Philosophize This!
Stephen West