Who gets to follow their questions freely, and who bears the cost of our search for knowledge? What happens when we take seriously the idea that philosophy is not just about abstract reasoning but also about emotion, embodiment, and responsibility?

Julie Walsh is the Whitehead Associate Professor of Critical Thought and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wellesley College, where she also serves as Director of the Suzy Newhouse Center for the Humanities. Her work spans early modern philosophy, feminist thought, and the ethics of emerging technologies. At the center of her research lies a deep concern for human freedom—how it has been imagined, defended, and constrained throughout history and how those same ideas shape our digital present.

In this episode, we explore what it means to do philosophy as a fully embodied human being. Julie and I discuss how emotions—like disgust, fear, and awe—shape belief more powerfully than facts, and why acknowledging this is essential to rebuilding public trust in science and knowledge. We dive into the ethics of curiosity, asking whether the drive to know is always innocent, and how privilege often determines who can afford to “just be curious.”

Our conversation moves from the excavation of ancient DNA to the moral limits of animal research, from the hidden biases of academic training to the importance of bringing positionality and vulnerability into every field of inquiry. Julie challenges the Cartesian fantasy of the disembodied thinker and offers a vision of philosophy that is human, accountable, and alive—a discipline that asks us not only to think clearly but to feel responsibly.