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The Permanent Questions With David Brooks

The Atlantic 1 Episodes Oct 11, 2026

Each week on The Permanent Questions, host David Brooks explores fundamental human concerns like purpose, relationships, suffering, and meaning. Through thoughtful conversations with the world's deepest thinkers, the show aims to bring these eternal questions back into focus amid the distractions of daily life. The podcast is produced by The Atlantic, offering a contemplative counterpoint to the news cycle.

Episodes

Do Human Beings Have Souls? Oct 11, 2026 3056 The majority of Americans believe that every human being has an immaterial soul, and they tend to base their sense of human dignity and equality on this belief. Yet the culture at large often operates under the assumption that physical reality is all there is. Which view is correct? In this episode of “The Permanent Questions,” self-described “spookiest” David Brooks talks with Shelly Kagan, a bes

Should We Ban AI for Kids? Oct 4, 2026 2626 Long before he became famous as the author of The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt was a social psychologist whose work revolutionized the field. In this episode of The Permanent Questions, taped in front of a live audience at last month’s Atlantic Festival, David Brooks talks with Haidt about his biggest lessons from 40 years of studying human nature. David and Haidt discuss the role of the emo

What Is the Meaning of Mystical Experience? Sep 27, 2026 3907 What would it be like to wake up one day with the ability to greet the world with warmth, patience, grace, and affection? This is what happens to the main character in the Pulitzer Prize–winner Ayad Akhtar's magnificent new novel, The Radiance. It is a tale of spiritual transformation in which Akhtar gives a detailed description of our inner landscapes. David and Akhtar talk about what it's like t

What Is Humanity’s Place in the Cosmos? Sep 20, 2026 3370 For all of history, humans have been fascinated by the heavens above us. We’ve used the stars to navigate Earth, to predict the future, and to understand our place in the larger scheme of things. Changes in our view of the cosmos—from the Copernican revolution that “uncentered” the Earth to the discovery of the Big Bang and the recognition that the universe is expanding—have invariably changed our

What Is the Good Life? Sep 13, 2026 3731 In the debut episode of The Permanent Questions With David Brooks, David speaks with the philosopher Meghan Sullivan about perhaps the most important question of them all: How should we live our lives? Sullivan is a co-author of The Good Life Method, based on a popular course she teaches at Notre Dame. Leading a good life, she argues, means not just maximizing our positive impact in the world, but

Introducing The Permanent Questions with David Brooks Sep 4, 2026 66 How do you find your purpose? How do you confront your own mortality? How do you repair a broken community? There are a lot of podcasts about the latest developments in politics and finance, health and wellness, entertainment and tech. The Permanent Questions is a new show about the topics that never go away. Each week, the Atlantic staff writer David Brooks speaks with the world’s deepest thin

The Permanent Questions With David Brooks

Episodes

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