Signal, noise and interpersonal conflict

If someone's behaving badly, it can be hard to know how much of their behaviour stems from a deep character flaw, and how much of it is incidental - the stuff we might charitably filter out as unreflective of their true self. And the same goes for achievement: how much credit for a Nobel prize should go to the person themselves, and how much to their fortunate circumstances, or to the people who helped them? This week we're asking if philosophy can help us discern the signal from the noise.

Guest: Mark Schroeder, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California

Producer: David Rutledge

When Things Get Personal: A Philosophical Guide to Conflict by Mark Schroeder (Princeton University Press 2026)