This is Philosophy Bites with me, David Edmonds, and me, Nigel Robertson.

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We've edited the following interview. We've eliminated a few arms and balanced the sound

levels. That's what we always do. And I'm sure you'll agree that's a good thing.

But what about modifying bodies? You'll do that a bit, whether by getting a hair cut,

losing weight, working out at the gym or having piercings or tattoos. Some people even

have cosmetic surgery to remove signs of aging or to achieve a shape that they want their

bodies to be. Clare Chambers wants to defend the idea of the more or less unmodified body.

She argues that we should resist pressures to alter our appearances.

Clare Chambers, welcome to Philosophy Bites.

Thank you, it's nice to be here.

Our topic today is the unmodified body, just to get the parameters clear. If I cut my

nails or if I put the stud through my tongue, I'm modifying my body, is that right?

So as that suggests, we do all kinds of different things to our bodies that modify them in

ways that are more or less extreme. And in many ways, everything we do modifies our

body in some way. So what we eat, what we drink, whether we sit down and read a book

or go for a run, all these things will change what our bodies are like. So I try to defend

the unmodified body, but I don't mean by that, that the unmodified body is a literal

thing. I don't want to defend the idea that we could never change our bodies, that would

be impossible. So instead, the unmodified body, as I mean it, is a political principle.

So an unmodified body is a body that is allowed to be good enough, just as it is. And that

...