The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
By Mark Linsenmayer
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Description
The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a short text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don't have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we're talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion. For links to the texts we discuss and other info, check out www.partiallyexaminedlife.com.
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ExplicitEpisode 188: Discussing "Lysistrata" and Politics with Lucy and Emily (Part One) | We are rejoined by actresses Lucy Lawless and Emily Perkins to discuss Aristophanes's bawdy play. Listen to us perform it first. Supplementary readings included Jeffery Henderson's introduction to his 1988 translation of the play; "Sexual Humor and... | 4/22/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitNEM#71: Aaron David Gleason Is a Wry Observer | Aaron was born into show business, staring young in L.A. in the early 00's with All Hours, then went solo, moved to New York, became an actor, and has now released his first album in seven years, Wry Observer. We discuss the title track from that... | 4/15/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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Explicit"Lysistrata" w/ Lucy Lawless, Emily Perkins, Erica Spyres, Bill Youmans & Aaron Gleason | The PEL Players return to perform a "cold read" of Aristophanes's play about using a sex strike to end war, first performed in 411 BCE. Jeffrey Henderson's translation makes this very accessible, and it's still really damn funny. Your hosts are joined.. | 4/15/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part Three) | Three substantial chunks of a follow-up conversation to our free speech episode. Mark and Wes discuss Jordan Peterson on speech, organizations' promoting certain speech (as opposed to restricting), insults vs. arguments, offense vs. harm,... | 4/13/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part Two) | Continuing our free form discussion, trying to make sense of Stanley Fish's “There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It’s a Good Thing, Too” (1994) and other potential rationales for prohibiting hate speech. How might the same sentence or... | 4/8/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part One) | A free-form discussion drawing on Stanley Fish's “There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It’s a Good Thing, Too” (1994), Joel Feinberg’s “Limits to the Free Expression of Opinion” (1975), and other sources. What are the legitimate... | 3/29/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 186: J.L. Austin on Doing Things with Words (Part Two) | Continuing on How to Do Things with Words (lectures from 1955), covering lectures 5-9. Austin tries and fails to come up with a way to grammatically distinguish performatives from other utterances, and so turns to his more complicated system of... | 3/26/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 186: J.L. Austin on Doing Things with Words (Part One) | On How to Do Things with Words (lectures from 1955). What's the relationship between language and the world? Austin says it's not all about descriptive true-or-false statements, but also includes "performatives" like "I promise…" and "I do" (spoken... | 3/19/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 185: Ethics in Homer's "Odyssey" Feat. Translator Emily Wilson (Part Two) | Continuing with Emily Wilson on her translation of the Greek epic poem. We discuss the "oikos" or estate, built on violence, and its connection to "xenia," or hospitality, which serves to forge military alliances. Also: status distinctions and the... | 3/11/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 185: Ethics in Homer's "Odyssey" Feat. Translator Emily Wilson (Part One) | On the classic Greek epic poem, written ca. 750 BC and translated by our guest Emily Wilson in 2018. Does this story of "heroes" have anything to teach us about ethics? Wilson wrote an 80-page introduction to her new translation laying out the issues,.. | 3/4/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 184: Pascal on the Human Condition (Part Two) | Continuing on Pascal's Pensées. More on our human desire and how God is supposed to address that, plus Pascal's views on political philosophy, the relation between faith, reason, and custom... and finally the wager! Why not just be a skeptic? Is... | 2/25/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 184: Pascal on Human Nature (Part One) | On Blaise Pascal's Pensées (1670). Is it rational to have religious faith? You're likely familiar with "Pascal's Wager," but our wretchedness is such that we can't simply choose to believe and won't be argued into it. Pascal thinks Christianity is... | 2/18/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part Two) | Continuing on John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. We discuss "partial truths," whether "truth will out," whether we can discard some "experiments in living" as established failures, how Mill compares to Nietzsche, education, "barbarians," and more. Listen... | 2/11/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part One) | Discussing John Stewart Mill's On Liberty (1859). If we disapprove of certain behaviors, when is it okay to prohibit them legally? What about just shaming people? Mill's "harm principle" says that we should permit anything (legally and socially)... | 2/4/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanTEASER-Episode 182: Reflections on PEL 2017 (Part Two) | The PEL guys get personal and political and tell you in brief about things like Planet of the Apes, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and Vine Deloria Jr. in the second half of our year-in-review discussion. Here you get a taste. You can only hear the... | 2/4/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 182: Reflections on PEL 2017 (Part One) | To what extent has our podcast changed in reaction to current politics? Mark, Seth, Wes, and Dylan reflect back on our year, discuss how we select texts, and give some thumbnail sketches of potential topics. Also, does authorial intent matter, and how.. | 1/28/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 181: Hannah Arendt on the Banality of Evil (Part Two) | Continuing on Eichmann in Jerusalem, on how ordinary people can do--or acquiesce to--horrific things. How do people rationalize this? What can we apply from this to ourselves? Also, how was genocide a new type of crime, and what's the best rationale... | 1/21/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 181: Hannah Arendt on the Banality of Evil (Part One) | On Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963). Are we still morally culpable if our entire society is corrupt? Arendt definitely thinks so, but has a number of criticisms of the handling of the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf.. | 1/14/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanNEM#64: Mike Huberty (Sunspot): Rock from the Other Side | Mike fronts a hard-working Madison power trio in the glam rock vein that's put out 7 albums and 7 EPs since 2000. He also runs (and records a new song every week for) a podcast about the occult. We discuss "Sulfur" from The Wilderness of Almost Was... | 1/13/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 180: More James's Psychology: Self and Will (Part Two) | Concluding on William James's Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892). We briefly cover emotions and spend the bulk of our time on will. James’s introspective method allows us to distinguish reflex or coerced actions from voluntary, free-seeming ones,.. | 1/7/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 180: More James's Psychology: Self and Will (Part One) | On Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), chapters on "The Self," "Will," and "Emotions." Continuing from ep. 179, we talk about the "Me" (the part of me that I know) vs. the "I" (the part of me that knows), including personal identity. James thinks... | 12/31/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 179: William James's Psychology (Part Two) | Continuing on Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), completing "The Stream of Thought" and covering the chapter on "Habit." James thinks that psychologists focus too much on those parts of consciousness that get picked out by substantive words. He... | 12/25/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 179: William James's Introspective Psychology (Part One) | On The Principles of Psychology (1890) chapters 1 & 7, and Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), the chapters on "The Stream of Thought," "Habit," and some of "The Self." Can we talk about the mind in a way that is both scientific and also does... | 12/17/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: Twilight of the Idols (Part Two) | Continuing on Nietzsche's 1888 book. Is there any ground from which we could judge life as a whole to be good or bad? Is N. more about saying "yes" to life or saying "no" to all the numerous things that piss him off? We also talk Becoming, whether... | 12/10/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: "Twilight of the Idols" (Part One) | On Friedrich Nieztsche's 1888 book summarizing his thought and critiquing the founding myths of his society. He defends "spiritualized" instinct and frenzied creativity, but also Napoleon and war. We try to figure out what kind of social critic he'd... | 12/3/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Part Two) | Continuing with the Econtalk host on the moral aspects of economics, focused by Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and Theory of Moral Sentiments. Should we sacrifice ourselves to the machine of the economy? How does Smith's idea of virtue and... | 11/26/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Part One) | The host of Econtalk provides his take on our ep. 174 on The Wealth of Nations, and explores with us the idea of emergent economic order. Is the economy more like a machine or a garden or what? Don't wait for part two! Get the full, ad-free, unbroken... | 11/19/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 176: Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments (Part Two) | Continuing with Dave Pizarro on articles by Stanley Milgram, Philip Zimbardo, and John Doris about situationism, which entails that people's level of morality will vary by situation, as opposed to virtue ethics, which posits that how people will act... | 11/12/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 176: Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments (Very Bad Wizards Crossover) (Part One) | On Stanley Milgram's "Behavioral Study of Obedience" (1963), Philip Zimbardo’s "Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison" (1973), and John Doris’s "Persons, Situations, and Virtue Ethics" (1998). Do difficult situations make good people act... | 11/5/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanTEASER-Episode 175: Blade Runner (Part Two) | Do you want the WHOLE discussion on the new Blade Runner 2049, the original 1982 film, and the idea packed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1967) by Philip K. Dick? If you do, show your love to the podcast by signing up to be a supporter at the... | 11/5/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 175: Blade Runner: Androids and Humanity (Part One) | On Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1967) and the films Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and Blade Runner (1982). What makes us human? Dick's story about androids emphasized their lack of empathy, while the movie adaptations portrayed... | 10/29/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitNEM#57: Richard Amp's Exploratory Atmospheres | Richard F. Walker has released 20+ albums, usually with his London space-rock band Amp. We discuss "Just Get It (Why Don’t You)" and "Les Ombres Sur la Lune" from Q Factors (A Mixtape) (2017) and "Tomorrow" from Stenorette (1988), and listen to... | 10/22/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 174: Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" (Part Two) | Continuing on the foundational text of economics. We talk "invisible hand," "greed is good," tariffs, unproductive labor, city vs. country, and the education racket. Listen to part 1 first or get the ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL! End... | 10/22/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 174: Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" (Part One) | On the foundational, 1776 text of modern economics. How does the division of labor and our instinct to exchange lead to the growth of wealth? Is the economy sufficiently machine-like to enable us to manipulate its output, or at least to tell us how... | 10/15/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 173: Relating to American Indian Philosophy (Part Two) | We go further into "Philosophy of Native Science" by Gregory Cajete and "What Coyote and Thales Can Teach Us: An Outline of American Indian Epistemology" by Brian Yazzie Burkhart, plus process philosophy, propositional vs. procedural knowledge, and... | 10/9/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 173: Relating to American Indian Philosophy (Part One) | What is wisdom? We discuss articles by Brian Burkhart, Gregory Cajete, and Anne Waters, plus Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt (1932) and some traditional stories. With guest Jim Marunich; we read his master's thesis, "Process Metaphysics in the Far... | 10/1/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 172: Mind, Self, and Affect with Guest Dr. Drew (Part Two) | Continuing with Drew Pinsky on “Attachment and Reflective Function: Their Role in Self-organization” by Peter Fonagy and two articles by Allan Schore. Fonagy claims we gain the ability to emotionally self-regulate as a result of achieving secure... | 9/24/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 172: Mind, Self, and Affect with Guest Dr. Drew (Part One) | Radio legend Dr. Drew Pinsky talks with us about “Attachment and Reflective Function: Their Role in Self-Organization” by Peter Fonagy and two articles by Allan Schore. The focus is "theory of mind"; how do we develop the ability to impute... | 9/18/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 171: Buddhism vs. Evolution with Guest Robert Wright (Part Two) | Continuing on Why Buddhism Is True. We discuss the "no self" doctrine as articulated in Buddha's Second Discourse and the modularity-of-mind theory that Bob claims supports it. What are the ethical implications, and do we really need meditation to... | 9/10/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 171: Buddhism vs. Evolution with Guest Robert Wright (Part One) | Bob joins the PEL four to discuss his new book Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment. Bob applies his expertise in evolutionary psychology to corroborate Buddhism's claims that we are deluded: about our... | 9/4/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 170 Second Opinions: Leftists on "Society of the Spectacle" | Mark and Seth ask Doug Lain (Zero Squared), Brett O'Shea (Revolutionary Left Radio), and C. Derick Varn (Symptomatic Redness) what they think of Debord and PEL's treatment of the book on Ep #170. End song: "Open Your Eyes (Wake Up)" from Tyler Hislop,.. | 8/28/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 170: Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" (Part Two) | More on the 1967 Situtationist book. Do we buy Debord's critique? Is any merely partial critique (i.e. no revolution) just more spectacle? Is technology inherently dehumanizing? Don't these passivity/anti-technology arguments even apply to books?... | 8/21/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 170: Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" (Part One) | What is culture? In modern capitalism, Debord’s 1967 book describes it as all about the economy. It’s not just our jobs that keep us trapped, but our life outside of working hours is also demanded by “the system” via our activity as consumers,.. | 8/14/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanTEASER-Episode 169: Analyzing Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (Part Two) | Some audio tidbits to hint at the analytic glories in the second half of our discussion, getting deeper into the psychoanalytic/existential interpretations of the film. Get the discussion at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife or with a PEL Citizenship. | 8/12/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPEL Special: Combat & Classics on Rousseau's "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences" | A new podcast for the PEL Podcast Network! Meet Jeff, Lise, and Brian, who are joined by Wes and Dylan to discuss Rousseau's claim that the arts and sciences lead to "moral corruption." Get more C&C on the PEL site or at combatandclassics.org.... | 8/7/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 169: Analyzing Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (Part One) | On the 1958 film and articles including Laura Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975) and Robin Wood's "Vertigo" (1965). What's the nature of love/lust? Are we really just loving an image we've built while remaining fundamentally... | 7/31/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 168: Darwin's "Origin of Species" (Part Two) | More on Darwin's famous book. Why does it matter for philosophy, beyond providing an alternative to intelligent design? Is it really anti-religious? How can well tell if it's really a scientific theory? Talking about a species evolving... | 7/24/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitNEM Ep 49: Scott McCaughey Minus 5 Plus Young Fresh Fellows Equals Magic | Scott established himself fronting Seattle’s Young Fresh Fellows staring in 1981 and then around 1994 joined R.E.M. as a recording/touring member and started The Minus 5 with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck. We discuss The Minus 5’s “In the Ground”... | 7/20/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 168: Darwin's "Origin of Species" (Part One) | On Charles Darwin's 1859 book, ch. 1-4, 6, and 14. What are the philosophical ramifications of Darwin's theory of evolution? We go through Darwin's arguments, compare his views to other theories of evolution like Lamarck's, and talk about... | 7/16/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 167: Hume on Intelligent Design (Part Two) | Continuing on David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), with guest Stephen West. We get further into what’s wrong with the design argument and why Hume thinks that it’s merely a verbal dispute whether we want to say... | 7/10/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 167: Hume on Intelligent Design (Philosophize This! Crossover) (Part One) | On David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779). How would a scientifically minded person argue for the existence of God? In Hume’s dialogue, a character named Cleanthes argues from this point of view for God’s existence based on... | 7/3/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 166: Spinoza on Politics and Religion (Part Two) | Concluding on the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670) and Tractatus Politicus (1677). What's the relationship between ethics, reason, and revelation? What could "faith" possibly mean to a hard-core rationalist like Spinoza? Is it possible to buy... | 6/25/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 166: Spinoza on Politics and Religion (Part One) | On Benedict de Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), ch. 12-20 and the Tractatus Politicus (1677). What’s the relationship between ethics and political power? Given that religious factions tend to create strife, what’s the optimal... | 6/19/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 165: Spinoza on Biblical Criticism (Part Two) | Continuing on the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), ch. 1–11. We go more into natural laws vs. ordinances; does it make sense to say that God makes rules for people? Also, how does Spinoza deal with alleged miracles given that natural laws are... | 6/12/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 165: Spinoza on Biblical Criticism (Part One) | On Benedict de Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), ch. 1–11. - For Spinoza, the Bible was a political issue, and he was interested in a way to read it that didn't lead to people fighting wars and persecuting each other. | 6/5/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 164: Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot” on Perfection (Part Two) | More on the novel with guest Corey Mohler, considering Dostoyevsky qua existentialist in terms of his analysis of the crisis of meaning and his consequent views on religion. - Listen to part 1 first, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. | 5/22/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanNEM Ep 45: Steve Hackett: Visualize the Music (with 300+ tracks!) | Steve released six studio albums with Genesis between 1971 and 1977 and twenty-five solo albums that feature his virtuosic guitar and the spirit of ’70s prog rock. He now works with producer/keyboardist Roger King to create dense, cinematic... | 5/21/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 164: Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot” on Perfection (Part One) | On Fyodor Dostoyevsky's philosophical novel from 1869. Could a morally perfect person survive in the modern world? Is all this "modernity," which so efficiently computes our desires and provides mechanisms to fulfill them, | 5/15/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 163: Guest Stewart Umphrey on Natural Kinds (Part Two) | Continuing our interview about Natural Kinds and Genesis: The Classification of Material Entities. Buy Stewart's book at www.rowman.com and use the code LEX30AUTH17 to get 30% off. | 5/8/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 163: Guest Stewart Umphrey on Natural Kinds (Part One) | On Natural Kinds and Genesis: The Classification of Material Entities (2016). Are general terms like "water" or "dog" just things that we made up to order the world? Aristotle thought that some universals constitute natural kinds, | 5/1/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPEL Special: Phi Fic on James Baldwin’s Fiction | On the short stories "This Morning, This Evening, So Soon" (1960) and "Sonny’s Blues" (1957). - Mark joins the Phi Fic crew (go subscribe at phificpodcast.com!) to supplement PEL ep. 162 by delving into Baldwin's fiction, | 4/24/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 162: James Baldwin on Race in America (Part Two) | Continuing on I Am Not Your Negro, "Notes of a Native Son" (1955), and The Fire Next Time (1963). - We (and Law Ware) discuss Baldwin's critique of the American dream, how to oppose the inhumanity of others without becoming inhuman yourself, | 4/17/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 162: James Baldwin on Race in America (Part One) | On the film I Am Not Your Negro and the essays "Notes of a Native Son" (1955) and The Fire Next Time (1963). With guest Law Ware. - Baldwin diagnoses our racism-related psycho-social maladies, but how can we best translate his observations into genera.. | 4/10/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 161: White Privilege (Peggy McIntosh, Charles Mills, et al) (Part Two) | Continuing with guest Law Ware on the philosophical underpinnings of the rhetoric of white privilege, with readings as listed in part 1. | 4/3/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 161: White Privilege (Peggy McIntosh, Charles Mills, et al) (Part One) | Is the rhetoric of "White Privilege" just the modern way of acknowledging historical and systemic truths of racism, or does it point to a novel way for acknowledging injustice, or does it on the contrary obscure these insights by involving confused cla. | 3/27/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 160: Orwell on Totalitarianism and Language (Part Two) | Continuing with 1984. How does the book relate to real-world politics? Is this something that we should actually be afraid our society will turn into? Was he predicting history, or was it satire, or what? We discuss the the realms of intimacy vs. | 3/20/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 160: Orwell on Totalitarianism and Language (Part One) | On the novel 1984 (1949) and the essays “Politics and the English Language” (1946) and “Notes on Nationalism” (1945). - What's the relation between language and totalitarianism? Orwell shows us a society where the rulers have mastered the art of | 3/13/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 159: Confucius on Virtuous Conduct (Part Two) | Continuing on the Analects without our guest. We cover passages on glibness, using names properly, filial conduct, remonstrance, love of learning, places where he sounds like Socrates, and more! | 3/6/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 159: Confucius on Virtuous Conduct (Part One) | On the Analects, compiled after 479 BCE. - How should we act? What's the relation between ethics and politics? Can a bunch of aphorisms written in the distant past for an unapologetically hierarchical culture emphasizing traditional rituals actually .. | 2/27/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 158: Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Part Two) | Continuing on the Consolation, chiefly books 3 and 4, on virtue ethics (we all naturally aim at the good but can be mistaken about it or too weak to follow it), theodicy (even the apparent bad is actually good from God's perspective), | 2/20/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanNEM Ep 37: Nik Kershaw: Follow the Melody | Nik had some huge hits in the ’80s (e.g., “Wouldn’t It Be Good”) and has been described by Elton John as “the best songwriter of a generation.” We discuss “These Tears” from his most recent album EI8HT (2012), “Lost” from You’ve... | 2/19/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 158: Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Part One) | On the Consolation, written as he awaited execution in 524 CE. - Do bad things really happen to good people? Boethius, surprisingly, says no, for Stoic (anything that can be taken away can't be of central importance; you can't lose your virtue in thi.. | 2/13/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 157: Richard Rorty on Politics for the Left (Part Two) | Continuing on Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in 20th Century America (1998). We talk more about Rorty's description of the conflict between the "reformist left" and the "cultural left." Do political-comedy shows serve a a positive political pur. | 2/6/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 157: Richard Rorty on Politics for the Left (Part One) | On Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in 20th Century America (1998). What makes for efficacious progressivism? Rorty argues that reformism went out of fashion in the '60s in favor of a "cultural left" that merely critiques and spectates, | 1/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 156: Philosophy and Politics Free-Form Discussion (Part Two) | Continuing our liberal bubble-bursting exercise, the core foursome address more directly the question of how philosophy is supposed to shape one's political views and actions. On a non-partisan "public good" and rhetorical strategies in the face of an . | 1/23/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 156: Philosophy and Politics Free-Form Discussion (Part One) | How does studying philosophy help you to make sense of the political landscape? Wes, Mark, Dylan, and Seth play pundit and reflect on political rhetoric, elitism, and much more. There is no text for this episode! Freedom! | 1/16/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 155: Richard Rorty Against Epistemology (Part Two) | Continuing on Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Ch. 3–4. - Rorty claims that Kantians improperly read Kantian concerns (the connection between the senses and reason) back into the ancients. He thought that Sellars's "epistemological behaviorism" wa | 1/9/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 155: Richard Rorty Against Epistemology (Part One) | On Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Part II: "Mirroring." - Is a "theory of knowledge" possible? Rorty thinks that any such account will be a fruitless search for foundations. Knowledge is really just a matter of social agreement, | 1/2/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 154: Wilfrid Sellars on the Myth of the Given (Part Two) | Continuing on "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind." We consider a couple of Sellars's thought experiments, both of which are supposed to show that what we might think are primitive mental terms like "appearance" are really derivative and secondary r. | 12/26/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 154: Wilfrid Sellars on the Myth of the Given (Part One) | On "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind" (1956). - Is knowledge based on a "foundation," as Descartes, Locke, et al. thought? Sellars says no: The allegedly basic elements upon which knowledge would be built either have to be propositions, | 12/19/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 153: Richard Rorty: There Is No Mind-Body Problem (Part Two) | Continuing on Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Part I: "Our Glassy Essence." Rorty relates the immateriality of mind to the ontology of universals. Plus, the return of the semantic/syntactic distinction! With guest Stephen Metcalf. - | 12/12/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 153: Richard Rorty: There Is No Mind-Body Problem (Part One) | On Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Part I: "Our Glassy Essence." - "The mind" seems to be an unavoidable part of our basic conceptual vocabulary, but Rorty thinks not, and he wants to use the history of philosophy as a kind of therapy to s.. | 12/5/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 152: Alexis de Tocqueville on Democracy in America (PEL Live!) | Democracy is in peril! So said Tocqueville in 1835 and 1840 when Democracy is America was published, and it's still true now. Democracy is always just one demagogue away from stripping us of our liberties, though certain structural and cultural feature. | 11/21/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 151: Edmund Burke’s Conservatism | On Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). What relevance do the concerns of a monarchy-defending aristocrat have for us today? Surprisingly, a lot! The full foursome discuss possible conflicts between freedom, rights, and well-being. | 11/7/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPEL Special: Bill Bruford on Nakedly Examined Music #25 | NEM now features jazz, hip-hop, classical, folk, and more. Check out all the episodes at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com, where you can subscribe and follow on Facebook. - Bill was the original drummer for Yes, a default member of King Crimson, | 11/5/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 150: Guest Peter Singer on Famine, Affluence, and Morality | What do we owe the poor? Mark and Wes interview perhaps the world's most influential living philosopher. We discuss his ongoing work rooted in his 1971 essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," about the warped priorities of our consumerist society: We . | 10/24/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 149: Plato’s “Crito”: A Performance and Discussion | Broadway stars Walter Bobbie and Bill Youmans perform Plato's dialogue in which Socrates awaits his execution. Should Socrates defy the verdict and try to escape the city? Socrates says no; that would be ungrateful to the city whose benefits he's enjoy. | 10/17/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 148: Aristotle on Friendship and Happiness | On the final books 8–10 of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. What does friendship have to do with ethics? With guest Ana Sandoiu. | 10/3/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 147: Aristotle on Wisdom and Incontinence | On the Nichomachean Ethics (ca. 350 BCE), books 6–7. Is intelligence just one thing? Aristotle picks out a number of distinct faculties, some of which are relevant to ethics, and he uses these to explain Plato's puzzle of how someone can clearly see w | 9/19/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 146: Emmanuel Levinas on Overcoming Solitude | More Levinas, working this time through Time and the Other (1948). - What is it for a person to exist? What individuates one person from another, making us into selves instead of just part of the causal net of events? | 9/5/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 145: Emmanuel Levinas: Why Be Ethical? | On "Ethics as First Philosophy" (1984). More existentialist ethics, with a Jewish twist this time! Seth returns to join Mark and Wes in figuring out how to best leave off all this aggressive "knowing" and other forms of individual self-assertion to gra. | 8/22/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanNEM Ep 21: Trey Gunn and the Discipline of Tap Guitar | Trey is master of a many-stringed type of guitar that you play by tapping with both hands at the same time. His mentor was Robert Fripp, with whom he played in the seminal progressive rock band King Crimson. He has also released over a dozen... | 8/7/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 144: Guest Martha Nussbaum on Anger | On Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice (2016). What role should we allow anger to play in our public life? Should systems of punishment be utilitarian, or should they be retributive? Nussbaum thinks that anger necessarily involves th. | 8/1/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPhi Fic #3 Frankenstein (PEL Crossover Special) | Guest Wes Alwan joins regulars Nathan Hanks, Mary Claire, Daniel St. Pierre, Laura Davis, and Cezary Baraniecki to discuss Mary Shelley's classic novel in this special cross-post from the newest member of the Partially Examined Life podcast network. | 7/25/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 143: Plato’s “Sophist” on Lies, Categorization, and Non-Being | On the later Platonic dialogue. What is a sophist? These were guys in Ancient Greece who taught young people the tools of philosophy and rhetoric. They claimed to teach virtue. In Sophist, "the Eleatic Stranger" (i.e., | 7/11/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 142: Plato’s “Phaedrus” on Love and Speechmaking | Socrates hangs out in the country flirting with his buddy Phaedrus. And what is this "Platonic" love? Using the enticement of desire not to rush toward fulfillment, but to get you all excited about talking philosophy. | 6/27/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 141: De Beauvoir’s Existentialism: Moral and Political Dilemmas | More on The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947), this time on part III. ep. 140 laid out man's "ambiguity," but what does that mean in terms of practical decision making? De B. talks about the practical paradoxes of dealing with oppression and what it might mea. | 6/13/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 140: De Beauvoir on the Ambiguous Human Condition | On The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947), parts I and II. We return to existentialism! Instead of describing our predicament as "absurd," de Beauvoir prefers "ambiguous": We are a biological organism in the world, | 5/30/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPEL News and Previews: Plato’s “Crito” and the Hegel’s Logic Aftershow | Brian Wilson's Not School Intro Readings in Philosophy Group discussed Plato on why you should obey the state and other musings from a condemned Socrates. - Purdue's Chris Yeomans was our guest Hegel scholar as we reflected back on eps 134/135, | 5/27/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPEL Special: Nakedly Examined Music #15 with Craig Wedren | www.nakedlyexaminedmusic.com | 5/25/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 139: bell hooks on Racism/Sexism | On Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (1981) and Black Looks: Race and Representation (1992, Intro, Ch. 3, 11). - How do these pernicious forces interact? hooks describes black women as having been excluded from both mainstream historical femin.. | 5/9/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 138: Guest John Searle on Perception | We interview John about Seeing Things As They Are (2015). What is perception? Searle says that it's not a matter of seeing a representation, which is then related to things in the real world. We see the actual objects, with no mediation. | 4/25/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanNEM Ep 12: John Philip Shenale on String Arrangement, Composing, Producing | Phil is the long-time string arranger for Tori Amos and has done a heap more production, arrangement, and keyboard work. He has a very deliberate production style, carefully crafting a very natural-sounding theatrical background using both... | 4/12/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 137: Bourdieu on the Tastes of Social Classes | On Pierre Bourdieu's Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (1979), introduction, ch 1 through p. 63, conclusion, and postscript. - How do our tastes in music, art, and everything else reflect our social position? | 4/11/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 136: Adorno on the Culture Industry | On Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer's "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" from Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), plus Adorno's "Culture Industry Reconsidered" (1963). - How does the entertainment industry affect us? | 3/28/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanNEM Ep 9: Roderick Romero: Psychedelic Treehouse Poet | Roderick Wolgamott Romero founded and fronted the Seattle 90s space rock band Sky Cries Mary. So how does a poet get a band? Is a poet’s process different from a typical lyricist’s? We discuss “Gliding” from Taking the Stage Live: 1997–2005... | 3/19/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 135: Hegel on the Logic of Basic Metaphysical Concepts | A whole second discussion on G.F.W. Hegel's Encylopedia Logic, hitting sections 78–99 on the dialectic and Understanding vs. Reason. Hegel thinks we can use Reason to objectively come up with basic metaphysical categories, but can we really? | 3/14/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 134: Hegel on Thought & World (or “Logic”) | On G.F.W. Hegel's The Science of Logic (1812–1816), §1–§129 and The Encyclopaedia Logic (1817) §1–§25. "Logic" for Hegel isn't about symbolic logic; it's about how thought interacts with the world. Our thoughts about fundamental metaphysical c | 2/29/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPEL Special: Nakedly Examined Music #1 with David Lowery | Welcome to Nakedly Examined Music, our first spin-off of PEL. Hear more at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com or find it via iTunes. Mark interviews songwriters about why and how they do what they do. Think of it as applied philosophy. - | 2/17/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 133: Erich Fromm on Love as an Art | On Fromm's The Art of Loving (1956). What is love, really? This psychoanalyst of the Frankfurt school thinks that real love is not something one "falls" into, but is an art, an activity, and doing it well requires a disciplined openness and psychologic. | 2/8/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 132: Living Stoically with Seneca and Massimo | On selected "moral epistles" (from around 65 CE) by Lucius Annaeus Seneca: 4. On the Terrors of Death, 12. On Old Age, 49. On the Shortness of Life, 59. On Pleasure and Joy, 62. On Good Company, 92. On the Happy Life, 96. On Facing Hardship, and 116. | 1/25/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 131: Aristotle’s “De Anima”: What Is the Mind? | Our second discussion of De Anima or On the Soul (350 BCE), this time on book 3. - What is the intellect? In ep. 130, we talked about Aristotle's idea of the soul as the form of the body, and now we get to it's highest part/function, nous! - | 1/11/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 130: Aristotle’s “De Anima”: What Is Life? | On De Anima or On the Soul (350 BCE), books 1 and 2, after some listener mail. What can this ancient text tell us about biological life? What counts as a scientific explanation? A. describes life as "the first actuality of a natural body which has org. | 12/28/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitHoliday Special 2015: Mark Lint’s “Songs from the Partially Examined Life” with Many Guest Greetings | Mark is joined by numerous previous guests to catch up and engage the musical part of PEL's past episodes by introducing and playing the entirety of Mark Lint's "Songs from the Partially Examined Life," which you can own, | 12/23/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 129: Is Faith Rational? | Nathan Gilmour (Christian Humanist podcast) and Rob Dyer (God Complex Radio) join Mark and Wes for to discuss the reasonableness of religious belief reading Antony Flew's "The Presumption of Atheism," Norwood Russell Hanson's “The Agnostic’s Dilemma | 12/14/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 128: Hilary Putnam on Linguistic Meaning | On "The Meaning of Meaning" (1975). If meaning is not a matter of having a description in your head, then what is it? Hilary Putnam reformulates Kripke's insight (from #126) in terms of Twin Earths: Earthers with H20 and Twin Earthers with a substance . | 11/30/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 127: John Dewey on Experience and the World | On Experience and Nature (1925), through ch. 4. What's the relationship between our experience and the world that science investigates? Dewey thinks that these are one and the same, and philosophies that call some part of it (like atoms or Platonic for. | 11/16/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 126: Saul Kripke on Possibilities, Language & Science | On Naming and Necessity (1980). What's the relationship between language and the world? Specifically, what makes a name or a class term (like "tiger") pick out the person or things that it does? Saul Kripke wanted to correct the dominant view of his ti. | 11/2/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanNot School Digest: Asimov, Camus, Jaspers, Brecht, Peirce, Historical Jesus | On Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question," Albert Camus's "The Fall," Karl Jaspers's "Truth and Symbol," C.S. Peirce's "The Fixation of Belief," Bertold Brecht's "Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction," and Thomas Sheehan's Stanford lectures on... | 10/24/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 125: Hannah Arendt on the Political & Private | On The Human Condition (1958), Prologue and Sections 1 and 2. How has our distinction between the private and public evolved over time? Arendt uses this history, and chiefly the differences between our time and ancient Athens, | 10/12/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitQ&A with the Partially Examined Life, Pittsburgh 9-25-15 | What is it like to do philosophy in public? As prelude to our ep. 125 appearance at the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Network Conference on theory and public space, Mark, Seth, Wes, and Dylan sat down for questions by moderator Erica Freeman, | 10/5/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 124: The Stoic Life with Epictetus | On the Manual of Epictetus, aka The Enchiridion (135 CE). What's a wise strategy for life? Stoicism says that the secret is mastering yourself. If you let yourself be perturbed by things that happen to you, | 9/21/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 123: Economics with Hayek and Sen (Intro by Seth Benzell) | On F.A. Hayek's "The Use of Knowledge in Society" (1945) and Amartya Sen's On Ethics and Economics (1987). Is economics a pseudoscience? Are its assumptions by necessity too over-simplifying? Hayek objects to the idea of planning an economy, | 9/7/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEp 121/122 Aftershow on Augustine feat. James Wetzel | Haven't had enough Augustine? Danny Lobell and Wes Alwan welcome Augustine scholar James Wetzel and PEL Citizens Terra Leigh Bell, Amogh Sahu, and Scott Anderson to discuss our Augustine episodes, covering humility, love, desire, grief, sex, misogyny, | 9/6/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 122: Augustine on Mind and Metaphysics | Yet more on The Confessions, now on books 10–13. - What is memory and how does it relate to time and being? Augustine thinks that memory is a storehouse, but it contains not just the sensations we put in it, | 8/24/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 121: Augustine on Being Good | On The Confessions (400 CE), books 1–9. The question is not "What is virtue?" because knowing what virtue is isn't enough. The problem, for Aurelius Augustinus, aka St. Augustine of Hippo, is doing what you know to be right. - | 8/10/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 120: A History of “Will” with Guest Eva Brann | We discuss Un-Willing: An Inquiry into the Rise of Will's Power and an Attempt to Undo It (2014) with the author, covering Socrates, Augustine, Aquinas, Heidegger, Nietzsche, Sartre, compatibilism, the neurologists' critque of free will, and more. | 7/27/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 119: Nietzsche on Tragedy and the Psychology of Art | On Friedrich Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy (1872). Nietzsche thought that you could tell how vital or decadent a civilization was by its art, and said that ancient Greek tragedy was so great because it was a perfect synthesis of something highly for. | 7/6/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 118: The Musical Life with Guests from Camper van Beethoven | Victor Krummenacher and Jonathan Segel join Mark and Wes to discuss songwriting and authenticity in the age of Internet consumerism. - Join us for the Aftershow on Sunday 7/12 at 3pm Eastern time. | 6/29/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 117: Discussing Sophocles’s “Antigone” | Philosophically considering the ancient Greek tragedy, which we also performed with Lucy Lawless and Paul Provenza. | 6/15/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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Explicit“Antigone” Read by PEL with Lucy Lawless and Paul Provenza | An unrehearsed, fun read-through of the Greek Tragedy from 441 BCE, plus some discussion with the cast of Greek drama, our selected translation, and other stuff. Enjoy! - Read more about the topic. - PEL Citizens can get an ad-free, | 6/8/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 116: Freud on Dreams | On Sigmund Freud's On Dreams (1902) and other stuff. Are dreams just random, or our best key to understanding the mind? - Sponsors: St. John's College Graduate Institute (partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi), Squarespace.com (enter code PEL) | 5/25/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 115: Schopenhauer on Music with Guest Jonathan Segel | The Camper Van Beethoven violinist/composer/multi-instrumentalist joins us to discuss The World as Will and Representation, book 3 selections. | 5/11/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 114: Schopenhauer: “The World Is Will” | On The World As Will and Representation (1818), book 2. The world is a blind, striving force! | 4/27/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 113: Jesus’s Parables | Interpreting the Parables using texts from Paul Ricoeur, John Dominic Crossan, Paul Tillich, et al, with guest Law Ware. | 4/6/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 112: Ricoeur on Interpreting Religion | On Paul Ricoeur's "The Critique of Religion" and "The Language of Faith" (1973), with guest Law Ware. How can we apply hermeneutics to the Bible? | 3/16/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 111: Gadamer’s Hermeneutics: How to Interpret | On Hans-Georg Gadamer's Truth and Method (1960, ch. 4), "Aesthetics and Hermeneutics" (1964), "The Universality of the Hermeneutical Problem" (1966), and "Hermeneutics as Practical Philosophy" (1972). | 3/2/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitClose Reading (Preview) of Heidegger on Truth | Mark and Seth go line-by-line through the first half of "On the Essence of Truth" to help you understand Heidegger's language. This is a 17-min preview of a 2 hr, 37-min bonus recording. Citizens, log in and listen now. | 2/23/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitClose Reading (Preview) of Kant on the Sublime | Mark and Wes go line-by-line through a chunk of the Critique of Judgment to help you feel confident decoding Kant and other difficult texts. This is a 13-min preview of a 72-min bonus recording. Citizens, log in and listen now. | 2/16/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 110: Alfred North Whitehead: What Is Nature? | On The Concept of Nature (1920). Nature, i.e. the object of our experience, is events, not things, ya dig? | 2/2/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 110: Whitehead | Mark Linsenmayer outlines Alfred North Whitehead's book The Concept of Nature (1920) | 2/1/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 109: Jaspers’s Existentialism with Guest Paul Provenza | On Karl Jaspers's "On My Philosophy" (1941), featuring comedian/actor/director/author Paul Provenza | 1/19/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 109: Karl Jaspers | Mark Linsenmayer introduces Karl Jaspers's existentialist tract, "On My Philosophy." (1941) | 1/18/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 108: Dangers of A.I. with Guest Nick Bostrom | On Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, and Strategies (2014) with the author. What can we predict about, and how can we control in advance, the motivations of the entity likely to result from eventual advances in machine learning? | 1/6/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 107: Edmund Burke on the Sublime | On A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, where young Burke lays out our knee-jerk aesthetic reactions, including those to scary things at a safe distance. With guest Amir Zaki. | 12/19/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitNot Ep. 107: The 12 Interminable Days of Xmas: A Musical Extravaganza | Mark Lint and the PEL Orchestra present the longest, slowest, biggest, fattest, most surreal Christmas carol ever. | 12/19/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 106: Pyrrhonian Skepticism According to Sextus Empiricus | On "Outlines of Pyrrhonism" from 200 C.E. Can you live while suspending judgment about all non-everyday matters? WIth guest Jessica Berry. | 12/4/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 105: Kant: What Is Beauty? | On Critique of Judgment (1790), Part I, Book I. What is beauty? Disinterested pleasure! | 11/14/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 104: Robert Nozick’s Libertarianism | On Anarchy, State & Utopia (1974), ch. 1-3 and 7. What are the moral limits on government power? No redistributive taxation, suckah! With guest Stephen Metcalf. | 10/27/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 104: Robert Nozick | Seth Paskin introduces Anarchy, State, and Utopia about libertarianism and the limits of legitimate government power. | 10/26/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 103: Thoreau on Living Deliberately | On Henry David Thoreau's Walden (1854). Should all true philosophers go live in the woods and seek Truth in nature? Probably YOU should. | 10/14/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 102: Emerson on Wisdom and Individuality | On Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “The American Scholar” lecture (1837) and his essays “Self-Reliance” and “Circles” (1841). Be yourself! Don't conform! Realize your oneness with the universe! | 9/19/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 101: Maimonides on God | On Guide for the Perplexed about God's lack of properties, featuring guest comedian Danny Lobell of the Modern Day Philosophers podcast. | 9/1/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 100: Plato’s Symposium Live Celebration! | Our big live episode (also on video) about love, sex, self-improvement, and ancient Greek pederasty! Featuring a set by Mark Lint, plus Philosophy Bro on Plato's "Apology." | 8/15/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 99: Looking Back on 100 Discussions and 5+ Years | What have we learned? How has our take on the PEL project changed? On the eve before our big ep. 100 live show, we sat down to reflect on what we've been doing here. With guest Daniel Horne. | 8/11/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 98: Guest Michael Sandel Against Market Society | Interviewing him on his book "What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets" and continuing the discussion of his first book, "Liberalism and the Limits of Justice." | 7/26/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 97: Michael Sandel on Social Justice and the Self | On "Liberalism and the Limits of Justice" (1982) where Sandel critiques Rawls's version of liberalism as based on a bogus picture of us as purely choosing beings. | 7/19/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 96: Oppenheimer and the Rhetoric of Science Advisers | Discussing Lynda Walsh's book "Scientists as Prophets: A Rhetorical Genealogy" (2013) with the author, focusing on Robert J. Oppenheimer. | 7/1/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 96: Oppenheimer’s Rhetoric | Guest Lynda Walsh describes her book Scientists as Prophets: A Rhetorical Genealogy, focusing on J. Robert Oppenheimer's conflicted position after WWII as science advisor and anti-nuke spokesman. | 6/28/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 95: Gödel on Math | On two unpublished essays considering the implications of Godel's incompleteness theorems and asserting mathematical realism. With guest Adi Habbu. | 6/15/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 95: Gödel | Guest Adi Habbu lays out Kurt Gödel's famous incompleteness theorems and describes some highlights from "Some Basic Theorems on the Foundations of Mathematics and their Implications" (1951) and "The Modern Development of the Foundations of Mathematics | 6/15/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 94: Schopenhauer on Reading, Writing, and Thinking | On Arthur Schopenhauer's essays, "On Authorship and Style," "On Thinking for Oneself," and "On Genius" (all published 1851). | 5/22/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 93: Freedom and Responsibility (Strawson vs. Strawson) | On P.F. Strawson's "Freedom and Resentment" (1960), Galen Strawson's "The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility" (1994), and Gary Watson's "Responsibility and the Limits of Evil: Variations on a Strawsonian Theme" (1987). With guest Tamler Sommers. | 5/2/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 93: Free Will (via Strawsons) | Guest Tamler Sommers (from the Very Bad Wizards podcast) summarizes Galen Strawson's "The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility" (1994) and his father P.F. Strawson's "Freedom and Resentment" (1960). | 4/29/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 92: Henri Bergson on How to Do Metaphysics | On Bergson's "An Introduction to Metaphysics" (1903). With guest Matt Teichman. | 4/11/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 92: Henri Bergson | Guest Matt Teichman introduces Bergson's essay "An Introduction to Metaphysics." | 3/30/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 91: Transhumanism (Plus More on Brin) | More on David Brin's novel Existence, plus Nick Bostrom's essay "Why I Want to Be a Posthuman When I Grow Up" (2006). With guest Brian Casey. | 3/29/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with Guest David Brin | Discussing David Brin's novel Existence (2012) with the author. Also with guest Brian Casey. | 3/26/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with David Brin | Introductory salvo by Mark Linsenmayer before our interview with author David Brin. | 3/24/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 89: Berkeley: Only Ideas Exist! | On Bishop George Berkeley's Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (1713). | 3/11/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 89: Berkeley’s Idealism | Wes Alwan introduces George Berkeley's Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous. | 3/11/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPartially Examined Life Not School Digest #4: Sartre, Heidegger, Zizek, Marx, and Theater | Excerpts from discussions on Sartre's Nausea, Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology," Slavoj Zizek's Year of Dreaming Dangerously, Marx and Engels's "Communist Manifesto," Peter Schaffer's play... | 2/28/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 88: G.E.M. Anscombe: Should We Use Moral Language? | On Elizabeth Anscombe's "Modern Moral Philosophy" (1958), Intention sections 22-27 (1957), and "War and Murder" (1961). With guest Philosophy Bro. | 2/18/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 88: G.E.M. Anscombe | Guest Philosophy Bro introduces Elizabeth Anscombe's "Modern Moral Philosophy," and Intention sections 22-27. | 1/18/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitSartre’s “No Exit” Read with Lucy Lawless & Jaime Murray | In support of our ep. #87 discussing Sartre, the PEL Players present our 2nd annual dramatic reading of a work of philosophical theater. | 1/1/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 87: Sartre on Freedom and Self-Deception | On Jean-Paul Sartre's "Existentialism is a Humanism" (1946), "Bad Faith" (pt. 1, ch. 2 of Being & Nothingness, 1943), and his play No Exit (1944). | 1/1/2014 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 87: Sartre | Mark Linsenmayer lays out some themes from Jean-Paul Sartre's "Existentialism is a Humanism" and the "Bad Faith" chapter (Part 1, Ch. 2) of Being & Nothingness. | 12/30/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 86: Thomas Kuhn on Scientific Progress | On The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, published mostly in 1962. | 12/24/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 86: Thomas Kuhn | Dylan Casey lays out Thomas Kuhn's thesis in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. | 12/23/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 85: Rawls on Social Justice | On John Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971), most of ch. 1-4. | 12/7/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 85: John Rawls | Seth Paskin summarizes the John Rawls's A Theory of Justice. | 12/6/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 84: Nietzsche’s “Gay Science” | On Friedrich Nietzsche's The Gay Science (1882, with book 5 added 1887). | 11/11/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 83 Follow-Up: Q&A with Frithjof Bergmann | In light of our ep. 83, many listeners had questions on Frithjof's social/political/economic proposals for creating a post-job, pro-meaningful-work world. | 11/1/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 83: New Work with Guest Frithjof Bergmann | alking with Frithjof Bergmann, Prof. Emeritus from U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor about his book New Work, New Culture (2004, English release coming soon). | 10/10/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 83: New Work | An introduction to and summary of Frithjof Bergmann's New Work, New Culture, read by Mark Linsenmayer. | 10/9/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 82: Karl Popper on Science | On Popper's Conjectures and Refutations (1963), the first three essays. | 9/24/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 82: Popper | A summary of the first three essays in Karl Popper's collection Conjectures and Refutations, read by Dylan Casey. | 9/23/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 81: Jung on the Psyche and Dreams | On Carl Jung's "Approaching the Unconscious" from Man and His Symbols, written in 1961. | 8/29/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 81: Jung | An introduction to Carl Jung's Man and His Symbols, read by Wes Alwan. | 8/28/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPartially Examined Life Not School Digest #3: Work, Blood Meridian, Mind, and Heidegger | Excerpts of discussions about Frithjof Bergmann's New Work, New Culture, Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian, Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and its Challenge to... | 8/22/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 80: Heidegger on our Existential Situation | On Martin Heidegger's "Letter on Humanism" (1949). | 8/8/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPrecognition of Ep. 80: Heidegger | A short summary of Heidegger's "Essay on Humanism," read by Seth Paskin. | 8/7/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 79: Heraclitus on Understanding the World | Eva Brann discusses her book The Logos of Heraclitus (2011). | 7/14/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 78: Ayn Rand on Living Rationally | On Rand's Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1967) and "The Objectivist Ethics" (1961). | 7/1/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 77: Santayana on the Appreciation of Beauty | On George Santayana's The Sense of Beauty (1896). | 6/9/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 76: Deleuze on What Philosophy Is | On Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's What Is Philosophy? (1991). With guest Daniel Coffeen. | 5/14/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPREVIEW-Episode 75: Lacan & Derrida Criticize Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” | On Jacques Lacan's "Seminar on 'The Purloined Letter'" (1956), Jacques Derrida's "The Purveyor of Truth" (1975), and other essays in the collection The Purloined Poe: Lacan, Derrida, and Psychoanalytic Reading. - | 4/19/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 74: Jacques Lacan’s Psychology | On Bruce Fink's The Lacanian Subject (1996) and Lacan's "The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience" (1949). | 4/3/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 73: Why Do Philosophy? (And What Is It?) | Mark, Seth, Wes, and Dylan share what drove them into philosophy and keeps them there. How is philosophy different than (or similar to) science? Than religion? Art? | 3/22/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPREVIEW-Episode 72: Terrorism with Jonathan R. White | We're joined by an international terrorism expert to discuss how to define terrorism and whether it can ever be ethical. | 3/9/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 71: Martin Buber’s “I and Thou” | On Buber's 1923 book I and Thou. With guest Daniel Horne. | 2/15/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 70: Marx on the Human Condition | On Karl Marx's The German Ideology, Part I, an early, unpublished work from 1846. - Sponsored by Zero Books; please visit zero-books.net. | 1/29/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPartially Examined Life Not School Digest Jan 2013 | Excerpts of discussions about Deleuze & Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus, an article on emergence called "More Is Different" by Nobel Prize Winning physicist P.W. Anderson, John Searle's Mind:... | 1/23/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 69: Plato on Rhetoric vs. Philosophy | On Plato's Dialogue, "Gorgias" (380 BCE or so). | 1/12/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitNot Episode 69: PEL Players Full Cast Audiobook of Plato’s “Gorgias” (part 1) | Three podcasters and two listeners join to read Plato's fabulous dialogue. | 1/11/2013 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPREVIEW-Episode 68: David Chalmers Interview on the Scrutability of the World | On David Chalmers's book Constructing the World (2012). | 12/21/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitNot School Digest Nov-Dec 2012: A Bonus Quasisode | Excerpts of discussions about David Chalmers's The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory, Thomas Nagel's Mind and Cosmos, and Paul Auster's City of Glass. | 12/16/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 67: Carnap on Logic and Science | On Rudolph Carnap's The Logical Structure of the World (1928). WIth guest Matt Teichman. | 12/7/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 66: Quine on Linguistic Meaning and Science | On W.V.O. Quine's "On What There Is" (1948) and "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" (1951). WIth guest Matt Teichman. | 11/21/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitCelebrating Two Million Downloads: A Highlights Minisode | Our highlight reel in thanks to all you listeners who have brought us to the milestone of approximately two million downloads. | 11/8/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 65: The Federalist Papers | On Alexander Hamilton/James Madison's Federalist Papers (1, 10-12, 14-17, 39, 47-51), plus Letters III and IV from Brutus, an Anti-Federalist. | 10/26/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 64: Celebrity, with guest Lucy Lawless | On Fame: What the Classics Tell Us About Our Cult of Celebrity by Tom Payne (2010). | 10/6/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPREVIEW-Episode 63: Existentialist Heroes in Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men” | On philosophical issues in McCarthy's 2005 novel about guys running around with drug money and shooting each other, and about fiction as a form for exploring philosophical ideas. With guest Eric Petrie. | 9/21/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 62: Voltaire’s Novel “Candide” | On Candide: or, Optimism, the novel by Voltaire (1759). | 9/5/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPREVIEW-Episode 61: Nietzsche on Truth and Skepticism | On Friedrich Nietzsche's "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" (1873). WIth guest Jessica Berry. | 8/15/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 60: Aristotle: What’s the Best Form of Government? | On Aristotle's Politics (350 BCE), books 1 (ch 1-2), 3, 4 (ch 1-3), 5 (ch 1-2), 6 (ch 1-6), and 7 (ch. 1-3, 13-15). | 7/22/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPREVIEW-Episode 59: Alasdair MacIntyre on Moral Justifications | On Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (1981), mostly ch. 3-7 and 14-17. | 7/5/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPREVIEW-Episode 58: What Grounds Ethical Claims? (Moore, Stevenson, MacIntyre) | On G.E. Moore's Principia Ethica, ch. 1 (1903); Charles Leslie Stevenson's "The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms" (1937), and Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue, ch. 1-2. | 6/20/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 57: Henri Bergson on Humor | On Bergson's Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic (1900). With guest Jennifer Dziura. | 5/31/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 56: More Wittgenstein on Language | Continuing discussion of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, Part I, sections 1-33 and 191-360. With guest Philosophy Bro. | 5/14/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 55: Wittgenstein on Language | On Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, Part I, sections 1-33 and 191-360 (written around 1946). With guest Philosophy Bro. | 5/2/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 54: More Buddhism and Naturalism | Continuing our discussion of Owen Flanagan's The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized (2011). | 4/6/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPREVIEW-Episode 53: Buddhism and Naturalism with Guest Owen Flanagan | Discussing The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized (2011) with Owen Flanagan. What philosophical insights can we modern folks with our science and naturalism (i.e. inclination against super-natural explanations) glean from Buddhisim? | 3/26/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 52: Philosophy and Race (DuBois, Martin Luther King, Cornel West) | On W.E.B. DuBois's "Of Our Spiritual Strivings" (1903), Cornel West's "A Genealogy of Modern Racism" (1982), and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963) and "The Black Power Defined" (1967), | 3/17/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 51: Semiotics and Structuralism (Saussure, et al) | On Ferdinand de Saussure's Course in General Linguistics (1916) (Part I and Part II, Ch. 4), Claude Levi-Strauss's "The Structural Study of Myth" (1955), and Jacques Derrida's "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences" (1966). | 2/24/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 50: Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” | On Robert M. Pirsig's philosophical, autobiographical novel from 1974. With guest David Buchanan. | 2/3/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 49: Foucault on Power and Punishment | Discussing Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish (1975), parts 1, 2 and section 3 of part 3. With guest Katie McIntyre. | 1/11/2012 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 48: Merleau-Ponty on Perception and Knowledge | Discussing Maurice Merleau-Ponty's "Primacy of Perception" (1946) and The World of Perception (1948). | 12/16/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 47: Sartre on Consciousness and the Self | Discussing Jean-Paul Sartre's The Transcendence of the Ego (written in 1934). | 11/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 46: Plato on Ethics & Religion | Discussing Plato's "Euthyphro." With guest Matt Evans. | 11/16/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 45: Moral Sense Theory: Hume and Smith | Discussing parts of David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature (1740) and Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). With guest Getty Lustila. | 10/28/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 44: New Atheist Critiques of Religion | Discussing selections from Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel C. Dennett. | 10/11/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 43: Arguments for the Existence of God | Discussing the arguments by Descartes, St. Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, William Paley, Kant, and others, as analyzed in J.L. Mackie's The Miracle of Theism: Arguments For and Against the Existence of God (1983), chapters 1-3, 5-6, 8, and 11. | 9/14/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 42: Feminists on Human Nature and Moral Psychology | Discussing Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s utopian novel Herland (1915) and psychologist Carol Gilligan's In a Different Voice (1983). With guest Azzurra Crispino. | 9/5/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 41: Pat Churchland on the Neurobiology of Morality (Plus Hume’s Ethics) | Patricia Churchland on her new book Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Morality. We also discussed David Hume's ethics as foundational to her work, reading his Treatise on Human Nature (1739), Book III, | 7/18/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 40: Plato’s Republic: What Is Justice? | Discussing The Republic by Plato, primarily books 1 and 2. | 7/10/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 39: Schleiermacher Defends Religion | Discussing Friedrich Schleiermacher's "On Religion; Speeches to its Cultured Despisers" (1799, with notes added 1821), first and second speeches. With guest Daniel Horne. | 6/10/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 38: Bertrand Russell on Math and Logic | Discussing Russell's Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1919), ch. 1-3 and 13-18. With guest Josh Pelton. | 5/25/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 37: Locke on Political Power | Discussing John Locke's Second Treatise on Government (1690). With guest Sabrina Weiss. | 5/6/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 36: More Hegel on Self-Consciousness | Part 2 of our discussion of G.F.W. Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit," covering sections 178-230 within section B, "Self-Consciousness." | 4/10/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 35: Hegel on Self-Consciousness | On G.F.W. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), Part B (aka Ch. 4), "Self-Consciousness," plus recapping the three chapters before that (Part A. "Consciousness"). With guest Tom McDonald. | 4/1/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 34: Frege on the Logic of Language | On Gottlob Frege's "Sense and Reference," "Concept and Object" (both from 1892) and "The Thought" (1918). With guest Matt Teichman. | 3/13/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 33: Montaigne: What Is the Purpose of Philosophy? | Discussing Michel de Montaigne's Essays: "That to Philosophize is to Learn to Die," "Of Experience," "Of Cannibals," "Of the Education of Children," and "Of Solitude" (all from around 1580) with some discussion of "Apology for Raymond Sebond." | 2/18/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 32: Heidegger: What is “Being?” | Discussing Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1927), mostly the intro and ch. 1 and 2 of Part 1. | 2/7/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 31: Husserl’s Phenomenology | Discussing Edmund Husserl's Cartesian Meditations (1931). | 1/10/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 30: Schopenhauer on Explanations and Knowledge | Discussing Arthur Schopenhauer's On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, published in 1847 (as an expansion of his doctoral thesis from 1813). | 12/19/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 29: Kierkegaard on the Self | On Soren Kierkegaard's "The Sickness Unto Death" (1849). With guest Daniel Horne. | 11/21/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 28: Nelson Goodman on Art as Epistemology | Discussing Goodman's Ways of Worldmaking (1978). With guest painter Jay Bailey. | 10/31/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 27: Nagarjuna on Buddhist “Emptiness” | Primarily discussing "Reasoning: The Sixty Stanzas" and "Emptiness: The Seventy Stanzas," by the 2nd century Indian Buddhist Nagarjuna. With guest Erik Douglas. | 10/10/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 26: Freud on the Human Condition | Discussing Freud's Civilization and its Discontents (1930). Get the full episode at partiallyexaminedlife.com. | 9/25/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 25: Spinoza on Human Nature | Discussing Spinoza's the Ethics, Books II through V. | 9/10/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 24: Spinoza on God and Metaphysics | Discussing Spinoza's Ethics (1677), books 1 and 2. | 8/23/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 23: Rousseau: Human Nature vs. Culture | Discussing Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse in Inequality (1754) and book 1 of The Social Contract (1762). | 7/28/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 22: More James’s Pragmatism: Is Faith Justified? What is Truth? | Discussing William James's "The Will to Believe". | 7/17/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 21: What Is the Mind? (Turing, et al) | Discussing articles by Alan Turing, Gilbert Ryle, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, and Dan Dennett. With guest Marco Wise. | 6/27/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 20: Pragmatism – Peirce and James | On Pragmatism (1907) by William James and "The Fixation of Belief" (1877) and "How to Make Our Ideas Clear" (1878) by Charles Sanders Peirce. | 6/8/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 19: Kant: What Can We Know? | Discussing Immanuel Kant's Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (1783). With guest Azzurra Crispino. | 5/13/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 18: Plato: What Is Knowledge? | Discussing Plato's Theatetus and Meno. | 4/20/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 17: Hume’s Empiricism: What Can We Know? | On David Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748). | 3/29/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPREVIEW-Episode 16: Danto on Art | Discussing three essays by Arthur Danto from The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art (1986): the title essay, "The Appreciation and Interpretation of Works of Art," and "The End of Art." | 3/4/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 15: Hegel on History | Discussing G.W.F Hegel's Introduction to the Philosophy of History. | 2/24/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 14: Machiavelli on Politics | Discussing Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince and Ch. 1-20 of The Discourse on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy | 2/7/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 13: What Are the Metaphysical Implications of Quantum Physics? | On Werner Heisenberg’s Physics and Philosophy. Dylan Casey's first appearance (as a guest). | 1/3/2010 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 12: Chuang Tzu’s Taoism: What Is Wisdom? | On the "Chuang Tzu," Chapters 2, 3, 6, 18, and 19. With guest Erik Douglas. | 12/5/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 11: Nietzsche’s Immoralism: What Is Ethics, Anyway? | Discussing The Genealogy of Morals (mostly the first two essays) and Beyond Good and Evil Ch. 1 (The Prejudices of Philosophers), 5 (Natural History of Morals), and 9 (What is Noble?). | 11/10/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 10: Kantian Ethics: What Should We Do? | Discussing Fundamental Principles (aka Groundwork) of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785). | 10/19/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 9: Utilitarian Ethics: What Should We Do? | Discussing Jeremy Bentham’s An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation chapters 1-5, John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism, and Peter Singer's "Famine, Affluence, and Morality." | 9/17/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 8: Wittgenstein’s Tractatus (and Carnap): What Can We Legitimately Talk About? | Continuing last ep's discussion of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus with some Rudolph Carnap from his 1935 book Philosophy and Logical Syntax. | 9/4/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 7: Wittgenstein’s Tractatus: What Is There and Can We Talk About It? | Discussing the beginning (through around 3.1) of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. | 8/19/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 6: Leibniz’s Monadology: What Is There? | Discussing Liebniz's Monadology. | 7/31/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 5: Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics | Discussing Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Books I and II. | 7/16/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 4: Camus and the Absurd | Discussing Camus's "An Absurd Reasoning" and "The Myth of Sisyphus" (1942). | 6/22/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 3: Hobbes’s Leviathan: The Social Contract | Discussing Hobbes's Leviathan, Chapters 13-15. | 6/6/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 2: Descartes’s Meditations: What Can We Know? | On Descartes's Meditations 1 and 2. | 5/13/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPart 2 of Episode 1: “The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living.” | More discussion of Plato's "Apology." | 5/13/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitPart 1 of Episode 1: “The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living.” | Discussing Plato's "Apology." Does studying philosophy make you a better person? No. | 5/12/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
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ExplicitEpisode 0: Introduction to the Podcast | What are we trying to do here? Why should you bother to listen to us? | 5/10/2009 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 277 Items |
Customer Reviews
I listen therefore I am
These three guys go along way to making dry, academic tomes exciting! (Yes...that's a good thing). I'm glad they came down from their ivory towers to illuminate ideas to the masses! I can hardly wait until they tackle Wittgenstein...if they can make me understand him I will owe them my first born! Great podcast guys...look forward to each new episode!
A thoughtful, fun, provocative podcast
Do you miss breezy, chatty conversations over Very Important Matters with friends where laughs and ideas keep rolling? Then these are your fellows. Lofty matters considered with a tell-it-like-it-is style. Hosted by self-exiled scholars with productive lives outside the Ivory Tower, but who find the fun in throwing water balloons of reality-check wisdom back over their shoulders.
Loves me some Hobbes
This by far the best podcast in what I would call "The Geek" category. This would include: alien talk, gadget toys and other insightful programs. However, the boyz seam to have lost their enthusiasm since the first couple shows. This comes from the lack of energy in their intro, which I usually look forward to. However I have listened to each of them at least a couple of times and started reading the very joyous "lethiavan" by Thomas Hobbs. And if a podcast can get me to read something then I'm all for it.
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