Podcasts by The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
The Partially Examined Life is a 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.
We also feature episodes from other podcasts by our hosts to round out your partially examined life, including Pretty Much Pop (prettymuchpop.com, covering all media), Nakedly Examined Music (nakedlyexaminedmusic.com, deconstructing songs), Philosophy vs. Improv (philosophyimprov.com, fun with performance skills and philosophical ideas), and (sub)Text (subtextpodcast.com, looking deeply at lit and film). Learn about more network podcasts at partiallyexaminedlife.com.
Further podcasts by Mark Linsenmayer
Podcast on the topic Philosophie
All episodes
Ep. 331: Kierkegaard's "Either/Or": The Ethical Life (Part One) from 2023-12-11T12:02:55
On "The Balance Between the Esthetic and the Ethical in the Development of the Personality" from Vol. 2 of Soren Kierkegaard's Either/Or (1843).
What is choice? Kierkegaard's character Ju...
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PEL Presents PMP#163: Marvel Fatigue? from 2023-12-10T18:00
Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, Al and special guest Vi Burlew talk about the new film The Marvels as well as more generally what's been com...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 330: Kierkegaard's "Either/Or": The Aesthetic Life (Part Three) from 2023-12-08T18:00
Mark, Wes, and Seth read through more of Kierkegaard's Diapsalmata, translated as "Refrains," which are the aphorisms that begin the book and demonstrate the aesthetic point of view.
If ...
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Ep. 330: Kierkegaard's "Either/Or": The Aesthetic Life (Part Two) from 2023-12-04T13:19:53
Continuing on "Diapsalmata" and "Rotation of Crops" from the "Either" portion of Kierkegaard's pseudonymous book.
We talk through more of K's aphorisms, his narrator's solution to boredo...
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PEL Presents PvI#66: Legacy Mops w/ Kevin Allison from 2023-12-01T18:00
Kevin is the creator and host of the storytelling podcast RISK! and is the alphabetically foremost member of the MTV-televised, newly reformed, celebrity...
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PEL Presents NEM#206: Wreckless Eric: "Without Sound, You've Got Nothing" from 2023-11-30T18:00
Eric Goulden has recorded 29 albums since 1978, typically as Wreckless Eric but also with his wife Amy Rigby or under band names like Captains of Industry and The Len Bright Combo.
We di...
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Ep. 330: Kierkegaard's "Either/Or": The Aesthetic Life (Part One) from 2023-11-27T11:30
On the aphorisms ("Diapsalmata") that begin Soren Kierkegaard's Either/Or (1843), plus the essay also in the first volume, "Rotation of Crops." What is it to live your life as if it were a work ...
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PEL Presents (SUB)TEXT: The Emptiness of Signification in Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" (Part 1 of 6) from 2023-11-26T20:00
When King Leontes accuses his pregnant wife of adultery, the nobleman Antigonus assumes that Leontes has been “abused and by some putter-on”—in other words, some Iago-like villain has been putti...
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Ep. 329: Kierkegaard on Irony (Part Three/Closereads Part One) from 2023-11-25T13:49:56
Mark and Wes Closeread the conclusion to Soren Kierkegaard's On the Concept of Irony (1841), "Irony as a Controlled Element, the Truth of Irony." The discussion starts with the role of ...
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PEL Presents PMP#162: Poe Flavoring Upon the House of Usher from 2023-11-22T18:00
We discuss the loose mishmash adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe stories that makes up Mike Flanagan's Netflix show, The Fall of the House of Usher. Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al talk abo...
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Ep. 329: Kierkegaard on Irony (Part Two) from 2023-11-20T11:54:38
Continuing with On the Concept of Irony, defined as "infinite absolute negativity." K criticizes his Romantic peers of taking irony too far. So what is healthy, well-grounded irony?
... Listen
PEL Presents: Philosophy vs. Improv #65: Pop Spice from 2023-11-17T18:00
Recorded on 9/11 (a date not known primarily for its improv activities), only now making its way to you, this discussion between Mark and Bill talk child deification, pop philosophy vs. pop impr...
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Ep. 329: Kierkegaard on Irony (Part One) from 2023-11-13T10:03:20
Discussing On the Concept of Irony (1841).
Kierkegaard builds up to telling us what irony is by showing how Socrates invented irony, as characterized by his wholly negative proje...
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PEL Presents NEM#205: Tom Heyman: Unreliable Narrator from 2023-11-11T18:00
Tom is best known as a steel guitar player who has guested with artists like Alejandro Escovedo, John Doe, and Sonny Smith. He started in the late '80s with the Philadelphia energetic alt-countr...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 328: Yascha Mounk Against Identity Politics (Part Three) from 2023-11-10T18:00
Mark, Wes, Dylan, and now Seth too discuss further Mounk's project in The Identity Trap and what philosophically we can glean from it.
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Ep. 328: Guest Yascha Mounk Against Identity Politics (Part Two) from 2023-11-06T05:03:56
Continuing on The Identity Trap (2023). Which works better to achieve social progress; classical liberalism, or strategies involving emphasis of identity group membership? Do we even ha...
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PEL Presents PvI#64: TEAM PLAY GENERALS with Linda Orr and Andrew Lavin from 2023-11-06T01:00
Returning freedom fighters Andrew and Linda and join ...
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PEL Presents (SUB)TEXT: Terminal Wooings in "The Odyssey" (Part 3 of 3) from 2023-11-04T17:00
Wes & Erin discuss the final 12 books of "The Odyssey," translated by Emily Wilson.
Thanks to our sponsors for this episode St. John’s College, and Füm. Learn more about undergraduate–and...
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Ep. 328: Guest Yascha Mounk Against Identity Politics (Part One) from 2023-10-30T11:12:08
On The Identity Trap (2023), an intellectual history of wokeness (aka "the identity synthesis") and defense of philosophical liberalism against this set of ideas. Are our differences mo...
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PEL Presents PMP#161: Revisiting "The Exorcist" from 2023-10-29T17:00
Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al talk about the original 1973 film (and the 1971 novel), the new Exorcist: Believer, with some talk of the early sequels. What makes the original film so...
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PREMIUM-PEL Fall Nightcap 2023 from 2023-10-28T20:01:53
Mark, Wes, and Seth talk more about bullshit, Derrida and other difficult and arguably bullshitty philosophy, expressing truths through bodily movement, horror movies, and our coverage of author...
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Ep. 327: Harry Frankfurt on Bullsh*t and Authenticity (Part Two) from 2023-10-23T03:05:10
On Frankfurt's essay "The Importance of What We Care About" (1982), which distinguishes the question of what to value from ethical questions and explores the extent to which deciding what to car...
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PEL Presents NEM#204: Tim and Sue Lee Learn Their Craft, from Windbreakers to Bark from 2023-10-20T17:00
Tim began with The Windbreakers in Mississippi in 1982 and has released around 30 albums including solo albums starting in the late '80s plus albums with his wife Susan Bauer Lee (first on bass,...
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Ep. 327: Harry Frankfurt on Bullsh*t and Authenticity (Part One) from 2023-10-16T10:36:06
Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth discuss the celebrated 1986 essay "On Bullshit."
Does bullshit necessarily involve lying? Frankfurt defines it as instead indifferent to truth, though still dec...
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PEL Presents PMP#160: Mvto to "Reservation Dogs" from 2023-10-15T09:00
Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al discuss the groundbreaking Native-written/starring TV show about four teens trying to get away from their Oklahoma reservation, getting into its treatment of dea...
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PEL Presents PvI#63: Virtual Socrates w/ David Chalmers from 2023-10-14T17:00
The New York University Prof and author of many influential books including the new Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy joins Mark and Bill to simulate debates about...
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Ep. 326: Michael Tomasello on the Evolution of Agency (Part Two) from 2023-10-09T06:31:58
Wes, Dylan, and guest Chris Heath continue to discuss The Evolution of Agency (2022) in light of our interview with the author.
We relate examples from the book of animals of var...
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Ep. 326: Guest Michael Tomasello on the Evolution of Agency (Part One) from 2023-10-02T05:53:37
On The Evolution of Agency (2022), with the author, and guest panelist Chris Heath.
What is human agency? How would we determine whether an animal is a legitimate agent, as oppos...
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Ep. 325: Paul Grice on Meaning and Conversation (Part Two) from 2023-09-25T13:54:56
Continuing on "Meaning" (1957), "Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions" (1969), and "Logic and Conversation" (1975) with guest Steve Gimbell.
We tie the articles together, talk more about the ...
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PEL Presents (SUB)TEXT: Foolish Adventures in "The Odyssey" (Part 2 of 3) from 2023-09-24T17:00
Wes & Erin continue their discussion of the Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson. In this episode, part 2 of our 3-part series, they look closely at the heart of the poem, books 5-12, in which Od...
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Ep. 325: Paul Grice on Meaning and Conversation (Part One) from 2023-09-18T11:04:08
On "Meaning" (1957), "Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions" (1969), and "Logic and Conversation" (1975), featuring Mark, Seth, Dylan, and guest Listen
PREMIUM-Ep. 324: Plato's "Cratylus" on Language (Part Three) from 2023-09-13T17:00
Mark and Wes do a Closeread on the latter part of the dialogue, where Socrates argues to Cratylus that even if names (words) were devised to somehow depict the things they stand for, that wouldn...
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Ep. 324: Plato's "Cratylus" on Language (Part Two) from 2023-09-11T10:34:20
Continuing on Plato's mid-period dialogue about language. Is attaching a word to a thing, i.e. naming it, like other activities such as carpentry or sewing that can go wrong? Can we put the "for...
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Ep. 324: Plato's "Cratylus" on Language (Part One) from 2023-09-04T11:15:11
On Plato's mid-period dialogue from around 388 BCE. How do words relate to the things they represent? Socrates first argues that words represent things, and so doing etymology is a way of learni...
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PREMIUM-PEL End-of-Summer Nightcap 2023 from 2023-08-29T17:00
Mark, Seth, Dylan, and eventually Wes talk about traveling, Barbie, gender, evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, and more.
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Ep. 323: Acquiring Language: Tomasello vs. Chomsky (Part Two) from 2023-08-28T11:11:27
Continuing on Michael Tomasello's "Language Is Not an Instinct" (1995) and Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (2003), as contrasted with Chomsky unive...
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(SUB)TEXT: Home as Identity in "The Odyssey" from 2023-08-27T12:30
He was famously a man of many ways, whether we interpret these as abilities or norms; designs or deceptions; reasons or identities. Yet despite such resources, he was also famously stuck, making...
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Ep. 323: Acquiring Language: Tomasello vs. Chomsky (Part One) from 2023-08-21T12:25:10
On Michael Tomasello's "Language Is Not an Instinct" (1995) and Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (2003). With guest Christopher Heath.
Get mo...
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NEM#201: Ivan Neville Gets Personal (but Still Funky) from 2023-08-20T17:00
Ivan is the keyboardist/singer/multi-instrumentalist son of Aaron Neville and has played with the Neville Brothers, The Rolling Stones The Spin Doctors, etc. He has released eight albums since 1...
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PEL Closereads: Emerson's Oversoul (New Podcast Premiere) from 2023-08-14T14:05:08
Are we underlyingly all really a single, unified organism? Or do we just have a lot in common? PEL's most verbose hosts Mark Linsenmayer and Wes Alwan begin unraveling this puzzling claim by rea...
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Ep. 322: Schelling on Art vs. Nature (Part Three) from 2023-08-07T11:14:02
Mark and Wes conclude with some close reading of Part 6 of System of Transcendental Idealism (1800), section 3: "Relation of Art to Philosophy." Schelling thinks that art enables us to ...
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Ep. 322: Schelling on Art vs. Nature (Part Two) from 2023-07-31T11:06:28
Continuing on "On the Relation Between the Plastic Arts and Nature" (1807) and Part 6 of System of Transcendental Idealism (1800).
We talk sculpture vs. painting and why art is t...
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Ep. 322: Schelling on Art vs. Nature (Part One) from 2023-07-24T11:09:20
Discussing "On the Relation Between the Plastic Arts and Nature" (1807) and Part 6 of System of Transcendental Idealism (1800).
Is the goal of art to imitate nature? Only if that means sh...
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PREMIUM-PEL Tech Nightcap July 2023 from 2023-07-21T17:00
Mark, Wes, and Seth talk about how we might cover philosophy of technology, and other areas like medical ethics, business ethics, environmental ethics, etc. Do we remember things that we recorde...
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Ep. 321: August Schlegel on Beauty (Part Two) from 2023-07-17T11:21:48
We continue on Theory of Art, getting more into sections of the text about the relationship between beauty and purposiveness, genius, unconscious vs. conscious creation, style vs. manne...
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Ep. 321: August Schlegel on Beauty (Part One) from 2023-07-10T11:43:55
Covering the elder Schlegel brother's Theory of Art (ca. 1800). How does our experience of Beauty relate to the infinite? Schlegel provides a Romantic response to Kant on knowing the d...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 320: Friedrich Schlegel on Romanticism (Part Three) from 2023-07-08T20:27:27
Mark and Wes conclude our discussion of the younger Schlegel brother by going through more of his critical fragments, largely published in 1797 in the journal Lyceum Tier Schonen Kunste...
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Ep. 320: Friedrich Schlegel on Romanticism (Part Two) from 2023-07-03T11:20:05
We continue on Schlegel's "Dialogue on Poesy" (1799) and "Concerning the Essence of Critique" (1804).
How can Romantic art always aim at some common source of our humanity yet also requir...
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Ep. 320: Friedrich Schlegel on Romanticism (Part One) from 2023-06-26T12:00:08
On selected fragments from 1797-1801, "Dialogue on Poesy" (1799), and "Concerning the Essence of Critique" (1804).
What makes art "Romantic"? Schlegel sees good art as uniquely, authentic...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 319: Schiller on Experiencing Beauty (Part Three) from 2023-06-23T17:18:33
We complete our treatment of On the Aesthetic Education of Man by considering its final letters in more detail.
Does Reason really make us more moral? And does the embrace of Bea...
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Ep. 319: Schiller on Experiencing Beauty (Part Two) from 2023-06-19T11:10:33
Starting with letter 20 in On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795), we tell more of the story of how art is supposed to get us from sensation to thinking.
Aesthetic perception e...
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Ep. 319: Schiller on Experiencing Beauty (Part One) from 2023-06-11T21:03:34
On the second half of Friedrich Schiller's On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795), getting into the mechanics of how aesthetic experience work in giving us a midpoint between animalit...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 318: Friedrich Schiller on the Civilizing Potential of Art (Part Three) from 2023-06-10T12:59:39
Mark and Wes dive deeper into the text of the first several letters of On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795).
Are verbal descriptions of art destined to fall short? What is i...
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Ep. 318: Friedrich Schiller on the Civilizing Potential of Art (Part Two) from 2023-06-05T12:29:11
We continue working through letters 1-15 of On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795), helped by Markus Reuter.
Ep. 318: Friedrich Schiller on the Civilizing Potential of Art (Part One) from 2023-05-29T12:09:54
Can art make us better people? Musician Markus Reuter joins Mark, Wes, and Seth to discussion the first half of O...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 317: Character Philosophies in Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov" (Part Two) from 2023-05-22T12:04:49
To conclude our discussion of the novel, we turn to the philosophies of Dmitri and Ivan, plus the Biblical book of Job and our takeaways. Do we need some philosophy of transcendence to cope?
... Listen
Ep. 317: Character Philosophies in Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov" (Part One) from 2023-05-15T12:32:11
Following up on our live episode, we further ponder the 1869 novel, revisiting the "problem of evil" arg...
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Ep. 316: Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov": PEL Live in NYC (Part Two) from 2023-05-08T11:46:13
Continuing on Dostoevsky's 1880 novel, we respond to some objections to the Christian arguments that the characters Alyosha and Zosima put forward to respond to Ivan's "Rebellion" and "Grand Inq...
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Ep. 316: Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov": PEL Live in NYC (Part One) from 2023-05-01T13:10:34
On Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1880 existentialist novel, focusing mostly on the "Rebellion" and "Grand Inquisitor" chapters.
How can we reconcile ourselves to the existence of evil and suffering...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 315: Mengzi (Mencius) on Virtuous Leaders (Part Two) from 2023-04-24T11:23:48
To conclude our treatment of this seminal Confucian text, we consider a particularly puzzling passage about ethics and then move to politics and economics.
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Ep. 315: Mengzi (Mencius) on Virtuous Leaders (Part One) from 2023-04-17T12:01
Continuing from ep. 314, we go further into the collected teachings of this early Confucian (aka Ruhist) from the late...
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PREMIUM-PEL Nightcap April 2023 from 2023-04-14T17:00
Recorded 4/3/23 as we prepped for our live show, Mark, Wes and Dylan talk about The Last of Us and possible future episodes on animal ethics and/or animal consciousness, the death drive...
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Ep. 314: Mengzi (Mencius) on Moral Psychology (Part Two) from 2023-04-10T11:44:33
Continuing on the teachings of Mengzi from ca. 350 BCE, without our guest.
We go into textual quotes, covering the "sprouts" of virtue, whether human nature is good or simply malleable, w...
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Ep. 314: Mengzi (Mencius) on Moral Psychology (Part One) from 2023-04-03T13:00
On the greatest early philosopher interpreting and expanding on Confucius, from ca. 350 BCE. with guest Listen
PREMIUM-Ep. 313: Mozi's Political Ethics (Part Three) from 2023-04-02T14:43:41
We get into quotes from Mozi about his arguments against fatalism and Confucianism, support for meritocracy and identifying with superiors, and description of the Will of Heaven.
If you'...
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Ep. 313: Mozi's Political Ethics (Part Two) from 2023-03-27T12:54:31
Continuing on the central Mohist text, with guest Tzuchien Tho.
We talk about Mozi's ideas about encouraging morality, preventing war, restricting music and elaborate funerals, plus the W...
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Ep. 313: Mozi's Political Ethics (Part One) from 2023-03-20T12:32:11
On selections of the central Mohist text, from ca. 430 B.C.E., with guest Tzuchien Tho.
Mozi claims that we should regard everyone on the same level as our family and believe whatever doc...
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PREMIUM-PEL Nightcap Late March 2023 from 2023-03-20T00:38:43
Mark, Seth, and Dylan talk about what makes for a fitting tribute for those departed, mourning customs, how Daoism has personally affected us, and more.
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Ep. 312: The Dao De Jing on Virtue (Part Two) from 2023-03-13T13:24:20
Concluding our discussion of the Daodejing with guest Theo Brooks. We cover some more ambiguous cosmological passages and return to political philosophy.
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Ep. 312: The Dao De Jing on Virtue (Part One) from 2023-03-06T05:58:33
For our second full discussion on the Daodejing by Laozi, we talk about the actions and attitudes that characterize the Daoist sage. With Theo Brooks.
Topics include being virtuo...
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PREMIUM-PEL Nightcap Early March 2023 from 2023-03-05T15:39:27
Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth reflect on the interpretive challenges of the Daodejing, and in the full Nightcap, take on the question of whether philosophy works as self-help.
If yo...
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Ep. 311: Understanding the Dao De Jing (Part Two) from 2023-02-27T12:25:41
Continuing on the central Daoist text with guest Theodore Brooks. We explore practical vs. metaphysical interpretations of the Dao, the relation of things to their opposites, emptiness, and "str...
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Ep. 311: Understanding the Dao De Jing (Part One) from 2023-02-20T14:00:17
On the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) by Laozi (ca. 500 BCE), with guest Theodore Brooks.
We talk about the wildly different, interpretive translations of this foundational Daoist (Tao...
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PREMIUM-PEL Nightcap February 2023 from 2023-02-18T16:49:37
Mark, Wes, and Seth anticipate our Dao De Jing and Dostoevsky recordings and talk about Russian literature. In the full episode, we also talk about covering Hebrew ethics, and, of course, Chat f...
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Ep. 310: Wittgenstein On World-Pictures (Part Two) from 2023-02-13T12:34:10
Concluding our discussion of On Certainty, with guest Chris Heath.
We try one last time to get a handle on Wittgenstein's philosophy of science. How do people actually change the...
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Ep. 310: Wittgenstein On World-Pictures (Part One) from 2023-02-06T08:27:57
We continue with Ludwig Wittgenstein's On Certainty (written 1951), with guest Christopher Heath.
What is Wittgenstein's philosophy of science as it's reflected in this book? We ...
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PREMIUM-PEL Nightcap January 2023 from 2023-01-31T18:00
We compare translations of Dostoyevsky in prep for our April live show, discuss future show topics, and go over insights from our past discussions on Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigati...
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Ep. 309: Wittgenstein On Certainty (Part Two) from 2023-01-30T13:17:17
Continuing to discuss On Certainty, we get deeply into textual quotes.
How does he actually respond to Moore's argument about his hand? How does he extend his account to talk abo...
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Ep. 309: Wittgenstein On Certainty (Part One) from 2023-01-23T12:33:33
Discussing the notes Ludwig Wittgenstein made at the end of his life in 1951 that were published as On Certainty in 1969.
Can we coherently doubt propositions like "physical obje...
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Ep. 308: Moore's Proof of Mind-Independent Reality (Part Two) from 2023-01-16T13:44:55
We quickly complete our treatment of G.E. Moore’s "Proof of the External World" (1939) and move on to consider "Certainty" (1941).
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Ep. 308: Moore's Proof of Mind-Independent Reality (Part One) from 2023-01-09T13:00:23
On G.E. Moore’s "Proof of the External World" (1939) and "Certainty" (1941).
Moore shows you his hands and says "these are my hands, which are physical objects, and thus the external worl...
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PREMIUM-PEL Nightcap 2022 Wrap-Up from 2023-01-05T18:00
Recorded by Mark, Wes, and Dylan before our Moore discussion, we play one more listener appreciation clip that leads us into an examination of whether you listeners should try to read the texts ...
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Ep. 307: G.E. Moore Defends Common Sense (Part Two) from 2023-01-02T13:53:13
Continuing on "A Defense of Common Sense" (1925). Moore argues that physical facts are not dependent on minds and considers the various ways of analyzing the act of seeing and identifying your h...
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Ep. 307: G.E. Moore Defends Common Sense (Part One) from 2022-12-26T13:27:03
On "A Defense of Common Sense" (1925), featuring Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan.
Moore defends our pre-philosophical certainty in beliefs about the existence of physical objects and other min...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 306: Dworkin and the Dobbs Decision (Part Three) from 2022-12-24T22:29:19
Concluding on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2021) Supreme Court decision. We talk more about the rationale for the decision and in particular the dissent by Breyer, Sotomayor...
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Ep. 306: Dworkin and the Dobbs Decision (Part Two) from 2022-12-19T13:22:16
Continuing on Ronald Dworkin's "Unenumerated Rights: Whether and How Roe Should be Overruled" (1992) and the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2021) decision featuring guest Robin Li...
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Ep. 306: Dworkin and the Dobbs Decision (Part One) from 2022-12-12T12:09:32
Does the U.S. Constitution guarantee the right to an abortion? We discuss Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2021) and Ronald Dworkin's "Unenumerated Rights: Whether and How Roe Shoul...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 305: Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" (Part Three) from 2022-12-10T22:14:29
To conclude our discussion of Blood Meridian, we talk about the roles of maturation and regression in the novel, plus more on Judge Holden's philosophy, and more.
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Ep. 305: Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" (Part Two) from 2022-12-05T14:05:34
Continuing on McCarthy's 1985 novel, we discuss the philosophy of war held by the character Judge Holden, plus whether the book's violence is gratuitous and why it might be unfilmable.
Ge...
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Ep. 305: Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" (Part One) from 2022-11-28T13:00
On McCarthy's 1985 anti-Western novel, featuring Wes, Seth, and Dylan.
How does violence play a role in the way the world works? This novel about a rogue band of scalp hunters presents a ...
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PREMIUM-PEL Nightcap November 2022: Listener Testimonials from 2022-11-27T15:42:04
We recently put out a call among our supporters for some short audio clips of folks telling us about their relationship to PEL, and here they are. Mark, Seth, and Dylan play and respond to some ...
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Ep. 304: Dworkin v. Hart on Legal Judgment (Part Two) from 2022-11-21T13:21:20
Continuing on Roland Dworkin's "The Model of Rules" (1967) and Scott J. Shapiro's "The 'Hart-Dworkin' Debate: A Short Guide for the Perplexed" (2007), plus some of Dworkin's "Hard Cases" (1977)....
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Ep. 304: Dworkin v. Hart on Legal Judgment (Part One) from 2022-11-14T18:00
On Ronald Dworkin's "The Model of Rules" (1967) and Scott J. Shapiro's "The 'Hart-Dworkin' Debate: A Short Guide for the Perplexed" (2007).
How do judges make decisions in hard cases? Whe...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 303: H.L.A. Hart on the Foundations of Law (Part Three) from 2022-11-11T20:47:53
On The Concept of Law (1961), ch. 6, "Foundations of a Legal System," on Hart's concept of a rule of recognition that ultimately determines what will count as a law in a given society. This ends...
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Ep. 303: H.L.A. Hart on the Foundations of Law (Part Two) from 2022-11-07T12:40:03
Continuing on "Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals" (1958) and The Concept of Law (1961), ch. 5 and 6.
If law is not based on morality, then why obey the law? What makes a leg...
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Ep. 303: H.L.A. Hart on the Foundations of Law (Part One) from 2022-10-31T11:54:56
On "Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals" (1958) and The Concept of Law (1961), ch. 5 and 6.
What's the relationship between law and morality? If law isn't founded on morality,...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 302: Erasmus Praises Foolishness (Part Three) from 2022-10-29T14:52:57
Mark, Wes, and eventually Dylan recap The Praise of Folly, getting into Erasmus' ambivalent take on asceticism.
In the full episode, we get seriously personal and cover his sexism and com...
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Ep. 302: Erasmus Praises Foolishness (Part Two) from 2022-10-24T09:44:07
Continuing on The Praise of Folly with guest Nathan Gilmour.
Can foolishness actually make us more prudent? Is it necessary for us to all get along in the world and accomplish th...
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Ep. 302: Erasmus Praises Foolishness (Part One) from 2022-10-17T12:36
On Desiderius Erasmus' The Praise of Folly (1509), featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Nathan Gilmour from the Christian Humanist podcast. Does some amount of foolishness enhance life?
... Listen
PREMIUM-PEL Representation Nightcap October 2022 from 2022-10-14T15:52:27
Mark, Wes, and Dylan explore the question, "Is it necessary for us to have representatives of an affected group with us as guests when we talk about an issue in philosophy that affects that grou...
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PEL Presents PvI#40: Rules and Voices with Stephen West (Philosophize This!) from 2022-10-13T17:00
Stephen West from the juggernaut Philosophize This! podcast joins Mark and Bill to learn to say no and...
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Ep. 301: Is Abortion Morally Permissible? (Part Three) from 2022-10-10T12:27:49
Jenny Hansen joins us to cover "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion" by Mary Anne Warren (1973), with more thoughts on "A Defense of Abortion" (1971) by Judith Jarvis Thomson.
Get m...
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Ep. 301: Is Abortion Morally Permissible? (Part Two) from 2022-10-03T12:07:10
Continuing on Judith Jarvis Thomson's "A Defense of Abortion" (1971), plus Don Marquis' "Why Abortion is Immoral" (1989) and a summary of Mary Anne Warren's "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abo...
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PEL Presents NEM#181: Robyn Hitchcock Forgets Himself, Sharply from 2022-09-30T17:00
Robyn has been producing a distinctive flavor of very British rock with surrealist lyrics for 35+ albums since 1979.
We discuss "The Raging Muse" (and close by listening to "The Shuffle M...
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Ep. 301: Is Abortion Morally Permissible? (Part One) from 2022-09-26T12:24:01
We discuss widely read papers about abortion, including an excerpt from Roe v. Wade (1973) and Judith Jarvis Thomson's "A Defense of Abortion" (1971).
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PREMIUM-Ep. 300: Nietzsche on Relating to History (Part Three) from 2022-09-23T21:50:19
Mark, Wes, and Dylan conclude our discussion of “On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life” (1874). What is the practical upshot of Nietzsche's recommendations for using history well and...
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Ep. 300: Nietzsche on Relating to History (Part Two) from 2022-09-19T13:02:20
Continuing on "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life" (1874), we get into the antiquarian use of history and the critical approach to history and Nietzsche's humanistic goals in his ...
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Ep. 300: Nietzsche on Relating to History (Part One) from 2022-09-12T11:53:21
In this live-streamed show, we discuss “On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life” (1874), aka Untimely Meditati...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 299: Philosophy in Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" (Part Three) from 2022-09-03T22:17:15
Mark, Wes, and Dylan conclude our discussion of Shakespeare's play. Chiefly, we talk about the exchanges about art in the play: How does art relate to life and to commerce?
If you're not ...
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Ep. 299: Philosophy in Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" (Part Two) from 2022-08-29T12:29:07
Continuing to discuss the play, now with guest Sarah Manton. We get into Cynicism, the Alcibiades sub-plot, a feminist angle on the play, and more.
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Ep. 299: Philosophy in Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" (Part One) from 2022-08-22T04:33:15
Jonathan Bate, editor of the new RSC complete Shakespeare, joins us to talk about the role of money in the play, the psychology, cynicism, and more.
Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" Audioplay (Part Two) from 2022-08-15T11:06:15
Continuing our performance of William Shakespeare's play, finishing things up with acts 4 and 5 plus some post-performance discussion with the cast. Listen
Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" Audioplay Feat. Jay O. Sanders, Michael Ian Black, and Michael Tow (Part One) from 2022-08-08T05:22:57
The PEL players do an unrehearsed reading of Shakespeare's least popular play, which is about money and cynicism. This part includes Acts 1-3.
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PREMIUM-Ficino-Flavored Nightcap Early August 2022 from 2022-08-05T19:09:18
Mark and Wes consider more passages from Ficino's Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love, getting into Ficino's religious psychology and how this relates to Kierkegaard's.
If yo...
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Ep. 298: Marsilio Ficino on Love (Part Two) from 2022-08-01T11:28:15
Continuing on Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love with guest Peter Adamson. We consider F's views on beauty and fill out his neo-Platonic epistemology.
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Ep. 298: Marsilio Ficino on Love (Part One) from 2022-07-25T12:39:57
On Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love (1475), with guest Peter Adamson. What is the role of love in the universe? Ficino tries to combine Plato's theory of love as reproduction in ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 297: Heidegger on the Human Condition (Part Three) from 2022-07-23T16:43:30
Concluding our close reading of Being and Time, on ch. 3, sec. 15 and 16 on the world as "ready to hand" or equipment.
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Ep. 297: Heidegger on the Human Condition (Part Two) from 2022-07-18T12:17:15
We continue on Being and Time, now in ch. 2 on what "the world" is in our Being-in-the-World and so what it is for us to encounter objects and how this is different than, e.g. the inter...
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Ep. 297: Heidegger on the Human Condition (Part One) from 2022-07-11T12:10:23
We continue on Being and Time (1927), now into ch. 1 (sec. 9) on Existenz and how our way of Being is different than that of the objects of science, and what this means for authenticity...
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Ep. 296: Heidegger Questions Being (Part Two) from 2022-07-04T12:33:35
Continuing with our close reading of Being and Time, we talk about why time is the focus of Heidegger's analysis of the human condition, what are phenomena, and so what his phenomenolog...
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Ep. 296: Heidegger's Questions Being (Part One) from 2022-06-27T12:33:28
Continuing from our overview in ep. 32, we do a close reading on selections from the introduction of Martin H...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 295: Kant on Preventing War (Part Three) from 2022-06-18T20:31:08
Concluding on Kant's "Perpetual Peace," plus Jurgen Habermas' "Kant's Idea of Perpetual Peace, with the Benefit of Two Hundred Years' Hindsight."
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Ep. 295: Kant on Preventing War (Part Two) from 2022-06-13T11:30:42
Continuing on Immanuel Kant's essay "Perpetual Peace," we go further into how Kant's politics relate to his ethics and consider his actual policy proposals: each state must be a republic, they s...
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Ep. 295: Kant on Preventing War (Part One) from 2022-06-06T12:47:58
On Immanuel Kant's essay "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch" (1795).
Do nations have the "right" to go to war? What principles ground just international relations, and are there str...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 294: Quine on Science vs. Epistemology (Part Three) from 2022-06-03T17:02:24
Concluding on W.V.O. Quine's "Epistemology Naturalized" (1969).
We talk more about the attempt to found epistemology on psychology.
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Ep. 294: Quine on Science vs. Epistemology (Part Two) from 2022-05-30T12:45:52
Continuing on "Epistemology Naturalized" (1969), we work further through the text, getting into what this new psychology-rooted epistemology might look like and how Quine changed empiricism. Plu...
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Ep. 294: Quine on Science vs. Epistemology (Part One) from 2022-05-23T12:30:13
On W.V.O. Quine's "Epistemology Naturalized" (1969). What justifies scientific theory?
Not theory-free observations, as Quine shows us by considering how we figure out foreign languages. ...
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Philosophy vs. Improv #32: "On the Standard of [Bad] Taste" w/ Babette Babich from 2022-05-22T17:00
PREMIUM-Ep. 293: Donna Haraway on Feminist Science (Part Two) from 2022-05-16T14:06:44
Continuing on "Situated Knowledges" and other essays with guest Lynda Olman. We try to get at the practical import of Olman's scheme and get further into her use of metaphors and what those mean...
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Ep. 293: Donna Haraway on Feminist Science (Part One) from 2022-05-09T12:26:57
On "Situated Knowledge" (1988), "A Cyborg Manifesto" (1985), etc. featuring guest Lynda Olman.
What is scientific objectivity? Haraway rejects both relativism and traditional, "god's eye"...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 292: Langer on Symbolic Music (Part Two) from 2022-05-02T14:11:37
Concluding on Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key (ch. 8-10). We continue discussing whether and how music is symbolic. Sing along with us!
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PEL Presents NEM#171: Ben Vaughn's Primitive Fever Dreams from 2022-04-29T17:00
Ben has released over 20 albums of retro rock since the early '80s, written for TV soundtracks, produced bands like Ween, and hosts a radio show.
We discuss "Wayne Fontana Was Wrong" from...
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Ep. 292: Langer on Symbolic Music (Part One) from 2022-04-25T03:49:40
On Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 8-10. Is music (the supposedly non-representational artform) a language? If it's "expressive," what exactly does it express?
Part...
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PEL Presents PMP#121: Protesting Protest Songs from 2022-04-20T17:00
Are protest songs effective, either as protest or songs? Four songwriters including your host Mark Linsenmaye...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 291: Cassirer and Langer on Myth and Ritual (Part Two) from 2022-04-18T12:26:49
Continuing our discussion on the symbolic value of religion and its antecedents, primary at this point discussing Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key, ch. 7.
If you're not h...
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Ep. 291: Cassirer and Langer on Myth and Ritual (Part One) from 2022-04-11T14:19:12
On Ernst Cassirer's An Essay on Man (1944), ch. 6-7, and Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 6-7. Why do people produce ritual, mythology, and religion? Accord...
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PEL Presents NEM#170: Bob Mould From Hüsker Dü to Sugar to Now from 2022-04-11T00:00
Bob has released 20+ albums since the early '80s. We discuss "Forecast of Rain" from Blue ...
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(SUB)TEXT: What Falls Upon the Living in James Joyce’s “The Dead” from 2022-04-10T16:00
In 1906, presumably finished with his short story collection Dubliners, James Joyce wrote to his brother with dissatisfaction that, though he set about to create a comprehensive portrait of Irel...
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PEL Presents PMP#120: Dexter the Loveable Serial Killer from 2022-04-07T17:00
Mark is joined Lawrence Ware, Listen
PEL Presents PvI#29: Personal Panpsychism w/ Jack Symes from 2022-04-05T17:00
Panpsycast host Jack brings his promiscuous philosophy of mind to the show, wherein mind is here, there, and e...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 290: Susanne Langer on Our Symbol-Making Nature (Part Two) from 2022-04-04T12:26:52
Continuing on Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 1-5. Is symbolism the software running on the hardware of our senses, or are symbols baked even into that hardware? We talk pictures vs...
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PEL Presents NEM#169: Wesley Stace (aka John Wesley Harding) Likes Words from 2022-04-01T17:00
Wesley started performing as John Wesley Harding in the late '80s (often eliciting comparisons in his early work to Elvis Costello), moved from England to the U.S. in 1991, and has 20+ releases,...
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Ep. 290: Susanne Langer on Our Symbol-Making Nature (Part One) from 2022-03-28T12:38:12
On Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 1-5, plus as background most of us looked at Ernst Cassirer's An Essay on Man (1944), ch. 1-5. What does it mean to say that humanity is homo symb...
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PEL Presents PMP#119: Disgraced Artists Like Cosby from 2022-03-23T17:00
Comedian Genevieve Joy, philosopher/NY Times entertainment writer Listen
PEL Presents NEM#168: Clive Nolan (Arena, Pendragon, etc.) Moves Forward Relentlessly from 2022-03-22T17:00
Clive is a keyboardist, orchestrator, singer, and composer of three musicals and several concept albums as a solo artist or collaborator. He's played with Pendragon since 1986 and has led the ba...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 289: Aesthetic Sense Theory: Hume (Part Two) from 2022-03-21T12:39:44
We get into more detail on David Hume's "The Standard of Taste" (1760). How does he resolve the paradox that it seems both that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, yet some judgments about bea...
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Ep. 289: Aesthetic Sense Theory: Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Hume (Part One) from 2022-03-14T15:57:24
How do we know what opinions about beauty are correct? We read The Moralists: A Philosophical Rhapsody (1709) by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, aka the third Earl of Shaftesbury, Part III secti...
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PEL Presents (SUB)TEXT: Finding Home in Stephen Spielberg’s “E.T.” from 2022-03-13T13:00
Stephen Spielberg once said that he was “still waiting to get out of [his] Peter Pan shoes and into [his] loafers.” Being a filmmaker, he said, was his way of remaining a child. Sort of. While h...
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PEL Presents PvI#28: Enhanced Interrogation w/ Adal Rifai from 2022-03-11T18:00
Today's episode is about questioning: how one might question, what sets the parameters for a proper answer, and how to give those answers in an informative and/or dramatically effective way. Wat...
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PEL Presents PMP#118: Adapting Agatha Christie from 2022-03-09T18:00
In light of Death on the Nile, we discuss the continuing appearance of the works of the world's most successful mystery writer in film and TV.
Mark is joined by repeat guests Listen
PEL Presents NEM#167: David Christian (Comet Gain) Sings for the Awkward and the Wayward from 2022-03-08T05:00
David has released 8 albums and some EPs as the London-based Comet Gain since 1994, putting out l...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 288: Scruton on Ethical Art (Part Two) from 2022-03-07T04:51:05
Concluding on Beauty (2009). Why would we be attracted to beauty if on Scruton's account it takes so much work? We consider the form/function distinction as it applies to architecture a...
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Ep. 288: Scruton on Ethical Art (Part One) from 2022-02-28T13:36:32
On Roger Scruton's Beauty (2009), ch. 5-9. Scruton argues against aesthetic relativism on moral grounds: That the "flight from beauty" in modern art and the crassness of popular art den...
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PEL Presents PMP#117: Roguelikes Like Hades from 2022-02-27T21:27:21
Supergiant's Hades is now the first video game ever to have won a Hugo award and has set a ...
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PEL Presents PvI#27: Normaliticitizationism w/ Andrew Lavin from 2022-02-27T18:00
We are joined by the young purveyor of the Reductio podcast, who wrote his dissertation on normality, w...
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PEL Presents NEM#166: L. Shankar's World of Violin and Voice from 2022-02-22T18:00
Shankar played with John McLaughlin in Shakti in the mid-70s and has released over 25 solo album...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 287: Roger Scruton on Beauty (Part Two) from 2022-02-21T05:29:20
Continuing on Beauty (2009), ch. 1-4. Does apprehending beauty really have to involve reason, or can it be merely sensory?
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PEL Presents PMP#116: Good Grief! Peanuts Persists from 2022-02-15T18:00
Animator/musician David Heatley, comedian Listen
Ep. 287: Roger Scruton on Beauty (Part One) from 2022-02-14T13:52:33
On Beauty (2009), ch. 1-4. What truths about beauty does any theory of beauty have to acknowledge? Scruton argues that appreciating beauty is a cognitive act: something we argue about, ...
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PEL Presents NEM#165: Paula Cole Beautifully Picks at Wounds from 2022-02-10T18:00
The Grammy winner and 90s hitmaker has released 10 studio albums since 1994 after backing Peter Gabriel on his Secret World tour in the early '90s.
We discuss "Blues in Gray" from Listen
NEM#165: Paula Cole Beautifully Picks at Wounds from 2022-02-10T18:00
The Grammy winner and 90s hitmaker has released 10 studio albums since 1994 after backing Peter Gabriel on his Secret World tour in the early '90s.
We discuss "Blues in Gray" from Listen
REISSUE-Ep 16: Arthur Danto on Art (w/ New Intro) from 2022-02-07T15:44:45
We newly introduce the classic 2010 episode on Danto's "The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art," "The Appreciation and Interpretation of Works of Art," and "The End of Art" (1986).
W...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 286: Malebranche on Causality and Theology (Part Three) from 2022-02-07T03:39:52
Concluding on On Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), with consideration of his explanation for why we can't prove the existence of the external world, but that we can reasonab...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 286: Malebranche on Causality and Theology (Part Two) from 2022-01-31T06:38:51
Continuing on Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), dialogue 7 where he gets into his occasionalist theory of causality. How does this relate to mind-body interaction and concep...
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PEL Presents NEM#164: James McMurtry Doesn't Have to Make Sense from 2022-01-26T18:00
The legendary Texas singer-songwriter has put out 10 studio albums since 1989.
We discuss "If It Don't Bleed" (and listen to "Blackberry Winter") from Listen
Ep. 286: Malebranche on Causality and Theology (Part One) from 2022-01-24T03:48:39
On Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), dialogues 5-7.
We get clearer on M's rationalist epistemology and into his occasionalist theory of causality. Is M's theory as ar...
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PEL Presents PvI#24: Game Time w/ C. Thi Nguyen from 2022-01-19T18:00
The philosopher of games joins us for a frustration game. What is a game, anyway? We ask dumb questions on a museum tour.
Mark philosophizes at Listen
PREMIUM-Ep. 285: Nicolas Malebranche on Knowledge (Part Two) from 2022-01-17T13:23:03
Continuing on Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), ch. 1-4. We talk about the character of the intelligible world, how we generate general concepts, the existence of God, seein...
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Ep. 285: Nicolas Malebranche on Knowledge (Part One) from 2022-01-10T04:46:26
On Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), ch. 1-4. We walk through M's rationalist (post-Descartes, pre-Leibniz) epistemology with its surprising implications for the metaphysics...
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PEL Special: Nightcap New Year's Party to Welcome 2022 from 2022-01-03T08:18:09
Welcome to an extra special, intentionally public edition of Nightcap to catch you up on what Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan are all up to personally and intellectually and hash out what we want to ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 284: Mark Twain’s Philosophy of Human Nature (Part Two) from 2021-12-27T05:21:17
Continuing on "What Is Man" (1905). We work through Twain's metaphors for human nature, say what he means by "instinct," contemplate his notion of identity and why he thinks you are apparently d...
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Ep. 284: Mark Twain’s Philosophy of Human Nature (Part One) from 2021-12-20T05:05:15
On "What Is Man" (1905). Twain describes a person as a machine. We have no free will and always act to win our own self-approval. This was a bleak enough picture that the essay was not printed u...
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Philosophy vs. Improv #21: Sentient Garage from 2021-12-15T18:39:22
The scene is its own entity. What else might be its own entity? Can a machine that passes the Turing test know what it's like to be a bat? We bring in emotions from irrelevant contexts, and we k...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 283: Alain Badiou on Love (Part Two) from 2021-12-13T11:38:55
Continuing on "What Is Love?" (1992). We consider B's account of love as resolution of a paradox: The positions of man and woman in no way overlap, yet all truth is generic, i.e. accessible to e...
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PEL Presents PMP #111: Our Beatles Love-Fest from 2021-12-12T18:00
Mark is joined by musician David Brookings, Listen
PEL Presents PvI#20: The "Other" Story w/ Jenny Hansen from 2021-12-11T18:00
What is "othering"? Why did Bill get such a bad grade? Is it because of his feather quill pen? Our first real philosophy professor g...
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PEL Presents (SUB)TEXT: Attachments "Die Hard" at Nakatomi Tower from 2021-12-11T18:00
It’s a Christmas movie, some say, and in the end the holiday classic “Let it Snow” plays over the credits. But what counts as snow in the final scenes is a confetti of smoke, debris, and million...
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PEL Presents PvI#21: Sentient Garage from 2021-12-11T18:00
The scene is its own entity. What else might be its own entity? Can a machine that passes the Turing test know what it's like to be a bat? We bring in emotions from irrelevant contexts, and we k...
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Ep. 283: Alain Badiou on Love (Part One) from 2021-12-06T04:53:52
On "What Is Love," which is ch. 11 of Conditions (1992). We see what it means to call love a "truth pro...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 282: Alain Badiou: What Is Philosophy? (Part Two) from 2021-11-29T06:00:06
Continuing on Conditions, "The (Re)turn of Philosophy Itself."
What makes philosophy possible? The four "conditions," i.e. mathematics, politics, art, and love, generate the trut...
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PEL Presents PMP#110: The Dune Franchise Tries Again from 2021-11-29T04:00
Mark is joined by Brian Hirt, Erin Conrad, and Brian Casey to discuss the new film, the old ones, and the book series. Is it really adaptable given the deep lore and the vast time jumps?
...
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PEL Presents PvI#18: Utopias w/ Jill Bernard and Michelle Gilliam from 2021-11-28T14:30
Featuring TWO guest improvisers, Jill, co-founder of HUGE Theater and her friend Michelle, owner of
Ep. 282: Alain Badiou: What Is Philosophy? (Part One) from 2021-11-22T04:02:47
On Conditions (1992), Ch. 1 "The (Re)turn of Philosophy Itself."
Against post-structuralists who deny Truth, Badiou argues that truths are generated by the truth conditions (poli...
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PEL Presents PMP#109: Dueling in Film from 2021-11-20T18:00
In light of the release of The Last Duel, we talk about the trope of th...
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PEL Presents (SUB)TEXT: Mad as Hell in "Network" (1976) from 2021-11-19T18:00
Diana Christensen is a television executive in search of an angry show—something that articulates the rage of the average viewer. In Howard Beale, failed newscast...
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PEL Presents NEM#159: Steve Bartek (Oingo Boingo) Is a Writer, Not Just an Arranger from 2021-11-17T18:00
Steve is best known as guitarist/arranger for Oingo Boingo through their eight albums from 1981-1995 and for following its leader Danny Elfman into a life creating movie soundtracks. However, hi...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 281: Paul Feyerabend's Anarchist Philosophy of Science (Part Two) from 2021-11-15T03:30:43
Continuing on Against Method (1975) about the non-rational progress of science.
Given that according to F., epistemological conformity can't proceed by an appeal to reason, how d...
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Ep. 281: Paul Feyerabend's Anarchist Philosophy of Science (Part One) from 2021-11-08T04:38:04
On Against Method (1975). In dialogue with Lakatos, Feyerabend claimed that sci...
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PEL Presents PMP/NEM: The Music of Your Youth w/ Jon Lamoreaux from 2021-11-07T18:17:02
To what degree to our childhood favorites persist into adulthood? Are we doomed to love the songs of our generation best? What causes the generation gap in musical tastes?
Your host Mark ...
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PEL Presents PvI#17: The Imitation Game (with Toaster) from 2021-11-06T17:00
Riffing on resemblance. Eventually invoking the spirit of a toaster. Mark is wrong: the God Emperor of Dune can't drink water at all, just dried food.
Mark philosophizes at Listen
PEL Presents (SUB)TEXT: Autonomy and Incest in Sophocles’s “Oedipus Rex” from 2021-11-05T17:00
His first claim to fame was the solution to a riddle that earned him a kingdom by sheer force of intellect. His second was a doomed attempt to escape the particularly gruesome fates of patricid...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 280: Imre Lakatos on Scientific Progress (Part Two) from 2021-11-01T12:28:14
Continuing on "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes" (1970).
We distinguish various kinds of falsificationism and give more details about Lakatos' concept o...
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Ep. 280: Imre Lakatos on Scientific Progress (Part One) from 2021-10-25T03:56:11
On "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes" (1970).
In what way is scientific progress rational? Lakatos splits the difference between Popper and Kuhn to argu...
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PEL Presents PvI#16: The Legend of Kermit's Gold w/ Tim Sniffen from 2021-10-24T17:00
Do you believe in miracles? If doctors believed in miracles, would they just let surgeries finish themselves? Do assumptions of a logical universe make it not just unjustified by psychologically...
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PEL Presents NEM#158: Dar Williams: Songs as Thought Processes from 2021-10-22T17:00
Dar has released 11 albums on labels since 1993 of highly literate, introspective folk-pop songs. We discuss "Berkeley" (and listen to "Today and Everyday") from Listen
PREMIUM-Ep. 279: Aristotle's "Categories" of Being (Part Two) from 2021-10-18T12:28:19
Continuing on the Categories, considering artifacts, social construction in cutting up the world, different kinds of properties, and more.
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Ep. 279: Aristotle's "Categories" of Being (Part One) from 2021-10-11T03:21:22
On the Categories (ca. 350 BCE), which purports to describe all the types of entities that exist. We mostly talk about substances, as A's presentation raises interesting questions about, e.g. th...
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PEL Presents PMP#107: Cult Bands and Cultish Fans from 2021-10-10T17:00
Mark Linsenmayer is joined by Tim Quirk of Too Much Joy, Aaron David Gleason, ...
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PEL Presents Philosophy vs. Improv #14: Action Idealism! from 2021-10-07T17:00
Are so-called "material objects" really just a scam? These two cut-ups (Bill and Mark) cut up the world in various ways, showing you how to teach, how to act, and how to haggle.
Mark phil...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 278: Derrick Bell on the Dynamics of Racism (Part Two) from 2021-10-04T05:15:47
Continuing on Faces At the Bottom of the Well (1992), with guest Lawrence Ware. We discuss "The Racial Preference Licensing Act" (ch. 3).
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PEL Presents NEM#156: Emma-Jean Thackray's Modern Mix of Jazz, R&B, and More from 2021-09-28T17:00
Emma-Jean is a trumpeter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and techie who runs her own label. She's had five releases since 2016. We discuss "Say Something" (and listen at the end to "Spectre" fr...
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Ep. 278: Derrick Bell on the Dynamics of Racism (Part One) from 2021-09-27T06:17:56
On Faces At the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism (1992), a foundational text in critical race theory that presents thought experiments in the philosophy of law, including "T...
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PEL Presents PMP#105: The Death of Soap Operas (Is Greatly Exaggerated) from 2021-09-26T07:00
Mark is joined by novelist Sarahlyn Bruck and playwright Kayla Dryesse Listen
PEL Presents (sub)Text: Sex and Tech in "Alien" by Ridley Scott from 2021-09-25T17:00
The Nostromo is a labyrinthine spaceship, a hulking ore refinery run on a sophisticated computer operating system and manned by a crew of seven. But somehow it’s ...
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PEL Presents PvI#11: The Trolley Opportunity from 2021-09-23T17:00
Bill gets to have the power of live and death, with a bit of moral luck. Is he enthused?
Mark philosophizes at Listen
REISSUE-Ep 36: Hegel on the Social Dimension of Self-Consciousness from 2021-09-20T11:00
For our final 2021 installment on G.W.F. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, we give you a second episode originally posted in 2011, where Mark and Seth continue from Listen
REISSUE-Ep 35: Hegel on Self-Consciousness (w/ New Intro) from 2021-09-13T14:15:57
We re-introduce an episode from ten years ago that's long been behind our paywall on G.F.W. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Ch. 4A, "Self-Consciousness," which features guest Tom McDon...
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PEL Presents NEM#155: Melvin Gibbs Protests w/ Bass, Jazz Composition, Production, Sound Design from 2021-09-13T01:00
Melvin has played bass on over 200 albums since 1980 in the worlds of jazz, rock, and hip-hop, and has numerous songwriting credits, playing with Defunkt, Arto Lindsay, Henry Rollins, Bernie Wor...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Dead Wall Reveries in "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville from 2021-09-11T17:00
Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” is subtitled a “Story of Wall St.,” yet there is almost nothing in it of the bustle of city life, and entirely nothing in it of the hustle of the trading floo...
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PEL Presents PMP#104: King Arthur Reigns O'er Pop Culture from 2021-09-09T17:00
With the recent theatrical release of The Green Knight, Mark and Brian along with Den ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 277: Hegel on Our Understanding of Physics (Part Two) from 2021-09-06T12:57:11
Continuing on The Phenomenology of Spirit, ch. 3, "Force and the Understanding."
We start off by considering the players in force: the thing exerting the force and the thing rece...
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Ep. 277: Hegel on Our Understanding of Physics (Part One) from 2021-08-30T04:11:25
On The Phenomenology of Spirit, ch. 3, "Force and the Understanding."
What is "force" as physics describes it? And scientific law? Do these terms denote objects in the world, or ...
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PEL Presents PMP#103: Queering Video Games w/ Naomi Clark from 2021-08-30T02:00
"Queering" doesn't just mean adding LGBTQ+ representation to games; it's disruption of norms through added player freedom.
Mark and guest co-host Tyler engage game designer Listen
PEL Special: Nightcap Early September 2021 from 2021-08-29T17:00
A little political ranting precedes a consideration of what we might read in aesthetics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of sport. What do we remember about emotions? Finally, Seth's morbi...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Cursed Kids or Psych-Au Pair? "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James from 2021-08-28T17:00
The story begins and ends with two variations on the meaning of the title. On the one hand, to give another turn of the screw is to ratchet up the horror of a good ghost story, in this case by i...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 276: Hegel on Perception (Part Two) from 2021-08-23T03:07:17
Focusing on The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), ch. 2 "Perception."
Hegel's critique of the adequacy of perceptual knowledge has metaphysical aspects: The relation of substance t...
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PEL Presents NEM#154: Chris Connelly (ex-Revolting Cocks/Ministry): From Apocalyptic Industrials to Poets in Love from 2021-08-20T17:00
Chris started in the Scottish electronic band Finitribe in the early '80s and then moved to Chicago in 1988, doing stints in Revolting Cocks, Ministry, Pigface, et al, before embarking on a 23-a...
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PEL Presents PMP#102: What the Pop? Season 1 Wrap-Up from 2021-08-19T17:00
After 101 episodes and a bit over two years, Mark, Erica, and Brian reflect on what we've learned and set a course for the future. What have we determined about how and why we consume? What's th...
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Ep. 276: Hegel on Perception (Part One) from 2021-08-16T03:17:34
On The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), ch. 1 "Sense Certainty" and ch. 2 "Perception."
We walk through the first step in considering Hegel's dialectical analysis of theories of k...
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PEL Presents Philosophy vs. Improv #7: Meritocracy Now! from 2021-08-15T19:00
Does it make sense to try to have everyone get what they "deserve"? Your hosts Mark Linsenmayer and Bill Arnett (Chicago Improv Studio) act out th...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Gentility and Injustice in "Gone with the Wind" (1939) from 2021-08-14T17:00
Gone with the Wind— adjusted for inflation, the highest-grossing film in American history— has undergone several critical reappraisals in the 82 years since its p...
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PEL Presents NEM#153: Steve Kilbey (The Church) Reveals the Secrets to Being Prolific from 2021-08-13T17:00
Steve has written over 1000 songs across 17 Church albums starting in 1980, 13 solo albums and numerous collaborations. His style is theatrical and psychedelic, and his lyrics aim for "maximum a...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 275: Hegel's Project in the "Phenomenology of Spirit" (Part Two) from 2021-08-09T03:04:10
Continuing on the Introduction, we get into more detail on Hegel's goal and his tricky terminology.
If you're not hearing Listen
Ep. 275: Hegel's Project in the "Phenomenology of Spirit" (Part One) from 2021-08-02T10:00
On G.W.F. Hegel's 1807 opus: A series of treatments of various theories in epistemology (among other things), seeing how they're internally incoherent, which then moves us to more sophisticated ...
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PEL Presents PMP#101: The "Conjuring" Retroverse from 2021-08-01T17:00
Mark, Erica, and Brian delve into this 8-film horror franchise started by James Wan in 2013 through The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Do their demons scare us, and do their Cathol...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Realism as Cruelty in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) by Tennessee Williams from 2021-07-30T17:00
In the transition from stage to screen, A Streetcar Named Desire retained its long-running Broadway cast with a single exception: the role of Blanche Dubois, which passed from Jessica T...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 274: Schelling on Self-Consciousness (Part Two) from 2021-07-26T09:00
Concluding on Schelling’s System of Transcendental Idealism (1800), Parts 1 and 2.
What sort of self is created in the act of self-consciousness that according to Schelling groun...
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PEL Presents NEM#152: Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) Builds His Capacity from 2021-07-23T17:00
Glen led smooth alt rock legends Toad the Wet Sprocket from '88 to '97 through six albums, has released 7 often folky solo albums (and 3 more Toad albums since their reunion) since then plus var...
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Philosophy vs. Improv: An Introductory Trailer from 2021-07-22T17:00
What is Philosophy vs. Improv? Hear about the new podcast by Mark Linsenmayer (The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast) and Bill Arnett (<...
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Ep. 274: Schelling on Self-Consciousness (Part One) from 2021-07-19T08:00
On Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling’s System of Transcendental Idealism (1800), Parts 1 and 2.
What is self-consciousness, and how did Schelling think that it grounds all of kn...
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PEL Presents PMP#100: Directing Comedies w/ Heather Fink from 2021-07-19T03:00
Director/writer/sound operator Heather Fink joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to discuss the role of the directo...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Prestidigitocracy in "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) from 2021-07-18T17:00
The Wizard of Oz is supposed by the land’s inhabitants to be its most powerful magician. But far from having any actual power, he is not even native to the place ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 273: Friedrich Schelling's Foundationalist Idealism (Part Two) from 2021-07-12T08:00
Continuing on the Introduction to Friedrich Schelling's System of Transcendental Idealism (1800), focusing on the harmony between mind and world and imputing intelligence to nature.
... Listen
PREMIUM-Ep. 273: Friedrich Schelling's Foundationalist Idealism (Part Two) from 2021-07-12T08:00
Continuing on the Introduction to Friedrich Schelling's System of Transcendental Idealism (1800), focusing on the harmony between mind and world and imputing intelligence to nature.
... Listen
Ep. 273: Friedrich Schelling's Foundationalist Idealism (Part One) from 2021-07-05T05:28:58
On Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling’s System of Transcendental Idealism (1800).
What's the relationship between mind and world? Schelling thought that our minds produce the wor...
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PEL Presents NEM#151: Cathal Coughlan (Fatima Mansions, Microdisney): Pyschogeographic Tales from 2021-07-05T04:30
Cathal started in Ireland in 1980 with Microdisney, and after five albums with then broke that up to form Fatima Mansions in 1988. After seven albums with them, he started a solo career and has ...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Formulated Phrases in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”: Part 2 from 2021-07-04T17:00
Wes & Erin continue their analysis of T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” In Part 1, they covered roughly the first third of the poem. In Part 2, they begin with a discussion of...
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PEL Presents PMP #97: The Girl in the Wooder: Our Mare of Easttown Show! from 2021-06-29T17:00
What distinguishes this small-town Pennsylvania murder mystery from the many other crime dramas on TV? Mark, Erica, and Brian discuss the plot structure, casting, and other creative choices and ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 272: Fichte's Idealist Theology (Part Two) from 2021-06-28T08:00
Continuing on The Vocation of Man (1799), Book II.
We focus on how ethics fits in with Fichte's epistemology in a unified theology with humans literally united (in this world or ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 272: Fichte's Idealist Theology (Part Two) from 2021-06-28T08:00
Continuing on The Vocation of Man (1799), Book II.
We focus on how ethics fits in with Fichte's epistemology in a unified theology with humans literally united (in this world or ...
Listen
Ep. 272: Fichte's Idealist Theology (Part One) from 2021-06-21T08:00
Our second full discussion on The Vocation of Man (1799).
What are the ethical implications of believing that the world is all in our minds? You could be a solipsistic nihilist, ...
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PEL Presents NEM#150: Josh Caterer (Smoking Popes): Punk + 40s Melodies (+ Occasional Jesus) from 2021-06-21T04:30
Josh released three albums and some EPs in the 90s with his brothers as the Chicago-area punk band Smoking Popes, then became a Christian and released an album and a half as Duvall, then reforme...
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PEL Presents: (sub)Text: Disturbing the Universe in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot from 2021-06-20T17:00
It was T. S. Eliot’s first published poem. Written when he was only in his early 20s, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” rode the crest of the wave of literary Modernism, predated World War I...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 271: Johan Gottlieb Fichte's Transcendental Idealism (Part Two) from 2021-06-14T09:00
Continuing on The Vocation of Man (1799), Book II.
In this preview, we clarify whether Fichte is trying to keep the notion of a "real world" beyond our experience or not. It's pa...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 271: Johan Gottlieb Fichte's Transcendental Idealism (Part Two) from 2021-06-14T09:00
Continuing on The Vocation of Man (1799), Book II.
In this preview, we clarify whether Fichte is trying to keep the notion of a "real world" beyond our experience or not. It's pa...
Listen
Ep. 271: Johan Gottlieb Fichte's Transcendental Idealism (Part One) from 2021-06-07T07:00
On The Vocation of Man (1799), Books I and II. What is reality?
Fichte's armchair journey starts him considering nature and thus himself as determined, but then he backtracks to ...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: At Home with War in "Apocalypse Now" (1979) by Francis Ford Coppola from 2021-06-06T17:00
Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore doesn’t flinch for enemy fire, loves the smell of napalm in the morning, and would literally kill for good surfing and a beachside...
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PEL Presents NEM#149: Rod Abernethy's Return to Acoustic (from Video Game Soundtracks) from 2021-06-04T17:00
Rod released his first album "Solo" in 1975, played in some bands, but after losing on Star Search, turned to soundtrack work, emerging only in 2018 with three straight albums of acoustic singer...
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PEL Presents PMP#94: Psychology of Video Game Engagement w/ Jamie Madigan from 2021-06-03T17:00
Why do people play video games, and what keeps them playing? Mark, Erica, and Brian are joined by the host of the Listen
PREMIUM-Ep. 270: Classical Indian (Vedanta and Nyaya) Design Arguments for God (Part Two) from 2021-05-31T07:00
Continuing (without Stephen Phillips) on God and the World’s Arrangement: Readings from Vedanta and Nyaya Philosophy of Religion. What does this treatment give us that's fundamentally d...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 270: Classical Indian (Vedanta and Nyaya) Design Arguments for God (Part Two) from 2021-05-31T07:00
Continuing (without Stephen Phillips) on God and the World’s Arrangement: Readings from Vedanta and Nyaya Philosophy of Religion. What does this treatment give us that's fundamentally d...
Listen
Ep. 270: Classical Indian (Vedanta and Nyaya) Design Arguments for God w/ Stephen Phillips (Part One) from 2021-05-24T07:00
On God and the World's Arrangement: Readings from Vedanta and Nyaya Philosophy of Religion with one of its translators, Listen
PEL Presents NEM#148: David Cross (ex-King Crimson): Electric Violin Dinosaur Battles from 2021-05-22T17:00
David played in perhaps the most revered line-up of King Crimson at the end of its original run from '72-'74. He released his first "solo" album (as Low Flying Aircraft) in '87, then eight more ...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Unsound Methods in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” from 2021-05-20T17:00
On his journey to the heart of the Congo, Marlow learns of a famed ivory trader named Kurtz— a remarkable man; a “universal genius;” a painter, poet, and musician; a man whose success in his tra...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 269: Arendt on Totalitarianism (Part Two) from 2021-05-17T08:00
Continuing on two of Hannah Arendt's 1953 essays on totalitarianism. We further discuss its logic and in the full episode get into its relevance for contemporary political movements.
To h...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 269: Arendt on Totalitarianism (Part Two) from 2021-05-17T08:00
Continuing on two of Hannah Arendt's 1953 essays on totalitarianism. We further discuss its logic and in the full episode get into its relevance for contemporary political movements.
To h...
Listen
PEL Presents PMP#92: Collectibles and Collecting w/ Matt Young from 2021-05-11T17:00
What drives someone to collect Star Wars figures or Transformers or LEGOs or whatever else?
Mark, Erica, and Brian are joined by guest Matt Young of the Listen
Ep. 269: Arendt on Totalitarianism (Part One) from 2021-05-10T08:00
On "On the Nature of Totalitarianism" and On the Origins of Totalitarianism ch. 13 (both from 1953).
Is totalitarianism just an especially virulent form of tyranny, or something ...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: On the Lam with “Thelma & Louise” from 2021-05-09T17:00
Two women—one a straight-laced waitress, the other a naive housewife—leave town for a quiet weekend getaway. But after a deadly encounter with a rapist, the two b...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 268: Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" (Part Two) from 2021-05-03T06:00
Continuing on Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business with guest Brian Hirt. Is the written word really so much more suited for providing context than t...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 268: Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" (Part Two) from 2021-05-03T06:00
Continuing on Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business with guest Brian Hirt. Is the written word really so much more suited for providing context than t...
Listen
PEL Presents NEM#146: Nels Cline Writes Fusion (And Plays Guitar for Wilco) from 2021-05-01T17:00
Though best known as lead guitarist for Wilco since 2004, Nels has recorded 30+ instrumental albums, often as band leader. We discuss "Headdress" by The Nels Cline Singers from Listen
Ep. 268: Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" (Part One) from 2021-04-26T08:00
On Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985) with guest Brian Hirt.
How does the form in which we receive media affect how we think? Educati...
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PEL Presents PMP#90: Godzilla vs. Kong vs. All the Kaiju! from 2021-04-25T03:00
Are giant monsters stomping on cities just stupid fun, or do they channel deep fears of helplessness? Do we care at all about the humans in these films? Are they legit sci-fi or political commen...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Spiritual Matters in Chekhov's "The Student" and "A Medical Case" from 2021-04-24T19:00
In Chekhov’s stories, beautiful natural surroundings are often a setting for unnatural lives and ugly social conditions. This sets the stage for a reflection on the relationship between physical...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 267: Avicenna on God and Soul w/ Peter Adamson (Part Two) from 2021-04-19T08:00
Continuing on Avicenna's arguments for the existence of God and on the soul's immateriality. What metaphysical and epistemological picture grounds these views?
To hear the full Listen
PREMIUM-Ep. 267: Avicenna on God and Soul w/ Peter Adamson (Part Two) from 2021-04-19T08:00
Continuing on Avicenna's arguments for the existence of God and on the soul's immateriality. What metaphysical and epistemological picture grounds these views?
To hear the full Listen
PEL Presents PMP#89: The Chicago 7 (and the Aaron Sorkinverse) from 2021-04-14T17:00
Brian, Erica, and Mark consider one of this year's Oscar-nominated films, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and the film and TV career of its writer/director Aaron Sorkin. We get into The...
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Ep. 267: Avicenna on God and Soul w/ Peter Adamson (Part One) from 2021-04-12T12:57:27
On selections and commentary about Avicenna's argument from around 1020 C.E. for the existence of God as a necessary being, plus arguments to prove that God has the person-like properties that I...
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PEL Presents PMP#88: Indie Animation w/ Benjamin Goldman from 2021-04-11T19:00
Animation is so labor-intensive that it seems designed for corporate domination a la Disney. Mark, Erica, and Brian are joined by animator Listen
PEL Presents NEM#144: Dennis Davison (The Jigsaw Seen): How Much Is Enough? from 2021-04-10T19:00
Dennis fronted the Baltimore punk band Ebenezer and The Bludgeons in the late 70s, and after some transitional projects moved to L.A. where his '60s-ish guitar pop band The Jigsaw Seen released ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 266: Jonathan Lear's Plato: Psyche and Society (Part Two) from 2021-04-05T07:00
Continuing on Lear's Open Minded: Working Out the Logic of the Soul (1988). Our highlight is about the relation between the three parts of the soul: which (if any) is basic?
To h...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 266: Jonathan Lear's Plato: Psyche and Society (Part Two) from 2021-04-05T07:00
Continuing on Lear's Open Minded: Working Out the Logic of the Soul (1988). Our highlight is about the relation between the three parts of the soul: which (if any) is basic?
To h...
Listen
Ep. 266: Jonathan Lear's Plato: Psyche and Society (Part One) from 2021-03-29T08:00
On essays from Lear's Open Minded: Working Out the Logic of the Soul (1988): "Inside and Outside the Republic," "Eros and Unknowing: The Psychoanalytic Significance of Plato’s Symposium...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Nipped by Love in Chekhov's "The Lady with the Little Dog" from 2021-03-28T19:00
Dmitri Gurov does not take love seriously. His wife annoys him, long-term relationships scare him, and his love life consists of brief affairs with women he meets at vacation resorts. In Anna, h...
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PEL Presents NEM#143: In Search of Eric Dover (Imperial Drag, Slash’s Snakepit, etc.) from 2021-03-27T18:00
After joining Jellyfish in 1993 just before its demise, Eric's big break came when he was asked to sing for Slash's Snakepit. He then returned to Roger Manning from Jellyfish for an album as Imp...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 265: Plato's "Phaedo": Philosophy as Training for Death (Part Two) from 2021-03-22T12:57:15
Continuing on the Phaedo, we start with a point from Plato's physics that's supposed to hep prove the immortality of the soul, then lay out his theory of Forms.
To hear the full ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 265: Plato's "Phaedo": Philosophy as Training for Death (Part Two) from 2021-03-22T12:57:15
Continuing on the Phaedo, we start with a point from Plato's physics that's supposed to hep prove the immortality of the soul, then lay out his theory of Forms.
To hear the full ...
Listen
PEL Presents PMP#86: What Irish Means w/ Black 47's Larry Kirwan from 2021-03-19T18:00
St. Patrick's Day has passed: What sort of representation of Ireland has made it to the U.S. through such celebrations? Who gets to decide what's authentically Irish?
Mark, Erica, and Bri...
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Ep. 265: Plato's "Phaedo": Philosophy as Training for Death (Part One) from 2021-03-15T16:10:34
On Plato's middle dialogue depicting the death of Socrates (390 BCE) depicting the death of Socrates. Should philosophers fear death?
In the course of giving arguments for the immortality...
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PEL Presents PMP#85: What the WandaVision!? w/ Rolando Nieves from 2021-03-09T19:00
The debut Disney+ Marvel series is... a tribute to classic sit-coms? Mark, Erica, Brian, and guest Rolan...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 264: Plato's "Timaeus" on Cosmology (Part Two) from 2021-03-08T09:00
Continuing on the Timaeus, we consider some quotes and details starting at the beginning of the dialogue where Plato argues for differences between the perceived, created, impermanent w...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 264: Plato's "Timaeus" on Cosmology (Part Two) from 2021-03-08T09:00
Continuing on the Timaeus, we consider some quotes and details starting at the beginning of the dialogue where Plato argues for differences between the perceived, created, impermanent w...
Listen
PEL Presents NEM#142: Rebecca Rego: This Is Your Life! from 2021-03-07T19:00
Folky, soul-singing Rebecca has had six releases since 2007. We discuss "Mama" from her solo EP, Songs for Clean...
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Ep. 264: Plato's "Timaeus" on Cosmology (Part One) from 2021-03-01T14:15:22
On the later Platonic dialogue from around 360 BCE.
How is nature put together? Plato speaks through the fictional Timaeus (not Socrates) to give a "likely story" about the universe, phys...
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PEL Presents PMP#84: Musician Memoirs w/ Laura Davis-Chanin from 2021-03-01T08:00
Mark, Erica, Brian, and guest memoir author Laura talk about the appeal of this type of book whose production has exploded in recent years. We each read a book, covering Listen
PEL Presents (sub)Text: Business Gets Personal in “The Godfather” from 2021-02-28T19:00
Out of the darkness of the opening frames comes a supplicant— Buonasera the undertaker. He pleads for the justice that the American legal system denied him. As the camera draws back, we see the ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 263: Lise Van Boxel's "Warspeak" on Strategies for Valuing (Part Two) from 2021-02-22T14:29:31
Continuing on Warspeak: Nietzsche's Victory Over Nihilism with guests Jeff Black and Michael Grenke.
To hear this Listen
PREMIUM-Ep. 263: Lise Van Boxel's "Warspeak" on Strategies for Valuing (Part Two) from 2021-02-22T14:29:31
Continuing on Warspeak: Nietzsche's Victory Over Nihilism with guests Jeff Black and Michael Grenke.
To hear this Listen
PEL Presents PMP#83: Disabled and Other-Abled Representation w/ Kayla Dryesse from 2021-02-21T19:00
Media representation of disability needs improvement, as does inclusion of disabled actors and writers. Playwright Kayla joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to talk about hurdles, disability culture, n...
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Ep. 263: Lise Van Boxel's "Warspeak" on Strategies for Valuing (Part One) from 2021-02-15T14:20:04
On Warspeak: Nietzsche's Victory Over Nihilism (2020) with Dylan, Seth, and guests Michael Grenke and Jeff Black.
What's a viable counter-ideal to the asceticism that Nietzsche t...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Love and Nostalgia in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” from 2021-02-14T19:00
Alvy Singer is not, he tells us, a depressive character. It’s just that as a child he always worried that the expanding universe would one day break apart; and as...
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PEL Presents PMP#81: Radio vs. Podcasting w/ Jason Bentley from 2021-02-10T19:00
Jason was music director at KRCW, the LA NPR station, is also a DJ with a lot of experienced ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 262: Nietzsche on Self-Denial (Part Two) from 2021-02-08T16:03:32
More on essay three of Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals on the meaning of ascetic ideals. How does asceticism fit into N's overall morality, and how does he use it to critique scientists...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 262: Nietzsche on Self-Denial (Part Two) from 2021-02-08T16:03:32
More on essay three of Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals on the meaning of ascetic ideals. How does asceticism fit into N's overall morality, and how does he use it to critique scientists...
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Ep. 262: Nietzsche on Self-Denial (Part One) from 2021-02-01T15:05:45
On Friedrich Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morals (1887), "Third essay: what do ascetic ideals mean?"
Self-regulation, where we tamp down certain aspects of our personality, is necessary f...
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PEL Presents PMP#73: Beloved Bad Films w/ Manos' Jackey Neyman Jones from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
What makes a film transcendently bad? A cult classic, as opposed to merely unwatchable? Child Jackey appeared in 1966's Manos: The Hands of Fate, and she joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to...
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PEL Presents PMP#72: Comic Book Supremacy w/ Fred Van Lente from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Fred writes for Marvel and his own Evil Twin Comics, in both non-fiction (e.g. Comic Book History of Animation, Action Philosophers) and stories (e.g. Marvel Zombies, Cowboys vs. Aliens). He eve...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Against Specialization in Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393
Hedda Gabler is not a fan of specialization: not in the professor she has married, and his esoteric scholarly interests; not in domesticity, and the specialized affections required by marriage a...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Yielding to Suggestion in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” from 2021-01-31T19:00
On the moors of medieval Scotland, three witches hail the nobleman Macbeth as the future king—despite the fact that King Duncan is very much alive, and Macbeth is not in line to the throne. At t...
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PEL Presents NEM#140: Larry Keel: Hillbilly Shredder to Singer-Songwriter from 2021-01-30T01:55:27
Larry has appeared on 20+ albums since co-founding Magraw Gap in 1990 and then becoming bandleader on '97. He's known for his lightning flat picking and has more recently added a good dose of so...
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PEL Presents PMP#79: The Fargo Formula w/ Tamler Sommers (Very Bad Wizards Crossover) from 2021-01-27T19:33:23
On the darkly comic '96 film and the 4-season crime show. Mark, Erica, Brian, and Tamler from Listen
PREMIUM-Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part Two) from 2021-01-25T08:00
More on Parfit's Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13. In this preview, we consider how Parfit deals with Bernard Williams' materialist thought experiment to show that the whole concep...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part Two) from 2021-01-25T08:00
More on Parfit's Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13. In this preview, we consider how Parfit deals with Bernard Williams' materialist thought experiment to show that the whole concep...
Listen
Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part One) from 2021-01-18T18:08:21
On Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13. What makes a person persist over time?
After using various sci-fi examples to test the Lockean (personhood=psychological continuity), physicalist...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Clever Hopes in W. H. Auden’s “September 1, 1939” from 2021-01-17T19:00
W. H. Auden hated this poem. He called it the most dishonest he had ever written, and eventually had it excluded from collections of his poetry. And yet it quickly became one of his most popular...
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PEL Presents NEM#139: Don Rauf's Life In A Blender from 2021-01-15T18:18:03
Don started the NY-based Life in a Blender in the late 80s and has put out ten albums of tunes with off-kilter lyrics and increasingly elaborate arrangements. We discuss "The Ocean is a Black an...
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PEL Presents PMP#77: The Big Screen Experience from 2021-01-13T18:58:53
What's the post-COVID future of movie theaters? Mark, Erica, and Brian compare past moviegoing habits and reflect on the big-screen vs. small-screen decision. How would we optimize the theatrica...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 260: Locke on Moral Psychology from 2021-01-11T15:50:50
One last take on John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), covering Book II, ch. 21 and 28.
What makes a moral claim true? Do we have free will? What makes us cho...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 260: Locke on Moral Psychology from 2021-01-11T15:50:50
One last take on John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), covering Book II, ch. 21 and 28.
What makes a moral claim true? Do we have free will? What makes us cho...
Listen
PEL Presents PMP#76: Wonder Women (84 and Others) w/ Vi Burlew from 2021-01-06T21:59:59
Returning heroine Vi (now a grad student in comics history) joins Erica, Mark, and Brian to put the new film in context, bringing in the weird ideas of WW's creator as shown in the 2017 biopic <...
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Ep. 259: Locke Clarifies Misleading Complex Ideas (Part Two) from 2021-01-04T14:58:30
More on Book II (ch. 22-33) of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
On relations, then personal identity, with more on substances (spiritual and material), the var...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: The “Human Position” of Suffering in W.H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” from 2021-01-03T19:00
As war loomed in Europe, the poet W.H. Auden left Britain for the United States. One of the poems he wrote just before leaving is about the nature of human suffering—or as Auden puts it, the “hu...
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Ep. 259: Locke Clarifies Misleading Complex Ideas (Part One) from 2020-12-28T08:00
On Book II (ch. 22-33) of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689).
Simple ideas get complex quickly when you put them into words, and can give rise to various ph...
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Mark Lint's PEL Network Holiday Party 2020: Merry Chatting and Songs from 2020-12-24T18:00
Join the office party, where Mark holds mini conversations on philosophy, art, and life with all PEL and PMP co-hosts, plus ...
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PEL Presents PMP#74: Micro Comedy w/ Tiffany Topol from 2020-12-22T17:36:24
What has the Internet done to comedy? Tiffany, purveyor of social media bits and song parodies, joins Erica, Mark, and...
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REISSUE-PEL Ep 37: Locke on Political Power (w/ New Intro) from 2020-12-21T14:36:20
A 2011 episode on John Locke's Second Treatise on Government (1690), with a fresh introduction connecting it to the present.
What makes political power legitimate? Like Hobbes, L...
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Ep. 258: Locke on Acquiring Simple Ideas (Part Two) from 2020-12-15T19:53:58
Continuing on Book II (through ch. 20) of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689).
How do we acquire our ideas of pain and pleasure, duration and motion? We talk...
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Ep. 258: Locke on Acquiring Simple Ideas (Part One) from 2020-12-07T08:00
On the first half of Book II of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689).
How do we get our ideas? Simple ideas must come in through perception, but this doesn't just mean...
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Ep. 257: Locke Against Innate Ideas (Part Two) from 2020-11-30T08:00
Continuing on Book I of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689).
We consider Locke's arguments that since there are no universally agreed upon principles, theref...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: Order and Innocence in Melville's "Billy Budd" from 2020-11-27T08:00
Bill Budd is a beautiful man. Not just good looking, but exquisitely good natured, something that costs him no effort and has required no instruction. And yet it is ultimately his beautiful soul...
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Ep. 257: Locke Against Innate Ideas (Part One) from 2020-11-23T08:00
On Book I of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689).
How do we know things? Locke thought all knowledge comes from experience, and this might seem uncontroversi...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 256: Kropotkin's Anarchist Communism (Part Two) from 2020-11-16T08:00
Mark, Wes, Dylan, Seth get into specific points and textual passages from Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread (1892).
In this preview, we start by considering that Kropotkin ...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 256: Kropotkin's Anarchist Communism (Part Two) from 2020-11-16T08:00
Mark, Wes, Dylan, Seth get into specific points and textual passages from Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread (1892).
In this preview, we start by considering that Kropotkin ...
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Ep. 256: Kropotkin's Anarchist Communism (Part One) from 2020-11-09T08:00
On Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread (1892).
If we want an egalitarian society, do we need the state to accomplish this? Kropotkin says no, that in fact the state inevitabl...
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PEL Presents (sub)Text: The American Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby" from 2020-11-08T19:00
We all know this story, in part because it captures a period that will always have a special place in the American imagination. Prosperous and boozy, the Jazz Age seemed like one great party, he...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 255: Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" (Part Two) from 2020-11-02T14:36:04
If you'd like to hear more of the discussion on Sun Tzu that we started in part one, y...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 255: Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" (Part Two) from 2020-11-02T14:36:04
If you'd like to hear more of the discussion on Sun Tzu that we started in part one, y...
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Ep. 255: Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" (Part One) from 2020-10-26T06:00
On the Chinese military treatise from around the 5th century BCE.
How does a philosopher wage war? The best kind of war can be won without fighting. The general qua Taoist sage never move...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 254: Michael Sandel Against Meritocracy (Part Two) from 2020-10-19T06:00
Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth continue the discussion on The Tyranny of Merit to talk further about how social values can and do change, and whether these changes can be engineered in the w...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 254: Michael Sandel Against Meritocracy (Part Two) from 2020-10-19T06:00
Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth continue the discussion on The Tyranny of Merit to talk further about how social values can and do change, and whether these changes can be engineered in the w...
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Ep. 254: Michael Sandel Interview: Against Meritocracy (Part One) from 2020-10-12T06:00
On The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? (2020).
Do people get the wealth and status they deserve? And if they did, would that be good? Michael critiques the meritocracy...
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PREVIEW-Ep. 253: Leibniz on the Problem of Evil (Part Two) from 2020-10-05T06:00
If you'd like to hear more of the discussion on Gottfried Leibniz’s Theodicy that we started in Listen
PEL Presents (sub)Text: Worrying about the Future in Mike Nichols' “The Graduate” from 2020-10-04T19:00
Benjamin Braddock is a little worried about his future. He’s a recent college graduate who moves back in with his upper-middle-class parents and feels smothered by their vapid, materialistic lif...
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Ep. 253: Leibniz on the Problem of Evil (Part One) from 2020-09-28T07:00
On Gottfried Leibniz’s Theodicy (1710).
Why does God allow so many bad things to happen? Leibniz thought that by the definition of God, whatever He created must be the best of al...
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PEL Special: Nightcap Late September 2020 from 2020-09-21T16:09:47
We're releasing JUST THIS ONE Nightcap to the wider public so induce you all to go support us and so gain...
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PREMIUM-Ep. 252: Habermas on Communication as Sociality (Part Two) from 2020-09-21T11:00
If you'd like to hear more of the discussion on Jürgen Habermas' "Actions, Speech Acts, Linguistically Mediated Interactions, and the Lifeworld" (1998) that we started in Listen
PREMIUM-Ep. 252: Habermas on Communication as Sociality (Part Two) from 2020-09-21T11:00
If you'd like to hear more of the discussion on Jürgen Habermas' "Actions, Speech Acts, Linguistically Mediated Interactions, and the Lifeworld" (1998) that we started in Listen
Ep. 252: Habermas on Communication as Sociality (Part One) from 2020-09-14T12:00
On Jürgen Habermas' "Actions, Speech Acts, Linguistically Mediated Interactions, and the Lifeworld" (1998), with guest Listen
PEL Presents PMP#59: David Lynch's Popular Surrealism from 2020-09-09T01:00:28
Mark, Erica, Brian, and guest Mike Wilson discuss the director's films from Eraserhead to Inland Empire plus Twin Peaks and his recent short films. We get into the app...
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Ep. 251: Simone Weil's Ideal Society from 2020-09-07T14:58:07
On "Theoretical Picture of a Free Society" (1934). What's the ideal living situation for us all, given the peculiarities of human nature? Weil describes fulfillment as coming from being able to ...
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Ep. 250: Simone Weil on Human Needs (Part Three) from 2020-08-31T14:03:46
Concluding on "The Needs of the Soul" from The Need for Roots (1943). This time we cover punishment, security, risk, private property, collective property, freedom of opinion, and truth...
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Ep. 250: Simone Weil on Human Needs (Part Two) from 2020-08-24T15:51:59
Continuing on "The Needs of the Soul" from The Need for Roots (1943). We got started in Listen
Ep. 250: Simone Weil on Human Needs (Part One) from 2020-08-17T17:50:33
On "The Needs of the Soul" from The Need for Roots (1943) and "Meditation on Obedience and Liberty" (1937).
What are our needs that should then drive what kind of society would be best fo...
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Ep. 249: Dewey on Education and Thought (Part Two) from 2020-08-10T16:00:33
Continuing on John Dewey's Democracy and Education (1916) ch. 1, 2, 4, and 24 with guest Listen
PEL Presents (sub)Text: Mastery and Repetition in "Groundhog Day" from 2020-08-10T08:00
When egotistical weatherman Phil Connors gets trapped in a time loop in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, he gets drunk, steals money, manipulates women, binges on breakfast food, plays God… and final...
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Ep. 249: Dewey on Education and Thought (Part One) from 2020-08-02T17:01:48
On John Dewey's How We Think (1910) ch. 1 and Democracy and Education (1916) ch. 1, 2, 4, and 24.
What model of human nature should serve as the basis for education poli...
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Ep. 248: Racism and Policing (Al-Saji, Merleau-Ponty, et al) (Part Two) from 2020-07-27T15:16:49
Continuing on Alia Al-Saji’s “A Phenomenology of Hesitation” (2014) and other things with guest Listen
Ep. 248: Racism and Policing (Al-Saji, Merleau-Ponty, et al) (Part One) from 2020-07-20T17:47:45
On Alia Al-Saji’s “A Phenomenology of Hesitation” (2014), bits of Maurice Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception (1945), and Linda Martín Alcoff’s Visible Identities (2006...
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Ep. 247: Aristotle on Rhetoric and Emotions (Part Two) from 2020-07-13T16:49:53
Continuing on the Rhetoric (ca. 335 BCE) book 1, ch. 1–6 and book 2, ch. 1–5, 18–24.
We finish up with enthymemes (rhetorical arguments), maxims, and signs. We then move to emoti...
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Ep. 247: Aristotle on Rhetoric and Emotions (Part One) from 2020-07-06T14:33:08
On the Rhetoric (ca. 335 BCE) book 1, ch. 1-6 and book 2, ch. 1-5, 18-24.
What role does persuasion play in philosophy? Aristotle (contra Plato) argues it can and should be used ...
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Ep. 246: Susan Sontag on Interpreting Art (Part Two) from 2020-06-29T16:56:23
Continuing on Sontag's essays “On Style” (1965) and "The Death of Tragedy” (1963).
Mark, Wes, Seth and Dylan keep talking about the appropriate distance to retain (or not) to a work of ar...
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Ep. 246: Susan Sontag on Interpreting Art (Part One) from 2020-06-22T16:58:45
On Sontag's essays “Against Interpretation” (1964), “On Style” (1965), and "The Death of Tragedy” (1963).
What is it to understand a work of art? Sontag objects to critics' need to decode...
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Ep. 245: Fashion (Derrida, Foucault, Sontag) w/ Shahidha Bari (Part Two) from 2020-06-15T13:50:17
We conclude with Foucault's "The Ethics of the Concern of the Self As A Practice of Freedom" (1984) and add Susan Sontag's "On Style" (1965). After our guest's departure, we give some concluding...
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Ep. 245: Fashion (Derrida, Foucault) w/ Shahidha Bari (Part One) from 2020-06-08T14:06:29
On Jacques Derrida's "The Animal That Therefore I Am" (1999), Michel Foucault's "The Ethics of the Concern of the Self As A Practice of Freedom" (1984), and our guest's Listen
Ep. 244: Camus on Strategies for Facing Plague (Part Two) from 2020-06-01T05:29:57
Continuing on Albert Camus's 1947 novel, covering the old functionary Grand, the criminal (or just paranoid?) Cottard, and more of our narrators Dr. Rieux and his doomed friend Tarrou, plus more...
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Ep. 244: Camus on Strategies for Facing Plague (Part One) from 2020-05-25T14:36:43
On Albert Camus' existentialist novel The Plague. How shall we face adversity? Camus gives us colorful characters that embody various approaches. Yes, the plague is an extreme situation...
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Ep. 243: Aristotle's "Poetics" on Art and Tragedy (Part Two) from 2020-05-18T16:13:35
Continuing on the Poetics from around 335 BCE, on the structure of plot (every element must be essential!), the moral status of the heroes, Homeric poetry, the difference between traged...
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Ep. 243: Aristotle's "Poetics" on Art and Tragedy (Part One) from 2020-05-11T15:51:04
These notes from 335 BCE are still used in screenwriting classes. Aristotle presents a formula for what will move us, derived from Sophocles's tragedies.
What is art? The text describes i...
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PEL Presents PMP#42: Star Trek Lives Long and Prospers (Intermittently) from 2020-05-06T19:23:36
In light of Star Trek: Picard, Brian, Erica, Mark, and Drew Jackson discuss our most philosophical sci-fi f...
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Ep. 242: Stanley Cavell on Tragedy via King Lear (Part Two) from 2020-05-04T15:34:53
Continuing on Cavell's essay "The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear" (1969), shifting away from Lear in particular to a more general discussion of tragedy and Cavell's psychological insi...
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Ep. 242: Stanley Cavell on Tragedy via King Lear (Part One) from 2020-04-27T15:19:22
On Cavell's essay "The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear" (1969).
Can money buy you love? What is tragedy? With guest Listen
Ep. 241: Political Philosophy and the Pandemic from 2020-04-20T14:20:01
How should we think politically about the current global crisis? Do extreme circumstances reveal truths of political philosophy or do they reinforce whatever it is we already believe? Mark, Wes,...
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Ep. 240: David Lewis on Possible Worlds and Language Games (Part Two) from 2020-04-13T13:50:07
On "Scorekeeping in a Language Game" (1979) and "Truth in Fiction" (1978).
Lewis's account of possible worlds can be applied to conversation: As we speak, each sentence adds to the "conve...
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Ep. 240: David Lewis on Possible Worlds and Language Games (Part One) from 2020-04-06T16:57
On Ch. 4 of Lewis's book Counterfactuals (1973) and the essays “Scorekeeping in a Language Game” (1979) and “Truth i...
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Ep. 239: Montesquieu Invents Political Science (Part Two) from 2020-03-30T13:50:07
Continuing on The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Charles Louis de Secondat, aka Baron de Montesquieu. Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth talk more about the "motive force" behind each type of gov...
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Ep. 239: Montesquieu Invents Political Science (Part One) from 2020-03-23T13:32:47
On The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Charles Louis de Secondat, aka Baron de Montesquieu.
What keeps a society functioning? Montesquieu, though of course not the first political p...
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Ep. 238: Lingering Questions from 2020-03-16T04:24:34
Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth summarize thoughts about our recent series on social construction, gender and sex, and Judith Butler's notion of "grievable lives." Should we stop covering so much con...
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Ep. 237: Walter Benjamin Analyzes Violence (Part Two) from 2020-03-09T12:53:42
Continuing on Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" (1921).
Mark, Wes, and Seth keep trying to figure out this difficult essay. Is Benjamin really advocating a workers' revolution to end the ...
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Ep. 237: Walter Benjamin Analyzes Violence (Part One) from 2020-03-02T15:52:31
On "Critique of Violence" (1921). What is violence? Benjamin gives us a taxonomy: law-creating, law-preserving, mythological, and divine. Then he deconstructs his own distinctions to demonstrate...
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Ep. 236: Judith Butler Interview: "The Force of Nonviolence" from 2020-02-24T14:35:02
On The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (2020).
What is it to be nonviolent in political activity? Most ethics allow for self-defense, but Judith has a problem with...
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PEL Presents: PMP#32: Judging "The Good Place" from 2020-02-19T21:56:34
Mark, Erica, and Brian discuss Michael Schur's NBC TV show. Is it good? Does it actually teach moral philosophy? We talk sit-com tropes, TV finales, the show's convoluted structure, the puzzle o...
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Ep. 235: Judith Butler's "Gender Trouble" (Part Three) from 2020-02-17T13:51:03
Concluding "Gender Trouble" (1990), with just Mark, Wes, and Seth going carefully through pt I, sec v: "Identity, Set, and the Metaphysics of Substance," and pt III, sec iv: "Subversive Bodily A...
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Ep. 235: Judith Butler's "Gender Trouble" (Part Two) from 2020-02-10T15:31:52
More Gender Trouble (1990) with Jennifer Hansen. We get into the metaphysics of su...
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Ep. 235: Judith Butler's "Gender Trouble" (Part One) from 2020-02-03T05:46:45
On Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990). Is gender socially constructed, and if so, how?
Butler describes gender not as an essential quality of a person...
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PEL Presents PMP#29: Martin Scorsese the Auteur w/ Colin Marshall from 2020-01-29T16:49:22
We consider The Irishman in the context of Scorsese's body of work and the styles and themes that his films tend to exhibit.
Writer/podcaster Listen
Ep. 234: Beauvoir on Romance in "The Second Sex" (Part Two) from 2020-01-27T15:09:10
Concluding Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): "The Woman in Love" and "Myths" with guest Listen
Ep. 234: Beauvoir on Romance in "The Second Sex" (Part One) from 2020-01-20T15:54:17
On Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): "The Woman in Love" and "Myths" with guest Listen
PEL Presents PMP#27: For the Love of Star Wars from 2020-01-15T15:39:32
Mark, Erica, and Brian talk about the unique place these films have in the brains of people of a certain age, how we grappled with the prequels, and why we feel the need to fill in and argue abo...
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Ep. 233: Plato's "Protagoras" on Virtue (Part Two) from 2020-01-13T03:42:38
Continuing on the dialogue, where Socrates argues that Protagoras doesn't actually know what virtue is, because he thinks that the various virtues (especially courage) are distinct, a claim that...
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PEL Presents PMP#26: We Watch "Watchmen" w/ David Pizarro (Very Bad Wizards) from 2020-01-08T18:29:49
Covering Alan Moore's 1986 graphic novel, the new HBO series and the 2009 film.
Mark, Erica, and Brian are joined by David, psych prof at Cornell and...
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Ep. 233: Plato's "Protagoras" on Virtue (Part One) from 2020-01-06T15:06:42
On the Platonic dialogue written around 380 BCE about an encounter between Socrates and one of the leading Sophists of his day.
What is virtue ("the political art" according to Protagoras...
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Ep. 232: Simone De Beauvoir's "The Second Sex" (Part Two) from 2019-12-29T22:58:06
Continuing Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) with guest Jennifer Hansen.
Ho...
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Ep. 232: Simone De Beauvoir's "The Second Sex" (Part One) from 2019-12-23T03:51:48
On Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): the intro, conclusion, “Woman’s Situation and Character” and parts of “Lived Experience," with guest Listen
Ep. 231: Descartes's "Discourse" on Wisdom and Certainty (Part Two) from 2019-12-16T05:15:51
Continuing on Descartes’s Discourse on Method, looking closely at part 4 (his proto-Meditations) and his "provisional" Stoic ethics.
Listen to Listen
Ep. 231: Descartes's "Discourse" on Wisdom and Certainty (Part One) from 2019-12-09T13:07:13
On René Descartes’s Discourse on Method (1637), an overview of his work that distills his method, outlines his famous Meditations, presents a provisional (Stoic) ethics, and co...
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Ep. 230: Bruno Latour on Science, Culture, and Modernity (Part Two) from 2019-12-02T02:57:28
Continuing on Latour's We Have Never Been Modern (1993) with guest Lynda Olman. Listen
Ep. 230: Bruno Latour on Science, Culture, and Modernity (Part One) from 2019-11-25T16:26:49
On Latour's We Have Never Been Modern (1993) with guest Lynda Olman.
What'...
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Ep. 229: Descartes's Rules for Thinking (Part Three) from 2019-11-18T16:23:49
Concluding René Descartes's Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628).
We finish rule 12 through the end, talking about simples, the faculties of intuition and judgment, perception ...
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Ep. 229: Descartes's Rules for Thinking (Part Two) from 2019-11-11T13:08:40
Continuing on René Descartes's Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628), covering rules 7 through the first part of the lengthy rule 12.
We try to figure out what he means by "enum...
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PEL Presents PMP#18: Stephen King's Media Empire from 2019-11-08T16:48:11
Is the most popular writer of our time actually a good writer? Or maybe he used to be good? While you've been thinking about those questions, King already wrote another book, so ha!
Mark,...
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Ep. 229: Descartes's Rules for Thinking (Part One) from 2019-11-04T16:11:30
On René Descartes's Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628).
Is there a careful way to approach problems that will ensure that you'll always be right? What if you just never asser...
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PEL Presents PMP#17: Comedy as Philosophy w/ Daniel Lobell from 2019-10-29T14:35:45
Are stand-up comedians the Modern Day Philosophers? This is the premise of Daniel's podcast, but really,...
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Ep. 228: Social Construction of Race (Appiah, Mills) (Part Two) from 2019-10-28T03:19:53
Continuing on Kwame Anthony Appiah's "Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections" (1994), Charles Mills's "But What Are You Really?, The Metaphysics of Race" (1998), and Neven Sesardic's...
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Ep. 228: Social Construction of Race (Appiah, Mills) (Part One) from 2019-10-21T14:48:07
On Kwame Anthony Appiah's "Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections" (1994), Charles Mills's "But What Are You Really?, The Metaphysics of Race" (1998), and Neven Sesardic's "Race: A S...
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Ep. 227: What Is Social Construction? (Hacking, Berger) (Part Two) from 2019-10-14T16:42:28
Continuing Ian Hacking’s The Social Construction of What (1999) and Peter Berger's “Religion and World Construction" (1967).
We break down Hacking's typology of construction argu...
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Ep. 227: What Is Social Construction? (Hacking, Berger) (Part One) from 2019-10-07T14:21:58
On Ian Hacking’s The Social Construction of What (1999) and Peter Berger's “Religion and World Construction" (1967).
Guest Coleman Hughes from Listen
Ep. 226: Francis Bacon Invents Science (Part Two) from 2019-09-30T16:28:05
Continuing on Sir Francis Bacon's New Organon (1620).
We cover more of Bacon's "idols" and how Bacon divides religion from science (and what this means politically). We then move...
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PEL Presents PMP#12: Once Upon a Tarantino Film w/ Wes Alwan from 2019-09-24T14:01:04
Wes joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to discuss Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood in the context of Listen
Ep. 226: Francis Bacon Invents Science (Part One) from 2019-09-23T14:32:54
On Sir Francis Bacon's New Organon (1620).
Bacon claims to have developed a new toolset that will open up nature to inquiry in a way that wasn't possible for ancient and modern n...
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Ep. 225: Simone Weil on War and Oppression (Part Two) from 2019-09-16T13:23:28
Continuing on Simone Weil's essays "The Iliad, or the Poem of Force" (1939) and "Analysis of Oppression" (1934) with guest Listen
Ep. 225: Simone Weil on War and Oppression (Part One) from 2019-09-09T15:27:58
On Simone Weil's essays "The Iliad, or the Poem of Force" (1939) and "Analysis of Oppression" (1934).
How do circumstances oppress and dehumanize us? Weil describes the mechanisms that ke...
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Ep. 224: Kierkegaard Critiques The Present Age (Part Two) from 2019-09-02T14:19:47
Continuing on "The Present Age" (1846), plus Hubert Dreyfus’s "Nihilism on the Information Highway: Anonymity vs. Commitment in the Present Age" (2004) with guest Listen
PEL Presents PMP#8: Spider-Man: Far From Home (and Elsewhere) from 2019-08-27T16:28:10
Mark, Erica, and Brian discuss the function of super-hero films and how this new one fits in. Do we need "realism" in such stories? When does a premise like this get too old to keep recycling? Listen
Ep. 224: Kierkegaard Critiques The Present Age (Part One) from 2019-08-26T15:08:25
On Soren Kierkegaard's essay "The Present Age" (1846) and Hubert Dreyfus’s "Nihilism on the Information Highway: Anonymity vs. Commitment in the Present Age" (2004).
What's wrong with our...
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Ep. 223: Guest Ned Block on Consciousness (Part Two) from 2019-08-19T14:24:44
We talk with Ned about a second Blockheads (2019) article, Michael Tyle's “Homunculi Heads and Silicon Chips: The Importance of History to Phenomenology," which provides a variation off...
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Ep. 223: Guest Ned Block on Consciousness (Part One) from 2019-08-12T16:55
The climax and denouement of our summer philosophy of mind series: Ned Block visits to fill in the gaps about functionalism and attributing consciousness to machines and discuss essays from ...
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Ep. 222: Debating Functionalism (Block, Chalmers) (Part Two) from 2019-08-05T13:29:14
Continuing on Ned Block's "Troubles with Functionalism" (1978) and David Chalmers's "Absent Qualia, Fading Qualia, Dancing Qualia" (1995).
What would it be like to be halfway between pers...
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Ep. 222: Debating Functionalism (Block, Chalmers) (Part One) from 2019-07-29T05:05:37
On Ned Block's "Troubles with Functionalism" (1978) and David Chalmers's "Absent Qualia, Fading Qualia, Dancing Qualia" (1995).
If mental states are functional states, there couldn't be z...
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PEL Presents PMP#3: CONFORM w/ Yakov Smirnoff from 2019-07-23T13:30
Is media trying to brainwash us into being ALL THE SAME? Are the excesses of the mob scaring us into conformity? Mark, Erica, and Brian muse on cultural homogenization and are joined by comedian...
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Ep. 221: Functionalist Theories of Mind (Putnam, Armstrong) (Part Two) from 2019-07-22T12:50:30
Continuing on functionalism with David M. Armstrong’s "The Causal Theory of the Mind" (1981).
Your four hosts start afresh the day after Listen
Ep. 221: Functionalist Theories of Mind (Putnam, Armstrong) (Part One) from 2019-07-15T15:35:42
On Hilary Putnam's "The Nature of Mental States" (1973).
What is the mind? Functionalist theories identify the mental with not with the brain exactly, but with something the brain does. S...
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PEL Presents PMP#1: Pop Culture vs. High Culture from 2019-07-09T12:00
What is pop culture? Does it make sense to distinguish it from high culture, or can something be both?
Welcome to this new pop culture podcast hosted by Mark Linsenmayer, Erica Spyres, an...
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Ep. 220: 10-Year Retrospective of The Partially Examined Life from 2019-07-05T22:57:24
Mark, Seth, Dylan, and Wes reflect on the changing state of podcasting and public philosophy over the last decade, how our goals and interests have changed since we started we started. Why don't...
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Ep. 219: The Harder Problem of Consciousness (Block&Papineau) from 2019-07-01T12:52:07
On Ned Block's "The Harder Problem of Consciousness" (2002) and David Papineau's "Could There Be a Science of Consciousness?" (2003).
What would give us sufficient reason to believe that ...
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Ep. 218: The Hard Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers et al) (Part Two) from 2019-06-24T13:46:30
Continuing on "Consciousness and Its Place in Nature" by David Chalmers (2003).
We finish Chalmers's account of the types of physicialism, then move on to dualism (including epiphenomenal...
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Ep. 218: The Hard Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers et al) (Part One) from 2019-06-17T04:16:04
On "Consciousness and Its Place in Nature" by David Chalmers (2003), with special guest Gregory Miller...
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(sub)Text #1: Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”: Poesis as Revenge Forsaken from 2019-06-08T14:59:12
At last, the full, public release of this discussion between Wes Alwan and Bill Youmans covering Shakespeare's 1611 play about revenge, forgiveness, and authorship. Or maybe it's about exploitat...
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Episode 217: Discussing Calderón's "Life Is a Dream" from 2019-06-03T17:57:08
On the 1636 comedy by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, considering destiny (Christian vs. Ancient Greek), skepticism, meta-theater, and the ethic of honor. Listen
Glimpse: Machiavellian Politics (for Partially Examined Life #14) from 2019-06-02T16:00
Does politics have to be Machiavellian? Do you have to be ruthless to succeed?
Given our treatment of Listen
PEL Audioplayers: "Life Is a Dream" by Pedro Calderón de la Barca from 2019-05-27T16:06:01
Your hosts are joined by real actors to do an unrehearsed read of Calderón's 1636 comedy La Vida Es Sueño, using Stanley Appelbaum's 2002 translation. Ep. 217 will cover the philosophic...
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PREMIUM-Ep 216 Game of Thrones' Fantasy Politics (Part Two) from 2019-05-23T15:03:31
Get teased re. Mark and Wes's post-finale, spoiler-filled continuation of the discussion of the show.
How does its conclusion affect its overall political message? Does it make sense to b...
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PREMIUM-Ep 216 Game of Thrones' Fantasy Politics (Part Two) from 2019-05-23T15:03:31
Get teased re. Mark and Wes's post-finale, spoiler-filled continuation of the discussion of the show.
How does its conclusion affect its overall political message? Does it make sense to b...
Listen
Episode 216: Game of Thrones' Fantasy Politics from 2019-05-20T15:18:55
Discussing the TV show (2011-2019) based on the books by George R.R. Martin.
What's the role of a mass-consumed fantasy series in today's society? Is it our "fantasy" to have all these ho...
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Episode 215: Brave New World: PEL Live 10th Anniversary Show from 2019-05-13T15:47:21
On Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian novel, recorded at Manhattan's Caveat on 4/6/19, with audience participation.
If we harness the power of society to employ available technologies to real...
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Episode 214: More Nietzsche's Zarathustra (Part Two) from 2019-05-06T13:59:07
Concluding Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885).
What's the wise way to live? We start in earnest into part three, treating the "spirit of gravity" where socially-...
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Episode 214: More Nietzsche's Zarathustra (Part One) from 2019-04-29T18:46:26
On the remainder of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885).
How can we keep our spirits up and avoid nihilism? We consider Nietzsche's "solution" of eternal recurren...
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Glimpse: Nietzsche's Last Man (for Partially Examined Life #213) from 2019-04-22T19:13:37
Is technology making us complacent? Are we in danger of becoming Nietzsche's famed "last men" who are no longer capable of creativity and independent thought?
Mark Linsenmayer from the Pa...
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Episode 213: Nietzsche's Zarathustra (Part Two) from 2019-04-22T13:27:52
Continuing on Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, books 1 and 2 (1883).
We talk through Nietzsche's symbolism (tightrope walkers and gravediggers and snakes, oh my!), t...
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Episode 213: Nietzsche's Zarathustra (Part One) from 2019-04-15T14:59:39
On Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, books 1 and 2 (1883).
What is wisdom? In this text whose style parodies the Bible, we get pithy advice and allegorical imagery to...
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Glimpse: Sartre on Literature (for Partially Examined Life #212) from 2019-04-11T17:49:15
Should literature be political? Jean-Paul Sartre thought that all literature is political, because of what literature is.
That's a very weird-sounding view. Mark Linsenmayer from...
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Episode 212: Sartre on Literature (Part Two) from 2019-04-08T19:15:48
Continuing on What is Literature? (1948).
Sartre gives a phenomenology of reading and writing that makes reading into a creative act of completing the writer's work, and calls th...
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Episode 212: Sartre on Literature (Part One) from 2019-04-01T15:25:04
On Jean-Paul Sartre's What is Literature (1948), ch. 1 and 2.
What's the purpose of literature? Why write prose as opposed to poetry? Sartre argues that while poetry is about the...
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Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Part Three) from 2019-03-25T16:36:01
Moving finally on to Jean-Paul Sartre's "Black Orpheus" (1948), where he introduces a book of black poetry by praising its revolutionary spirit as embodied in "negritude." Is this a legitimate c...
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Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Part Two) from 2019-03-18T15:39:10
Continuing on Jean-Paul Sartre's Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (1946).
Is there an "authentic" way to respond to persecution? As part of his critiqu...
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Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Part One) from 2019-03-11T17:18:04
On Jean-Paul Sartre's Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (1946) and "Black Orpheus" (1948).
How can we best understand the psychology of racism? Sartre c...
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PEL Presents Constellary Tales #6: Philip K. Dick's "Minority Report" w/ Mark Linsenmayer from 2019-03-11T03:23:45
PEL's Mark Linsenmayer joins hosts Ken Gerber and Brian Hirt to weigh in on the philosophical implications of precognitive crime fighting in Philip K. Dick's "The Minority Report." Brian quizzes...
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Episode 210: Frantz Fanon's Black Existentialism (Part Two) from 2019-03-04T16:01:52
Continuing on Black Skin White Masks (1952), starting with the influential ch. 4 "The Fact of Blackness." Are the successive coping strategies to racism (including "anti-racist racism" ...
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Episode 210: Frantz Fanon's Black Existentialism (Part One) from 2019-02-25T15:15
On Black Skin White Masks (1952).
How does growing up in a racist society mess people up? Fanon's "clinical study" includes phenomenology, poetry, and a lot of existentialism, wh...
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Podchaser Interview of Mark Linsenmayer: Partially Examined Life and Nakedly Examined Music from 2019-02-23T16:39:36
Morgan DeLisle, writer for the PodChaser "Behind the Streams Blog," interviewed Mark for Listen
Episode 209: Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Part Two: Discussion) from 2019-02-18T17:40:29
Continuing on Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment (2018).
Fukuyama recommends a "creedal national identity" as a solution for tribalism; does this wor...
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Episode 209: Guest Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Part One) from 2019-02-11T01:34:44
Talking to the author about Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment (2018).
What motivates people? Frank points to thymos, the demand for recogni...
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Episode 208: Epicurus on Seeking Pleasure (Part Two) from 2019-02-04T17:56
More on the ethics-related fragments of Epicurus and accounts by Martha Nussbaum and Tim O'Keefe.
What would a purely therapeutic philosophy consist of? Does philosophy as pursuit of plea...
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Episode 208: Epicurus on Seeking Pleasure (Part One) from 2019-01-28T15:05:24
On the extant fragments of Epicurus (341–270 BCE) dealing with ethics, including his "Letter to Menoceus," “The Principal Doctrines,” and “The Vatican Collection of Epicurean Sayings.” Plus Tim ...
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Episode 207: Herder on Art Appreciation (Part Two) from 2019-01-21T17:47:06
Continuing on Johann Gottfried von Herder's “The Causes of Sunken Taste among the Different Peoples in Whom It Once Blossomed” (1775), then moving to “On the Influence of the Belles Lettres on t...
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Episode 207: Herder on Art Appreciation (Part One) from 2019-01-14T18:43:09
On Johann Gottfried von Herder's “The Causes of Sunken Taste among the Different Peoples in Whom It Once Blossomed” (1775), “On the Influence of the Belles Lettres on the Higher Sciences” (1781)...
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PREMIUM-Ep 206 Lucretius's Epicurean Physics (Part Three) from 2019-01-13T01:01:29
Mark and Wes go into more textual detail re. Lucretius’s take on atomism and the metaphysical and epistemological problems it entails. Listen
PREMIUM-Ep 206 Lucretius's Epicurean Physics (Part Three) from 2019-01-13T01:01:29
Mark and Wes go into more textual detail re. Lucretius’s take on atomism and the metaphysical and epistemological problems it entails. Listen
Episode 206: Lucretius's Epicurean Physics (Part Two) from 2019-01-07T15:30:08
More on Lucretius’s poem about Epicurean science: On the Nature of Things from the first century BCE.
We talk more about how macroscopic phenomena are supposed to come out of the...
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Episode 206: Lucretius's Epicurean Physics (Part One) from 2018-12-31T16:34:44
On Lucretius’s poem about Epicurean science: On the Nature of Things a.k.a. De Rerum Natura from the 1st century BC.
How does the world work? Lucretius presents a system...
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PREMIUM-Ep 205 Durkheim et al on Suicide (Part Three) from 2018-12-31T05:20:09
Mark and Wes discuss Durkheim's Suicide (1897), getting into more of the details of his account and exploring comparative modes of explanation: Are there really "sociological facts" dis...
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PREMIUM-Ep 205 Durkheim et al on Suicide (Part Three) from 2018-12-31T05:20:09
Mark and Wes discuss Durkheim's Suicide (1897), getting into more of the details of his account and exploring comparative modes of explanation: Are there really "sociological facts" dis...
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Episode 205: Suicide with Dr. Drew (Durkheim et al) (Part Two) from 2018-12-22T05:25
More on philosophical and psychological interpretations of and judgments about suicide with guest Drew Pinsky.
Is suicide an epidemic or a choice? Could it be both? Socrates didn't fear d...
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Episode 205: Suicide with Dr. Drew (Durkheim et al) (Part One) from 2018-12-17T03:52:08
We are rejoined by Drew Pinsky to discuss philosophical and psychological readings by Seneca, Arthur Schopenhauer, Sigmund Freud, Emile Durkheim, Albert Camus, plus two 2017 survey papers on pre...
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Episode 204: The Bhagavad Gita's Hindu Theology (Part Two) from 2018-12-10T05:42:50
More on this classic text by (perhaps) Vyasa, with guest Shaan Amin. Should we acquire good karma or behave "beyond good and evil"? How can everything be Krishna while Krishna is also the an ele...
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Episode 204: The Bhagavad Gita's Hindu Theology (Part One) from 2018-12-03T17:27:10
On the classic Hindu text (ca. the 3rd century B.C.E.), part of the Indian Epic poem Mahabharata, attributed to Vyasa, using Keya Maitra's 2018 translation/commentary.
What is it...
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Episode 203: Kristeva vs. Lovecraft on Horror and Abjection (Part Two) from 2018-11-26T04:18:34
Concluding on Julia Kristeva's Powers of Horror (1980) and focusing on H.P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu" (1928). Does Lovecraft's presentation of nameless terror capture (or improv...
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Episode 203: Kristeva vs. Lovecraft on Horror and Abjection (Part One) from 2018-11-19T20:11:41
More on Julia Kristeva's Powers of Horror (1980) plus H.P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu" (1928).
What is the object of fear? Mark, Seth, and Dylan get clearer on Kristeva's v...
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PREMIUM-Ep 202 Follow-Up: Close Reading of Kristeva's "Approaching Abjection" from 2018-11-18T16:18:21
Mark takes a very close look at pages 1–4 of the first chapter of On Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (1980) as a supplement to Listen
PREMIUM-Ep 202 Follow-Up: Close Reading of Kristeva's "Approaching Abjection" from 2018-11-18T16:18:21
Mark takes a very close look at pages 1–4 of the first chapter of On Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (1980) as a supplement to Listen
Episode 202: Julia Kristeva on Disgust, Fear and the Self (Part Two) from 2018-11-12T05:54:14
Continuing on Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection, ch. 1 and 2. We try to get clearer on Kristeva's talk of "object," the relationship between language and abjection, how Kristeva i...
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Episode 202: Julia Kristeva on Disgust, Fear and the Self (Part One) from 2018-11-05T15:42:14
On Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (1980), ch. 1 and 2.
Kristeva writes about "abjection," where we violently reject things like corpses, bodily wastes and other fluids, ...
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PREMIUM-Ep 201 Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations" (Part Three) from 2018-11-05T14:40:12
Mark and Seth get further into the specifics of Marcus's metaphysics and how this is supposed to relate to behavior. Can his directives really come solely "from reason" as he claims? How does th...
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PREMIUM-Ep 201 Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations" (Part Three) from 2018-11-05T14:40:12
Mark and Seth get further into the specifics of Marcus's metaphysics and how this is supposed to relate to behavior. Can his directives really come solely "from reason" as he claims? How does th...
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Episode 201: Marcus Aurelius's Stoicism with Ryan Holiday (Part Two) from 2018-10-29T16:21:55
More on The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (ca. 180 CE) plus Ryan's The Daily Stoic (2016).
We talk Stoicism as "pre-mourning," love of fate, the divine plan, political ...
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Episode 201: Marcus Aurelius's Stoicism with Ryan Holiday (Part One) from 2018-10-22T14:33:07
On The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (ca. 180 C.E.) plus Ryan's The Daily Stoic (2016).
What does Stoicism look like in practice, in both ancient and modern contexts? Y...
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Episode 200: Kant/Mendelssohn/Foucault on Enlightenment (Part Two) from 2018-10-15T17:32:31
Continuing on "What Is Enlightenment" by Immanuel Kant (1784), "On Enlightening the Mind" by Moses Mendelssohn (1784), and "What Is Enlightenment" by Michael Foucault (1984).
We finish up...
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Episode 200: Kant/Mendelssohn/Foucault on Enlightenment (Part One) from 2018-10-08T16:22:03
On "What Is Enlightenment" by Immanuel Kant (1784), "On Enlightening the Mind" by Moses Mendelssohn (1784), and "What Is Enlightenment" by Michael Foucault (1984).
At the end of the histo...
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Bonus: (sub)Text#4: Freud's "Mourning and Melancholia" (Part One) from 2018-10-08T12:36:02
Wes Alwan is joined by Tracy Morgan and Louis Scuderi to discuss Fre...
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Episode 199: Elizabeth Anderson on Equality (Part Three: Discussion) from 2018-10-01T13:54:18
Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan continue to discuss “What Is the Point of Equality?” (1999) and how it lays foundations for Private Government (2017). What is democratic equality, and can a ...
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Episode 199: Guest Elizabeth Anderson on Private Government (Part Two) from 2018-09-24T13:39:58
Continuing on Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (2017) and “What Is the Point of Equality?” (1999).
Should the amount of respect that a worker gets be proportional...
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Episode 199: Guest Elizabeth Anderson on Private Government (Part One) from 2018-09-17T16:12:25
The U. of Michigan prof joins us to discuss Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It) (2017) and “What Is the Point of Equality?” (1999).
...
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PREMIUM-Ep 198 Plato's "Parmenides" (Part Three) from 2018-09-13T05:21:23
Mark and Seth continue our conversation from ep. 198 by going through the arguments in the second half of the dialogue.
This puzzling section is largely a monologue by the character Parme...
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PREMIUM-Ep 198 Plato's "Parmenides" (Part Three) from 2018-09-13T05:21:23
Mark and Seth continue our conversation from ep. 198 by going through the arguments in the second half of the dialogue.
This puzzling section is largely a monologue by the character Parme...
Listen
Episode 198: Plato's Forms in the "Parmenides" (Part Two) from 2018-09-10T17:12:35
We get down to the specific questions considered this perplexing Platonic dialogue: Are there forms for all adjectives? Does the form of a property itself have that property? How do Forms connec...
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Episode 198: Plato's Forms in the "Parmenides" (Part One) from 2018-09-03T13:27:53
On the most peculiar Platonic dialogue, from ca. 350 BCE. Are properties real things in the world, or just in the mind?
Plato is known for claiming that these "Forms" are real, though oth...
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Bonus: (sub)Text #3: Spielberg's "AI: Artificial Intelligence": What Is It to Be Human? (Part One) from 2018-09-02T22:51:06
Wes discusses the film by Steven Spielberg with philosophy professor David Kyle Johnson. What is there to fear in artificial intelligence? How does this shed light on what it means to be fully h...
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Episode 197: Parmenides on What There Is (Part Two) from 2018-08-27T14:02:43
Continuing with guest Peter Adamson with "On Nature" (475 BCE).
We finally get to fragment 8, which describes...
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Episode 197: Parmenides on What There Is (Part One) from 2018-08-20T16:05:16
On the fragments referred to as "On Nature" from ca. 475 BCE, featuring guest Peter Adamson from the History of Philos...
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Bonus: (sub)Text #2: Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five": Is There Such a Thing as a War Story? (Part One) from 2018-08-20T13:01:38
Episode 2 of Wes's new podcasting endeavor, featuring Mary from the Phi Fic podcast, who's also the managing editor of th...
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Episode 196: Guest Simon Blackburn on Truth (Part Two) from 2018-08-13T05:04:32
Continuing with Simon on his book On Truth (2018).
We move to part two of the book, where we get down to the procedures used to obtain truth in art, ethics, and science. Yes, tru...
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Episode 196: Guest Simon Blackburn on Truth (Part One) from 2018-08-06T13:26:03
The Cambridge/etc. prof joins Mark, Wes, and Dylan to discuss his book On Truth (2018).
What is truth? Simon's view synthesizes deflationism and pragmatism to avoid relativism by...
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Episode 195: Truth-The Austin/Strawson Debate (Part Two) from 2018-07-30T02:14:18
Continuing on "Truth" by J.L. Austin and "Truth" by P.F. Strawson both from 1950.
We proceed to the Strawson article, which critiques the notion of a "fact" as explaining why a sentence m...
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Episode 195: Truth-The Austin/Strawson Debate (Part One) from 2018-07-23T12:15:35
On two articles in the "ordinary language" tradition of philosophy called "Truth" from 1950 by J.L. Austin and P.F. Strawson.
Is truth a property of particular speech acts, or of the prop...
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Bonus: (sub)Text #1: Shakespeare's "The Tempest": Poesis as Revenge Forsaken (Part One) from 2018-07-21T17:34:31
Wes Alwan and Bill Youmans discuss the 1611 play about revenge, forgiveness, and authorship. Or maybe it's about exploitation, or how we react to changes in status, or perhaps how a liberal educ...
Listen
Episode 194: Alfred Tarski on Truth (Part Two) from 2018-07-16T12:54:17
Continuing on Tarski's “The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics" (1944), Hartry Field's “Tarski's Theory of Truth” (1972), and Donald Davidson's “The Folly of Trying to...
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Episode 194: Alfred Tarski on Truth (Part One) from 2018-07-09T02:44:15
On Tarski's “The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics" (1944), Hartry Field's “Tarski's Theory of Truth” (1972), and Donald Davidson's “The Folly of Trying to Define Tru...
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PREMIUM-Eps 192-193 Allan Bloom&Liberal Education Follow-Ups from 2018-07-07T04:36:27
Hear highlights from two supporter-only discussions: Allan Bloom on Nietzsche/Freud...
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PREMIUM-Eps 192-193 Allan Bloom & Liberal Education Follow-Ups from 2018-07-07T04:36:27
Hear highlights from two supporter-only discussions: Allan Bloom on Nietzsche/Freud...
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Episode 193: The Theory and Practice of Liberal Education (Part Two) from 2018-07-02T04:53:44
Continuing with Pano Kanelos on articles on liberal education by Jacob Klein, Sidney Hook, and Martha Nussbaum.
What's the practical application of a liberal education? Is it really liber...
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Episode 193: The Theory and Practice of Liberal Education (Part One) from 2018-06-25T13:54:03
Pano Kanelos, the president of St. John's College, Annapolis joins us to discuss Jacob Klein's “The Idea of a Liberal Education” (1960) and “On Liberal Education” (1965), plus Sidney Hook’s “A C...
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Episode 192: "The Closing of the American Mind": Allan Bloom on Education (Part Two) from 2018-06-18T14:35:20
Continuing on Allan Bloom's 1987 book critiquing the current fragmented structure of the university that promotes technical and professional education over the ability to think philosophically. ...
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Episode 192: "The Closing of the American Mind": Allan Bloom on Education (Part One) from 2018-06-11T14:04:58
On Allan Bloom's 1987 best-selleing polemic. What is the role of the university in our democracy? Bloom thinks that today's students are conformist, relativistic, and nihilistic, and that great ...
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Episode 191: Conceptual Schemes: Donald Davidson&Rudolf Carnap (Part Two) from 2018-06-04T13:30:41
Finishing Davidson's "On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme" (1974) and moving on to Carnap's "Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology" (1950).
Carnap claims that we talk about mathematical...
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Episode 191: Conceptual Schemes: Donald Davidson&Rudolf Carnap (Part One) from 2018-05-28T15:36:27
On Davidson's "On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme" (1974) and Carnap's "Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology" (1950).
What does it mean to say that we grasp the world through a concept...
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PREMIUM-Ep 189: Authorial Intent (Part Three) from 2018-05-26T14:41:35
Listen here to a few highlights from a recent discussion between Mark and Wes: We chase down some issues from Listen
PREMIUM-Ep 189: Authorial Intent (Part Three) from 2018-05-26T14:41:35
Listen here to a few highlights from a recent discussion between Mark and Wes: We chase down some issues from Listen
Episode 190: Film Analysis: "mother!" from 2018-05-21T14:03:27
On Darren Aronofsky's philosophical 2017 film about humanity's relationship to nature. We discuss the philosophical content of the film (Gnosticism, anyone?) and explore the relation between mea...
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Episode 189: Authorial Intent (Barthes, Foucault, Beardsley, et al) (Part Two) from 2018-05-14T13:23:02
Continuing on "The Death of the Author" by Roland Barthes (1967) and "What Is an Author?" by Michel Foucault (1969), and finally getting to “Against Theory” by Steven Knapp and Walter Benn Micha...
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Episode 189: Authorial Intent (Barthes, Foucault, Beardsley, et al) (Part One) from 2018-05-07T13:39:08
On four essays about how to interpret artworks: “The Intentional Fallacy” by W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley (1946), "The Death of the Author" by Roland Barthes (1967), "What is an Author?" b...
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Episode 188: Discussing "Lysistrata" and Politics with Lucy and Emily (Part Two) from 2018-04-30T04:57:10
Concluding our discussion of Aristophanes's play with Lucy Lawless and Emily Perkins. We focus on trying to connect its lessons to the here and now: Is Lysistrata's victory properly described as...
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Episode 188: Discussing "Lysistrata" and Politics with Lucy and Emily (Part One) from 2018-04-23T04:35:37
We are rejoined by actresses Lucy Lawless and Emily Perkins to discuss Aristophanes's bawdy play. Listen
"Lysistrata" w/ Lucy Lawless, Emily Perkins, Erica Spyres, Bill Youmans&Aaron Gleason from 2018-04-16T02:38:28
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...
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PREMIUM-Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part Three) from 2018-04-14T00:19:40
Three substantial chunks of a follow-up conversation to our free speech episode. Ma...
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PREMIUM-Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part Three) from 2018-04-14T00:19:40
Three substantial chunks of a follow-up conversation to our free speech episode. Ma...
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Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part Two) from 2018-04-09T05:28:45
Continuing our free form discussion, trying to make sense of Stanley Fish's “There’s...
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Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part One) from 2018-03-29T22:23:54
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...
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Episode 186: J.L. Austin on Doing Things with Words (Part Two) from 2018-03-26T13:22:35
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 fro...
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Episode 186: J.L. Austin on Doing Things with Words (Part One) from 2018-03-19T12:51:39
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 als...
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Episode 185: Ethics in Homer's "Odyssey" Feat. Translator Emily Wilson (Part Two) from 2018-03-12T04:53:31
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 ...
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Episode 185: Ethics in Homer's "Odyssey" Feat. Translator Emily Wilson (Part One) from 2018-03-05T05:05:01
On the classic Greek epic poem, written ca. 750 BC and translated by our guest Emily Wilson in 2018.
... Listen
Episode 184: Pascal on Human Nature (Part Two) from 2018-02-25T21:17:17
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 cu...
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Episode 184: Pascal on Human Nature (Part One) from 2018-02-19T06:20:28
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 beli...
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Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part Two) from 2018-02-12T04:44:23
Continuing on John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go here Listen
Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part One) from 2018-02-04T23:26:42
Discussing John Stewart Mill's On Liberty (1859). For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go he...
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PREMIUM-Episode 182: Reflections on PEL 2017 (Part Two) from 2018-02-04T16:34:11
The PEL guys get personal and political and tell you in brief about things like Planet of the Apes, T...
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PREMIUM-Episode 182: Reflections on PEL 2017 (Part Two) from 2018-02-04T16:34:11
The PEL guys get personal and political and tell you in brief about things like Planet of the Apes, T...
Listen
Episode 182: Reflections on PEL 2017 (Part One) from 2018-01-29T00:47:55
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 pote...
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Episode 181: Hannah Arendt on the Banality of Evil (Part Two) from 2018-01-22T01:51:50
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...
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Episode 181: Hannah Arendt on the Banality of Evil (Part One) from 2018-01-15T06:30:25
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 o...
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Episode 180: More James's Psychology: Self and Will (Part Two) from 2018-01-08T01:13:18
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 d...
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Episode 180: More James's Psychology: Self and Will (Part One) from 2018-01-01T06:27:29
On Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), chapters on "The Self," "Will," and "Emotions."
Continuing from Listen
Episode 179: William James's Psychology (Part Two) from 2017-12-25T16:51:14
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 tho...
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Episode 179: William James's Introspective Psychology (Part One) from 2017-12-18T03:28:20
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."
... Listen
NEM#61: Richard X. Heyman Is Incognito (Yet a Cornerstone) from 2017-12-11T12:54:38
Richard garnered early fame as drummer for -60s New Jersey garage band The Doughboys and has put out 11 albums, largely as a one-man band, since 1988.
We discuss the title tracks from
Episode 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: Twilight of the Idols (Part Two) from 2017-12-10T19:29:12
Continuing on Nietzsche's 1888 book. (For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go here). Is there...
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Episode 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: "Twilight of the Idols" (Part One) from 2017-12-04T04:30:15
On Friedrich Nieztsche's 1888 book summarizing his thought and critiquing the founding myths of his society. (For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go Listen
Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Part Two) from 2017-11-27T03:29:24
Continuing with the Econtalk host on the moral aspects of economics, focused by Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and Theory of Moral Sentim...
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Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Part One) from 2017-11-20T05:22:24
Episode 176: Situationism in Psych: Milgram&Stanford Prison Experiments (Part Two) from 2017-11-13T05:24:17
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 ...
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Episode 176: Situationism in Psych: Milgram&Stanford Prison Experiments (Very Bad Wizards Crossover) (Part One) from 2017-11-06T06:46:16
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" (1...
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PREMIUM-Episode 175: Blade Runner (Part Two) from 2017-11-06T04:57:40
Do you want the WHOLE discussion on the new Blade Runner 2049, the original 1982 film, and the idea packed Listen
PREMIUM-Episode 175: Blade Runner (Part Two) from 2017-11-06T04:57:40
Do you want the WHOLE discussion on the new Blade Runner 2049, the original 1982 film, and the idea packed Listen
Episode 175: Blade Runner: Androids and Humanity (Part One) from 2017-10-30T05:03:45
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 stor...
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Episode 174: Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" (Part Two) from 2017-10-22T23:29:04
Continuing on the foundational text of economics. We talk "invisible hand," "greed is good," tariffs, unproductive labor, city vs. country, and the education racket.
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Episode 174: Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" (Part One) from 2017-10-16T03:54:15
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 u...
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Episode 173: Relating to American Indian Philosophy (Part Two) from 2017-10-09T12:32:33
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 p...
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Episode 173: Relating to American Indian Philosophy (Part One) from 2017-10-02T05:39:47
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 Maruni...
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Episode 172: Mind, Self, and Affect with Guest Dr. Drew (Part Two) from 2017-09-25T04:12:32
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...
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Episode 172: Mind, Self, and Affect with Guest Dr. Drew (Part One) from 2017-09-18T10:52:48
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 "theo...
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Episode 171: Buddhism vs. Evolution with Guest Robert Wright (Part Two) from 2017-09-11T03:53:08
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.
W...
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Episode 171: Buddhism vs. Evolution with Guest Robert Wright (Part One) from 2017-09-04T12:05:37
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 psychol...
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Episode 170 Second Opinions: Leftists on "Society of the Spectacle" from 2017-08-28T12:08:39
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 Listen
Episode 170 Second Opinions: Leftists on "Society of the Spectacle" (Citizen Edition) from 2017-08-28T04:13:12
http://partiallyexaminedlife.com
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Episode 170: Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" (Part Two) from 2017-08-21T11:30
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 pass...
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Episode 170: Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" (Part One) from 2017-08-14T11:30
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 demand...
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PEL Special: Combat&Classics on Rousseau's "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences" from 2017-08-07T12:00
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...
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Episode 169: Analyzing Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (Part One) from 2017-07-31T12:00
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 ...
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Episode 168: Darwin's "Origin of Species" (Part Two) from 2017-07-24T12:00
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...
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Episode 168: Darwin's "Origin of Species" (Part One) from 2017-07-17T05:00:29
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...
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Episode 167: Hume on Intelligent Design (Part Two) from 2017-07-10T12:47:15
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...
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Episode 167: Hume on Intelligent Design (Philosophize This! Crossover) (Part One) from 2017-07-03T12:22:26
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 Clean...
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Episode 166: Spinoza on Politics and Religion (Part Two) from 2017-06-26T06:26:08
Concluding on the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670) and Tractatus Politicus (1677). What's the relationship between ethics, reason, and revelation? What could "faith" possi...
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Episode 166: Spinoza on Politics and Religion (Part One) from 2017-06-19T12:26:12
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?...
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Episode 165: Spinoza on Biblical Criticism (Part Two) from 2017-06-12T13:00:40
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...
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Episode 165: Spinoza on Biblical Criticism (Part One) from 2017-06-05T12:00:21
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...
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Nakedly Examined Music: Steve Hackett, Nik Kershaw, Ken Stringfellow, Robbie Fulks from 2017-05-26T17:00:56
PEL Network crossover magic, featuring clips (a full song plus explanation) from four recent episodes of Mark's other podcast. Hear the full episodes and many more at Listen
Episode 164: Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot” on Perfection (Part Two) from 2017-05-22T12:00:08
More on the novel with guest Corey Mohler, considering Dostoyevsky qua existentialist in terms of his analysis of the crisis of meani...
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Episode 164: Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot” on Perfection (Part One) from 2017-05-15T12:00:17
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 me...
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Episode 163: Guest Stewart Umphrey on Natural Kinds (Part Two) from 2017-05-08T12:00:18
Continuing our interview about Natural Kinds and Genesis: The Classification of Material Entities. Buy Stewart's book at www.rowman.com ...
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Episode 163: Guest Stewart Umphrey on Natural Kinds (Part One) from 2017-05-01T12:00:02
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...
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PEL Special: Phi Fic on James Baldwin’s Fiction from 2017-04-24T12:00
On the short stories "This Morning, This Evening, So Soon" (1960) and "Sonny’s Blues" (1957). Mark joins the ...
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Episode 162: James Baldwin on Race in America (Part Two) from 2017-04-17T12:00:22
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...
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Episode 162: James Baldwin on Race in America (Part One) from 2017-04-10T12:00:29
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-socia...
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Episode 161: White Privilege (Peggy McIntosh, Charles Mills, et al) (Part Two) from 2017-04-03T12:00:04
Continuing with guest Law Ware on the philosophical underpinnings of the rhetoric of white privilege, with readings as listed in Listen
Episode 161: White Privilege (Peggy McIntosh, Charles Mills, et al) (Part One) from 2017-03-27T12:00:06
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 co...
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Episode 160: Orwell on Totalitarianism and Language (Part Two) from 2017-03-20T12:00:51
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 ...
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Episode 160: Orwell on Totalitarianism and Language (Part One) from 2017-03-13T12:00:07
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...
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Episode 159: Confucius on Virtuous Conduct (Part Two) from 2017-03-06T12:00:42
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...
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Episode 159: Confucius on Virtuous Conduct (Part One) from 2017-02-27T12:00:09
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 hi...
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Episode 158: Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Part Two) from 2017-02-20T12:00:05
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...
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Episode 158: Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Part One) from 2017-02-13T12:00:37
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...
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Episode 157: Richard Rorty on Politics for the Left (Part Two) from 2017-02-06T12:00:59
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 l...
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Episode 157: Richard Rorty on Politics for the Left (Part One) from 2017-01-30T12:00:25
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 ...
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Episode 156: Philosophy and Politics Free-Form Discussion (Part Two) from 2017-01-23T12:00:13
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 "pu...
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Episode 156: Philosophy and Politics Free-Form Discussion (Part One) from 2017-01-16T13:40:54
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 fo...
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Episode 155: Richard Rorty Against Epistemology from 2017-01-02T12:00:18
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 founda...
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Episode 154: Wilfrid Sellars on the Myth of the Given from 2016-12-19T12:00:37
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 know...
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Episode 153: Richard Rorty: There Is No Mind-Body Problem from 2016-12-05T12:00:51
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, ...
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Episode 152: Alexis de Tocqueville on Democracy in America (PEL Live!) from 2016-11-21T12:00:28
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 ...
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Episode 151: Edmund Burke’s Conservatism from 2016-11-07T12:00:58
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 po...
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PEL Special: Bill Bruford on Nakedly Examined Music #25 from 2016-11-06T01:46:59
NEM now features jazz, hip-hop, classical, folk, and more. Check out all the episodes at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com, where you can Listen
Episode 150: Guest Peter Singer on Famine, Affluence, and Morality from 2016-10-24T12:52:17
Mark and Wes interview perhaps the world's most influential living philosopher, then the full foursome discusses. We discuss his ongoing work rooted in his 1971 essay "Famine, Affluence, and Mor...
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Episode 149: Plato’s “Crito”: A Performance and Discussion from 2016-10-17T12:00:27
Broadway stars Walter Bobbie and Listen
Episode 148: Aristotle on Friendship and Happiness from 2016-10-03T12:00:52
On the final books 8–10 of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. What does friendship have to do with ethics? With guest Ana Sandoiu.
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Episode 147: Aristotle on Wisdom and Incontinence from 2016-09-19T12:00:46
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 use...
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Episode 146: Emmanuel Levinas on Overcoming Solitude from 2016-09-05T12:00:27
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 par...
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Episode 145: Emmanuel Levinas: Why Be Ethical? from 2016-08-22T12:00:11
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 "kn...
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Episode 144: Guest Martha Nussbaum on Anger from 2016-08-01T19:23:58
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...
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Phi Fic #3 Frankenstein (PEL Crossover Special) from 2016-07-25T12:00:59
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...
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Episode 143: Plato’s “Sophist” on Lies, Categorization, and Non-Being from 2016-07-11T12:00:20
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 Listen
Episode 142: Plato’s “Phaedrus” on Love and Speechmaking from 2016-06-27T22:12:29
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 ab...
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Episode 141: De Beauvoir’s Existentialism: Moral and Political Dilemmas from 2016-06-13T12:00:56
More on The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947), this time on part III. (For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go Listen
Episode 140: De Beauvoir on the Ambiguous Human Condition from 2016-05-30T12:00:31
On The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947), parts I and II. For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go Listen
Episode 139: bell hooks on Racism/Sexism from 2016-05-09T12:00:51
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 ...
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Episode 138: Guest John Searle on Perception from 2016-04-25T12:00:45
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 ...
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Episode 137: Bourdieu on the Tastes of Social Classes from 2016-04-11T12:00:02
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 e...
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Episode 136: Adorno on the Culture Industry from 2016-03-28T12:00:59
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" (196...
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Episode 135: Hegel on the Logic of Basic Metaphysical Concepts from 2016-03-14T12:00:16
A whole second discussion on G.F.W. Hegel's Encyclopedia Logic, hitting sections 78–99 on the dialectic and Understanding vs. Reason. Hegel thinks we can use Reason to objectively come ...
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Episode 134: Hegel on Thought&World (or “Logic”) from 2016-02-29T12:00:50
On G.F.W. Hegel's The Science of Logic (1812–1816), §1–§129 and The Encyclopaedia Logic (1817) §1–§25. "Logic" for Hegel is about how thought interacts with the world. Our thou...
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PEL Special: Nakedly Examined Music #1 with David Lowery from 2016-02-18T03:36:46
Welcome to Nakedly Examined Music, our first spin-off of PEL. Hear more at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com or find it via Listen
Episode 133: Erich Fromm on Love as an Art from 2016-02-08T12:00:38
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...
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Episode 132: Living Stoically with Seneca and Massimo from 2016-01-25T12:00:27
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,...
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Episode 131: Aristotle’s “De Anima”: What Is the Mind? from 2016-01-11T12:00
Our second discussion of De Anima or On the Soul (350 BCE), this time on book 3. What is the intellect? We talk about its highest part/function: nous, which is a "form of forms...
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Episode 130: Aristotle’s “De Anima”: What Is Life? from 2015-12-28T12:00:41
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...
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Holiday Special 2015: Mark Lint’s “Songs from the Partially Examined Life” with Many Guest Greetings from 2015-12-24T06:44:35
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 L...
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Episode 129: Is Faith Rational? from 2015-12-14T12:00:10
Nathan Gilmour (Christian Humanist podcast) and Rob Dyer ( Listen
Episode 128: Hilary Putnam on Linguistic Meaning from 2015-11-30T12:00:23
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 Ear...
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Episode 127: John Dewey on Experience and the World from 2015-11-16T12:00:10
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...
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Episode 126: Saul Kripke on Possibilities, Language&Science from 2015-11-02T12:00:24
On Naming and Necessity (1980). What's the relationship between language and the world? Specifically, what makes a name or a class term pick out the person or things that it does? Saul ...
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Not School Digest: Asimov, Camus, Jaspers, Brecht, Peirce, Historical Jesus from 2015-10-25T00:56:37
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...
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Episode 125: Hannah Arendt on the Political&Private from 2015-10-12T12:00:27
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 differe...
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Q&A with the Partially Examined Life, Pittsburgh 9-25-15 from 2015-10-05T12:00:40
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 s...
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Episode 124: The Stoic Life with Epictetus from 2015-09-21T11:55:07
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. Nothing external can break your ...
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Episode 123: Economics with Hayek and Sen (Intro by Seth Benzell) from 2015-09-07T12:00:29
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-simpli...
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Ep 121/122 Aftershow on Augustine feat. James Wetzel from 2015-09-07T02:37:42
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, ...
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Episode 122: Augustine on Mind and Metaphysics from 2015-08-24T12:00:31
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 sens...
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Precognition of Ep. 123: Economics (F.A. Hayek and Amartya Sen) from 2015-08-19T14:25:16
Guest Seth Benzell outlines Hayek's "The Use of Knowledge in Society" (1945) and Sen's On Ethics and Economics (1987).
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Episode 121: Augustine on Being Good from 2015-08-10T12:00:43
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 Hip...
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Ep. 119 Aftershow (PREMIUM) on Nietzsche feat. Greg Sadler from 2015-08-07T04:40:18
Seth Paskin and Danny Lobell were joined by Dr. Gregory B. Sadler, David Buchanan, Erik Weissengruber, Tom K...
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Ep. 119 Aftershow (PREMIUM) on Nietzsche feat. Greg Sadler from 2015-08-07T04:40:18
Seth Paskin and Danny Lobell were joined by Dr. Gregory B. Sadler, David Buchanan, Erik Weissengruber, Tom K...
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Episode 120: A History of “Will” with Guest Eva Brann from 2015-07-27T12:00:04
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, co...
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Ep. 118 Aftershow (PREMIUM) on Songwriting feat. ex-Camper Chris Molla from 2015-07-24T16:55:02
A highlight from our musician-packed breakdown of our songwriting episode<...
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Ep. 118 Aftershow (PREMIUM) on Songwriting feat. ex-Camper Chris Molla from 2015-07-24T16:55:02
A highlight from our musician-packed breakdown of our songwriting episode<...
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Episode 119: Nietzsche on Tragedy and the Psychology of Art from 2015-07-06T12:13:43
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 ...
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Ep. 117 Aftershow (PREMIUM) on Antigone with Danny Lobell from 2015-07-05T16:23:17
Listen to or watch the Aftershow for Episode 117 on Antigone, with Danny Lobell, Wes Alwan, and a bunch of PEL listeners like you. Also, learn about our new Citizen feed: get the full Aftershow ...
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Ep. 117 Aftershow (PREMIUM) on Antigone with Danny Lobell from 2015-07-05T16:23:17
Listen to or watch the Aftershow for Episode 117 on Antigone, with Danny Lobell, Wes Alwan, and a bunch of PEL listeners like you. Also, learn about our new Citizen feed: get the full Aftershow ...
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Episode 118: The Musical Life with Guests from Camper van Beethoven from 2015-06-29T12:00:30
Victor Krummenacher and Jonathan Segel join Mark and Wes to discuss songwriting and authenticity in the age of Internet consumerism. This episode prefigured Mark's Listen
Episode 117: Discussing Sophocles’s “Antigone” from 2015-06-15T13:00:07
Philosophically considering the ancient Greek tragedy, which we also pe...
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“Antigone” Read by PEL with Lucy Lawless and Paul Provenza from 2015-06-08T12:14:15
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!
Episode 116: Freud on Dreams from 2015-05-25T11:05:26
On Sigmund Freud's On Dreams (1902) and other stuff. Are dreams just random, or our best key to understanding the mind?
For Wes Alwan's Freud summaries, go here: Listen
Episode 115: Schopenhauer on Music with Guest Jonathan Segel from 2015-05-11T13:52:07
The Camper Van Beethoven violinist/composer/multi-instrumentalist joins us to discuss The World as Will and Representation, book 3 selections.
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Episode 114: Schopenhauer: “The World Is Will” from 2015-04-27T13:57:49
On The World As Will and Representation (1818), book 2. The world is a blind, striving force!
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Episode 113: Jesus’s Parables from 2015-04-06T13:33:34
Interpreting the Parables using texts from Paul Ricoeur, John Dominic Crossan, Paul Tillich, et al, with guest Law Ware.
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Episode 112: Ricoeur on Interpreting Religion from 2015-03-16T10:56:30
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?
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Episode 111: Gadamer’s Hermeneutics: How to Interpret from 2015-03-02T08:05:23
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 Philoso...
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Close Reading (PREMIUM) of Heidegger on Truth from 2015-02-23T14:11:24
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 Listen
Close Reading (PREMIUM) of Heidegger on Truth from 2015-02-23T14:11:24
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 Listen
Ep. 110 Aftershow (PREMIUM) with Stephen West from 2015-02-22T21:28:38
Stephen West returns: Citizens should log in and listen to the Aftershow on Whitehead f...
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Ep. 110 Aftershow (PREMIUM) with Stephen West from 2015-02-22T21:28:38
Stephen West returns: Citizens should log in and listen to the Aftershow on Whitehead f...
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Close Reading (PREMIUM) of Kant on the Sublime from 2015-02-16T14:40:17
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 Listen
Close Reading (PREMIUM) of Kant on the Sublime from 2015-02-16T14:40:17
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 Listen
Episode 110: Alfred North Whitehead: What Is Nature? from 2015-02-02T20:19:19
On The Concept of Nature (1920). Nature, i.e. the object of our experience, is events, not things, ya dig?
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Precognition of Ep. 110: Whitehead from 2015-02-01T22:16:43
Mark Linsenmayer outlines Alfred North Whitehead's book The Concept of Nature (1920)
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Ep. 109 Aftershow (PREMIUM) with Stephen West from 2015-01-31T06:50:23
The first chunk of our new after-the-episode discussion, featuring Stephen West from Philosophize This! and Mark Linsenmayer. This is a 20-min preview of a 72-min discussion that can be found in...
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Ep. 109 Aftershow (PREMIUM) with Stephen West from 2015-01-31T06:50:23
The first chunk of our new after-the-episode discussion, featuring Stephen West from Philosophize This! and Mark Linsenmayer. This is a 20-min preview of a 72-min discussion that can be found in...
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Episode 109: Jaspers’s Existentialism with Guest Paul Provenza from 2015-01-19T22:55:01
On Karl Jaspers's "On My Philosophy" (1941), featuring comedian/actor/director/author Paul Provenza
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Precognition of Ep. 109: Karl Jaspers from 2015-01-18T14:16:16
Mark Linsenmayer introduces Karl Jaspers's existentialist tract, "On My Philosophy." (1941)
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Episode 108: Dangers of A.I. with Guest Nick Bostrom from 2015-01-06T22:26:25
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 fr...
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Episode 107: Edmund Burke on the Sublime from 2014-12-20T03:18:49
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 saf...
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Not Ep. 107: The 12 Interminable Days of Xmas: A Musical Extravaganza from 2014-12-20T02:45:50
Mark Lint and the PEL Orchestra present the longest, slowest, biggest, fattest, most surreal Christmas carol ever.
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Episode 106: Pyrrhonian Skepticism According to Sextus Empiricus from 2014-12-04T21:01:28
On "Outlines of Pyrrhonism" from 200 C.E. Can you live while suspending judgment about all non-everyday matters? WIth guest Jessica Berry.
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Episode 105: Kant: What Is Beauty? from 2014-11-15T05:48:11
On Critique of Judgment (1790), Part I, Book I. What is beauty? Disinterested pleasure!
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Episode 104: Robert Nozick’s Libertarianism from 2014-10-27T16:34:55
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.
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Precognition of Ep. 104: Robert Nozick from 2014-10-26T23:59:04
Seth Paskin introduces Anarchy, State, and Utopia about libertarianism and the limits of legitimate government power.
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Episode 103: Thoreau on Living Deliberately from 2014-10-14T15:07:46
On Henry David Thoreau's Walden (1854). Should all true philosophers go live in the woods and seek Truth in nature? Probably YOU should.
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Episode 102: Emerson on Wisdom and Individuality from 2014-09-20T03:00:51
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!
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Episode 101: Maimonides on God from 2014-09-01T22:16:19
On Guide for the Perplexed about God's lack of properties, featuring guest comedian Danny Lobell of the Modern Day Philosophers podcast.
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Episode 100: Plato’s Symposium Live Celebration! from 2014-08-15T18:56:10
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."
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Episode 99: Looking Back on 100 Discussions and 5+ Years from 2014-08-11T19:18:03
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.
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Episode 98: Guest Michael Sandel Against Market Society from 2014-07-26T20:40:03
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."
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Episode 97: Michael Sandel on Social Justice and the Self from 2014-07-19T17:13:52
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.
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Episode 96: Oppenheimer and the Rhetoric of Science Advisers from 2014-07-01T16:52:17
Discussing Lynda Walsh's book "Scientists as Prophets: A Rhetorical Genealogy" (2013) with the author, focusing on Robert J. Oppenheimer.
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Precognition of Ep. 96: Oppenheimer’s Rhetoric from 2014-06-29T00:48:16
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 spo...
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Episode 95: Gödel on Math from 2014-06-16T05:44:32
On two unpublished essays considering the implications of Godel's incompleteness theorems and asserting mathematical realism. With guest Adi Habbu.
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Precognition of Ep. 95: Gödel from 2014-06-15T14:34:33
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 "Th...
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Episode 94: Schopenhauer on Reading, Writing, and Thinking from 2014-05-23T04:38:54
On Arthur Schopenhauer's essays, "On Authorship and Style," "On Thinking for Oneself," and "On Genius" (all published 1851).
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Episode 93: Freedom and Responsibility (Strawson vs. Strawson) from 2014-05-03T04:35:45
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 St...
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Precognition of Ep. 93: Free Will (via Strawsons) from 2014-04-29T18:49:29
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).
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Episode 92: Henri Bergson on How to Do Metaphysics from 2014-04-12T02:47:08
On Bergson's "An Introduction to Metaphysics" (1903). With guest Matt Teichman.
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Precognition of Ep. 92: Henri Bergson from 2014-03-30T16:16:24
Guest Matt Teichman introduces Bergson's essay "An Introduction to Metaphysics."
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Episode 91: Transhumanism (Plus More on Brin) from 2014-03-29T19:57:34
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.
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Episode 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with Guest David Brin from 2014-03-26T17:21:56
Discussing David Brin's novel Existence (2012) with the author. Also with guest Brian Casey.
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Precognition of Ep. 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with David Brin from 2014-03-25T01:13:17
Introductory salvo by Mark Linsenmayer before our interview with author David Brin.
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Episode 89: Berkeley: Only Ideas Exist! from 2014-03-12T05:22:52
On Bishop George Berkeley's Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (1713).
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Precognition of Ep. 89: Berkeley’s Idealism from 2014-03-11T14:31:34
Wes Alwan introduces George Berkeley's Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous.
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Partially Examined Life Not School Digest #4: Sartre, Heidegger, Zizek, Marx, and Theater from 2014-03-01T02:54:57
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 Manife...
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Episode 88: G.E.M. Anscombe: Should We Use Moral Language? from 2014-02-18T15:10:24
On Elizabeth Anscombe's "Modern Moral Philosophy" (1958), Intention sections 22-27 (1957), and "War and Murder" (1961). With guest Philosophy Bro.
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Precognition of Ep. 88: G.E.M. Anscombe from 2014-01-18T18:40:32
Guest Philosophy Bro introduces Elizabeth Anscombe's "Modern Moral Philosophy," and Intention sections 22-27.
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Sartre’s “No Exit” Read with Lucy Lawless&Jaime Murray from 2014-01-02T06:07:02
In support of our ep. #87 discussing Sartre, the PEL Players present our 2nd annual dramatic reading of a work of philosophical theater.
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Episode 87: Sartre on Freedom and Self-Deception from 2014-01-01T14:59:27
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).
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Precognition of Ep. 87: Sartre from 2013-12-30T23:44:09
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.
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Episode 86: Thomas Kuhn on Scientific Progress from 2013-12-24T18:16:49
On The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, published mostly in 1962.
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Precognition of Ep. 86: Thomas Kuhn from 2013-12-23T18:58:33
Dylan Casey lays out Thomas Kuhn's thesis in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
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Episode 85: Rawls on Social Justice from 2013-12-07T19:20
On John Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971), most of ch. 1-4.
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Precognition of Ep. 85: John Rawls from 2013-12-06T16:55:33
Seth Paskin summarizes the John Rawls's A Theory of Justice.
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PREMIUM-Episode 84: Nietzsche’s “Gay Science” from 2013-11-11T17:01:54
On Friedrich Nietzsche's The Gay Science (1882, with book 5 added 1887).
What is wisdom? Nietzsche gives us an updated take on the Socratic project of challenging your most deepl...
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PREMIUM-Episode 84: Nietzsche’s “Gay Science” from 2013-11-11T17:01:54
On Friedrich Nietzsche's The Gay Science (1882, with book 5 added 1887).
What is wisdom? Nietzsche gives us an updated take on the Socratic project of challenging your most deepl...
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Episode 83 Follow-Up: Q&A with Frithjof Bergmann from 2013-11-01T21:49:24
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.
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Episode 83: New Work with Guest Frithjof Bergmann from 2013-10-11T01:32:15
alking with Frithjof Bergmann, Prof. Emeritus from U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor about his book New Work, New Culture (2004, English release coming soon).
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Precognition of Ep. 83: New Work from 2013-10-10T04:15:56
An introduction to and summary of Frithjof Bergmann's New Work, New Culture, read by Mark Linsenmayer.
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PREMIUM-Episode 82: Karl Popper on Science from 2013-09-24T22:28:30
On Popper's Conjectures and Refutations (1963), the first three essays.
What is science, and how is it different than pseudo-science? From philosophy? Is philosophy just pseudo-s...
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PREMIUM-Episode 82: Karl Popper on Science from 2013-09-24T22:28:30
On Popper's Conjectures and Refutations (1963), the first three essays.
What is science, and how is it different than pseudo-science? From philosophy? Is philosophy just pseudo-s...
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Precognition of Ep. 82: Popper from 2013-09-23T14:12:19
A summary of the first three essays in Karl Popper's collection Conjectures and Refutations, read by Dylan Casey.
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PREMIUM-Episode 81: Jung on the Psyche and Dreams from 2013-08-29T19:19:55
On Carl Jung's "Approaching the Unconscious" from Man and His Symbols, written in 1961.
What's the structure of the mind? Jung followed Freud in positing an unconscious distinct ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 81: Jung on the Psyche and Dreams from 2013-08-29T19:19:55
On Carl Jung's "Approaching the Unconscious" from Man and His Symbols, written in 1961.
What's the structure of the mind? Jung followed Freud in positing an unconscious distinct ...
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Precognition of Ep. 81: Jung from 2013-08-28T17:03:12
An introduction to Carl Jung's Man and His Symbols, read by Wes Alwan.
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Partially Examined Life Not School Digest #3: Work, Blood Meridian, Mind, and Heidegger from 2013-08-23T00:45:38
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 Challeng...
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PREMIUM-Episode 80: Heidegger on our Existential Situation from 2013-08-08T23:16:16
On Martin Heidegger's "Letter on Humanism" (1949).
What's our place in the world? What is it, really, to be human? Heidegger thought that being human hinges on having a proper relationshi...
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PREMIUM-Episode 80: Heidegger on our Existential Situation from 2013-08-08T23:16:16
On Martin Heidegger's "Letter on Humanism" (1949).
What's our place in the world? What is it, really, to be human? Heidegger thought that being human hinges on having a proper relationshi...
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Precognition of Ep. 80: Heidegger from 2013-08-07T18:13:50
A short summary of Heidegger's "Essay on Humanism," read by Seth Paskin.
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PREMIUM-PEL Ep 79: Heraclitus on Understanding the World from 2013-07-15T17:00
Eva Brann discusses her book The Logos of Heraclitus (2011). What is the world like, and how can we understand it? Heraclitus thinks that the answer to both questions is found in “the l...
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PREMIUM-PEL Ep 79: Heraclitus on Understanding the World from 2013-07-15T17:00
Eva Brann discusses her book The Logos of Heraclitus (2011). What is the world like, and how can we understand it? Heraclitus thinks that the answer to both questions is found in “the l...
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Episode 79: Heraclitus on Understanding the World from 2013-07-15T05:09:25
Eva Brann discusses her book The Logos of Heraclitus (2011).
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PREMIUM-Episode 78: Ayn Rand on Living Rationally from 2013-07-01T07:53:22
On Rand's Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1967) and "The Objectivist Ethics" (1961).
First Rand grounds everyday human knowledge, largely by dismissing the concerns of ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 78: Ayn Rand on Living Rationally from 2013-07-01T07:53:22
On Rand's Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1967) and "The Objectivist Ethics" (1961).
First Rand grounds everyday human knowledge, largely by dismissing the concerns of ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 77: Santayana on the Appreciation of Beauty from 2013-06-09T15:14:06
On George Santayana's The Sense of Beauty (1896).
What are we saying when we call something "beautiful?" Are we pointing out an objective quality that other people (anyone?) can ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 77: Santayana on the Appreciation of Beauty from 2013-06-09T15:14:06
On George Santayana's The Sense of Beauty (1896).
What are we saying when we call something "beautiful?" Are we pointing out an objective quality that other people (anyone?) can ...
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PREVIEW-Episode 76: Deleuze on What Philosophy Is from 2013-05-14T17:45:31
On Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's What Is Philosophy? (1991). How is philosophy different from science and art? What's the relationship between different philosophies? Is better pu...
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PREMIUM-Episode 75: Lacan&Derrida Criticize Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” from 2013-04-19T23:28:46
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 Psy...
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PREMIUM-Episode 75: Lacan & Derrida Criticize Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” from 2013-04-19T23:28:46
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 Psy...
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PREMIUM-Episode 74: Jacques Lacan’s Psychology from 2013-04-04T03:56:35
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). What is the self? Is th...
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PREMIUM-Episode 74: Jacques Lacan’s Psychology from 2013-04-04T03:56:35
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). What is the self? Is th...
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PREMIUM-Episode 73: Why Do Philosophy? (And What Is It?) from 2013-03-23T02:13:18
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? The consensus seems that phil...
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PREMIUM-Episode 73: Why Do Philosophy? (And What Is It?) from 2013-03-23T02:13:18
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? The consensus seems that phil...
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PREMIUM-Episode 72: Terrorism with Jonathan R. White from 2013-03-09T21:26:36
We're joined by an international terrorism expert to discuss how to define terrorism and whether it can ever be ethical. With readings by Donald Black, J. Angelo Corlett, Igor Primoratz, Karl He...
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PREMIUM-Episode 72: Terrorism with Jonathan R. White from 2013-03-09T21:26:36
We're joined by an international terrorism expert to discuss how to define terrorism and whether it can ever be ethical. With readings by Donald Black, J. Angelo Corlett, Igor Primoratz, Karl He...
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PREMIUM-Episode 71: Martin Buber’s “I and Thou” from 2013-02-15T21:02:55
On Buber's 1923 book about the fundamental human position: As children, and historically, we start fully absorbed in relation with another person (like mom). Before that, we have no self-conscio...
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PREMIUM-Episode 71: Martin Buber’s “I and Thou” from 2013-02-15T21:02:55
On Buber's 1923 book about the fundamental human position: As children, and historically, we start fully absorbed in relation with another person (like mom). Before that, we have no self-conscio...
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PREMIUM-Episode 70: Marx on the Human Condition from 2013-01-30T05:51:46
On Karl Marx's The German Ideology, Part I, an early, unpublished work from 1846. What is human nature? What drives history? How can we improve our situation? Marx thought that fundamen...
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PREMIUM-Episode 70: Marx on the Human Condition from 2013-01-30T05:51:46
On Karl Marx's The German Ideology, Part I, an early, unpublished work from 1846. What is human nature? What drives history? How can we improve our situation? Marx thought that fundamen...
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Partially Examined Life Not School Digest Jan 2013 from 2013-01-23T23:47
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...
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PREMIUM-Episode 69: Plato on Rhetoric vs. Philosophy from 2013-01-13T03:28:39
On Plato's Dialogue, "Gorgias" (380 BCE or so). Why philosophize? Isn't it better to know how to persuade people in practical matters, like a successful lawyer or business leader? Plato (via Soc...
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PREMIUM-Episode 69: Plato on Rhetoric vs. Philosophy from 2013-01-13T03:28:39
On Plato's Dialogue, "Gorgias" (380 BCE or so). Why philosophize? Isn't it better to know how to persuade people in practical matters, like a successful lawyer or business leader? Plato (via Soc...
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Not Episode 69: PEL Players Full Cast Audiobook of Plato’s “Gorgias” (part 1) from 2013-01-12T05:16:57
Three podcasters and two listeners join to read Plato's fabulous dialogue.
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PREMIUM-Episode 68: David Chalmers Interview on the Scrutability of the World from 2012-12-22T03:29:23
On David Chalmers's book Constructing the World (2012). How are all the various truths about the world related to each other? David Chalmers, famous for advocating a scientifically resp...
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PREMIUM-Episode 68: David Chalmers Interview on the Scrutability of the World from 2012-12-22T03:29:23
On David Chalmers's book Constructing the World (2012). How are all the various truths about the world related to each other? David Chalmers, famous for advocating a scientifically resp...
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Not School Digest Nov-Dec 2012: A Bonus Quasisode from 2012-12-16T23:38:59
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.
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PREMIUM-Episode 67: Carnap on Logic and Science from 2012-12-07T17:01:23
On Rudolph Carnap's The Logical Structure of the World (1928). What can we know? Carnap thinks that all the various spheres of knowledge are logically interrelated, that you can transla...
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PREMIUM-Episode 67: Carnap on Logic and Science from 2012-12-07T17:01:23
On Rudolph Carnap's The Logical Structure of the World (1928). What can we know? Carnap thinks that all the various spheres of knowledge are logically interrelated, that you can transla...
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PREMIUM-Episode 66: Quine on Linguistic Meaning and Science from 2012-11-21T15:52:03
On W.V.O. Quine's "On What There Is" (1948) and "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" (1951). What kind of metaphysics is compatible with science? Quine sees science and philosophy as one and the same ente...
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PREMIUM-Episode 66: Quine on Linguistic Meaning and Science from 2012-11-21T15:52:03
On W.V.O. Quine's "On What There Is" (1948) and "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" (1951). What kind of metaphysics is compatible with science? Quine sees science and philosophy as one and the same ente...
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Celebrating Two Million Downloads: A Highlights Minisode from 2012-11-08T17:43:37
Our highlight reel in thanks to all you listeners who have brought us to the milestone of approximately two million downloads.
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PREMIUM-Episode 65: The Federalist Papers from 2012-10-27T06:39:51
On Alexander Hamilton/James Madison's Federalist Papers (1, 10-12, 14-17, 39, 47-51), published as newspaper editorials 1787-8, plus Letters III and IV from Brutus, an Anti-Federalist. ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 65: The Federalist Papers from 2012-10-27T06:39:51
On Alexander Hamilton/James Madison's Federalist Papers (1, 10-12, 14-17, 39, 47-51), published as newspaper editorials 1787-8, plus Letters III and IV from Brutus, an Anti-Federalist. ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 64: Celebrity, with guest Lucy Lawless from 2012-10-07T04:14:02
On Fame: What the Classics Tell Us About Our Cult of Celebrity by Tom Payne (2010). What's the deal with our f'ed up relationship with celebrities? Payne says that celebrities serve a s...
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PREMIUM-Episode 64: Celebrity, with guest Lucy Lawless from 2012-10-07T04:14:02
On Fame: What the Classics Tell Us About Our Cult of Celebrity by Tom Payne (2010). What's the deal with our f'ed up relationship with celebrities? Payne says that celebrities serve a s...
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PREMIUM-Episode 63: Existentialist Heroes in Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men” from 2012-09-21T19:50:15
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. What can morali...
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PREMIUM-Episode 63: Existentialist Heroes in Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men” from 2012-09-21T19:50:15
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. What can morali...
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PREMIUM-Episode 62: Voltaire’s Novel “Candide” from 2012-09-05T16:38:22
On Candide: or, Optimism, the novel by Voltaire (1759). Is life good? Popular Enlightenment philosopher Leibniz argued that it's good by definition. God is perfectly good and all-powerf...
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PREMIUM-Episode 62: Voltaire’s Novel “Candide” from 2012-09-05T16:38:22
On Candide: or, Optimism, the novel by Voltaire (1759). Is life good? Popular Enlightenment philosopher Leibniz argued that it's good by definition. God is perfectly good and all-powerf...
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PREMIUM-Episode 61: Nietzsche on Truth and Skepticism from 2012-08-15T23:11:40
On Friedrich Nietzsche's "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" (1873). What is truth? This essay, written early in Nietzsche's career, is taken by many to make the extreme claim that there is ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 61: Nietzsche on Truth and Skepticism from 2012-08-15T23:11:40
On Friedrich Nietzsche's "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" (1873). What is truth? This essay, written early in Nietzsche's career, is taken by many to make the extreme claim that there is ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 60: Aristotle: What’s the Best Form of Government? from 2012-07-23T04:56:24
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). Aristotle provides both a taxonomy of the types of government, based ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 60: Aristotle: What’s the Best Form of Government? from 2012-07-23T04:56:24
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). Aristotle provides both a taxonomy of the types of government, based ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 59: Alasdair MacIntyre on Moral Justifications from 2012-07-05T14:43:09
On Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (1981), mostly ch. 3-7 and 14-17. What justifies ethical claims? MacIntyre claims that no modern attempt to ground ethics h...
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PREMIUM-Episode 59: Alasdair MacIntyre on Moral Justifications from 2012-07-05T14:43:09
On Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (1981), mostly ch. 3-7 and 14-17. What justifies ethical claims? MacIntyre claims that no modern attempt to ground ethics h...
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PREMIUM-Episode 58: What Grounds Ethical Claims? (Moore, Stevenson, MacIntyre) from 2012-06-20T13:00:18
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. Is the...
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PREMIUM-Episode 58: What Grounds Ethical Claims? (Moore, Stevenson, MacIntyre) from 2012-06-20T13:00:18
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. Is the...
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PREVIEW-Episode 57: Henri Bergson on Humor from 2012-05-31T16:25:08
On Bergson's Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic (1900). What is humor? Bergson says that, fundamentally, we laugh as a form of social corrective when others are slow to adap...
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PREMIUM-Episode 56: More Wittgenstein on Language from 2012-05-15T04:40:19
Continuing discussion of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, Part I, sections 1-33 and 191-360. With guest Philosophy Bro. On "family resemlances" in concepts, dismissing philoso...
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PREMIUM-Episode 56: More Wittgenstein on Language from 2012-05-15T04:40:19
Continuing discussion of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, Part I, sections 1-33 and 191-360. With guest Philosophy Bro. On "family resemlances" in concepts, dismissing philoso...
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PREVIEW-Episode 55: Wittgenstein on Language from 2012-05-02T20:21:01
On Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, Part I, sections 1-33 and 191-360 (written around 1946). What is linguistic meaning? Wittgenstein argues that it's not some mysterious enti...
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PREMIUM-Episode 54: More Buddhism and Naturalism from 2012-04-06T22:40:20
Continuing our discussion of Owen Flanagan's The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized (2011). Are the basic tenets of Buddhism compatible with a respect for science? We talk (event...
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PREMIUM-Episode 54: More Buddhism and Naturalism from 2012-04-06T22:40:20
Continuing our discussion of Owen Flanagan's The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized (2011). Are the basic tenets of Buddhism compatible with a respect for science? We talk (event...
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PREMIUM-Episode 53: Buddhism and Naturalism with Guest Owen Flanagan from 2012-03-26T20:11:47
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 aga...
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PREMIUM-Episode 53: Buddhism and Naturalism with Guest Owen Flanagan from 2012-03-26T20:11:47
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 aga...
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PREMIUM-Episode 52: Philosophy and Race (DuBois, Martin Luther King, Cornel West) from 2012-03-17T23:50:36
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 Powe...
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PREMIUM-Episode 52: Philosophy and Race (DuBois, Martin Luther King, Cornel West) from 2012-03-17T23:50:36
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 Powe...
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PREMIUM-Episode 51: Semiotics and Structuralism (Saussure, et al) from 2012-02-24T20:53:51
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 "Structur...
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PREMIUM-Episode 51: Semiotics and Structuralism (Saussure, et al) from 2012-02-24T20:53:51
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 "Structur...
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PREMIUM-Episode 50: Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” from 2012-02-03T20:08:21
On Robert M. Pirsig's philosophical, autobiographical novel from 1974. What's the relationship between science and values? Pirsig thinks that modern rationality, by insisting on the fundamental ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 50: Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” from 2012-02-03T20:08:21
On Robert M. Pirsig's philosophical, autobiographical novel from 1974. What's the relationship between science and values? Pirsig thinks that modern rationality, by insisting on the fundamental ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 49: Foucault on Power and Punishment from 2012-01-11T20:10:06
Discussing Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish (1975), parts 1, 2 and section 3 of part 3. With guest Katie McIntyre.
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PREMIUM-Episode 49: Foucault on Power and Punishment from 2012-01-11T20:10:06
Discussing Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish (1975), parts 1, 2 and section 3 of part 3. With guest Katie McIntyre.
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PREMIUM-Episode 48: Merleau-Ponty on Perception and Knowledge from 2011-12-17T05:15:53
Discussing Maurice Merleau-Ponty's "Primacy of Perception" (1946) and The World of Perception (1948).
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PREMIUM-Episode 48: Merleau-Ponty on Perception and Knowledge from 2011-12-17T05:15:53
Discussing Maurice Merleau-Ponty's "Primacy of Perception" (1946) and The World of Perception (1948).
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PREMIUM-Episode 47: Sartre on Consciousness and the Self from 2011-12-01T00:56:02
Discussing Jean-Paul Sartre's The Transcendence of the Ego (written in 1934).
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PREMIUM-Episode 47: Sartre on Consciousness and the Self from 2011-12-01T00:56:02
Discussing Jean-Paul Sartre's The Transcendence of the Ego (written in 1934).
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PREMIUM-Episode 46: Plato on Ethics&Religion from 2011-11-17T02:07:05
Discussing Plato's "Euthyphro." With guest Matt Evans.
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PREMIUM-Episode 46: Plato on Ethics & Religion from 2011-11-17T02:07:05
Discussing Plato's "Euthyphro." With guest Matt Evans.
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PREMIUM-Episode 45: Moral Sense Theory: Hume and Smith from 2011-10-29T05:40:17
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.
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PREMIUM-Episode 45: Moral Sense Theory: Hume and Smith from 2011-10-29T05:40:17
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.
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PREMIUM-Episode 44: New Atheist Critiques of Religion from 2011-10-11T21:31:52
Discussing selections from Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel C. Dennett.
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PREMIUM-Episode 44: New Atheist Critiques of Religion from 2011-10-11T21:31:52
Discussing selections from Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel C. Dennett.
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PREMIUM-Episode 43: Arguments for the Existence of God from 2011-09-15T05:29:04
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 Existenc...
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PREMIUM-Episode 43: Arguments for the Existence of God from 2011-09-15T05:29:04
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 Existenc...
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PREMIUM-Episode 42: Feminists on Human Nature and Moral Psychology from 2011-09-05T17:40:10
Discussing Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s utopian novel Herland (1915) and psychologist Carol Gilligan's In a Different Voice (1983). With guest Azzurra Crispino.
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PREMIUM-Episode 42: Feminists on Human Nature and Moral Psychology from 2011-09-05T17:40:10
Discussing Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s utopian novel Herland (1915) and psychologist Carol Gilligan's In a Different Voice (1983). With guest Azzurra Crispino.
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PREMIUM-Episode 41: Pat Churchland on the Neurobiology of Morality (Plus Hume’s Ethics) from 2011-07-19T02:27:52
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...
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PREMIUM-Episode 41: Pat Churchland on the Neurobiology of Morality (Plus Hume’s Ethics) from 2011-07-19T02:27:52
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...
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PREMIUM-Episode 40: Plato’s Republic: What Is Justice? from 2011-07-11T06:55:22
Discussing The Republic by Plato, primarily books 1 and 2.
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PREMIUM-Episode 40: Plato’s Republic: What Is Justice? from 2011-07-11T06:55:22
Discussing The Republic by Plato, primarily books 1 and 2.
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PREMIUM-Episode 39: Schleiermacher Defends Religion from 2011-06-10T19:53:19
Discussing Friedrich Schleiermacher's "On Religion; Speeches to its Cultured Despisers" (1799, with notes added 1821), first and second speeches. With guest Daniel Horne.
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PREMIUM-Episode 39: Schleiermacher Defends Religion from 2011-06-10T19:53:19
Discussing Friedrich Schleiermacher's "On Religion; Speeches to its Cultured Despisers" (1799, with notes added 1821), first and second speeches. With guest Daniel Horne.
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PREMIUM-Episode 38: Bertrand Russell on Math and Logic from 2011-05-25T14:14:47
Discussing Russell's Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1919), ch. 1-3 and 13-18. With guest Josh Pelton.
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PREMIUM-Episode 38: Bertrand Russell on Math and Logic from 2011-05-25T14:14:47
Discussing Russell's Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1919), ch. 1-3 and 13-18. With guest Josh Pelton.
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PREMIUM-Episode 37: Locke on Political Power from 2011-05-06T17:43:07
Discussing John Locke's Second Treatise on Government (1690). With guest Sabrina Weiss.
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PREMIUM-Episode 37: Locke on Political Power from 2011-05-06T17:43:07
Discussing John Locke's Second Treatise on Government (1690). With guest Sabrina Weiss.
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PREMIUM-Episode 36: More Hegel on Self-Consciousness from 2011-04-11T04:15:06
Part 2 of our discussion of G.F.W. Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit," covering sections 178-230 within section B, "Self-Consciousness."
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PREMIUM-Episode 36: More Hegel on Self-Consciousness from 2011-04-11T04:15:06
Part 2 of our discussion of G.F.W. Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit," covering sections 178-230 within section B, "Self-Consciousness."
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PREMIUM-Episode 35: Hegel on Self-Consciousness from 2011-04-02T05:39:08
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 McDon...
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PREMIUM-Episode 35: Hegel on Self-Consciousness from 2011-04-02T05:39:08
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 McDon...
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PREMIUM-Episode 34: Frege on the Logic of Language from 2011-03-13T18:30:08
On Gottlob Frege's "Sense and Reference," "Concept and Object" (both from 1892) and "The Thought" (1918). With guest Matt Teichman.
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PREMIUM-Episode 34: Frege on the Logic of Language from 2011-03-13T18:30:08
On Gottlob Frege's "Sense and Reference," "Concept and Object" (both from 1892) and "The Thought" (1918). With guest Matt Teichman.
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PREMIUM-Episode 33: Montaigne: What Is the Purpose of Philosophy? from 2011-02-18T22:53:45
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 1...
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PREMIUM-Episode 33: Montaigne: What Is the Purpose of Philosophy? from 2011-02-18T22:53:45
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 1...
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PREMIUM-Episode 32: Heidegger: What is “Being?” from 2011-02-08T00:14:28
Discussing Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1927), mostly the intro and ch. 1 and 2 of Part 1.
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PREMIUM-Episode 32: Heidegger: What is “Being?” from 2011-02-08T00:14:28
Discussing Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1927), mostly the intro and ch. 1 and 2 of Part 1.
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PREMIUM-Episode 31: Husserl’s Phenomenology from 2011-01-10T14:30:24
Discussing Edmund Husserl's Cartesian Meditations (1931).
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PREMIUM-Episode 31: Husserl’s Phenomenology from 2011-01-10T14:30:24
Discussing Edmund Husserl's Cartesian Meditations (1931).
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PREMIUM-Episode 30: Schopenhauer on Explanations and Knowledge from 2010-12-19T16:40:54
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).
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PREMIUM-Episode 30: Schopenhauer on Explanations and Knowledge from 2010-12-19T16:40:54
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).
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PREMIUM-Episode 29: Kierkegaard on the Self from 2010-11-21T20:37:48
On Soren Kierkegaard's "The Sickness Unto Death" (1849). With guest Daniel Horne.
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PREMIUM-Episode 29: Kierkegaard on the Self from 2010-11-21T20:37:48
On Soren Kierkegaard's "The Sickness Unto Death" (1849). With guest Daniel Horne.
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PREMIUM-Episode 28: Nelson Goodman on Art as Epistemology from 2010-11-01T04:27:30
Discussing Goodman's Ways of Worldmaking (1978). With guest painter Jay Bailey.
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PREMIUM-Episode 28: Nelson Goodman on Art as Epistemology from 2010-11-01T04:27:30
Discussing Goodman's Ways of Worldmaking (1978). With guest painter Jay Bailey.
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PREMIUM-Episode 27: Nagarjuna on Buddhist “Emptiness” from 2010-10-10T18:47:23
Primarily discussing "Reasoning: The Sixty Stanzas" and "Emptiness: The Seventy Stanzas," by the 2nd century Indian Buddhist Nagarjuna. With guest Erik Douglas.
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PREMIUM-Episode 27: Nagarjuna on Buddhist “Emptiness” from 2010-10-10T18:47:23
Primarily discussing "Reasoning: The Sixty Stanzas" and "Emptiness: The Seventy Stanzas," by the 2nd century Indian Buddhist Nagarjuna. With guest Erik Douglas.
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PREMIUM-Episode 26: Freud on the Human Condition from 2010-09-25T20:57:26
Discussing Freud's Civilization and its Discontents (1930). Get the full episode at partiallyexaminedlife.com. For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go Listen
PREMIUM-Episode 26: Freud on the Human Condition from 2010-09-25T20:57:26
Discussing Freud's Civilization and its Discontents (1930). Get the full episode at partiallyexaminedlife.com. For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go Listen
PREMIUM-Episode 25: Spinoza on Human Nature from 2010-09-10T20:09:26
Discussing Spinoza's the Ethics, Books II through V.
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PREMIUM-Episode 25: Spinoza on Human Nature from 2010-09-10T20:09:26
Discussing Spinoza's the Ethics, Books II through V.
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PREMIUM-Episode 24: Spinoza on God and Metaphysics from 2010-08-24T05:51:42
Discussing Spinoza's Ethics (1677), books 1 and 2.
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PREMIUM-Episode 24: Spinoza on God and Metaphysics from 2010-08-24T05:51:42
Discussing Spinoza's Ethics (1677), books 1 and 2.
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PREMIUM-Episode 23: Rousseau: Human Nature vs. Culture from 2010-07-29T05:34:12
Discussing Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse in Inequality (1754) and book 1 of The Social Contract (1762).
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PREMIUM-Episode 23: Rousseau: Human Nature vs. Culture from 2010-07-29T05:34:12
Discussing Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse in Inequality (1754) and book 1 of The Social Contract (1762).
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PREMIUM-Episode 22: More James’s Pragmatism: Is Faith Justified? What is Truth? from 2010-07-18T06:07:54
Discussing William James's "The Will to Believe".
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PREMIUM-Episode 22: More James’s Pragmatism: Is Faith Justified? What is Truth? from 2010-07-18T06:07:54
Discussing William James's "The Will to Believe".
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PREMIUM-Episode 21: What Is the Mind? (Turing, et al) from 2010-06-28T06:39:02
Discussing articles by Alan Turing, Gilbert Ryle, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, and Dan Dennett. With guest Marco Wise.
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PREMIUM-Episode 21: What Is the Mind? (Turing, et al) from 2010-06-28T06:39:02
Discussing articles by Alan Turing, Gilbert Ryle, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, and Dan Dennett. With guest Marco Wise.
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PREMIUM-Episode 20: Pragmatism – Peirce and James from 2010-06-09T06:59:32
On Pragmatism (1907) by William James and "The Fixation of Belief" (1877) and "How to Make Our Ideas Clear" (1878) by Charles Sanders Peirce.
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PREMIUM-Episode 20: Pragmatism – Peirce and James from 2010-06-09T06:59:32
On Pragmatism (1907) by William James and "The Fixation of Belief" (1877) and "How to Make Our Ideas Clear" (1878) by Charles Sanders Peirce.
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PREMIUM-Episode 19: Kant: What Can We Know? from 2010-05-14T05:19:10
Discussing Immanuel Kant's Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (1783). With guest Azzurra Crispino.
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PREMIUM-Episode 19: Kant: What Can We Know? from 2010-05-14T05:19:10
Discussing Immanuel Kant's Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (1783). With guest Azzurra Crispino.
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PREMIUM-Episode 18: Plato: What Is Knowledge? from 2010-04-21T03:24:39
Discussing Plato's Theatetus and Meno.
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PREMIUM-Episode 18: Plato: What Is Knowledge? from 2010-04-21T03:24:39
Discussing Plato's Theatetus and Meno.
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PREMIUM-Episode 17: Hume’s Empiricism: What Can We Know? from 2010-03-29T16:53:40
On David Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748).
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PREMIUM-Episode 17: Hume’s Empiricism: What Can We Know? from 2010-03-29T16:53:40
On David Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748).
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PREMIUM-Episode 16: Danto on Art from 2010-03-04T21:07:02
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 ...
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PREMIUM-Episode 16: Danto on Art from 2010-03-04T21:07:02
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 ...
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Episode 15: Hegel on History from 2010-02-24T22:15:10
Discussing G.W.F Hegel's Introduction to the Philosophy of History.
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Episode 14: Machiavelli on Politics from 2010-02-07T17:26:12
Discussing Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince and Ch. 1-20 of The Discourse on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy
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Episode 13: What Are the Metaphysical Implications of Quantum Physics? from 2010-01-03T23:22:17
On Werner Heisenberg’s Physics and Philosophy. Dylan Casey's first appearance (as a guest).
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Episode 12: Chuang Tzu’s Taoism: What Is Wisdom? from 2009-12-06T07:08:13
On the "Chuang Tzu," Chapters 2, 3, 6, 18, and 19. With guest Erik Douglas.
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Episode 11: Nietzsche’s Immoralism: What Is Ethics, Anyway? from 2009-11-10T08:15:22
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 Nob...
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Episode 10: Kantian Ethics: What Should We Do? from 2009-10-19T18:22
Discussing Fundamental Principles (aka Groundwork) of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785).
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Episode 9: Utilitarian Ethics: What Should We Do? from 2009-09-18T05:36:13
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...
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Episode 8: Wittgenstein’s Tractatus (and Carnap): What Can We Legitimately Talk About? from 2009-09-04T16:42:37
Continuing last ep's discussion of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus with some Rudolph Carnap from his 1935 book Philosophy and Logical Syntax.
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Episode 7: Wittgenstein’s Tractatus: What Is There and Can We Talk About It? from 2009-08-19T15:13:23
Discussing the beginning (through around 3.1) of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
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Episode 6: Leibniz’s Monadology: What Is There? from 2009-07-31T07:36:42
Discussing Liebniz's Monadology.
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Episode 5: Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics from 2009-07-16T08:14:33
Discussing Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Books I and II.
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Episode 4: Camus and the Absurd from 2009-06-22T14:29:58
Discussing Camus's "An Absurd Reasoning" and "The Myth of Sisyphus" (1942).
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Episode 3: Hobbes’s Leviathan: The Social Contract from 2009-06-07T06:51:39
Discussing Hobbes's Leviathan, Chapters 13-15.
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Episode 2: Descartes’s Meditations: What Can We Know? from 2009-05-14T02:52:36
On Descartes's Meditations 1 and 2.
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Part 2 of Episode 1: “The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living.” from 2009-05-14T02:51
More discussion of Plato's "Apology."
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Part 1 of Episode 1: “The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living.” from 2009-05-13T02:51:38
Discussing Plato's "Apology." Does studying philosophy make you a better person? No.
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Episode 0: Introduction to the Podcast from 2009-05-11T17:00
What are we trying to do here? Why should you bother to listen to us?
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