The Partially Examined Life

The PMP A-Team (Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al) talk about the canon of Christmas songs, from centuries-old carols to current attempts by pop stars to get added to this cycle of cash-flow. Happy holidays, everybody! We also do a bit of year-end reflection, getting into various things we've watched with some recommendations and ambivalent reflections. For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonu...

Wallace Stevens was an ungainly insurance executive, but his poetry is serene and secularly reverential. In particular, his poem “Sunday Morning” seems to suggest that the rhythm of the natural world—if we give it enough rapt attention—is as good as any chant or prayer. But can a return to nature worship solve the problem of nihilism, once monotheism has been eclipsed by modernity? Are memory and...

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, and Kagan. If you're not hearing the full version of this part of the discussion , sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support .

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 Linsenmayer. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion including the supporter-exclusive part three to this episode....

Simon has produced programmed dance music since the early '90s, winning Grammys and topping charts with his partner Felix Buxton as Basement Jaxx through their seven albums and several EPs. We discuss "Village of the Sun" by his new project of that name from First Light (2022), "Flying by the Sun" by Ratcliffe from Dorus Rijkers EP (2011), to "Alkazaar" by Basement Jaxx from Zephyr (2009), and "Ep...

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 Should be Overruled" (1992). With guest Robin Linsenmayer. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Check out...

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. If you're not hearing the full version of this part of the discussion , sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support .

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. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion including the supporter-exclusive part three to this episode. The Partially Examin...

We cover the first chunk of Neil Gaiman's 1989 comic and its new Netflix adaptation. Mark is joined by Anthony LeBlanc , Sarahlyn Bruck , and Al Baker. What are the narrative challenges of depicting a god? What is the show's metaphysics the role of storytelling in it? Were the updates and story choices for the TV show helpful, or was the comic truly "unfilmable," as was long thought? For more, vis...

Bruce is best known as Elvis Costello's bassist for his first on about a dozen albums as The Attractions, but he's been in bands since 1970 and has done numerous session gigs. We discuss his work on "Blood Makes Noise" by Susanne Vega from 99.9 Degrees (1992), play clips from several of the most famous Attractions tunes plus "La La La La Loved You" by The Attractions from Mad About the Wrong Boy (...

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 pessimistic, nihilistic philosophy where violence is central to the human condition and is the way to self-knowledge. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free...

Before she settles down to life of homemaking, security, and insurance policies with Bruce Baldwin in Albany, star reporter Hildy Johnson has one more story to write for her ex-husband and ex-boss Walter Burns, editor of the Morning Post. Hildy must write up an interview with convicted killer Earl Williams that will grant him a last-minute reprieve on the basis of insanity. The ingenious angle she...

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 of these. If you're not hearing the full version of this part of the discussion , sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support .

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). How do Hartians respond to Dworkin's initial attack? Can Hart's theory incorporate the fact that judges consult their culture's moral standards without making the law dependent on morality? Get more at par...

Is there really a division in today's culture between those who create and the merely receptive masses? Mark gathers three artists in different media about the place of the artist in society: sci-fi author Brian Hirt , art photographer and academic Amir Zaki , and musician/novelist/ex-English prof John Andrew Fredrick (of The Black Watch ). We touch on art education, the self-understanding of arti...

Mike has put out 18 releases of largely instrumental guitar music since 2004 and is now playing with legendary bassist Mike Watt and with drummer by either Jim Keltner . We discuss the title track to Everywhen We Go (2022), "Hospital Song" from Wall of Flowers (2019), and "The Mystery Of" from Main Street Stop Valve (2020). End song: "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Social Justice" from mssv Meets Nels Cl...

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? When the law "runs out" and doesn't definitively decide an issue, do judges then just draw on their personal moral judgments? Dworkin says no, that moral principles are (contra Hart) built into the legal principles w...

The anonymous policy wonk who runs the Carneades.org YouTube channel joins Mark and Bill to discuss the core concept of his new book, Are All Lives Equal?: Why Cost-Benefit Analysis Values Rich Lives More and How Philosophy Can Fix It . Should economics really be measuring the value of life at all? Can it do this in any principled way? Can economists really understand how much joy cat videos reall...

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 up being more complicated than merely "The Constitution," but the action itself of officials respecting, obeying, and enforcing that Constitution. If you're not hearing the full version of this part of the...

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 legal system exist at all, as opposed to a lawless state? Is saying something is legally required just a way of predicting that people will generally obey it? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyex...

What's the appeal of this 13-film franchise that started with John Carpenter's 1978 film Halloween and has purportedly wrapped up with David Gordon Green's Halloween Ends ? Mark Linsenmayer, Al Baker, Lawrence Ware, and Nathan Shelton debate the ideology and effectiveness of the various films. For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonus content at patreon.com/prettymuchpop or by subscribing via...

Mark, Lawrence, Sarah, and Al convene an emergency podcast recording to react to this brilliant, mind-blowing, possibly immoral HBO comedy docuseries, wherein Fielder supposedly helps ordinary people rehearse difficult personal confrontations. For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonus content at patreon.com/prettymuchpop or by subscribing via Apple Podcasts to the Mark Lintertainment Channel...

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, what is it founded on? Hart's legal positivism makes a sharp distinction between law as a human invention and morality. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-fr...

What is personhood? How can a group best collaboratively invent a scene? Sarah is a host of Marty and Sarah Love Wrestling and a repeat guest on Hello From the Magic Tavern . We fit in THREE scenes, some discussion of the various layers of what it is for something to be (or not be) person, and some musings about the weather and such. Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Bill improvise...

Neil is known as the long-time collaborator of the late Elliot Smith in the Portland band Heatmiser, which released three albums and an EP starting in 1993. Then Neil fronted the band No. 2 for two albums before taking a break until recently from music. We discuss "You Might Be Right" (and listen at the end to "I'm on a Mission") from the new No. 2 album First Love , "Critical Mass" from No Memory...