The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

An interview with Graham in light of his new book, Waves and Stones: On the Ultimate Nature of Reality, which elaborates and adds to issues that the gang previously studied in Object-Oriented Ontology. Graham argues that in addition to objects (which have parts), there are continua, such as space and time, and these continua are the links that allow otherwise forever separated objects to touch eac...

We consider chapter 2, "Aesthetics Is the Root of All Philosophy," where Harman describes how art can help us see behind the veil to things-in-themselves. Art is "theatrical" in that it's really the spectator who is standing in like an actor for the object encountered in art. Get more at  partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus...

Continuing on Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything (2018), finishing up ch. 1 (discussing what's so bad about reductionism) and moving to ch. 4, "Indirect Relations," which is about causality. Get more at  partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/...

We're within the Self-Consciousness chapter of The Phenomenology of Spirit, specifically starting at sec. 206 on the Unhappy Consciousness. This comes after the famous Master-Slave section as well as sections about Stoicism and Skepticism, and it depicts a dividedness within the self stemming from a faulty view of the relation between self and world. Subscribe to Closereads at patreon.com/closerea...

On Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything (2018). What counts as an entity in the world? Harman includes not just physical objects, but fictional objects, "sensual objects," and even events, which you might have thought were the alternative to objects. With this promiscuous ontology comes a strange theory of causality whereby no real object touches another real object, and a...

Finishing up Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, finally now turning to Freud's anthropological account of group membership. Get more at  partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.

On the second half of Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. We talk about the dual origins of group membership for Freud in personal love and in the supposed primitive society where a horde was led by a tyrannical father. Get more at  partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/P...

It's another year, and this time we each came in with a short bucket list of philosophical works that we'd like to read before this podcast concludes, whenever that might be. Get more at  partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. It's time to enroll in Mark's...

Continuing on the first half of Sigmund Freud's Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, now getting really into Freud's own type of explanation, whereby he explains how libidinal ties bind group members, typically via their shared love of a leader or leading idea. Get more at  partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discus...

On the first half of Sigmund Freud's Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921). Why do members of a mob get dumber and less inhibited? Freud considers Gustave Le Bon's famous book on crowds but then turns to more organized groups like armies and churches. For all groups, Freud thinks that the leader (or leading ideal) replaces our conscience to some degree. Get more at  partiallyexamined...

We discuss the first six questions from the "Moral Action" section in the Summa Theologica (1268), which we read in Thomas Aquinas: Selected Philosophical Writings (1993). 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 to discuss the virtue and moral action from the Summa Theologica (1268). We discuss the definition of virtue and some subsequent questions about what parts of us the term virtue properly applies to. Get more at  partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data...

On selections about virtue and moral action from the Summa Theologica (1268). Aquinas defines virtue, tells us how it metaphysically fits us into the universe, and discusses how it actually works in us to make us perform moral acts. Get more at  partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support  to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Rula patients typical...

More on The Problem of Christianity, discussing how communities relate to history, how individuals relate to communities, and what's unique about Royce's ideal Christian world community. Get more at  partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support  to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Get $45 off Aura's best-selling Carver Mat electronic picture frame...

On sections of The Problem of Christianity (1913) which establish Royce's concept of a community of interpretation: individuals working together with a sense of shared history and expectation. He claims that such a grouping can be counted as a literal mind and that it solves the problem of human meaning. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free...

Continuing on sources from ancient Egypt, finishing up the instructional literature: "The Instruction of Ptahhotep," and "The Instruction Addressed to King Merikare," and then we move to the dialogues, ""The Eloquent Peasant," and "The Dispute Between a Man and His Ba." Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discuss...

The co-author of the African run of the History of Philosophy Podcast (and new book) joins us to go over philosophical works from 2200-1400 BCE: "The Instruction of Ptahhotep," "The Instruction Addressed to King Merikare," "The Great Hymn to the Aten," "The Dispute Between a Man and His Ba," and "The Eloquent Peasant." Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support...

We complete our Aquinas treatment for the moment by considering emotions: categorizing them, asking whether they have opposites, and making them coherent given Aquinas' Aristotelian conception of soul. 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 .

We're now moving on to the "mind" portion of our discussion, covering how reason motivates us, how free will is possible, and the degree to which the mind is passive or active. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your he...

Continuing on bits of Thomas Aquinas: Selected Philosophical Writings, completing our analysis of his arguments for the existence of God and then turning to eternity and the possibility of actually talking about God, given our finitude. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Visit functionhealth...

On selections from Thomas Aquinas: Selected Philosophical Writings, mostly taken from the Summa Theologica (1268). Given our flawed, finite human nature, how do we fit into the universe? In particular, how can we know and talk about things far beyond our experience such as God and eternity? In this part, we discuss arguments for the existence of God. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit p...

Continuing on "Directions for Decomposition" from A Short History of Decay (1949). What is it that humans are inevitably trying to avoid that seems so bad to us? It's our existential separation from others, our essential, incommunicable solitude. Plus, ennui, sloth, and being a "traitor to existence." Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free ep...

On A Short History of Decay (1949), a pessimist/existentialist somewhat text from the most famous Romanian philosopher. Cioran's short essays touch on art, humor, God, salvation, time, nostalgia, mourning, death, disease, suicide, revolt, freedom, Buddhism, Daoism, and the role of the philosopher. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episod...

Continuing on selections from this late Platonic dialogue. Starting in Book 4, Plato's characters are discussing how to create a new state ("Magnesia") from scratch. What sorts of laws should it have? We talk about marriage laws, the nocturnal council, how the law is argued for that everyone has to believe in gods, and more. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/s...

On this later dialogue presenting Plato's ideas about the character of laws in a just state. They should all be aimed at making people virtuous, and so should include education to this end. Each law should be equipped with a prelude presenting a rational argument for why people should obey it. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes a...