The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

On the second half of "The Balance Between the Esthetic and the Ethical in the Development of the Personality" from Vol. 2 of Either/Or (1843). How do we "absolutely" form a coherent self by embracing ethical conventions like marriage, friendship, and having a job? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Mark and Wes talk in more details about the "stages of despair" Kierkegaard lays out in "The Balance Between the Esthetic and the Ethical in the Development of the Personality" from Vol. 2 of Either/Or . 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 "The Balance Between the Esthetic and the Ethical in the Development of the Personality," with a critique of (Hegelian) philosophy and concrete advice for how to build yourself in an optimal way. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and bonus content including  a supporter-exclusive part three to this discussion. List...

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 Judge William criticizes the aesthete from our previous episode on the earlier part of this book: The aesthete doesn't make any authentic choices and so doesn't develop a coherent self. Get more at partiallyexamined...

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 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 "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 boredom, and we take the critique personally: Is this Romantic view described one that we held as younger people (or now)? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free e...

Kevin is the creator and host of the storytelling podcast RISK! and is the alphabetically foremost member of the MTV-televised, newly reformed, celebrity-infested sketch comedy troupe The State . But can he improvise? Mark and Bill surprise Kevin into a scene about a suspicious hotel. How does one engineer one's legacy? Will history inevitably either reduce your greatest contributions to mere nois...

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 of art? K thinks such a life is unserious and unsatisfying. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

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 irony in good art, and then moves on to discuss the proper role of irony as an existential strategy in a well-grounded, thoughtful life. To get all Part Three PEL episodes, plus paywalled vintage episodes, Nightcaps...

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? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and bonus content including a third part to this episode (coming soon).

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 project of showing others that their beliefs inherited from society are wrong. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Mark, Wes, Dylan, and now Seth too discuss further Mounk's project in The Identity Trap and what philosophically we can glean from it. 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 The Identity Trap (2023). Which works better to achieve social progress; classical liberalism, or strategies involving emphasis of identity group membership? Do we even have to pick a side, or can we pragmatically choose strategies from whichever philosophy most effectively addresses the situation in question? We discuss cultural appropriation, free speech, standpoint epistemology, a...

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 more important than that which unites us? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

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-guests and works that provide an introductory roadmap to some philosophical area. If you're not hearing the full version of this discussion , sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedli...

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 care about is a free act. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and a supporter-exclusive Nightcap discussion getting more into bullshit, hypoc...

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 deceptive about what kind of speech act the audience is supposed to think that it is. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussi...

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 AI, cybersex, actor vs. character, and keeping children safe from reality. Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com .  Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com . Hear more at philosophyimprov...

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 various levels of complexity making deliberative decisions, exhibiting rationality, experiencing causality, or otherwise engaging in agentive behaviors. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/...

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 opposed to just acting automatically? Tomasello investigates this by thinking about what capabilities and behaviors constitute agency and the degree to which near-human animals have these. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com...

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 rules implicit in conversation, and try to relate Grice's project to other parts of philosophy. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and a support...

On "Meaning" (1957), "Utterer's Meaning and Intentions" (1969), and "Logic and Conversation" (1975), featuring Mark, Seth, Dylan, and guest Steve Gimbell . Grice tries to give a rigorous analysis of what it means for a speaker (as opposed to a sentence) to mean something in particular. Let the increasingly elaborate potential counter-examples commence! Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit...

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't guarantee that they ACCURATELY describe the world. You can't look at the definitions of words to learn about the world; you have to actually investigate the world directly.  Closereads supporters (see pa...

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 "form" of a thing into letters and syllabus of its name? We go through many examples where Socrates claims to have done just that. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support...

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 learning philosophical truths, then seemingly reverses himself. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion, including a su...