The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

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 trade has been unparalleled, but whose “unsound methods” have put him at odds with local bureaucrats. When Marlow finally meets Kurtz, he hears firsthand the trader’s essential characteristic: a deep and comma...

Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview . On God and the World's Arrangement: Readings from Vedanta and Nyaya Philosophy of Religion with one of its translators, Stephen Phillips . Does nature require an intelligent designer? Śaṅkara (710 CE) and Vācaspati Miśra (960 CE), commenting on the Brahma-sūtra (ca. 200 CE) and Nyāya-sūtra (ca. 200 BCE), argue that it does against athe...

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 hear that full second part , you'll need to go sign up at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support . Sponsors : See headspace.com/PEL for a free month's access to a library of guided meditations. Try The Class X Podc...

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 Hello from the Magic Tavern and Improvised Star Trek podcasts to talk about this potentially expensive and life-eating habit. For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop . Sponsor : Get a lo...

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 become unlikely…and then increasingly confident…outlaws. Though a kindly police officer tries to convince the women to turn themselves in, their refusal to surrender to a future scripted by forces more powerful than themselves drives them...

Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview . 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 unique to the modern age? Arendt says that unlike other forms of government, totalitarianism is not animated by an active psychological principle that motivate...

What is with the weird relationship we Americans have with our pets? Many of us treat them as our babies, yet of course they're our captives. Dog trainer Hannah Branigan , host of Drinking from the Toilet , joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to talk about pets as entertainment, as hobby, and as pandemic companions. How can we make this relationship as beneficial as possible for all involved, and how can...

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 television? To hear the full second part , you'll need to go sign up at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support . The post PREVIEW-Ep. 268: Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” (Part Two) first appeared on The Parti...

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 and spiritual needs. His story “The Student” suggests that material deprivation–whether it is the exhaustion of the apostle Peter or the poverty of the Russian peasant–can undermine the capacity for fideli...

Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview . 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? Education theorist Postman (building on Marshall McLuhan) claimed that television has eroded our capacity to reason and given us the expectation that everything in th...

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 commentary? Mark, Erica, and Brian reflect on the MonsterVerse films, plus the filmic histories of Godzilla and King Kong, Pacific Rim , Colossal , The Host , Cloverfield , and more. For more, visit prettymuchpop...

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 West Wing , The Social Network , Steve Jobs , The Newsroom , and more, focusing on his recurring characters, plots based on true stories, and whether his speechifying is manipulative in the ways that we enjoy or not....

In this story, there are two sisters: one introverted, frail, and bookish; the other dominant, opinionated, and politically active. In meeting them, an accomplished artist seems to be confronted with a dilemma. Should art subordinate itself to the project of creating a just society? Or should it focus on serving more spiritual needs? These questions make Chekhov’s “The House with the Mezzanine” an...

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 second part , you'll need to go sign up at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support . The post PREVIEW-Ep. 267: Avicenna on God and Soul w/ Peter Adamson (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast...

Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview . 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 Islam imputes to him, and his "flying man" argument for the soul's essential independence from matter. Featuring Mark, Dylan, and our guest Pete...

Animation is so labor-intensive that it seems designed for corporate domination a la Disney. Mark, Erica, and Brian are joined by animator Benjamin Goldman to discuss doing animation on your own. What qualifies as "indie?" What are we as adult viewers looking from this medium? How do images relate to narration? How realistic should the animation look? You may want to watch Benjamin's short film (c...

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 hear the full second part , you'll need to go sign up at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support . The post PREVIEW-Ep. 266: Jonathan Lear’s Plato: Psyche and Society (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philo...

On Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar , and how inserting women into the buddy comedy format might lead to deeper exploration of friendships. Two sets of long-time friends--Erica and Micah, and Mark and Brian--look at tropes and character dynamics, touching on Booksmart , Bridesmaids , Sisters , et al.  For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/pr...

In this episode, we work through and analyze Point Omega by Don Delillo, a short oblique and arresting novel wrestling with the meaning and effect of human perception, consciousness, space and time. The post Phi Fic #39 Point Omega by Don DeLillo first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast .

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, he finds someone who appears to be the usual victim—traveling alone, tired of her husband, and unlikely to make any effective demands for intimacy, something that seems to be revealed in the diminutive porta...

Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview . 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," and "An Interpretation of Transference," which compares Socrates' questioning with psychotherapy. Is Plato's analogy between mind and state in The Re...

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 Brian are joined by writer and musician Larry to talk about his immigrant experience, covering history, music, humor, language, slurs, stereotypes, and his new book Rockaway Blue . For more, visit prettymuchpop.com ....

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 second part , you'll need to go sign up at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support . The post PREVIEW-Ep. 265: Plato’s “Phaedo”: Philosophy as Training for Death (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosop...

The debut Disney+ Marvel series is... a tribute to classic sit-coms? Mark, Erica, Brian, and guest Rolando try to figure out whether this experiment was successful, whether you have to be a die-hard to get it, and the potential for future oddball superhero outings.. For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop . Sponsors : Get 15% off wireles...

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 Elvis Costello , Carrie Brownstein , Ozzy Osbourne , and Debby Harry respectively. How are these better than a film depiction or documentary biography? For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonus content for this episode at pat...