Podcast Episodes | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

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Episode 181: Hannah Arendt on the Banality of Evil (Citizen Edition)

January 15, 2018 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

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 of criticisms of the handling of the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. The Israelis were committed to the view that Eichmann was a monster, when the reality, says Arendt, is more frightening.

End song: “Hiding from the Face of God” from Judybats 2000; listen to me interview singer/songwriter Jeff Heiskell on Nakedly Examined Music eps. 5 and 63.

Episode 180: More James’s Psychology: Self and Will (Part Two)

January 8, 2018 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

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 distinguish reflex or coerced actions from voluntary, free-seeming ones, and gives us the vocabulary to attribute moral virtue to those who have enough willpower to keep those inconvenient truths in mind (if you eat this, you’ll get fat!) that allow us to successfully resist temptation.

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End song: “Join the Zoo/Live Again” by Craig Wedren; listen to him on Nakedly Examined Music #15.

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Episode 180: More James’s Psychology: Self and Will (Part One)

January 1, 2018 by Mark Linsenmayer 8 Comments

On Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), chapters on “The Self,” “Will,” and “Emotions.”

Continuing from ep. 179, we talk about the “Me” (the part of me that I know) vs. the “I” (the part of me that knows), including personal identity. James thinks that emotions are just our experience of our own physiology. Finally, we tackle will, veering into ethics, free will, and more.

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Episode 180: More James’s Psychology: Self and Will (Citizen Edition)

January 1, 2018 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

On Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), chapters on “The Self,” “Will,” and “Emotions.”

End song: “Join the Zoo/Live Again” by Craig Wedren, heard on Nakedly Examined Music #15.

Episode 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Part Two)

December 25, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 6 Comments

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 those parts of consciousness that get picked out by substantive words. He describes habit as part of a general natural pattern in which things that happen once tend to create pathways for themselves in surrounding material to allow the same thing to happen again more easily. Be careful what you do, because your organism is recording all of your bad behavior and corrupting your character!

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End song: “Drowning Mind (feedback overload)” by AMP, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #57.

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Episode 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Part One)

December 18, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

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.”

Can we talk about the mind in a way that is both scientific and also does justice to our everyday experiences? James thought his method, which involved both introspection and physiology, yielded more accurate descriptions of the mind than associationism (the mind is made up of ideas) or spiritualism (the mind is a faculty of the soul). Consciousness is a stream, not a concatenation of ideas!

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Episode 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Citizen Edition)

December 17, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

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.”

End song: “Drowning Mind (feedback overload)” by AMP, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #57.

Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Part Two)

November 27, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 10 Comments

Continuing with the Econtalk host on the moral aspects of economics, focused by Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and Theory of Moral Sentiments.

Should we sacrifice ourselves to the machine of the economy? How does Smith’s idea of virtue and talk of the “impartial spectator” line up with economic growth?

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End song: “Needle Exchange” by Fritz Beer, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #2.

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Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Part One)

November 20, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 36 Comments

The host of Econtalk provides his take on our ep. 174 on The Wealth of Nations, and explores with us the idea of emergent economic order. Is the economy more like a machine or a garden or what?

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Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Citizen Edition)

November 20, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 9 Comments

The host of Econtalk provides his take on our ep. 174 on The Wealth of Nations, and explores with us the idea of emergent economic order. Is the economy more like a machine or a garden or what?

End song: “Needle Exchange” by Punchy; listen to singer/songwriter Fritz Beer interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #2.

Episode 176: Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments (Part Two)

November 13, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

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 to virtue ethics, which posits that how people will act in a novel situation will be determined by the quality of their character.

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Episode 176: Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments (Part One)

November 6, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 5 Comments

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” (1998).

Do difficult situations make good people act badly? Are there really “good” and “bad” people, or are we all about the same, but put in different situations? With guest Dave Pizarro from Very Bad Wizards.

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Episode 176: Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments (Citizen Edition)

November 6, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 5 Comments

Do difficult situations make good people act badly? Are there really “good” and “bad” people, or are we all about the same, but put in different situations?

End song: “Doing the Wrong Thing – Live” by Kaki King; listen to her on Nakedly Examined Music #54.

TEASER-Episode 175: Blade Runner (Part Two)

November 5, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

Do you want the WHOLE discussion on the new Blade Runner 2049, the original 1982 film, and the idea-packed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1967) by Philip K. Dick?

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Episode 175: Blade Runner: Androids and Humanity (Part One)

October 30, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

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 story about androids emphasized their lack of empathy, while the movie adaptations portrayed the “replicants” as plenty capable of emotion, but unjustly treated as servants or targets.

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Episode 175: Blade Runner: Androids and Humanity (Citizen Edition)

October 29, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 8 Comments

On Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1967) and the films Blade Runner 2049 (2007) and Blade Runner (1982).

End song: “Wounds and Nihilism (Quantum Androids),” written for this episode by Tyler Hislop (feat. Mark Lint). Listen to Tyler on Nakedly Examined Music #24.

Episode 174: Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” (Part Two)

October 23, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 15 Comments

Continuing on the foundational text of economics. We talk “invisible hand,” “greed is good,” tariffs, unproductive labor, city vs. country, and the education racket.