The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part One)

On Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13. What makes a person persist over time?

After using various sci-fi examples to test the Lockean (personhood=psychological continuity), physicalist (same brain=same person), and Cartesian (same soul=same person) theories, Parfit concludes that the whole notion is incoherent and isn’t actually what we care about when wondering “will I die?”

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Pretty Much Pop #76: Wonder Women (84 and Others) w/ Vi Burlew

January 15, 2021 By Mark Linsenmayer

The holiday film release season has passed us with only one real blockbuster, which is the return of Wonder Woman, and we likewise have a returning hero: Our college-going young guest from ep. 33 on heroine journeys has now grown into a grad student just studying comics and brings her deep WW Continue Reading …

PREVIEW-Ep. 260: Locke on Moral Psychology

January 11, 2021 By Mark Linsenmayer

Subscribe to get the full episode. We made one last swipe at mopping up some outstanding issues in John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), covering Book II, ch. 21 and 28, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. This preview includes only about a third of the discussion, but I'm Continue Reading …

(sub)Text: The “Human Position” of Suffering in W.H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts”

January 7, 2021 By Wes Alwan

As war loomed in Europe, the poet W.H. Auden left Britain for the United States. One of the poems he wrote just before leaving is about the nature of human suffering—or as Auden puts it, the “human position” of suffering: for the most part, it happens invisibly, and the procession of ordinary life Continue Reading …

Pretty Much Pop #75: Our Great British Baking Show w/ Stephen Carlile

January 6, 2021 By Mark Linsenmayer

What explains the immense quarantine-time popularity in America of this quaint British reality cooking show? What do we get out of watching talented amateurs bake things? Stephen, who is famous for playing Scar in The Lion King on Broadway (and is VERY British himself), joins Erica, Brian, and Mark Continue Reading …

Ep. 259: Locke Clarifies Misleading Complex Ideas (Part Two)

January 4, 2021 By Mark Linsenmayer

More on Book II (ch. 22-33) of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), discussed by Mark, Wes, and Dylan. On relations, then personal identity, with more on substances (spiritual and material), the various ways in which ideas can go wrong, and how mental association can entrench Continue Reading …

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MORE FROM THE PARTIALLY EXAMINED LIFE

Pretty Much Pop #76: Wonder Women (84 and Others) w/ Vi Burlew

PREVIEW-Ep. 260: Locke on Moral Psychology

(sub)Text: The “Human Position” of Suffering in W.H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts”

Pretty Much Pop #75: Our Great British Baking Show w/ Stephen Carlile

Ep. 259: Locke Clarifies Misleading Complex Ideas (Part Two)

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