The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog
Continuing on The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Charles Louis de Secondat, aka Baron de Montesquieu. Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth talk more about the “motive force” behind each type of government and the separation of powers.
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End song: “King of the Hill” by MINUTEMEN. Listen to Mark interview Mike Watt on Nakedly Examined Music #108.
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Matt led the razor-sharp Trip Shakespeare in the '80s, releasing his first album with them in '86, Continue Reading …
Do we need professional critics regulating our entertainment intake? Noah has written for numerous Continue Reading …
There was some element of loneliness involved—so easy to be loved—so hard to love. -Tender is the Continue Reading …
We begin our next “close read” series with the first two sections of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Continue Reading …
In this final post in a series on the history of Satan, Vincent Czyz shows us how in the early centuries of the Christian era, the serpent in the Garden of Eden came to be identified with the Prince of Darkness, and the details of the story of the Fall From Heaven, familiar to readers from Paradise lost, were filled in.
On The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Charles Louis de Secondat, aka Baron de Montesquieu. What keeps a society functioning? Montesquieu, though of course not the first political philosopher, was Continue Reading …
Do you play video games for the plot? Given that most people don't actually finish most games, it would be unexpected if storytelling were the most important element. Mark, Erica, and Brian are joined Continue Reading …
Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth snuggle into our enforced social distancing to give our thoughts (and some of yours) on our recent string of episodes on social construction (starting with #227), especially Continue Reading …
Chris has been guitarist for the Dallas/New York-based fusion group Snarky Puppy since its inception in 2004 and his simultaneously headed rock bands (Oso Closo then Foe Destroyer) and most recently Continue Reading …
The comic and the tragic are well-established modes within entertainment, but what about the puzzling? Riddles may have been a chief pastime in days of yore (well, they're featured in Oedipus and The Continue Reading …
Continuing on Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" (1921). Mark, Wes, and Seth keep trying to figure out this difficult essay. Is Benjamin really advocating a workers' revolution to end the state, or Continue Reading …
On Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" (1921). What is violence? Walter Benjamin (pronounced "Ben-Ya-Meen") breaks down the phenomenon into four types and then shows why these are not really distinct Continue Reading …
Alexander Hacke has been the bassist of the German experimental group Einstürzende Neubauten since 1980, and his American-born wife Danielle de Picciotto has been a singer and film-maker in Germany Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop taps in to what today's youth are talking about... or at least what they're writing their term papers on. Our guest Vi Burlew has arisen, a shining figure clad in mail, carrying aloft Continue Reading …
We've seen that there are few traces of the Lucifer we’ve all come to know and loathe in the Old Testament. We will have to dig through the somewhat obscure books of intertestamental literature to Continue Reading …
In our previous installment, we saw that there never was any Lucifer in the Old Testament. So who, then, was Satan? The word debuts in the Book of Numbers. I say “word” rather than “name” because Continue Reading …
But who prays for Satan? Who in eighteen centuries has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most? —Mark Twain Whole episodes of history may very well hinge on a Continue Reading …
