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Episode 109: Jaspers’s Existentialism with Guest Paul Provenza

January 19, 2015 by Mark Linsenmayer 22 Comments

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/partiallyexaminedlife/PEL_ep_109_12-29-14.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:01:44 — 111.5MB)

On Karl Jaspers's "On My Philosophy" (1941), featuring comedian/actor/director/author Paul Provenza.

What's the relationship between science and philosophy? What about religion? Jaspers thinks that science gives you facts, but for an overarching world-view, you need philosophy. Living such a world-view requires Existenz, or a leap towards transcendence, which is of course religion's stock and trade, though Jaspers is not a fan of dogmatism (or of giving definitions for his basic terms).

Seth got to go hang at the Provenza mansion and hooked up with Mark, Wes, and Dylan for an especially lively session covering the different flavors of existentialism, freedom, Jaspers vs. Heidegger, philosophical comedy, how existentialism just ripped off Buddhism, and Seth's visit to not-a-strip-club.

Be sure to listen to Mark's introduction, then read more about the topic and get the text. When you're done, listen to the Aftershow for more discussion hosted by Stephen West.

End song: "Another Way to Fall," New People, from The Easy Thing (2009), written by Matt Ackerman.

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The Jaspers picture is by Sterling Bartlett.

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Filed Under: Podcast Episodes Tagged With: existentialism, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, paul provenza, philosophy podcast, science and philosophy

Comments

  1. dmf says

    January 19, 2015 at 8:59 pm

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heideggerian_terminology#World

    Reply
  2. Glen says

    January 20, 2015 at 5:45 am

    One of the best episodes.

    Living ironically is what keeps me from being depressed.

    Reply
  3. dmf says

    January 20, 2015 at 10:02 am

    there is the attempt to be at home in the world and not to be alienated/un-heimlich and that is related to Heidegger on Thinking vs Gossip and for those of us involved in exchanges via the intertubes anonymity vs commitment: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~hdreyfus/html/paper_kierkegaard.html
    In terms of comedy I’ve heard many leading comics talking about being on top of their games for a show and having an attuned audience which is feeding back into that excellence/flow pushing them higher.
    On the science front one would be hard pressed to live all aspects of one’s life thinking/relating as a scientist (engineer, doctor, etc)and probably we would judge such a life (if one could succeed) as somehow missing the mark.
    The text got a bit lost in this one.

    Reply
  4. burl says

    January 20, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    as humans, we often have a gripping experience as a feeling of cosmic order and where the warrant for it originates…enter all the irratic, random snippets of thought in this podcast…realize that the function of Reason is to live better…and try to be a reasonable (and not absurd) participant as one of the many. humankind’s enlightenment ensues by fits and starts.

    Reply
    • dmf says

      January 21, 2015 at 11:41 am

      sounds like Logos…

      Reply
  5. burl says

    January 23, 2015 at 8:19 am

    [edited]

    as humans, we often have a gripping experience as a feeling of cosmic order and [wonder] where the warrant for it originates…enter all the irratic, random snippets of thought in this podcast…realize that the function of Reason is to live better…and try to be a reasonable (and not absurd) participant as one of the many. humankind’s enlightenment ensues by fits and starts.

    i guess this sounds like a ringing endorsement for logic and certainty, but i was thinking ala whitehead when paraphrasing his definition of reason (to live, to live well, and to live better). my point was that while we really are exisrenZially immersed in a universe of affect and will never get IT all right in our understanding, the role of the discipline devoted to the love of wisdom is not to give license to stupid shit like ‘it’s all absurd, full stop.’

    Reply
    • dmf says

      January 23, 2015 at 10:26 am

      my point, following the neo-pragmatists, is that there is no such thing/process/method/etc as Reason, just reasoning which is no more or less than our on the rough ground, in-the-midst, alltoohuman attempts to manipulate our environs.
      So rather than chasing the old pipe dream of a TOE/meta-physics we should adopt something more like “Assembling Ethics in an Ecology of Ignorance”
      http://openwetware.org/images/7/7a/SB1.0_Rabinow.pdf

      Reply
      • burl says

        January 24, 2015 at 8:45 am

        i read the linked pdf. i wonder what the ZAMM Pirsig would think of

        it. it was a talk, so its allovertheplace nature can be excused. the

        lecture had strong 70s antitech vibes.

        life is risky, as is human technology. there is no omniscience.
        not being chemists, romans were unaware of the impact lead water

        pipes had on their pre dark age brains (if this story is not just some

        fanciful myth). technology frees us from starting every endeavor

        from scratch. this seems to free us from monotony, but we just end

        up with new forms of monotony (tending to automobiles, watching

        TV, reading emails/tweets…). habit, i guess. plus ca change…, and

        all that.

        as for the modern ubiquitousness of globalized ministerings of PC

        and democritization that must cater to individuals’ entitlement to

        perceived rights, maybe this will go down better than a Stalin

        Omlet…maybe not.

        but your casting my philosophical concerns as maybe a dogmatic

        demand for the world to conform to ‘the right geometry and the right

        theology’ may over-confine my concerns…i sense some serious

        behind the back maneuverings by the celebrities of the day.

        einstein and bertrand r., for instance worked to contain whitehead’s

        superior genius to the humble halls of academe. i am thinking it is

        more sinister, more personal vindictive, than just the prominence of

        the analistic logical positivism of the day…i have seen enough of

        academe to justifiably harbor such hunches.

        if there is a physical TOE, i am confident it’ll take a long time to

        apply it in our technology. but regardless of this, the fruit of an

        evolutionary planet that ‘peopled’ us behaves with such erratic

        unpredictability that the humanities will be scratching their heads

        far longer

        Reply
  6. burl says

    January 24, 2015 at 9:43 am

    REPEAT FOR FIXING FORMAT

    i read the linked pdf. i wonder what the ZAMM Pirsig would think of it. it was a talk, so its allovertheplace nature can be excused. the lecture had strong 70s antitech vibes.

    life is risky, as is human technology. there is no omniscience.
    not being chemists, romans were unaware of the impact lead water pipes had on their pre dark age brains (if this story is not just some fanciful myth). technology frees us from starting every endeavor from scratch. this seems to free us from monotony, but we just end up with new forms of monotony (tending to automobiles, watching TV, reading emails/tweets…). habit, i guess. plus ca change…, and all that.

    as for the modern ubiquitousness of globalized ministerings of PC and democritization that must cater to individuals’ entitlement to perceived rights, maybe this will go down better than a Stalin Omlet…maybe not.

    but your casting my philosophical concerns as maybe a dogmatic demand for the world to conform to ‘the right geometry and the right theology’ may over-confine my concerns…i sense some serious behind the back maneuverings by the celebrities of the day. einstein and bertrand r., for instance worked to contain whitehead’s superior genius to the humble halls of academe. i am thinking it is more sinister, more personal vindictive, than just the prominence of the analistic logical positivism of the day…i have seen enough of academe to justifiably harbor such hunches.

    if there is a physical TOE, i am confident it’ll take a long time to apply it in our technology. but regardless of this, the fruit of an evolutionary planet that ‘peopled’ us behaves with such erratic unpredictability that the humanities will be scratching their heads far longer

    Reply
  7. Marc says

    January 24, 2015 at 7:54 pm

    This wonderful episode on Jaspers banished the suffocating stench left over from episode 108. It is like breathing in an ocean breeze after trudging through the fecal impacted sewers beneath a rundown city. The banter and intellectual curiosity between the PEL players was exquisite, nuanced, and full of life. Paul was humorous as well as erudite, even though he carries the stigmata of a new atheist. I have a new-found appreciation of Jaspers, and had fun finding it in the process. Thank you guys.

    Reply
  8. AlanC says

    January 28, 2015 at 2:22 pm

    There was some discussion in the podcast about the status of the multiverse hypothesis as a scientific theory. Here’s a good, though brief, article that touches on that.

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2015/01/27/381809832/the-most-dangerous-ideas-in-science

    Reply
  9. Andrew says

    February 9, 2015 at 2:45 am

    A good podcast on a much neglected thinker. It may be the result of the text chosen, but I felt there was a good deal of time spent discussing science before you related these concerns to some of Jaspers’ other concepts, such as the Encompassing. I know this structure was necessary for delving into the reading and laying out Jasper’s intellectual environment, but it would have been quite interesting to tease out the different applications of the Encompassing Jaspers used, culminating in the Encompassing of the Encompassing, etc. Very few people even discuss–let alone read–Jaspers, so I always feel as if there should really be more time dedicated to his writings. (As an exercise: just do a search on his name in the Philosopher’s Index and compare the number of results to those produced from a Heidegger search.)

    I’ve published a bit on Jaspers, and I recommend the Karl Jaspers Society of North America and Ehrlich’s book on Jaspers for reference, for what it’s worth. A different text in the future might help to carry the conversation forward more. Perhaps a selection from his Basic Philosophical Writings by the Ehrlichs and Pepper. There’s also–unfortunately–a lot of untranslated material, which is not so good for your wide audience.

    I don’t wish to detract from the praise I want to lavish on all of you, especially given the many fine podcasts over the years. (My students enjoy the podcasts as well, and I really liked the recent Burke one on the sublime, as he is also often overlooked.) However, there was one irritation: Seth has said in the past that he never intentionally mispronounces anything (Nietzsche podcast comments). According to Wikipedia, he’s fluent in German, and I know Mark has taken German. Why is it, then, that all of you incorrectly pronounced Jaspers’ name throughout the podcast? This has not been done with other thinkers, I think. Certainly, the various pronunciations of ‘Sartre’ are well known, and there’s probably no reason for preferring one over all others. I know it’s sometimes argued that one chooses the pronunciation one learned when first reading the philosopher, but I know of no professional philosophers—and certainly no professional organization, e.g. the Karl Jaspers Society of North America, who actually use that incorrect pronunciation. It really grated. Sorry! While ‘Jaspers’ with a ‘j’ is tough, ‘Jasper’ with no ‘s’ was even more difficult. I feel genuinely bad for even mentioning this (my Kantian ways prevent me from ignoring the Moral Law within here), particularly since it’s not so much a philosophical issue as a linguistic one. So forgive me.

    Have you considered doing a podcast on Kierkegaard’s Present Age or on Badiou?

    Reply
    • Mark Linsenmayer says

      February 12, 2015 at 9:48 am

      Re. the pronunciation issue, as a few people have now brought this up, I’ll happily yield my stubbornness. The truth is I was never taught any Jaspers in school at all, and though I’d heard it as “Yah-spares” in some context or other, I assumed that the hard J was an acceptable anglicization. But on the other hand, there’s 0% chance that we’d pronounce Max Weber (“Vay-Bear”) as “Webber,” and the difference is simply that I have been a part of the oral tradition with regard to Weber and was not previously part of any such line of influence re. Jaspers. So I give in this case, though if anyone’s going to tell me that I can’t anglicize Chuang Tzu, then bite me!

      Reply
  10. not a comedian says

    February 11, 2015 at 9:19 am

    Please no more comedian guests, I’m only 15 minutes in already very annoyed. I thought this is a philosophy podcasts not a talk show. Don’t get greedy, focus on quality. And when you get greedy remember what Diogenes said: “In a rich man’s house there is no place to spit but his face.”

    Reply
    • Mark Linsenmayer says

      February 12, 2015 at 9:43 am

      Listen to the rest of it. Paul was a wild card in terms of making it difficult for us to plod point by point through the text, but all the info got out there (you can listen to my precog if you want organized), and he made for a lively conversation participant.

      Yes, I do want to get more celebrities for occasional appearances to raise our public profile. And I think that bringing such people in (who are presumably not going to have listened to our entire back catalog) ensures that such episodes will be a little more friendly to beginners than, say, the Whitehead one we just released. This is a necessary counter, I think, to our tendency to become too insular and self-referential. But we still plan to have at least half of our episodes to be guest free, and most of our guests to be philosophy academics of some sort.

      Reply
      • not a comedian says

        February 19, 2015 at 1:24 pm

        Luckily it did improve somewhat. Obviously one must respect anyone who has the courage to take part in a public discussion on an topic as obscure (?) as this one. But your Kierkegaard episode on similar topics was more successful I think.

        Reply
  11. Jennifer Tejada says

    April 4, 2017 at 10:10 pm

    Ok – so you probably don’t remember but I gave you some shit about the Lucy Lawless episode. You recommended this one.

    This was great! I loved your guest. He helped make the conversation a little more accessible to people like me with zero knowledge about all of this I think.

    You guys are awesome. I think you should do a PEL app – lots going on on your page! I keep discovering new things.

    Reply

Trackbacks

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    June 13, 2015 at 11:11 pm

    […] script, again featuring the wonderful Lucy Lawless as Antigone, and this time adding the formidable Paul Provenza to read Creon. Listen to it now! Citizens can get the full discussion […]

    Reply
  2. Ep. 109 Aftershow (Preview) with Stephen West | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast | A Philosophy Podcast and Blog says:
    June 19, 2015 at 8:19 pm

    […] Philosophize This! podcast hosts a new PEL offering: An Aftershow to a PEL episode, in this case #109 on Karl Jaspers. Hear questions and comments from super-smart PEL listeners, Stephen, and Mark […]

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  3. Precognition of Ep. 109: Karl Jaspers | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast | A Philosophy Podcast and Blog says:
    June 19, 2015 at 8:20 pm

    […] Mark Linsenmayer introduces Jaspers's essay, "On My Philosophy" (1941) on Existenz and the difference between philosophy, science, and religion. After you listen to this, get the full PEL discussion. […]

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  4. Not School Digest: Asimov, Camus, Jaspers, Brecht, Peirce, Historical Jesus | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast | A Philosophy Podcast and Blog says:
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    […] Marilynn L., Nick Halme, and Heath Adams) to continue PEL's exploration of Karl Jaspers (from ep. 109), via the 1947 book Truth and Symbol. We discuss what a religious symbol is to Jaspers: it doesn't […]

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