Mark Linsenmayer outlines Alfred North Whitehead’s book The Concept of Nature (1920)
Search Results for: precog
Precognition of Ep. 109: Karl Jaspers
Mark Linsenmayer introduces Karl Jaspers’s existentialist tract, “On My Philosophy.” (1941)
Precognition of Ep. 104: Robert Nozick
Seth Paskin introduces Anarchy, State, and Utopia about libertarianism and the limits of legitimate government power.
Precognition of Ep. 96: Oppenheimer’s Rhetoric
Guest Lynda Walsh describes her book Scientists as Prophets: A Rhetorical Genealogy, focusing on J. Robert Oppenheimer’s conflicted position after WWII as science advisor and anti-nuke spokesman.
Precognition of Ep. 95: Gödel
Guest Adi Habbu lays out Kurt Gödel’s famous incompleteness theorems and describes some highlights from “Some Basic Theorems on the Foundations of Mathematics and their Implications” (1951) and “The Modern Development of the Foundations of Mathematics in Light of Philosophy” (1961).
Precognition of Ep. 93: Free Will (via Strawsons)
Guest Tamler Sommers (from the Very Bad Wizards podcast) summarizes Galen Strawson’s “The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility” (1994) and his father P.F. Strawson’s “Freedom and Resentment” (1960).
Precogs: Eps. 80-83, 85-87 on Heidegger, Sartre, Jung, Popper, Kuhn, Rawls, and Bergmann
Transcribed introductions to Heidegger, Jung, Popper, Bergmann, Rawls, Kuhn, and Sartre written by the PEL crew.
Precognition of Ep. 92: Henri Bergson
Guest Matt Teichman introduces Bergson’s essay “An Introduction to Metaphysics.”
Precognition of Ep. 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with David Brin
Introductory salvo by Mark Linsenmayer before our interview with author David Brin.
Precognition of Ep. 89: Berkeley’s Idealism
Wes Alwan introduces George Berkeley’s Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous.
Precognition of Ep. 88: G.E.M. Anscombe
Guest Philosophy Bro introduces Elizabeth Anscombe’s “Modern Moral Philosophy,” and Intention sections 22-27.
Precognition of Ep. 87: Sartre
Mark Linsenmayer lays out some themes from Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Existentialism is a Humanism” and the “Bad Faith” chapter (Part 1, Ch. 2) of Being & Nothingness.
Precognition of Ep. 86: Thomas Kuhn
Dylan Casey lays out Thomas Kuhn’s thesis in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Precognition of Ep. 85: John Rawls
Seth Paskin summarizes the John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice.
Precognition of Ep. 83: New Work
An introduction to and summary of Frithjof Bergmann’s New Work, New Culture, read by Mark Linsenmayer.
Precognition of Ep. 82: Popper
A summary of the first three essays in Karl Popper’s collection Conjectures and Refutations, read by Dylan Casey.
Precognition of Ep. 81: Jung
An introduction to Carl Jung’s Man and His Symbols, read by Wes Alwan.
Precognition of Ep. 80: Heidegger
A short summary of Heidegger’s “Essay on Humanism,” read by Seth Paskin.
A Glimpse into Philosophy: Pilot Episodes of a Short-Form Podcast for Your Consideration
Three short episodes (on Sartre, Nietzsche, and Machiavelli) by Mark Linsenmayer of a new potential podcast for the PEL network. We’d like your feedback, and even more importantly, the feedback of your friends for whom the long-form PEL discussions are or would be just TOO MUCH.
Constellary Tales #6: Philip K. Dick’s “The Minority Report,” Guest Mark Linsenmayer
PEL’s Mark Linsenmayer joins the Constellary crew to weigh in on the philosophical implications of precognitive crime fighting in Philip K. Dick’s “The Minority Report.” Brian quizzes Mark and Ken on PKD movie trivia.
Get more Constellary Tales podcasts, and read original sf in the magazine at constellary.com.
Hume on Religion: A Video Introduction to PEL Ep. 167
Watch a video introduction to David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion where he considers the argument from design. Does experience ground the inference from the orderliness of nature to a divine creator?
Humor and Infinite Responsibility: Can Levinas Use a Little Stand-Up Comedy?
What is infinite responsibility? And can we live with it?
Phi Fic #1 “In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka
The first “official” episode of the new Phi Fic podcast! (What used to be the Not School Philosophical Fiction group, now gone public.) We talk about the short story In the Penal Colony by Franz Kafka. The crew: Nathan Hanks, Cezary Baraniecki, Daniel St. Pierre, Laura Davis, and Mary Claire.
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.com.
PEL Goes up to Eleven (Million Downloads, That Is)
Hey, our podcast episodes have now been downloaded over 11,000,000 times, which is crazy. Thank you on Thanksgiving! Here are some semi-speculative, vague announcements re: how things are going and what’s ahead.
Episode 123: Economics with Hayek and Sen (Intro by Seth Benzell)
On F.A. Hayek’s “The Use of Knowledge in Society” (1945) and Amartya Sen’s On Ethics and Economics (1987). Is economics a pseudoscience? Are its assumptions by necessity too over-simplifying? Hayek objects to the idea of planning an economy, because the planners aren’t in a position to know enough. With guest Seth Benzell, who starts us off with a “precognition” of the material.
End song: “People Who Throw Away Love” by Mark Lint.
Topic for #123: F.A. Hayek and Amartya Sen on Assumptions of Economics
We were joined by econ grad student Seth Benzell to discuss “The Use of Knowledge in Society” by F.A. Hayek and On Ethics and Economics by Amartya Sen. What’s wrong with central economic planning? Need economics assume that we’re all predictably selfish?
Go listen to Seth Benzell’s introduction for a straight-up summary of the two essays and how they relate.
Topic for #116 Freud on Dreams
We’ll talk about what Freud thinks dreams are for. Citizens can listen now, and the public episode will be released on two parts starting Monday.
Episode 110: Alfred North Whitehead: What Is Nature?
On The Concept of Nature (1920). Nature, i.e. the object of our experience, is events, not things, ya dig?
Topic for #110: Whitehead’s “The Concept of Nature”
We read a foundational work in process philosophy, chock full of idiosyncratic four-dimensional geometry! Aw, yeah!
Episode 109: Jaspers’s Existentialism with Guest Paul Provenza
On Karl Jaspers’s “On My Philosophy” (1941), featuring comedian/actor/director/author Paul Provenza
Topic for #109: Karl Jaspers’s Existentialism on Science vs. Philosophy
We were joined by comedian Paul Provenza to talk about Jaspsers’s essay “On My Philosophy” about the existentially necessary philosophical leap beyond what science can justify. Hint: The alternative is not embracing religious dogma.
Episode 104: Robert Nozick’s Libertarianism
On Anarchy, State & Utopia (1974), ch. 1-3 and 7. What are the moral limits on government power? No redistributive taxation, suckah! With guest Stephen Metcalf.
Thoreau’s Unsupported Anti-Technology Sentiments and New Work
In trying to solve the problem of too much meaningless work, it’s irrational to reject any potential technological solutions based on Thoreau’s biases.
Topics for #103 & #104: Thoreau and Nozick
We discussed Thoreau’s “Walden,” and then recorded a fresh conversation on Robert Nozick’s defense of libertarianism to replace the lost conversation from last May. We were rejoined for that by Slate’s Stephen Metcalf.
Episode 96: Oppenheimer and the Rhetoric of Science Advisers
Discussing Lynda Walsh’s book “Scientists as Prophets: A Rhetorical Genealogy” (2013) with the author, focusing on Robert J. Oppenheimer.
Topic for #96: Oppenheimer and the Rhetoric of Science Advisers
We interviewed Lynda Walsh about her book “Scientists as Prophets,” focusing on J. Robert Oppenheimer’s rhetoric about the boons and dangers of science.
Episode 95: Gödel on Math
On two unpublished essays considering the implications of Godel’s incompleteness theorems and asserting mathematical realism. With guest Adi Habbu.
Topic for #95: Godel on Math
Kurt Gödel is best known as a mathematician, and some of the mechanics involved with the proof of his first incompleteness theorem had a direct influence on Alan Turing’s development of modern computing. But what does this have to do with philosophy?
Episode 93: Freedom and Responsibility (Strawson vs. Strawson)
On P.F. Strawson’s “Freedom and Resentment” (1960), Galen Strawson’s “The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility” (1994), and Gary Watson’s “Responsibility and the Limits of Evil: Variations on a Strawsonian Theme” (1987). With guest Tamler Sommers.
5,000,000 Downloads
In Nov 2012 we posted a retrospective mini-episode to celebrate 2 million PEL episodes downloaded according to libsyn (whom we haven’t hosted with since the beginning, so there are some additional ones from the first year or so in addition to whatever they tell us). We’ve now hit 5 million, and all you get is this little overshare about behind Continue Reading …
“Modern Day Philosophers”: Reading Wikipedia with Comedians
I was recently alerted to the existence of an up-and-coming podcast that just started last summer called Modern Day Philosophers. Hmmmm, is that like the New Books in Philosophy podcast, bringing to light the work of under-appreciated academics? No, as you can see by the guest list: These are for the most parts established comedians like Artie Lang, or Bill Continue Reading …
Topic for #93: Free Will and Moral Responsibility (Strawson Father vs. Son)
Listen now to Tamler Sommers’s summary of the two Strawson articles. On 4/6, Mark, Wes, and Seth were joined by Tamler Sommers of the Very Bad Wizards podcast to discuss the following articles: 1. P.F. Strawson’s “Freedom and Resentment” (1960) 2. Galen Strawson’s “The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility” (1994) 3. Gary Watson’s “Responsibility and the Limits of Evil: Variations on Continue Reading …
Episode 92: Henri Bergson on How to Do Metaphysics
On Bergson’s “An Introduction to Metaphysics” (1903). With guest Matt Teichman.
Philosophy Bro on Transhumanism
Our main man Philosophy Bro was way futurist compared to us, and covered transhumanism way back in 2011. Go check it out. I quote: So, broadly transhumanism is a movement that seeks to move past our human limitations by using technology. Think of all the cool shit we can do – we are already giving injured bros robotic limbs. And Continue Reading …
Episode 90: Sci-Fi and Philosophy with Guest David Brin
Discussing David Brin’s novel Existence (2012) with the author. Also with guest Brian Casey.
Berkeley Discussed on BBC’s “In Our Time”
A few listeners have pointed us at Melvyn Bragg’s recent podcast on Berkeley (listen to it here). It starts off with the oft-cited anecdote about Samuel Johnson claiming to have refuted Berkeley by kicking a stone: obviously, such a stone that I can kick is not an “idea in my head.” As should have been clear from our episode (and Continue Reading …
Episode 89: Berkeley: Only Ideas Exist!
On Bishop George Berkeley’s Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (1713).
Topic for #92 (and a Not School Group): Henri Bergson
Listen to Matt Teichman’s introduction to the reading. Henri Bergson is an early 20th century French philosopher that PEL listeners may recall from our philosophy of humor episode, and we’ll be tackling his philosophy proper via the entrance drug “An Introduction to Metaphysics,” a short essay from 1903 (freely available online) that is essentially pheonomenology without the jargon (Husserl, Heidegger, Continue Reading …
Topic for #90: Science Fiction and Philosophy with Guest David Brin
Listen to Mark’s Precognition framing our discussion now. We talked on the evening of Tuesday 2/25 with David Brin, one of our most philosophical science fiction authors, whose most recent novel Existence (2012) certainly has a philosophical sounding name. But no, it’s not about ontology, about Being, or about existentialism, but about our continued existence as a species on the Continue Reading …
Topic for #89: Bishop George Berkeley’s Empiricist Idealism
Listen to Wes’s introduction and summary to this text. On Tuesday 2/18/14 we recorded our episode on George Berkeley. Berkeley is the middle of the three “modern” (i.e. he lived in the early 1700s) empiricists that folks generally have to read in philosophy classes, the first being John Locke and the last being David Hume. We tried to cover the Continue Reading …
Episode 88: G.E.M. Anscombe: Should We Use Moral Language?
On Elizabeth Anscombe’s “Modern Moral Philosophy” (1958), Intention sections 22-27 (1957), and “War and Murder” (1961). With guest Philosophy Bro.
Topic for #88: G.E.M. Anscombe on Ethical Judgment and Action
On Wed. 1/24 we spoke with Philosophy Bro about Elizabeth (aka G.E.M.) Anscombe. Go listen now to Bro’s introduction to Anscombe. Anscombe was a student of Wittgenstein’s and is most famous for translating his Philosophical Investigations, and when Bro pitched this topic to me, he described her as the transition from Wittgenstein to Alasdair MacIntyre. This is puzzling, as Wittgenstein Continue Reading …
Truth Without the Capital “T”
“Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a simplified and intelligible picture of the world. Â . . . The supreme task is to arrive at those universal elementary laws from which the cosmos can be built up by pure deduction. There is no logical path to these laws; only intuition, resting on sympathetic understanding Continue Reading …
Topic for #87: Sartre on Human Nature and Freedom
Listen to Mark’s summary of the two main readings, then Listen to the PEL Players act out the play “No Exit.” At long last, we’re returning to existentialism after an initial foray into it with Camus. We’ve previously covered Sartre talking about phenomenology and the self, and also Kierkegaard talking about the self and values, so those are related, as Continue Reading …
Sartre’s “No Exit” Read with Lucy Lawless & Jaime Murray
In support of our ep. #87 discussing Sartre, the PEL Players present our 2nd annual dramatic reading of a work of philosophical theater.
Episode 87: Sartre on Freedom and Self-Deception
On Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Existentialism is a Humanism” (1946), “Bad Faith” (pt. 1, ch. 2 of Being & Nothingness, 1943), and his play No Exit (1944).
Episode 86: Thomas Kuhn on Scientific Progress
On The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, published mostly in 1962.
Topic for #86: Thomas Kuhn on Scientific Progress
Listen now to Dylan’s introduction to the text. Science is just us accumulating more and more knowledge and getting a more and more accurate picture of the world, right? Not according to Kuhn, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, first published in 1962. Yes, there’s progress, in terms of better and better answers to a given question, more and more Continue Reading …
Episode 85: Rawls on Social Justice
On John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice (1971), most of ch. 1-4.
Topic for #85: John Rawls’s Theory of Justice
Listen now to Seth’s Precognition for this episode. On the evening of 11/10, we’re discussing John Rawls. What is justice? Rawls interpreted this question as asking what basic social rules and structures would result in a society that we’d consider fair. Justice is fairness, on a social level. Fairness, of course, is an intuitive notion, and begs for a philosophical Continue Reading …
Episode 83: New Work with Guest Frithjof Bergmann
Talking with Frithjof Bergmann, Prof. Emeritus from U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor about his book New Work, New Culture (2004, English release coming soon).
PREVIEW-Episode 82: Karl Popper on Science
On Popper’s Conjectures and Refutations (1963), the first three essays.
What is science, and how is it different than pseudo-science? From philosophy? Is philosophy just pseudo-science, or proto-science, or what? Popper thinks that all legitimate inquiry is about solving real problems, and scientific theories are those that are potentially falsifiable: they make definitely predictions about the world that, if these fail to be true, would show that the theory is false.
Bergman and the Native Canadians
There was a comment (Thanks, Libby!) on my topic announcement post reacting to the short-hand way that I conveyed Bergmann’s experience with a native Canadian tribe that I thought would be best responded to simply by providing in full Bergmann’s anecdote about this from the book. So this is an account of one experience he had visiting and initiating a Continue Reading …
Topic for #83: Frithjof Bergmann on the Job System
Listen to Mark’s introduction to this topic via our Precognition mini-episode. On Saturday, 9/21, we’re scheduled to interview Frithjof Bergmann, Professor Emeritus from the University of Michigan, about his book New Work, New Culture (published in German in 2004 and due for English-language release this year). I’ve written on this topic several times on this blog already, so perhaps you’d Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Episode 81: Jung on the Psyche and Dreams
On Carl Jung’s “Approaching the Unconscious” from Man and His Symbols, written in 1961. What’s the structure of the mind? Jung followed Freud in positing an unconscious distinct from the conscious ego, but Jung’s picture has the unconscious much more stuffed full of all sorts of stuff from who knows where, including instincts (the archetypes) that tend to give rise to behavior and dream imagery that we’d have to call religious. We neglect this part of ourselves at our psychological peril!
Topic for #82: Karl Popper on Scientific Method
Listen now to Dylan Casey introduce these essays. On 9/3/13 we’ll be discussing the first three essays in Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963). The book is a retrospective in part, presenting the ideas in the philosophy of science that had established his reputation back in the 1930s. The first essay, “On the Sources of Knowledge and Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Episode 80: Heidegger on our Existential Situation
On Martin Heidegger’s “Letter on Humanism” (1949). What’s our place in the world? What is it, really, to be human? Heidegger thought that being human hinges on having a proper relationship to Being, which is more basic than particular beings like people and tables and such, yet it being so close, Heidegger thinks it’s hardest to see, and easy to be distracted from.
Transcript for Wes’s Outline of Jung’s “Man and His Symbols” Now Posted
In the Precognition for episode 81 on Carl Jung, Wes Alwan read off of some divinely inspired notes that we’ve now made available to PEL Citizens here, in the “Transcripts” category. Become a Citizen to download it! Listen to Wes’s Precognition of Episode 81.
Topic for #81: Carl Jung on the Psyche and Dreams
Listen now to Wes’s introductory precognition of this Jung discussion. On 8/7/13, we recorded a discussion of Carl Jung’s Man and His Symbols, specifically essay he wrote that kicks off the book (which includes several authors), “Approaching the Unconscious.” This reading (written shortly before Jung’s death in 1961 and published afterwards) was recommended to us by some Jung fans on Continue Reading …
Speaking Across History (And Other Expanses): Two Models of Reading
My concern here, as is often the case, is with our methodology at PEL. As we go through these various readings and figure out what we want to say about them, I periodically figure out some articulable point about how I’m reading and why I feel the need to express what I do as opposed to something else. On three Continue Reading …
Topic for #80: Heidegger on our Existential Situation
Listen right now to Seth giving a 10-min summary of Heidegger’s essay via a new “Precognition” mini-sode. Back in episode 32 (over two years ago!) we covered the project of Martin Heidegger’s most famous work, Being and Time, composed early in his career. (Incidentally, I see a new and exciting looking translation of this on Amazon that you may want Continue Reading …