Talk to Seth Have you ever wished you could have a conversation directly with one of us? Yes, we've done tutoring in the past (and Mark still does it). But maybe that's too much of a commitment or too intimidating? Maybe your schedule doesn't allow. Now you have another option: introducing AI Seth. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is obviously a hot topic right now. One might Continue Reading …
Seth’s spring 2021 reading list
A longtime listener and participant here on the PEL blog wrote in to suggest that we share our current reading list. Seemed like a good idea, so here is mine. I preface by saying that I typically have multiple texts to hand in different modalities (Kindle, Audible, actual book) on different topics and read/listen according to my mood and situation. And so here's the list Continue Reading …
Seth will be in Portland January 25th
Hey folks, Seth here. I'll be in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, January 25th visiting my undergraduate alma mater - Reed College - talking about a podcast project I'm sponsoring. The event is open to the public and I'd like to invite any PEL fans in the area to swing by. I'd love to meet any listeners and will be happy to talk PEL at or after the event. The event is at 2pm Continue Reading …
Come See Seth Deliver Keynote at Houston Community College Philosophy and Humanities Conference Nov. 4
I will be delivering the keynote address at the Inaugural Houston Community College Philosophy and Humanities Conference at 5:30pm on Friday November 4th in Houston, TX. My talk is entitled "Reason, Memory, Habit and Discourse in the Age of On-Demand Content." Admission is free and I encourage PEL fans to attend the talk on Friday and the sessions following on Saturday. After Continue Reading …
Where’s Seth? (And Who Are You?)
We recently kicked off a survey to get feedback from you folks about what we are doing well and what you would like to see us improve. We also asked for some demographic and behavioral data to satisfy our corporate sponsor overlords. With typical PEL Citizen and Fan aplomb you responded in numbers to our request. I'd like to share some of what you told us with you and answer Continue Reading …
On Power, Knowledge and Wall Calendars
Avis! The 2016 PEL wall calendar is for sale here. This is no mere concept, rather it is a physical object like your body on which you can inscribe words, images and - if you are creative - power relations. I myself used our galley proof as a canvas for a History of My Sexuality. It was just the right size... This year we opted to go with 12" by 12" pages (up from 8 1/2" Continue Reading …
Seth’s African Leadership Bridge Challenge
Hey, folks. I don't talk much about my involvement in local organizations here in Austin because our audience is global and everyone has issues, causes, and groups they support in their own communities. I want to make a personal appeal today, however, for your help with The African Leadership Bridge (ALB) on whose Advisory Board I sit. ALB's vision is to help prepare leaders Continue Reading …
Listen to Ep. 114 Aftershow
Sunday afternoon we recorded the aftershow for on our episode 114 covering Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation (sometimes called The World as Will and Idea). Host Danny Lobell (whom you can hear ad nauseam on his own podcast, Modern Day Philosophers with such guests as Gilbert Godfried, Marc Maron, Louis Black, Aisha Tyler, Wyatt Cenac, etc. etc.) Continue Reading …
What is Satire for?
When we recorded the Jaspers episode with Paul Provenza I had the good fortune to be in his home of Los Angeles. I was able to meet up with him and his assistant for the recording and along with my wife we met for a meal several days later. I had been re-reading his book ¡Satiristas! and he and I got into a spirited discussion of whether comics, specifically the satirist, have Continue Reading …
A Solution to the Washington Redskins’ Name Problem
Overseas fans scroll to the end for context. Last Thursday the Washington football team lost 45-14 to the NY football Giants. The game was nationally televised and, as has so often happened in the last 20 or so years, the Redskins failed to rise to the occasion. After another embarrassing beatdown by a hated rival I, a long suffering fan, am ready yet again to renounce my Continue Reading …
Is Rawls’ Difference Principle Egalitarian?
[From PEL Citizen and friend of the podcast Roy Spence] The publication of John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice in the early 1970s led welfare economists to derive various interpretations of the Rawls’ second principle of justice, generally known as the “difference principle. By way of background, a primary objective of “welfare economics” is to provide a guide for Continue Reading …
Cooperative Society and Natural Rights
When reading Rawls for the podcast, I took note of a seemingly innocuous distinction between Rawls and the traditional social contractarians that nonetheless struck me as odd given his appeal to social contract theory. The traditional social contract theorists assume that rational individuals enter into social contracts to secure natural rights. "Secure" here means 'protect Continue Reading …
Transcription – Nietzsche’s Gay Science Episode
Hey all! Just a quick note to let you know you know that we are making available a transcript from the Gay Science episode. Special thanks to Jessica T. for her generous donation. The file was Professionally transcribed by Rev.com. Read the transcript here. Note that while we are releasing this to the hoi polloi we have others available for PEL Citizens so join! Continue Reading …
Call for Papers – Toward a Science of Consciousness
It was 20 years ago today... The Center for Consciousness Studies (CCS) at the University of Arizona is holding its annual Toward a Science of Consciousness (TSC) conference in Tucson, Arizona on April 21 - 26, 2014. Fans of the discipline and podcast will be aware that CCS was co-founded by previous guest David Chalmers. This year PEL is proud to help promote Continue Reading …
Interviewing Eva Brann
So Eva was a terrific guest and a great sport on the podcast and while Dylan had talked her up to the rest of us, I didn't realize what a towering figure she is. She has been teaching at St. John's for 57 !?!?! years, which is longer than most of us have been on this planet. She's the author of 15 books, not including translations, on subjects as diverse as Time, Plato and Continue Reading …
Is Experimental Philosophy Bad Science?
http://youtu.be/tt5Kxv8eCTA Wikipedia tells us that Experimental Philosophy (X-Phi) is: an emerging field of philosophical inquiry that makes use of empirical data—often gathered through surveys which probe the intuitions of ordinary people—in order to inform research on philosophical questions. This use of empirical data is widely seen as opposed to a philosophical Continue Reading …
Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Moral Sentiment
[DISCLAIMER: Although I am using a conceptual distinction I got from the embedded Simon Baron-Cohen TEDx talk (where ever he got it from), I am not taking a position on his stance on Autism or Psychopathy. I have no point of view about Autism and have reflected on empathy and psychopathy in this blog before, here and here. I'm interested in the constituent parts of empathy Continue Reading …
Paul Fry on Lacan
One of the groovy things about our new "open" society is how venerated institutions of higher learning like Yale are being strong-armed into sharing their course content online with the unwashed masses (aka you and me). This means you don't have to go to The Interwebs or TedX to get quasi scholarly ramblings about your favorite intellectuals or ideas: you can get qualified Continue Reading …
The Not School Discussion of Heidegger’s Letter on Humanism
Last week Being spoke through me in the saying of Martin Heidegger's Letter on Humanism as part of a PEL Not School study group. Joining me were Marilynn, Daniel, Rian and Alyson. We worked through Heidegger's idea that Humanism as a concept was inextricably tied to the history of western metaphysics that sees man as a animal rationale, language as techne and understands Continue Reading …
Engaging with Buber
In looking for web resources on Buber to blog about, I've come across an interesting phenomenon: there are very few and they are mostly introductory. Every time we do a podcast, I cast the Google net to see if there are interesting, useful or funny things out there on the net I can share with our audience about the subject of the episode. When I did this for I and Thou, the Continue Reading …
Socrates’ Attack on Rhetoric in the “Gorgias”
I have never shared the vitriol in Plato's dialogues for rhetoric. I understand why he goes after people for holding what he considers to be untenable positions, particularly if they are teachers or otherwise influencers of others. But only insofar as they hold beliefs which don't accord with his own or if they appear to have a methodology or agenda that is Continue Reading …
Scrutability: The PPT
If you don't know what the acronym "PPT" means, consider yourself lucky that you have avoided a work or social context where doing presentations is required. If you are like me, the power of those three letters to inspire dread is almost unparalleled. The phrase 'Can you put together some slides...' evokes panic, fear and nausea made worse only when accompanied Continue Reading …
Civics via Schoolhouse Rock
During our recording on the Federalist Papers, we mentioned at some point Schoolhouse Rock, a PBS television series that ran regularly when I was a child. For anyone who doesn't know, it was a cartoon with skits and songs about grammar, science, civics, American History and some other topics. In addition to state and federal civics classes in junior high and high school (do Continue Reading …
Red State, Blue State, One State, Two States
Steven Pinker of Harvard recently posted an article on The Stone at the New York Times called "Why Are States So Red and Blue?" His summary of his thesis: The North and coasts are extensions of Europe and continued the government-driven civilizing process that had been gathering momentum since the Middle Ages. The South and West preserved the culture of honor that emerged in Continue Reading …
15 Minutes of Fame
Andy Warhol famously said that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." This is commonly interpreted to mean that the hierarchical structure that identified worthy subjects of art - 'celebrities' - from those not worthy - 'civilians' (thanks Liz!) was breaking down. In other words the structure that delineated who was famous from who was not would break Continue Reading …
The Value of Writing (Non-Fiction)
In a recent article in The Atlantic, Peg Tyre documents the remarkable turnaround in student performance at an underperforming high school when the curriculum was altered to put a focus on analytic writing. Analytic writing, it turns out, is a marker of critical thinking: if you can craft clear and coherent written sentences, paragraphs and essays it generally means you have Continue Reading …
Seth’s Interview with Dan Mullin
Dan Mullin is a philosophy grad student and part-time teacher who runs a blog called The Unemployed Philosopher's Blog. His mission statement is to challenge the view that a philosophical education isn't of much value for employment. As he says: My name is Daniel Mullin and I’m a philosophy grad student and part-time teacher. The other part of the time, I’m unemployed Continue Reading …
Rick Roderick on Nietzsche on Truth and Lie
As usual, Rick Roderick proves to be a great go-to guy on Nietzsche. In this series of videos (one lecture put together by Daniel Horne), he takes on the accusation that Nietzsche is taking a relativist stance towards truth, or as it can be labeled, a 'perspectivist' stance. Roderick does an (as usual excellent) exposition of Nietzsche's. It starts with ideas about one's Continue Reading …
The Future of Education
So the perception is that the college/university system is dying, or at least anachronistic and a new model of learning is needed. Every other TEDx talk is by an entrepreneur who thinks education is a barrier to creative thinking and a waste of productive years. Economic analyses show the ROI of attending college isn't worth it for many graduates. The government funded Continue Reading …
Psychopathy and Empathy
Last year I posted on psychopathy and moral sentiment. This week Cosmos magazine reports that researchers from the Netherlands have determined that psychopaths can 'turn on' empathy on demand. In short, a study was structured that measured psychopath's empathy for others (not explained how) and then the subjects were told that the study was designed to measure empathy. After Continue Reading …
“Worst Attack on Jewish Life Since the Holocaust”
These are the words of the Conference of European Rabbis as reported by Spiegel Online in this article. Exceptionally inflammatory words, particularly coming as they do in response to a German court ruling. The Rabbi who issued the statement for the Conference, Pinchas Goldschmidt, is the Chief Rabbi of Moscow. A Rabbi from Munich took a less strident tone: Rabbi Yisroel Continue Reading …
Graphing the History of Philosophy
This is a crazy cool interactive visualization of the relative influence and importance of philosophers. This guy simonraper (that's his handle anyway) did a data pull from Wikipedia determining what philosophers are identified as having influenced other philosophers and used a graphing platform to visually map it. If you are interested in his methodology, go read the Continue Reading …
In Memoriam: Alan Saunders
It was with great sadness this weekend that I heard via Facebook and on the Australian Broadcast Corporation website of the untimely passing of Alan Saunders. Saunders was the host of the ABC Radio National program The Philosopher's Zone, a weekly broadcast covering a broad range of topics, both in philosophy and outside of philosophy in a philosophical manner. I first Continue Reading …
The Good as Simple Idea
At some point during the episode, Dylan and Wes were arguing about Moore and referred to the good as a 'term'. I corrected them that Moore actually calls it a 'concept' as if something hung on that distinction. I guess it is incumbent upon me to explain. First off, Moore never uses the word "concept" in the chapter - my bad. He uses "idea" and "notion". But my point is Continue Reading …
Humor Case Study 2: Henny Youngman
So Mark took on the comedy stylings of Louis CK in the first case study, someone who establishes a core insight and then plays it out through both content and performance. I'd like to take a look at two other (multi-generational!) comedians who rely on establishing a premise quickly using audience assumptions and then make a joke by twisting either the meaning of words or Continue Reading …
Alain de Botton Wants to Make Ethical Porn
In a press release (cited here in the New Statesman) from his School of Life, Alain de Botton claims he's going to take on our cultural obsession with unethical porn and create some that accords with our moral sensibilities and the good life. This is, of course, hilarious and there have been some requisitely wicked reactions like here (HuffPo has nothing on the Guardian's Continue Reading …
Can the Ethical be Primary?
I was listening again to Mark's interview on Douglas Lain's Diet Soap podcast and was struck by an interesting question posed by Doug. He was talking about how ontology seemed to be the starting point for philosophy (Thales) and asked whether ontology was required for ethics and if Mark knew of any philosophical points of view where the ontological contradicted the ethical. Continue Reading …
Our Texas Profs Revisited
We have on occasion had reason to call attention to our former professors and colleagues from UT. Yesterday I was hit with a blast from the past when I heard R.J. "Jim" Hankinson interviewed on The History of Philosophy podcast. He was, of course, talking about Galen. I'm pretty sure he's the world expert on Galen (he was already 15 years ago I think) and he sounds every bit Continue Reading …
The Karaoke Dilemma: A White Guy Wants to Sing His Favorite Hip-Hop Songs
So I'm the kind of guy that pays attention to the words of songs and a large part of my enjoyment of music is knowing lyrics and singing. So much so that I am practically always on call for Karaoke, particularly when it's Karaoke Apocalypse (greatest thing since the Redskins won the Super Bowl - for the record I own I Want You to Want Me). I can remember all the words to Continue Reading …
Žižek on Foucault, Descartes and Madness
OK, so this isn't the easiest thing to read (after seeing numerous Žižek videos, it looks to me that he writes like he talks like he thinks, which is pretty fluid, making connections between things and not necessarily driving through focused theses...) but a little time spent on it yields some interesting points. For some context, Katie noted in the episode that Discipline Continue Reading …
Rick Roderick on Foucault
Long time listeners and readers know that I'm a fan of Rick Roderick. For those who don't know, he was from Texas, got his degree in philosophy from UT and taught at various places including Duke. He was a down home type who became famous to philosophiles through a couple of lecture series he published through The Teaching Company. (Home also to Mark's crush Robert Solomon) Continue Reading …
History of the Prison
Check out this video. It is a brief history of prisons, but also focuses on the use of technology in and the architecture of prisons. It makes the indirect but clear point that surveiller goes hand in hand with technology. There's a nice spot right at the beginning where the Commissioner of the NYC Dept. of Corrections talks about how military technology is being employed in Continue Reading …
Foucault on Discipline and Punish
Here's a video of Foucault talking about Discipline & Punish.(Well, an audio track with images) He explains his motivation for writing the book and the central question he sees posed by the development of the penal system in France. In short, there was a rapid growth of prisons in France. The prisons still functioned as institutions of punishment and an extension of the Continue Reading …
Foucault and Heidegger
So there was a longish (8 minutes) bit that I cut from the episode where I asked Katie whether Foucault's notions of Power and Knowledge correlated in some way with Heidegger's notions of Being and Truth. I was incoherent and Katie understandably treated the question as the nonsense that it was. She has since addressed the Heidegger/Foucault connection in the comments on the Continue Reading …
Poetry v Philosophy, Round 2
Still listening to Essential American Poets put out by The Poetry Foundation. I just listened to the latest episode on Charles Simic. He ends the episode by reciting his "The Friends of Heraclitus". It is about the loss of beloved friend and companion with whom the referenced subject has had many philosophical discourses, walking around and getting lost, both literally and Continue Reading …
On New Year’s Resolutions
A couple of years ago, I made a public New Year's resolution to be more unreasonable and unrealistic. While I am not sure whether I truly 'achieved' either of those, it certainly took more than one year (2010) to really start pushing into that way of being. Which led me to consider why I should resolve to do anything in 2012 and what that would be. Think about what a Continue Reading …
Corey Anton on the Phenomenology of the Senses
There's a guy on youtube named Corey Anton, who is a Professor of Communication Studies at Grand Valley State University. He's posted a ton of videos on a broad range of subjects, many philosophical. He's one of those that comes up when you search on the usual suspect terms and I've had occasion to watch him from time to time. I find the videos hit or miss based on my mood Continue Reading …
The True Spirit of Christmas – in Song
It's Christmas - Jesus Christ's birthday or, if you so choose, appropriated Yule, Saturnalia or the birthday of Mithra. Whatever you may believe, most of you will be celebrating something with someone while bloggers around the world bemoan either the audacity of Christianity or forgetfulness thereof via commercialism. I'm not a Jew for Jesus (just a Jew), but I'm a big fan of Continue Reading …
Sartre’s Legacy
Our Sartre episode focused on one single, apparently not widely discussed text:The Transcendence of the Ego: An Existentialist Theory of Consciousness. I say not very widely discussed because you would expect Sartre and consciousness to have a ton of videos on youtube and lots of scholarly papers when Googled. Instead, most of the things that come up when you search are related Continue Reading …
Some additional thoughts on Sartre
When we were recording the episode, we were all aware that we got hung up on unreflected consciousness and how consciousness of consciousness was not reflected consciousness or self-consciousness. As a result, I thought we gave short shrift to the latter half of the essay. If that sounds convoluted, listen to the episode. There's nothing wrong with the way the conversation Continue Reading …