Seth will speak at the Inaugural Houston Community College Philosophy and Humanities Conference Fri. Nov. 4, 5:30pm in Houston, on “Reason, Memory, Habit and Discourse in the Age of On-Demand Content.” Admission is free, and you should attend. Meet and greet Seth afterwards at the conference reception.
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 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 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.
Listen to Ep. 114 Aftershow
Citizens can listen to Seth, Danny, and newcomer Terra Leigh now, and sign up to join us on Sun., 5/17, 3pm Eastern time for the Aftershow for #115. Show up and get a free audiobook!
What is Satire for?
A majority of comics profess to solely be interested in getting a laugh. Something about that just doesn’t sit well with me.
A Solution to the Washington Redskins’ Name Problem
The Redskins should think seriously about looking to Florida State University, whose mascot has the blessing of an actual tribe.
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 distinguishing between 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 from the vicissitudes of the 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 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 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 Continue Reading …
Is Experimental Philosophy Bad Science?
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 methodology that relies mainly on a priori justification, sometimes called 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Continue Reading …
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 5
- Next Page »