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Stop Playing the Parlor Game!

July 28, 2020 by Jay Jeffers 5 Comments

"Cancel Culture." If you’re extremely online or plugged into the discourse at all, your blood pressure probably spiked just upon reading those two words. The topic’s heat-to-light ratio is heavily skewed to heat. A recent open letter in Harper’s, signed by over 150 public intellectuals of the centrist, liberal, and leftist variety, warns of excessive and growing  Continue Reading …

In Dreams

February 3, 2016 by Jay Jeffers 4 Comments

There’s safety in delusion. People sometimes say it takes special courage to face the world as it is, even more to face ourselves, and we know the truth doesn’t always feel good. It can be painful. Perhaps, then, a moderate amount of delusion can be, well, healthy. Ta-Nehisi Coates has something else in mind. “To awaken the Dreamers, to rouse them to the facts,” is the greatest  Continue Reading …

Intellectual Character and the So-Called Hot Hand Fallacy

March 27, 2015 by Jay Jeffers 8 Comments

Quassim Cassam wants you to know that conspiracy theorists have bad character. In other words, bad thinking is not just bad thinking; it’s also a vice. Maybe Cassam is right. Intellectual character or the lack thereof is often overlooked, at least in general conversation. It’s not that we have an overabundance of trust and tolerance in our public discourse, which is obvious to  Continue Reading …

A Lagging, Nagging Take on Her

September 5, 2014 by Jay Jeffers 6 Comments

Her got a lot of attention during its run in theaters. It even captured the attention of philosophers, no doubt because of the movie’s focus on artificial intelligence, a fixation of philosophy for at least as long as the term has been in our common vernacular. Released on DVD back in the spring, the movie received mostly (but not exclusively) positive reviews. Life in Her  Continue Reading …

Give me Liberty in the month of February!

February 1, 2014 by Jay Jeffers 3 Comments

This month's Intro Group reading will be On Liberty by the nineteenth century British philosopher John Stuart Mill. There couldn't be a topic more relevant  to our politics today. Consider the fact that in our national discussions communities that make life difficult for individuals (who don't fit for one reason or another) are presumed to be oppressive and wrong. It's  Continue Reading …

Win $20k from Sam Harris

January 27, 2014 by Jay Jeffers Leave a Comment

Think back a few years. If you frequented The Partially Examined Life during that time, you’ll remember the heated debate inspired by Sam Harris’s The Moral Landscape (TML). The arguments in posts and comment sections across the blogosphere eventually took on a particularly impressive rancor. The ambient controversy helped land Harris on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and  Continue Reading …

January Not School Intro Group Reading

January 1, 2014 by Jay Jeffers

PEL Not School

The Intro Reading Group for January is getting started in Not School, and we're looking for a couple or a few more takers. Hillary Szydlowski, the historical leader and organizer of the Intro group, is taking a much deserved break, and I'm excited to fill in as we're reading Harry Frankfurt's essay "On Bullshit" -  and Gerald Cohen's response "Deeper Into Bullshit." -  Aside  Continue Reading …

Philosophy as Conceptual Border Patrol

March 6, 2013 by Jay Jeffers 5 Comments

Peter Hacker does not abide nonsense. In his January article "Why Philosophy" Hacker puts in his cross-hairs ideas taken seriously by politicians, scientists, and the intelligentsia in general. Let’s get to the specifics in a minute – the general outline is relevant to anyone hoping to grok the never-ending attempt to define philosophy. Perhaps this attempt never ends because  Continue Reading …

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The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don’t have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we’re talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion

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