The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

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Episode 213: Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Part One)

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On Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, books 1 and 2 (1883).

What is wisdom? In this text whose style parodies the Bible, we get pithy advice and allegorical imagery to guide us away from self-defeating, life-denying attitudes and orient us toward creative self-overcoming (i.e., exertion of the Will to Power). The Last Man who no longer knows how to give birth to a dancing star is a rotten egg!

Don’t wait for part 2! Get your ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

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Episode 213: Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Citizen Edition)

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On Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, books 1 and 2 (1883).

What is wisdom? In this text whose style parodies the Bible, we get pithy advice and allegorical imagery to guide us away from self-defeating, life-denying attitudes and orient us toward creative self-overcoming (i.e., exertion of the Will to Power). The Last Man who no longer knows how to give birth to a dancing star is a rotten egg!

End song: “Sacrilicious” by Hedflux, i.e., Steve Young, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #92.

Episode 212: Sartre on Literature (Part Two)

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Continuing on What is Literature? (1948).

Sartre gives a phenomenology of reading and writing that makes reading into a creative act of completing the writer’s work, and calls this cooperation ethical: the work is an appeal to the reader’s freedom, and also the reader’s responsibility to then know what the work reveals. Are you shirking, all you skimmers?

Start with part one, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition.

End song: “Things I Shouldn’t Have Told You” by Sam Phillips, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #90.

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NEM#95: R. Stevie Moore Just Happens… Frequently!

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Stevie has been recording pop tunes and/or wild experiments nearly continually since the late ’60s, with hundreds of albums, many of them compilations of home recordings.

We discuss “Pop Music” and “Take Back” from Afterlife (2019) and “The House Is Not in Order” by R. Stevie Moore and Alan Jenkins and the Kettering Vampires from The Embodiment of Progressive Ideals (2018) and conclude by listening to “I H8 Ppl” by R. Stevie Moore and Jason Falkner from Make It Be (2017). Bonus songs: “Pervert” from World War 4 (2016) and (at the end) “Goodbye, Piano” from Phonography (1976). Intro: “I Like to Stay Home” from Glad Music (1986). For more, see rsteviemoore.com.

Hear more Nakedly Examined Music. Like our Facebook page. Support us on Patreon. Check out Mark’s new album.

Episode 212: Sartre on Literature (Part One)

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On Jean-Paul Sartre’s What is Literature? (1948), ch. 1 and 2.

What’s the purpose of literature? Why write prose as opposed to poetry? Sartre argues that while poetry is about the words themselves, prose is about the ideas, so it’s necessarily political. A written work is essentially an ethical appeal for a reader to apply his or her own faculties and experiences to complete the work through the act of reading.

Continue on part 2, or get your ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

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Episode 212: Sartre on Literature (Citizen Edition)

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On Jean-Paul Sartre’s What is Literature? (1948), ch. 1 and 2.

What’s the purpose of literature? Why write prose as opposed to poetry? Sartre argues that while poetry is about the words themselves, prose is about the ideas, so it’s necessarily political. A written work is essentially an ethical appeal for a reader to apply his or her own faculties and experiences to complete the work through the act of reading.

End song: “Things I Shouldn’t Have Told You” by Sam Phillips, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #90.

Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Part Three)

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Moving finally on to Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Black Orpheus” (1948), where he introduces a book of black poetry by praising its revolutionary spirit as embodied in “negritude.” Is this a legitimate consciousness-raising exercise or a weird fetishization of blackness?

Listen to parts one and two first, or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition, which will also get you access to (sub)Text#5 on Checkhov’s Uncle Vanya. Please support PEL!

End song: “Punch Bag” by Godley & Creme as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #3.

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NEM#94: Ian Moore Grown Far Beyond Blues-Rock

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Ian has released 10 studio albums and 3 EPs since 1993, starting as an Austin guitar hero and evolving into an eclectic, subtle Seattle songwriter who teaches songwriting courses.

We discuss “1000 Blackbirds” from Toronto (2018), the title track from Strange Days (2017), and “Abilene” from Luminaria (2004). End song: “Sad Affair” from El Sonido Nuevo (2011). Intro: “Satisfied” from Ian Moore (1993). For more, see ianmoore.com.

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Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Part Two)

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Continuing on Jean-Paul Sartre’s Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (1946).

Is there an “authentic” way to respond to persecution? As part of his critique of anti-semitism, Sartre criticized the responses of some Jews to this situation, e.g. denying that the persecution exists, pretending to not be Jewish, or in any way accepting the terms of anti-semitism and setting up one’s life in reaction to it. Sartre instead recommends solidarity and “concrete liberalism,” which we try to figure out.

Listen to part one first. Don’t wait for the last part; get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL! Join us for PEL Live on 4/6!

Sponsors: Visit TheGreatCoursesPLUS.com/PEL for two months of unlimited learning for 99 cents. Visit the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.

Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Part One)

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On Jean-Paul Sartre’s Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (1946) and “Black Orpheus” (1948).

How can we best understand the psychology of racism? Sartre condemns anti-Semitism as denying the facts of the human condition: the responsibility for fixing problems and not blaming them on a demonized other. But he also criticizes “the democrat” for a humanism that pretends we’re in a post-racial world, calling instead for “concrete liberalism” that treats Jews not as abstract individuals but as real people in an an oppressed situation.

Don’t wait for parts 2 and 3; get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL! See PEL Live in NYC on April 6.

Sponsors: Please visit calm.com/pel for 25% off a stress-reducing subscription, TakeCareOf.com (code PEL) for 50% off a month of personalized vitamins, TheGreatCoursesPLUS.com/PEL for two months of unlimited learning for 99 cents, and use code 30PEL get 30% off at Amazon of Bill Wooditch’s book Fail More.

Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Citizen Edition)

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On Jean-Paul Sartre’s Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (1946) and “Black Orpheus” (1948).

How can we best understand the psychology of racism and reactions to it? Sartre not only condemns anti-Semitism as denying the facts of the human condition (the responsibility for fixing problems and not blaming them on a demonized other), he also thinks that the victims of oppression can be inauthentic by denying their situation or otherwise being reactive to the racist’s attitude. “Black Orpheus” further explores this idea in characterizing the “negritude” of black poetry and how uncovering one’s negritude leads to solidarity and hence political and psychological change.

End song: “Punch Bag” by Godley & Creme as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #3.

NEM#93: Peter Aaron Lives in the Blues-Punk Moment

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Peter started in hardcore punk and used the blues to add depth for his band the Chrome Cranks, which released four studio albums and a live album in the mid-1990s, then another in 2012. Since then he’s been a music journalist and author, writing about the Ramones, the Band, and others, with occasional musical projects. We discuss his new single “Bomb Train Blues” (2018) with the band Young Skulls, Chrome Cranks tracks “Dark Room” from Chrome Cranks (1994), and “Rubber Rat” from Ain’t No Lies in Blood (2012). We conclude by listening to “Purge 4” from Purges by Peter Aaron and Brian Chase (2016). Intro/outro: “Hot Blonde Cocktail” by the Chrome Cranks from Love in Exile (1997). For more, see peteraaron.org.

Hear more Nakedly Examined Music. Like our Facebook page. Support us on Patreon. Check out Mark’s new album.

Episode 210: Frantz Fanon’s Black Existentialism (Part Two)

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Continuing on Black Skin White Masks (1952), starting with the influential ch. five, “The Fact of Blackness.” Are the successive coping strategies to racism (including “anti-racist racism” and embrace of negritude) that Fanon describes, necessary steps in a dialectic that should be encouraged, or would it be best to learn from his “mistakes” and jump right to the humanistic end-point? With guest Lawrence Ware.

Start with part 1 or get the ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL! See PEL Live in NYC on April 6.

End song: “Malaika” by John Etheridge and Vimala Rowe; hear John interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #85.

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Episode 210: Frantz Fanon’s Black Existentialism (Part One)

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On Black Skin White Masks (1952).

How does growing up in a racist society mess people up? Fanon’s “clinical study” includes phenomenology, poetry, and a lot of existentialism, which means that the “let’s embrace negritude in the face of bigotry” solution isn’t ultimately available to him: We’re all radically free, with no race-specific essence, whether positive or negative. With guest Lawrence Ware.

Don’t wait for part two; get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL! Don’t miss PEL Live in NYC on April 6.

Sponsor: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service.

Episode 210: Frantz Fanon’s Black Existentialism (Citizen Edition)

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On Black Skin White Masks (1952).

How does growing up in a racist society mess people up? Fanon’s “clinical study” includes phenomenology, poetry, and a lot of existentialism, which means that the “let’s embrace negritude in the face of bigotry” solution isn’t ultimately available to him: We’re all radically free, with no race-specific essence, whether positive or negative. With guest Lawrence Ware.

End song: “Malaika” by John Etheridge and Vimala Rowe; hear John interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #85.

Podchaser Interview of Mark Linsenmayer: Partially Examined Life and Nakedly Examined Music

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Morgan DeLisle, writer for the PodChaser “Behind the Streams Blog,” interviewed Mark for a feature of our podcasts. Learn about the origins of PEL and NEM, how we make the shows, and what’s coming up.

Listen to all of the PEL network podcasts at partiallyexaminedlife.com, or subscribe to them individually on Apple Podcasts or via your preferred player.

NEM#92: Steve Young (Hedflux): Electronica Breaking Club Conventions

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Steve started producing tracks for dance clubs in 2007, changing his style in 2013 to slow down, carve out space for spontaneous performance, and develop “audio alchemy” over a few EPs and two recent albums.

We discuss “Equinosis” from the Mercurial EP (2018), “Superluminal Sound” from his Soul Science album (2016), and the title track from his Wanderlust EP (2013). We conclude by listening to “Origins” by Hedflux and Alex Delfont from Kin (2018). Opening/closing: “Music Is My Weapon” (2007). For more, see hedflux.com.

Hear more Nakedly Examined Music. Like our Facebook page. Support us on Patreon. Check out Mark’s new album.

Episode 209: Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Part Two: Discussion)

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Continuing on Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment (2018).

Fukuyama recommends a “creedal national identity” as a solution for tribalism; does this work? Is this “demand for recognition” that he describes foundational for the act of making an ethical claim? For self-consciousness itself? How does ideology prejudice the sort of theorizing that Fukuyama engages in?

Listen to part one first, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: “Cornerstone” by Richard X. Heyman, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #61.

Sponsors: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service. Visit the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.

See PEL Live in NYC on April 6.

About The Partially Examined Life

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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