Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On the aphorisms ("Diapsalmata") that begin Soren Kierkegaard's Either/Or (1843), plus the essay also in the first volume, "Rotation of Crops." What is it to live your life as if it were a work of art? One might think (after having read the Romantics or Nietzsche) that this is the only honest Continue Reading …
NEM#206: Wreckless Eric: “Without Sound, You’ve Got Nothing”
Eric Goulden started in 1977 as label-mate to Elvis Costello and Ian Dury, but after three albums he went indie and was an early practitioner of home recording, releasing albums in the second half of the '80s under various band names like Captains of Industry and The Len Bright Combo. He eventually re-embraced his Wreckless Eric moniker and now records on his own and with his Continue Reading …
Ep. 329: Kierkegaard on Irony (Part Three/Closereads Part One)
Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get previous and future installments of this new podcast, including (soon) an additional part to this discussion.Subscribe to PEL to get other part 3's to PEL episodes, plus tons of other bonus recordings, and all of your PEL episodes ad-free. Mark and Wes Closeread the conclusion to Soren Kierkegaard's On the Continue Reading …
(sub)TEXT: The Emptiness of Signification in Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” (Part 1)
When King Leontes accuses his pregnant wife of adultery, the nobleman Antigonus assumes that Leontes has been “abused and by some putter-on”—in other words, some Iago-like villain has been putting malevolent ideas into his head. In fact, Leontes is the father of his own misconceptions, just as he is the father of his wife’s children. But unlike his children, his ideas might be Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop #162: Poe Flavoring Upon the House of Usher
We discuss the loose mishmash adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe stories that makes up Mike Flanagan's Netflix show, The Fall of the House of Usher. Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al talk about the various creative choices, moral responsibility in the show, the relation between gothic and camp, Poe's continued standing as horror icon, Flanagan's other films and shows (e.g. The Continue Reading …
Ep. 329: Kierkegaard on Irony (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content, including a third part to this discussion, coming soon. Continuing from part one on On the Concept of Irony, we finish up with Socrates and say why according to K, his type of irony is better than that of his Romantic peers like Friedrich Schlegel. Sponsors: Learn about St. John's College at Continue Reading …
Philosophy vs. Improv #65: Pop Spice
Recorded on 9/11 (a date not known primarily for its improv activities), only now making its way to you, this discussion between Mark and Bill talk child deification, pop philosophy vs. pop improv, foreign accents, and guns in schools in the hands of improvisers. The image is from this Reddit article asking for ideas on how to "spice up" a potential tattoo drawing of mice by Continue Reading …
(sub)TEXT: The Tyranny of the Good in Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters”
Hannah supports her sisters. She’s a source of money, encouragement, and advice, and seems to ask for nothing in return. In fact, she’s so giving and self-reliant that her husband Eliott begins to believe that she has no needs. This seems to be the spark that ignites his infatuation with Hannah’s sister Lee. It also leads her sister Holly to rebel against what might be called Continue Reading …
Ep. 329: Kierkegaard on Irony (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Mark, Seth, and Dylan discuss On the Concept of Irony, With Continual Reference to Socrates, Soren Kierkegaard's master's thesis (1841). Sponsors: Get $250 off the #1 meal kit for eating well at GreenChef.com/pel250 (code pel250). Start selling online with a $1/month trial period at Continue Reading …
PvI#64: TEAM PLAY GENERALS with Linda Orr and Andrew Lavin
Returning freedom fighters Andrew and Linda and join Bill and Mark to talk about philosophical liberalism: Its rationales and varieties. Plus, preschool orientation, and Greek gods creating a new world. Follow Linda @IrisCutter. Her weekly improv show is with the troupe Dumb John. Listen to Andrew's philosophy podcast, Reductio, which has dwelt further on Rawlsian Continue Reading …
NEM#205: Tom Heyman: Unreliable Narrator
Tom is best known as a steel guitar player who has guested with artists like Alejandro Escovedo, John Doe, and Sonny Smith. He started in the late '80s as the lead guitarist and backup songwriter for the Philadelphia energetic alt-country band Go to Blazes. After five albums with them, he moved to San Francisco in 1997 and has since released six solo albums of Dylan-esque, Continue Reading …
Ep. 328: Guest Yascha Mounk Against Identity Politics (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content, including a supporter-exclusive, guest-free part three to this episode. Listen to a preview.. Continuing from part one on The Identity Trap (2023). In arguing against a "monomaniacal" prism for interpreting the world (whether via class as the Marxists use or via race, gender, and sexual Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop #161: Revisiting “The Exorcist”
Watch the unedited video of the discussion: Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al talk about the original 1973 film (and the 1971 novel), the new Exorcist: Believer, with some talk of the early sequels. What makes the original film so scary? Its adjacency to real-life parental fears? Does the new film really dialogue intelligently with that original, and how was this challenge Continue Reading …
(SUB)TEXT: Terminal Wooings in “The Odyssey” (Part 3 of 3)
Wes & Erin discuss the final 12 books of “The Odyssey.” Thanks to our sponsors for this episode St. John’s College, and Füm. Learn more about undergraduate–and graduate–Great Books programs at St. John’s in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Annapolis, Maryland at sjc.edu/subtext. Head to TryFum.com and use code SUBTEXT to save 10 percent off when you get the Continue Reading …
Ep. 328: Guest Yascha Mounk Against Identity Politics (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On The Identity Trap (2023), Yascha's intellectual history wokeness (which he calls "the identity synthesis") and defense of philosophical liberalism against this set of ideas. Which is more important, the characteristics that we all share as human beings, or those that make us part of Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop #160: Mvto to “Reservation Dogs”
After three seasons, this groundbreaking Native-written/starring TV show about four teens trying to get away from their Oklahoma reservation has completed its arc. Mark, Lawrence, Al, and COVID-infected Sarahlyn discuss the show's take on death, community, drugs, wisdom, wokeness, and the supernatural. Did the show work given the wildly different tones and emphases over the Continue Reading …
Ep. 327: Harry Frankfurt on Bullshit and Authenticity (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this ad-free, plus a supporter-exclusive Nightcap discussion that gets more into bullshit, hypocrisy, and more.. We discuss the essay "The Importance of What We Care About" (1982), in order to give a flavor of the kind of writing Frankfurt did in moral psychology beyond his famous definition of bullshit, discussed in part Continue Reading …
Closereads: Hume on Passions (Part One)
Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get additional parts of this reading, as well as our previous and future installments of this new podcast. On Book II of A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), this time reading sections 1 and 2 in Part I, "Pride and Humility." How does David Hume deal with human emotions, given his empiricism that begins with the Continue Reading …
NEM#204: Tim and Sue Lee Learn Their Craft, from Windbreakers to Bark
Tim first released music as co-frontman of The Windbreakers (with Bobby Sutliff) in Mississippi in 1982, with seven releases in under that moniker plus other collaborations coming out in the '80s. He recorded two solo albums as the '80s ended and then retired from the road and recording until the late '90s, when he started again releasing solo albums, with his wife Susan Bauer Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop #159: Watching “How To with John Wilson”
Watch the unedited video of the discussion: Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al all watched the three seasons of this groundbreaking, polarizing documentary show that serves as a visual diary and collection of essays by its creator John Wilson. While episode titles promise that you'll learn things like "how to track your packages" and "how to make small talk ," what starts Continue Reading …