Continuing from part one on Consciousness Explained, ch. 5, with some reference to ch. 12. Dennett seemed to be saying that the phi-phenomenon (where we see a dot as having moved and transformed into another dot, whereas it was really just two dots shown successively in different places) showed that there's no distinction between experiencing the dot as moving and judging Continue Reading …
Ep. 399: Dan Dennett’s Model of Mind (Part One for Supporters)
On Daniel C. Dennett's Consciousness Explained (Ch. 1, 5, and a bit of 12; ep. 400 will complete ch. 12 along with 13). Featuring Mark, Seth, Dylan, and Chris Heath. What is the mind? Dennett claims that we are intuitively Cartesians: It seems like sensory input gets fed into us, processed unconsciously, and then the conscious mind examines the result (this is our stream of Continue Reading …
NEM#259: Glenn Morrow (Bar/None): Songwriting Re-Emergence
Glenn was a central figure in the Hoboken punk scene, fronting the band "a" in the late '70s (no released albums) and then The Individuals (one album and an EP) in the early '80s. His next band, Rage to Live (two albums), was the first release from Bar/None records in 1986, and Glenn then joined the label as a partner and signed They Might Be Giants, Yo La Tengo, etc. He Continue Reading …
Ep. 398: Donald Davidson on Mind vs. Body (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. We finish up "Mental Events" (1970) and move on to "Actions, Reasons, and Causes" (1963), still with guest Chris Heath. Start with part one. Davidson gives us some more technical ways to think about the difference between the mental sphere and the physical. The failure of behaviorism to Continue Reading …
PEL Sunami Nightcap August 2026
Recorded 8/18/26. Chris Sunami, the editor of the PEL book, joins Mark, Wes and Seth as part of the launch of his new book, Free Your Mind, which is a series of PEL-like conversations all coming out of Chris' brain, using the model of Plato's symposium to talk about race, AI, art, religion, and more. Chris then starts us talking about what we all might want to communicate to Continue Reading …
PvI#123: Brain Spritzing w/ Bill Arnett and Jenny Hansen
Future co-host philosophy Jenny joins past co-host improviser Bill along with the usual rabble (Mark and Mary) for some tag-team mud swimming, hot takes about The Odyssey (we recorded this on July 23), and discussion and play about Bill's return to school, Maslow's hierarchy, gamified syllabi, some dweeby math stuff, and academic dishonesty. Our shared conversation space shall Continue Reading …
(sub)TEXT: A Map-Like Imagination in the Poetry of Elizabeth Bishop (“The Moose”)
A poem about a map opens North and South, the first collection of the great twentieth century poet Elizabeth Bishop, and since, maps have been associated with her poetic vision—at once telescoping and binocular—and with the polarities and preoccupations of her work. The map’s privileged, sweeping, bird’s eye view of the earth is also hand-held, man-made, intimate. Depending on Continue Reading …
PMP#228: Spielberg’s Alien Fetish
We discuss the various films Steven Spielberg has released about alien encounters: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982), War of the Worlds (2005), and our inciting film, Disclosure Day. Of these, Spielberg had a story or writing credit for all but War of the Worlds, and they form a semi-coherent narrative between them. Featuring Mark, Continue Reading …
Closereads: Peirce’s New Categories (Part One)
Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get previous and future installments of this podcast. How shall we break down the universe into basic types of things? Peirce has an idiosyncratic way of thinking about this problem and coming up with his division, revolving around the steps and presuppositions involved in predicating something. the latter Continue Reading …
Ep. 398: Donald Davidson on Mind vs. Body (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On "Mental Events" (1970) and "Actions, Reasons, and Causes" (1963), featuring Mark, Wes, and returning guest Chris Heath. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Davidson was roughly in the "ordinary language" camp of analytic philosophy, Continue Reading …
Ep. 398: Donald Davidson on Mind vs. Body (Part Two for Supporters)
We finish up "Mental Events" (1970) and move on to "Actions, Reasons, and Causes" (1963), still with guest Chris Heath. Start with part one. Davidson gives us some more technical ways to think about the difference between the mental sphere and the physical. The failure of behaviorism to give us robust laws about the mental should be a lesson that mental explanation does not Continue Reading …
Ep. 398: Donald Davidson on Mind vs. Body (Part One for Supporters)
On "Mental Events" (1970) and "Actions, Reasons, and Causes" (1963), featuring Mark, Wes, and returning guest Chris Heath. Davidson was roughly in the "ordinary language" camp of analytic philosophy, but (like Kripke) thought that he could draw certain metaphysical conclusions from his analyses of what we mean when we talk about "mental events" and "reasons for Continue Reading …
NEM#258: Dan Montgomery: Direct Communication
Dan was Ben Vaughn's sound-man and released his first solo album of Americana rock in 2004. We discuss "Busted" from his eighth album (produced by Vaughn), the just Dan-and-his guitar effort Dispatches from the Desert, then "Beaumont" from Cast-Iron Songs and Torch Ballads (2023), "Favorite Color" from Rosetta, Please (A Love Story) (2006). End song: "Lookin’ for a Fight" also Continue Reading …
Ep. 397: Federalist Papers LIVE (Part Two)
Subscribe to get the full Citizen Edition of this episode now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. We now have a free-form discussion in light of what was raised in part one about the Federalist Papers and Frederick Douglass' Fourth of July Speech: What should we do about the problems identified? Is the system broken beyond repair? Was it built with fatal flaws in it? Is Continue Reading …
Announcement: Mark’s “Key Ideas in the Philosophy of Mind” Fall 2026 Class
Enrollment is now open for our new online class. It will be nine 75 min sessions, running from late Aug. to mid Dec., starting with Aristotle and Descartes but then spending the rest of the time on the most influential texts in this area since 1950: Alan Turing, Thomas Nagel, David Chalmers, John Searle, Hilary Putnam, etc. We're offering sections to fit the various time Continue Reading …
PvI#122: Hello from Iran w/ AmirAli Maleki
AmirAli is a philosophy researcher in Iran who tries to make Islamic philosophy speak to and with the West. We hear about doing philosophy in the "Islamic Republic of Iran," life during wartime, the relationship between play and philosophy, Islamic philosophy in Arabic vs. Persian, Amanah ("sacred trust"), philosophy as empathy, plus the Dream Police and fun with Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop #227: The Odyssey: Epic Film
We discuss the already over-discussed Christopher Nolan adaptation of Homer's classic poem. Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al discuss their cinema-going experiences, Ludwig Göransson's soundtrack, choices re. the book-to-film transition, the various performances, the Emily Wilson connection, and more. Listen to Mark's Emily Wilson Odyssey (the book) PEL interview. Read her Continue Reading …
Ep. 397: Federalist Papers LIVE (Part One)
Subscribe to get the full Citizen Edition of this episode now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. To celebrate our nation's 250th birthday, we gathered in front of a lovely audience near Madison WI to discuss Federalist Papers 70, 78, 39, 54, 10 by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison from 1787-1788, Anti-Federalist Papers 78-80 (aka Brutus 11 and 15), and Frederick Continue Reading …
Ep. 397: Federalist Papers LIVE (Citizen Edition)
To celebrate our nation's 250th birthday, we gathered in front of a lovely audience near Madison WI to discuss Federalist Papers 70, 78, 39, 54, 10 by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison from 1787-1788, Anti-Federalist Papers 78-80 (aka Brutus 11 and 15), and Frederick Douglass' Fourth of July Speech (1852). Is the American experiment working out as planned? After musing Continue Reading …
(sub)TEXT: Curses and Colonizers in “The Mummy” (1999)
As a cinematic monster, the mummy seems less an embodiment of revenge against colonial forces than a figure invented by colonialism itself. On the one hand, the mummy represents mystery, romance, magic, and the East. His wrappings suggest to the imagination that he’s not just dead, but wounded—ripped from a lost time and a broken narrative. Conveniently for the colonizer’s Continue Reading …