Discussing G.W.F Hegel’s Introduction to the Philosophy of History.
Episode 15: Hegel on History
Mark’s Inspirational Speech
Responding to a listener request, here’s the text of the inspirational speech from the end of episode #14, so you can have it tattooed or mounted or embroidered or perhaps written in frosting on a birthday cake. I have rendered it in BOLD MAGENTA #3 (C031C7) for your pleasure: What you see before you, i.e. me, is, admittedly, very awesomely Continue Reading …
Partially Naked Self-Examination Music Blog, Week 8
The first newly completed song from the “Madison Lint” album: “Cold.” I’ve been singing this a lot to myself as I walk around this horribly frozen wasteland that is Wisconsin and thinking about when I wrote the words to this while wandering around the building of my crappy office job back in early 2001, when both the job and the Continue Reading …
Hitler finds out about his philosophy grad school applications
Why we record such good podcasts
Seth thinks PEL is much better than other philosophy podcasts.
Partially Naked Self-Examination Music Blog, Week 7
Here’s another new recording: “Ann(e).” It’s a pretty old song, written I think late in 1991, back when I was in a psychedlic band called The MayTricks, and though the recording is entirely new (OK, I started the click track and the acoustic guitar back in 2000, i.e. this is another tune destined for the “Cheese Stands Alone” album), the Continue Reading …
Episode 14: Machiavelli on Politics
Discussing Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince and Ch. 1-20 of The Discourse on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy
Partially Naked Self-Examination Music Blog, Week 6
More video this week: http://www.youtube.com/user/MLinsenmayer#p/a/u/1/u3nNXdV8tbQ. The linked song is one of two I’ve just put up there from a 1997 gig by The Fake Johnson Trio. This was the very last gig for that band, and one of the few played as an actual trio: I switched to bass for a couple of shows for that incarnation. The song is Continue Reading …
Partially Naked Self-Examination Music Blog, Week 5
As January draws to a close, I made good on my determination to upload some more gig video, with a couple of songs from 1/16/10 New People show from the Alchemy Cafe. The song of the two by me currently visible (though I hope to have more up shortly) is at http://www.youtube.com/user/MLinsenmayer#p/a/u/1/_-9pPUESKN4, and from that URL you should be able Continue Reading …
Partially Naked Self-Examination Music Blog, Week 4
This week’s entry is an entirely new recording: “Came Round.” On one or two days in the summer of ’99 I wrote and recorded maybe five song fragments with nonsense lyrics that featured dual-vocals throughout the whole thing a la the Byrds. I was contemplating starting a folk duo that would feature collaborative songwriting and wanted to have some material Continue Reading …
Unreasonable & Unrealistic: A New Year’s Resolution
Seth’s 2010 goals: be unreasonable and unrealistic.
Partially Naked Self-Examination Music Blog, Week 3
This week I’ve finished another tune from the same project as “Write Me Off,” namely “Once in a Great While,” which was originally called “Therapy Song #141.” The song is one of several I’ve written about inspiration and its masochistic character. What I want from moment to moment is a feeling of warmth, of involvement. When I finish a great Continue Reading …
Partially Naked Self-Examination Music Blog, Week 2
This week’s newly finished recording is “Write Me Off.” This is part of the “Sinking and the Aftermath” project; the story of my utter irresponsibility in not finishing these songs (from 1999-2000) earlier is told here. This is one of my favorite songs of those I’ve written, and it’s gone around my head quite regularly in the 10 years since Continue Reading …
Episode 13: What Are the Metaphysical Implications of Quantum Physics?
On Werner Heisenberg’s Physics and Philosophy. Dylan Casey’s first appearance (as a guest).
Partially Naked Self-Examination Music Blog, Week 1
Listen to “Space” by Mark Lint. This song was written in 1997 or 1998 smack in the heart of my Texas grad school tenure. That’s what the reference to “Every day I get up about three hours late” is about; I tended to sleep until 11am in those days. This is a song that seemed too sappy, simple, and uncool Continue Reading …
Thorough Musical Self-Examination: A New Year’s Resolution
Yes, it’s a new year. Big, fat arbitrary deal. Well, yes, but I find it refreshing that something in our life of mostly culturally created pressures presents itself as an obviously merely cultural, arbitrary creation, as opposed to money, or romance, or politics, or your job, all of which, though largely if not wholly cultural, intrude in our lives in Continue Reading …
Thorough Musical Self-Examination: A New Year’s Resolution
Yes, it’s a new year. Big, fat arbitrary deal. Well, yes, but I find it refreshing that something in our life of mostly culturally created pressures presents itself as an obviously merely cultural, arbitrary creation, as opposed to money, or romance, or politics, or your job, all of which, though largely if not wholly cultural, intrude in our lives in Continue Reading …
Philosophy & Comedy – Steve Martin’s “Born Standing Up”
Seth reviews Steve Martin’s short autobiography, Born Standing Up – a comic’s life, about his development into and subsequent retirement as a stand-up comedian.
Christian Realism and Holy War
“Christian Realism” — even Christians ought to struggle with David Brook’s latest invention. How delightful to juxtapose other-worldliness and practicality! But to really understand it, replace “Christian” with “love” and “Realism” with “War.” Meaning, “I love war, but I wage it only out of love.” It’s almost a self-parodying confirmation of Nietzsche’s critique of the human capacity for turning aggression into Continue Reading …
Seth Bait
Brian Leiter skewers Chronical reporter Carlin Romano (yet again) for a piece that calls Heidegger a “provincial Nazi hack.”