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The Partially Examined Life Blog

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The Paradox of Free Discussion: Does freedom of opinion require freedom from opinion?

February 11, 2022 by Wes Alwan

A defense of freedom of discussion can only be made by exploring its very real limits. This is something that Mill himself suggests in On Liberty. Paradoxically, to exercise freedom of opinion, we must have freedom from the “tyranny of opinion.” In fact, Mill tells us, government censorship should not be our primary concern. Social coercion is far more effective at producing  Continue Reading …

Pretty Much Pop #116: Good Grief! Peanuts Persists

February 10, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Animator/musician David Heatley, comedian Daniel Lobell, and academic/3anuts author Daniel Leonard join your host Mark Linsenmayer to discuss Charlie Brown and his author Charles Schulz from Peanuts' 1950 inception through the classic TV specials through to the various post-mortem products still emerging. What's the enduring appeal, and is it strictly for kids? We talk about  Continue Reading …

REISSUE-Ep 16: Arthur Danto on Art (w/ New Intro)

February 7, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

To anticipate our imminent return to studying aesthetics, Mark, Seth and Dylan newly introduce our very first episode in this area from way back in March 2010, featuring Mark, Seth and Wes discussing three chapters of Danto's The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art (1986): the title essay, "The Appreciation and Interpretation of Works of Art," and "The End of Art." What  Continue Reading …

PREVIEW-Ep. 286: Malebranche on Causality and Theology (Part Three)

February 5, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Subscribe to get Part 3 of this episode in its entirety. Citizens can get it here. We're concluding our treatment of Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688) with a full discussion on a different day from parts 1 and 2. In this preview, we focus on dialogue 6 where M. says why a proof of the existence of the external world isn't possible, yet we should believe it  Continue Reading …

NEM#165: Paula Cole Beautifully Picks at Wounds

February 5, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Paula Cole (Grammy-winner with two huge hits) has released 10 studio albums since 1994 after backing Peter Gabriel on his Secret World tour in the early '90s. We discuss "Blues in Gray" from Revolution (2019), "Father" from 7 (2015), and "Hush, Hush, Hush" from This Fire (1996). We also listen to "Steal Away/Hidden in Plain Sight" from American Quilt (2021). Intro: "I Don’t  Continue Reading …

(sub)Text: Mother Nature’s Nurture in Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” (Part 1)

February 3, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

After an absence of five years, the poet William Wordsworth returned to the idyllic ruins of a medieval monastery along the River Wye. The spot was perhaps not so very different from his last visit, but Wordsworth found that he had undergone a significant transformation in the intervening years. In a long blank-verse meditation, he explores the changes that  Continue Reading …

Philosophy vs. Improv #25: Questionable Causal Practices

January 30, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

We are guest free! We are unrestrained in exploring various conversational topics in a facetious manner, from hairballs to boogers to color vision among inanimate objects and rules for unicorn play. When the bad-ass, smelly, screaming white ball hits the 5 ball, how does the causality work? Is skepticism about physical forces just conspiracy theory? Image from this NY Times  Continue Reading …

Pretty Much Pop #115: So-Called Greatest Albums

January 27, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

How does canonization work in popular music? Is Rolling Stone's 500 Best Albums of All Time list just a modest record of the favorite albums of people associated with Rolling Stone? Is it a statement of what "experts" in popular music enjoy? Does it reflect English-American popularity, and what responsibility to list-makers have to experience and include world music, indie  Continue Reading …

PREVIEW-Ep. 286: Malebranche on Causality and Theology (Part Two)

January 23, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode in its entirety. Citizens can get it here. Continuing from part one on Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), dialogue 7 where he gets into his occasionalist theory of causality. We talk about how this theory relates to mind-body interaction and the student character Aristes argues that there's nothing more intimate than  Continue Reading …

Ep. 286: Malebranche on Causality and Theology (Part One)

January 23, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Subscribe to get Parts 2 and 3 of this episode. You can hear previews of parts two and three. Hear this part ad-free. On Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), dialogues 5-7, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Continuing from ep. 285, we've gathered more of the pieces of Malebranche's picture of epistemology, metaphysics, and science to explain his most famous  Continue Reading …

NEM#164: James McMurtry Doesn’t Have to Make Sense

January 22, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

...But he usually does.  The legendary Texas singer-songwriter has put out 10 studio albums since 1989. We discuss "If It Don’t Bleed" (and listen to "Blackberry Winter") from The Horses and the Hounds (2021), "How’m I Gonna Find You Now" from Complicated Game (2015), and "Be With Me" from It Had to Happen (1997). Intro: "Choctaw Bingo" from Saint Mary of the Woods  Continue Reading …

(sub)Text: The Fool Gets Hurt in Fellini’s “La Strada” (1954)

January 18, 2022 by Wes Alwan Leave a Comment

Fellini called his film “La Strada” a dangerous representation of his identity, and had a nervous breakdown just before completing its shooting. Perhaps this identity, and its vulnerability, have something to do with the film’s portrayal of a disappointed hope that love might vanquish pride, if properly assisted by the forces of playfulness and creativity. The problem is that  Continue Reading …

Philosophy vs. Improv #24: Game Time w/ C. Thi Nguyen

January 16, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Thi is a philosopher of games, making him a perfect match for this podcast. Why are games worthy of philosophical study? What counts as a game, anyway? We play a frustration game, finish each others' sentences, and ask dumb questions on a museum tour. It's an unusually discussion-focused episode! Picture is by Zahra, grabbed from this article. Audio editing by Tyler Hislop  Continue Reading …

PREVIEW-Ep. 285: Nicolas Malebranche on Knowledge (Part Two)

January 16, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode in its entirety. Citizens can get it here. Continuing from part one on Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), ch. 1-4. We talk about the character of the intelligible world: It resists certain thoughts, like you can't make 2+2=5. It has the intelligible idea of extension in it, which is what substance in the physical world  Continue Reading …

Combat & Classics Ep. 60 Xenophon’s “Anabasis” Book 4

January 14, 2022 by Jeff Black Leave a Comment

Xenophon and the Greek host begin their march north, out of the Persian king's territory, through the icy highlands of Armenia, until at last, from a mountain, they catch sight of "the sea! the sea!"  So how do the demands of the terrain and weather impose necessities on the Greeks, and how does Xenophon deal with these necessities?  Is this easier, or harder, than dealing with  Continue Reading …

Pretty Much Pop #114: The “West Side Story” Story

January 12, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Did it make sense for Steven Spielberg to remake one of our nation's most beloved musicals (with music by Bernstein and Sondheim!), attempting to fix the parts that did not age well politically? Is the new version a modern classic or a doomed Frankenstein? Your host Mark Linsenmayer is joined by Broadway scholar, theater critic, and actor Ron Fassler; Remakes, Reboots, and  Continue Reading …

Ep. 285: Nicolas Malebranche on Knowledge (Part One)

January 9, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. On Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), dialogues 1-4, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Malebranche presents a rationalist epistemology that is more like an early modern version of Plato than anyone else we've read. He comes chronologically between Descartes and Leibniz, and provided some  Continue Reading …

NEM#163: Lilli Lewis Is Not Just a Jazz-Singing Pianist

January 8, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Lilli is also an activist, folk-rock diva, record label executive, and daughter of a preacher man. She's released 10 albums and 3 EPs since 2003. We discuss "Coffee Shop Girl" and listen to "Copper John" from Americana(2021), "Warm and Gentle People" from We Belong (2019), and "Song for the End of Days" from Castles of Her Crystalline (2005). Intro: "Lady" from The Coming of  Continue Reading …

Pretty Much Pop #113: The Matrix Regurgitated

January 5, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

PMP#113: The Matrix R It's a Pretty Much Pop season one reunion, with Brian Hirt and Erica Spyres back with Mark Linsenmayer, plus very special guest Abe Linsenmayer, Mark's adult son. In light of the release of The Matrix Resurrections, we talk through the franchise as a whole. What made the first one remarkable, and does that a bar that any sequel can reach? We talk  Continue Reading …

Phi Fic #42 An Unwritten Novel by Virginia Woolf

January 4, 2022 by Laura Davis 3 Comments

NEW CHAPTER IN PHI FIC! We are adding shorter discussions in between our more expansive literary discussions. These more abbreviated talks will cover short stories, essays, articles and whatever else lights out fancy! Life’s what you see in people’s eyes…” -An Unwritten Novel   Today we discuss Virginia Woolf’s short story An Unwritten Novel.  There  Continue Reading …

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