In our last article, we explored some recent findings in the cognitive science of religion (CSR). We saw how current research suggests that belief in God, or something like God, comes naturally to most human beings, most of the time, in virtue of the types of brains we have. I’d like to explore Justin L. Barrett’s arguments on this front Continue Reading …
Science, Religion, and Secularism, Part XXXIV: Justin L. Barrett—Why Would Anyone Believe in God? Part B
Episode 198: Plato’s Forms in the “Parmenides” (Part One)
On the most peculiar Platonic dialogue, from ca. 350 BCE.
Are properties real things in the world, or just in the mind? Plato is known for claiming that these “Forms” are real, though otherworldly. Here, though, using Parmenides as a character talking to a young Socrates, Plato seems to provide objections here to his own theory. What’s the deal?
Don’t wait for part two! Get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now! Please support PEL!
Sponsor: Check out Sam Yang’s Must Triumph podcast at musttriumph.com.
Bonus: (sub)Text #3: Spielberg’s “AI: Artificial Intelligence”: What Is It to Be Human? (Part One)
Wes discusses the film with philosophy professor David Kyle Johnson. What is there to fear in artificial intelligence? How does this shed light on what it means to be fully human?
Note: Part two will NOT be appearing on this feed. Become a PEL Citizen to get the full discussion. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to learn how.
NEM#81: Lindsay Murray Is Gretchen’s Wheel
Lindsay has released four albums and an EP of depressed alternative rock under the band name Gretchen’s Wheel since 2015, providing a modern model of accessible yet professional DIY recording.
We focus on Black Box Theory, covering “Untethered,” “Tatyana,” and “Plans,” plus “Save the Day” from Sad Scientist (2017). Intro: “Total Loss” from Fragile State (2015). For more, visit gretchenswheel.com.
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“Mind Games” and “Word Games”: Practical Philosophers, Give Philosophy a Chance!
Can philosophy avoid theoretical speculation to focus solely on pursuit of the good life, or is that goal inherently problematic? Confining oneself to a particular branch of philosophy is something one should outgrow.
Epistemic Tribalism, Epistemic Chaos, and Epistemic Exhaustion
The 2016 US presidential election and the Trump presidency have shown us that a variety of epistemically perilous conditions are far too common in the thought and behavior of Americans. Philosophy has a role to play in addressing this.
Episode 197: Parmenides on What There Is (Part Two)
Continuing with guest Peter Adamson with “On Nature” (475 BCE).
We finally get to fragment 8, which describes why Being must be singular and eternal, given that the notion of Non-Being is nonsense. But how could we as individuals be asking these questions then? Does his “Way of Seeming” work to explain the appearances, as opposed to reality?
Listen to part one first, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
End song: “Circle” by Gareth Mitchell, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #4.
Sponsors: Explore Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save at partiallyexaminedlife.com/savealife.
Combat & Classics #22: Interview with Matt Young
Brian interviews Matt Young, Marine Corps veteran, English professor, and author of Eat the Apple, a memoir that has been described as “The Iliad of the Iraq war.”
Get more C&C on the PEL site or at combatandclassics.org.
Phi Fic #23 “To The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf
This discussion first appeared in our Not School Group and the readers at the time were Nathan, Laura, Daniel, and Dan Johnson. As an early recording, please bear with the sound quality—many thanks!
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.com.
New Books in Philosophy: Richard Deming’s “Art of the Ordinary”
Because the ordinary is always at hand, it is, in fact, too familiar for us to perceive it and become fully aware of it. The ordinary is what most needs to be discovered and yet is something that can never be approached, since to do so is to immediately change it. Art of the Ordinary explores how philosophical questions can be revealed in surprising places—as in a stand-up comic’s routine, for instance, or a Brillo box, or a Hollywood movie.
Episode 197: Parmenides on What There Is (Part One)
On the fragments referred to as “On Nature” from ca. 475 BCE, featuring guest Peter Adamson from the History of Philosophy without Any Gaps podcast.
Parmenides gives “the Way of Truth,” which is that there is only Being, and talking of Non-Being is nonsense. So everything you experience is wrong!
Don’t wait for part two! Get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
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Bonus: (sub)Text #2: Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five”: Is There Such a Thing as a War Story? (Part One)
Episode 2 of Wes’s new podcasting endeavor, featuring Mary from the Phi Fic podcast, who’s also the managing editor of the PEL blog.
Note: Part two will NOT be appearing on this feed. Become a PEL Citizen to get the full discussion. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to learn how.
NEM#80: Rod Picott: Literary Workin’ Man
Nashville singer/songwriter/fiction-writer Rod laid sheet rock for years before releasing his first album in 2001; he has now released ten albums of vivid Americana.
We focus on his new double album Out Past the Wires, discussing “Take Home Pay” and “Date of Grace” (with intro/outro from “Be My Bonnie”), then look back to “Rust Belt Fields” from Welding Burns (2011) and finally listen to “You’re Not Missing Anything” from Hang Your Hopes on a Crooked Nail (2014). More at rodpicott.com.
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Science, Religion, and Secularism Part XXXIII: Justin L. Barrett—Why Would Anyone Believe in God? Part A
“Belief in God is an almost inevitable consequence of the kind of minds we have.” —Justin L. Barrett
Updated “Episodes by Topic” and “Upcoming” pages
Have you gotten lost in our 200+ episodes? Don’t quite know where to dive into our back catalog? Due to several people nagging me over email in recent years, I’ve finally updated our Episodes by Topic page to carry us through the present day. This includes new tabs dedicated to the philosophy of language and to psychology, which we’ve now Continue Reading …
Episode 196: Guest Simon Blackburn on Truth (Part Two)
Continuing with Simon on his book On Truth (2018).
We move to part two of the book, where we get down to the procedures used to obtain truth in art, ethics, and science. Yes, truth is objective, but it’s not best described as correspondence, and in fact this elaboration of how truth is actually obtained is more enlightening than any abstract definition meant to cover all the different types of truth-seeking.
Listen to part one first, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition, and also Wes’s bonus conversation on Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. Please support PEL!
End song: “with you/for you” from the new cold/mess EP by Prateek Kuhad, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #79.
Sponsors: Visit Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save at partiallyexaminedlife.com/savealife, and thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL.
Combat & Classics #21: Aristotle’s Politics Bk. I
Jeff, Lise, and Brian roll up their sleeves and dig in to Aristotle’s Politics.
How are this and other “Great Books” relevant to how we live our lives? What is good political rule? What does it mean to be “just” within a political system? The team tackles those questions and much more in this episode.
Get more C&C on the PEL site or at combatandclassics.org.
The Ethics of Heroic Bloodshed
John Woo is synonymous with Hollywood blockbuster action films, but his films are actually more about ethics than explosions. His 1989 masterpiece The Killer is a Confucian action film.
Episode 196: Guest Simon Blackburn on Truth (Part One)
The Cambridge/etc. prof joins Mark, Wes, and Dylan to discuss his book On Truth (2018).
What is truth? Simon’s view synthesizes deflationism and pragmatism to avoid relativism by fixing on the domain-specific procedures we actually engage in to establish the truth of a claim, whether in ethics, science, art, or whatever. A gift of clarity after two episodes threshing through the jungles of analytic philosophy!
Continued on part 2, or get the full, unbroken Citizen Edition, as well as Wes’s discussion on Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five.
Sponsors: Listen to the Hi-Phi Nation podcast at hiphination.org, and explore Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save at partiallyexaminedlife.com/savealife.
NEM#79: Prateek Kuhad’s Bilingual Love Songs
Prateek was named artist of the year for 2016 by MTV India, and has been releasing tasteful, lyrics-focused songs about relationships in English and Hindi since 2011.
We focus on his 2015 album Tokens and Charms: “Go,” “Oh Love,” and “Flames,” plus the 2017 single “Tum Jab Pas,” and the title track from his brand new EP cold/mess. Intro/outro: “Raat Raazi” (2013). For more, visit prateekkuhad.com.
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