Podcast Episode (Citizen) | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Episode 170: Guy Debord’s “Society of the Spectacle” (Citizen Edition)

August 14, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

What is culture? In modern capitalism, Debord’s 1967 book describes it as all about the economy. It’s not just our jobs that keep us trapped, but our life outside of working hours is also demanded by “the system” via our activity as consumers, and this commoditization infiltrates every corner of our lives. Debord wants us to WAKE UP, break our chains, and live lives of immediacy, vitality, and authenticity.

End song: “Millionaire” by The Mekons (1993), one of whom, Jon Langford, Mark interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #22.

Episode 169: Analyzing Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” (Citizen Edition)

July 30, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On the 1958 film and articles including Laura Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (1975) and Robin Wood’s “Vertigo” (1965). What’s the nature of love/lust? Are we really just loving an image we’ve built while remaining fundamentally isolated? And is it just an illusionary social construct that keeps us all from feeling fundamental vertigo? Lacan, existentialism, and more!

End song: “Wrong Pill” by Sacrifice (aka Tyler Hislop). Hear him on Nakedly Examined Music #24.

Episode 168: Darwin’s “Origin of Species” (Citizen Edition)

July 16, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On Charles Darwin’s 1859 book, ch. 1–4, 6, and 14. What are the philosophical ramifications of Darwin’s theory of evolution? We go through Darwin’s arguments, compare his views to other theories of evolution like Lamarck’s, and talk about how an evolutionary way of looking at things has influenced philosophers.

End song: “I Live” by Jason Falkner, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #47.

Episode 167: Hume on Intelligent Design (Philosophize This! Crossover) (Citizen Edition)

July 2, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779). How would a scientifically minded person argue for the existence of God?

In Hume’s dialogue, a character named Cleanthes argues from this point of view for God’s existence based on the complexity and order apparent in nature: It looks designed. But how good is that argument, and is it enough to prove an infinite God of the traditional sort? With guest Stephen West.

End song: “Here Comes the Flood” by The Security Project. Listen to Mark’s interview with Trey Gunn on Nakedly Examined Music #21.

Episode 166: Spinoza on Politics and Religion (Citizen Edition)

June 18, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 8 Comments

On Benedict de Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), ch. 12–20 and the Tractatus Politicus (1677).

What’s the relationship between ethics and political power? Given that religious factions tend to create strife, what’s the optimal role of the government in mitigating that damage? Is theocracy in any way a good idea?

End song: “Shittalkers” by Ken Stringfellow, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 39.

Episode 165: Spinoza on Biblical Criticism (Citizen Edition)

June 4, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

On Benedict de Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), ch. 1–11.

For Spinoza, the Bible was a political issue, and he was interested in a way to read it that didn’t lead to people fighting wars and persecuting each other. Spinoza argues that a respectful reading is one that looks for the central message and doesn’t paper over many places where the text was tailored to its original audience’s prejudices, or where for historical reasons we can’t now really know what it meant to them.

End song: “Spinoza’s Dream” (2016) by Dave Nachmanoff, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 20.

Episode 164: Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot” on Perfection (Citizen Edition)

May 14, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 6 Comments

On Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s philosophical novel from 1869.

Could a morally perfect person survive in the modern world? Is all this “modernity,” which so efficiently computes our desires and provides mechanisms to fulfill them, actually suited to achieve human flourishing? Dostoyevsky’s Russian existentialism says no!

End song: “Don Quixote” by Nik Kershaw, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #37.

Episode 163: Guest Stewart Umphrey on Natural Kinds (Citizen Edition)

April 29, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

On Natural Kinds and Genesis: The Classification of Material Entities (2016). Are general terms like “water” or “dog” just things that we made up to order the world we experience? Aristotle thought that some universals constitute natural kinds, with an internal structure that explains their behavior. “Kinds” were replaced with “laws,” but Stewart wants us to reconsider, and bring back “natural philosophy” in the process.

End song: “Destroy the Box” by Wertico, Cain and Gray from Organic Architecture (2014), as elucidated on Nakedly Examined Music #30.

Episode 162: James Baldwin on Race in America (Citizen Edition)

April 10, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 23 Comments

On the film I Am Not Your Negro and the essays “Notes of a Native Son” (1955) and The Fire Next Time (1963). With guest Law Ware.

Baldwin diagnoses our racism-related psycho-social maladies, but how can we best translate his observations into generally applicable philosophical theory?

End song: “Dawning on Me” by Mark Lint feat. Ken Stringfellow, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 39.

Episode 161: White Privilege (Peggy McIntosh, Charles Mills, et al) (Citizen Edition)

March 26, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

Is the rhetoric of “White Privilege” just the modern way of acknowledging historical and systemic truths of racism, or does it point to a novel way for acknowledging injustice, or does it actually obscure these insights with confused claims about group responsibility?

Readings include articles by Peggy McIntosh, Charles W. Mills, George Yancy, Tim Wise, Lewis R. Gordon, Lawrence Blum, and John McWhorter. With guest Law Ware.

End song: “Power” by Narada Michael Walden, as interviewed for Nakedly Examined Music ep. 16.

Episode 160: Orwell on Totalitarianism and Language (Citizen Edition)

March 12, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On the novel 1984 (1949) and the essays “Politics and the English Language” (1946) and “Notes on Nationalism” (1945).

What’s the relation between language and totalitarianism? Orwell shows us a society where the rulers have mastered the art of retaining power, and one element of this involves “Newspeak,” where vocabulary is limited to prevent subversive speech, and ultimately thoughts. Do our linguistic habits and the Orwellian lies of our leaders point to a slippery slope toward the world of 1984?

End song: “Civil Disobedience” by Camper Van Beethoven from New Roman Times (2004), written by Jonathan Segel as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 38.

Episode 159: Confucius on Virtuous Conduct (Citizen Edition)

February 26, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

On the Analects, compiled after 479 BCE.

How should we act? What’s the relation between ethics and politics? Can a bunch of aphorisms written in the distant past for an unapologetically hierarchical culture emphasizing traditional rituals actually give us relevant, welcome advice on these matters? Are we even in a position to determine the meaning of these sayings? With guest Tzuchien Tho.

End song: “Please Allow Me to Look at You Again,” from The Edge of Heaven (2013) by Gary Lucas, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 7.

Episode 158: Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Citizen Edition)

February 12, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

On the Consolation, written as Boethius awaited execution in 524 CE.

Do bad things really happen to good people? Boethius, surprisingly, says no, for Stoic (anything that can be taken away can’t be of central importance; you can’t lose your virtue in this way), Aristotelian (all things tend toward the good, and the best thing for a person is achieving his or her innate potential, which is to be virtuous), and Christian (God’s unknowable plan means that even the stuff that seems bad really isn’t) reasons.

End song: “Last the Evening” by Carrie Akre, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music Ep. 17.

Episode 157: Richard Rorty on Politics for the Left (Citizen Edition)

January 29, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 16 Comments

On Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in 20th Century America (1998). What makes for efficacious progressivism? Rorty argues that reformism went out of fashion in the ’60s in favor of a “cultural left” that merely critiques and spectates, leaving a void that a right-wing demagogue could exploit to sweep in, claiming to be a champion of regular working people. Sound familiar?

End song: “America Back” by Jill Sobule, as featured in Nakedly Examined Music episode 18.

Episode 156: Philosophy and Politics Free-Form Discussion (Citizen Edition)

January 16, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

How does studying philosophy help you to make sense of the political landscape? Wes, Mark, Dylan, and Seth play pundit and reflect on political rhetoric, elitism, and much more. There is no text for this episode! Freedom!

End song: “Better Days” from The Getaway Drivers’ Bellatopia; check out Mark’s interview with singer/songwriter Bob Manor on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 11.

Episode 155: Richard Rorty Against Epistemology (Citizen Edition)

January 1, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

On Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Part II: “Mirroring.”

Is a “theory of knowledge” possible? Rorty thinks that any such account will be a fruitless search for foundations. Knowledge is really just a matter of social agreement, and beliefs must be justified from other beliefs, not from any alleged relationship to reality.

Get a PEL Wall Calendar before they’re gone at partiallyexaminedlife.com/store!

End song: “The Ghosts Are Alright” from The Bye-Bye Blackbirds (Houses and Homes, 2008), as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #32.

Episode 154: Wilfrid Sellars on the Myth of the Given (Citizen Edition)

December 18, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 6 Comments

On “Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind” (1956).

Is knowledge based on a “foundation,” as Descartes, Locke, et al. thought? Sellars says no: The allegedly basic elements upon which knowledge would be built either have to be propositions, in which case they involve a lot of prior knowledge involved in language use and so aren’t really basic, or they’re “raw feels,” in which case they can’t actually serve as reasons for anything; reasons have to be propositional. With guest Lawrence Dallman.

End song: “Senses on Fire” by Mercury Rev. Check out the interview with singer Jonathan Donahue in Nakedly Examined Music ep. 14.

Episode 153: Richard Rorty: There Is No Mind-Body Problem (Citizen Edition)

December 4, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Part I: “Our Glassy Essence.”

“The mind” seems to be an unavoidable part of our basic conceptual vocabulary, but Rorty thinks not, and he wants to use the history of philosophy as a kind of therapy to show that many of our seemingly insoluble problems like the relation between mind and body are a result philosophical mistakes by Descartes, Locke, and Kant. With guest Stephen Metcalf of Slate’s Culture Gabfest podcast.

End song: “Wall of Nothingness” from Sky Cries Mary from This Timeless Turning (1994). Listen to Mark’s interview with the band’s frontman, Roderick Romero, in Nakedly Examined Music ep. 9.

Episode 152: Alexis de Tocqueville on Democracy in America (Citizen Edition)

November 20, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Democracy is in peril! So said Tocqueville in 1835 and 1840 when Democracy is America was published, and it’s still true now. Democracy is always just one demagogue away from stripping us of our liberties, though certain structural and cultural features can make that more or less likely. He liked our volunteerism and innovation, but not so much our tendencies toward materialism and isolation and our lack of philosophical curiosity.
Recorded live at Brown University 10/27/16 with audience Q&A. Watch the video!

End song (for the audio version): “Shot of Democracy” by Cutting Crew from Grinning Souls (2005). Listen to Mark and Nick Eede on Nakedly Examined Music #10.

Episode 151: Edmund Burke’s Conservatism (Citizen Edition)

November 5, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). What relevance do the concerns of a monarchy-defending aristocrat have for us today? Surprisingly, a lot! The full foursome discuss possible conflicts between freedom, rights, and well-being. What is political freedom without public wisdom? The tyranny of the mob!

End song: “Hard Times of Old England” from Peter Knight’s Gigspanner (from Layers of Ages, 2015); listen to Mark’s interview with Peter on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 27 at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com.