Recorded 4/3/23 as we prepped for our live show, Mark, Wes and Dylan talk about The Last of Us and possible future episodes on animal ethics and/or animal consciousness, the death drive, plus the already tentatively scheduled episodes about the Romantics and Kierkegaard. In the course of this, we consider the relationship between philosophy and scientific fact. The Martha Continue Reading …
PEL Eulogies Nightcap Late March 2023
Mark, Seth, and Dylan talk about what makes for a fitting tribute for those departed and mourning customs (which we've been thinking about in light of our Mozi and Mengzi episodes). We then talk about how and whether Daoism has made a practical difference in our lives. Watch the trailer for Griefwalker that Seth refers to. Pick up Eva Brann's new book, Pursuits of Continue Reading …
PEL Self-Help Nightcap Early March 2023
Recorded 2/10/23 between our two Daodejing discussions, the full foursome reflects on the interpretive challenges of that text and then consider the activity of reading philosophy and Daoism in particular as self-help. This issue should not of course be confused with the question, "Is studying philosophy beneficial for your live?" but sure enough, we pretty much slide into Continue Reading …
PEL Mini-Nightcap and Announcements: Meet Theo!
Who is this Theodore Brooks that has graced our presence on ep. 311 and who we liked enough to ask back for ep. 312? Note that Karyn Lai that Theo mentions is the prof. who's working with Peter Adamson on his History of Philosophy in China series. Watch her talk about the I Ching (Book of Changes), which though not in itself a work of philosophy is a foundational source for Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap February 2023
Recorded 1/27/23. Mark, Wes, and Seth anticipate our upcoming Dao De Jing discussion, talk about Dostoevsky's life and what makes The Brothers Karamazov worth your time to read. But what about War and Peace? Is there a reason for us to not be covering this novel as the Russians are being so naughty war-wise now? Should we do an episode on Hebrew Biblical ethics to compare Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap January 2023
Recorded on 1/12/13, Mark, Wes, and Dylan first talk about our upcoming Dostyevsky live show (April 15 in NYC; we hope to have tickets on sale soon, and supporters will get first crack at them) and talk about our debate over translations of The Brothers Karamazov, as inspired by this article and this one. Here's the reddit page that actually pulls passages from both Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap 2022 Wrap-Up
Recorded Dec. 11, 2022 by Mark, Wes, and Dylan before our first Moore discussion, so not an intentional holiday release, but we already had supporter audio for our Dobbs discussion, so you get this now. We start out with one more listener appreciation recording that I somehow overlooked before (from Dennis) and use this to reflect on whether our discussions are actually Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap November 2022: Listener Testimonials
Recorded 10/26/22. We recently put out a call among our supporters for some short audio clips of folks telling us about their relationship to PEL, and here they are. Mark, Seth, and Dylan play and respond to all of these. We are grateful to those that submitted, and all of you! We also talk about a few responses to our last Nightcap on representation. Continue Reading …
PEL Representation Nightcap October 2022
Mark, Wes, and Dylan explore the question, "Is it necessary for us to have representatives of an affected group with us as guests when we talk about an issue in philosophy that affects that group?" This specifically grew out of our abortion episode, for which we planned to have a female guest, but that fell through, and we (without hesitation) recorded it anyway. Was part three Continue Reading …
PEL Network Podcast FY2022 Reflections with Mark and Tyler
It's a different sort of Nightcap to fill supporters' nights since the publication of ep. 300 got delayed by a week. (You can watch it unedited if you're impatient.) Our audio editor Tyler Hislop, probably the only human being who listens to every one of Mark's four podcasts, joins Mark to talk through his impressions of the evolving PEL, representation, our first year of Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Episode 300 Retrospection
Recorded 8/5/22 in anticipation of having reached this milestone. After sharing our current spiritual state and activities, we share some recommendations for diving back into our catalog: Dylan: Ep. 154 Sellars on the myth of the givenMark: Ep. 59 Macintyre's After VirtueSeth: Ep. 249 Dewey on educationWes: Ep. 183 Mill on liberty Mark talks about the podcasts he's been a Continue Reading …
PEL Ficino-Flavored Nightcap Early August 2022
On 7/11/22, Mark and Wes first discuss a few more passages from Ficino's Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love, including one on five types of desire: How the two most extreme ones are "daemons," i.e. primal urges (one towards procreation, one towards God), and in the incarnation of these in human psychology, we have to have a desire that's a compromise between the two: Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap July 2022
Recorded 6/20/22. Mark and Seth consider the close reading format as evinced in our new Heidegger episodes and get side-tracked into talking about Dr. Drew and vaccine hesitancy. Here he is answering questions about it, and I see he just had an AMA that includes talk about the infant version. I guess the main hubbub surrounded a tweet from April 21, 2021 about vaccine Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap June 2022
Recorded 6/3/22. First we re-introduce episode 32 on Heidegger's Being and Time in preparation for a two episode run doing a close reading of sections of that. Next, we brainstorm about what to discuss on our tentatively planned ep. 300 live-stream. What's the most famous, self-contained and entertaining work that we haven't yet covered? Reach out to us and weigh in! Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap May 2022
Recorded 4-15-22. We are old, and we talk about Seth's back, Wes' e-bike, and Dylan's kettle bells. Dylan talks Station Eleven (the book). He has posted this comic to Slack about liberal arts education. We then re-visit how to understand meaning in music given our completion of Langer. Does the blues as played on a certain occasion have to "mean" something? After a Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap April 2022
Recorded 3/11/22. We have the war on our minds, and so are looking to cover Kant's Perpetual Peace soon, and maybe something on "just war theory" (feel free to share your recommendations). Perhaps we'll also look at Cassirer's The Myth of the State. Wes talks about conspiracy theories, and Seth brings up more books about fascism that we will not read. We talk some more about Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Early March 2022
Recorded 2/11/22. We give some brief psychoanalytic follow-up to our Scruton eps, anticipate Langer (which we are doing soon!), read a very nice letter, then talk way too long about ratings/reviews. When Dylan finally joins us, he talks about his stay now in Santa Fe where he's talking to someone St. John's Eastern Classics program (he's actually now talked to a few people) Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Early February 2022 (Danto Retrospective)
Recorded 1/17/22. Mark, Seth, and Dylan listened back to our first episode on the philosophy of art: our 2010 ep. #16 on Arthur Danto. We reflect on this in light of our preparation right now for discussing Roger Scruton's Beauty (2009), which since recording this we've decided to record two full discussions on. Here's the Jasper John's NY Times interactive article that Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap New Year’s Party to Welcome 2022
Welcome to an extra special, intentionally public edition of Nightcap to catch you up on what Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan are all up to personally and intellectually and hash out what we want to potentially cover on the show over the next year. Thanks so much for being a PEL supporter. We really appreciate you and hope that your 2022 makes you happier and wiser. The next Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Late December 2021
Recorded 12/3/21. We announce the new Discord server, which has been out for a few weeks now for supporters like you to chat with each other (and occasionally us). Join it. We reflect back on Thanksgiving (yes, timely, I know... back in the old days before Omicron scared us so) and talk about not drinking any more. Follow us on Instagram! Does anyone want to volunteer to Continue Reading …