Recorded 10/22/21. Post-Feyerabend, Mark opines on the reading whose episode he missed. Wes wants to learn new languages as an adult, and we all convey what we've done in that respect. Should we do more philosophy of science? Maybe Donna Haraway, i.e. feminist philosophy of science? We anticipate our next episode on Badiou and why we're not having a guest for it. Seth Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Early November 2021
Despite our now having released both Aristotle and Lakatos, this is an aftershow to our Bell episode, specifically talking more about the essay we discussed in part two, "The Rules of Racial Standing." What kind of discourse is Bell's recitation of these "rules" that he's observed in whose speech tends to make a political impact? In that discussion, John McWhorter came Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Mid October 2021
In the aftermath of Aristotle, Seth (who did the reading but missed the discussion) gives his impressions, and we look over the wide and strange range of texts attributed to Aristotle. We look forward to philosophy of science and more Aristotle (and Badiou) and think about our next potential celebrity philosopher and circle around yet again how many modern vs. historical Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Late September 2021
Recorded 9/2/21. We talk about drugs: psychedelic experiences, microdosing, CBD, plus the drug of reading fiction (literary vs. popular). Then we talk about Alien (that Wes just recorded on for subText). Mackie on moral error theory. We anticipate our Aristotle's Categories episode. Plus vaccination and sorryantivaxxer.com. Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Early September 2021
Recorded 8/16/21. Seth thinks about how to continue reading Hegel and some initial political ranting about Texas and gerrymandering ensues. We think about what to read in aesthetics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of sport. (Update: the sport episode is not happening soon.) For the main event, we try to see what we can remember about the philosophy of emotions. Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Late August 2021
Recorded 8/6/21. Mark and Wes hear about Dylan's tick-encounter, discuss whether Wes can break his Hegel habit when we're done ready this, and whether we should have Robert Brandom come on the podcast. Update: I have reached out for him, but he did not reply. A listener reminds you all that Mark writes helpful summaries for each of the episodes on the website, so maybe you Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Late July 2021
After some musings about summer vacation and sunburn, we talk about our preparation for Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. The plan since (virtually) finalized is that we'll record three episodes on the book: The first will come out next week on the Introduction (we didn't have time to talk about the Preface even though we read it). The second will be on the first two chapters: Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Mid July 2021
Recorded June 22, 2021. Wes is on vacation, Dylan is late. Mark and Seth start with some discussion of our former guest Lynda Olman's book called Sins against Science: The Scientific Media Hoaxes of Poe, Twain, and Others and her perhaps coming back to talk about feminist philosophy of science or more generally standpoint epistemology. Just as an update on the critical race Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Late June 2021
Recorded June 9, 2021. We anticipate our Schelling reading and talk about comedy: Louis CK, Bo Burnham, and Hannah Gadsby. Can music lyrics be poetry? What if you put existing poetry to music? Finally, what's our relationship to owning books? The humor book Mark mentioned is Simon Critchley's On Humor. Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Late May 2021
Recorded on 5/14/21. We anticipate our German idealism discussions, starting with a two-session run on Fichte's The Vocation of Man. Here's the Stanford article if you want a Fichte overview. Then we talk Apocalypse Now. Wes' (sub)Text podcast recorded on this, presumably right after their most recent release, the book on which it was based. We talk about the appeal of Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Mid May 2021
Recorded on 4/27/21. Seth is late, causing us to question Slack as a mode of communication a la Postman and Nightcap as a worthwhile creation. But then we go ahead and have a pretty darn interesting conversation that started with audio books, went through improv comedy, and then thought about how improv techniques could apply to doing philosophy. Finally Seth grouses about Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Early May 2021
Recorded on April 16 after our Neil Postman discussion. We start by talking about discussion options on our sites (read Jason's post that prompted this). Discord will be coming for all Citizens (when we get to it)! We then reflect on (half of us) having read Avicenna and whether we're ever going to finish even a minimal treatment of the Middle Ages (we will!). Should we Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Late April 2021
Recorded on March 30, after Avicenna but not at all reflecting back on that. Dylan starts us by telling us about Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman, which turns to all of our attitudes toward nutrition and dieting. Seth covers is kale shard with a side of cigar. Then a question from Seth for the group: How do our Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Early April 2021
Recorded on March 16, after recording on Jonathan Lear. We start off with some genetic testing talk, then chat about the kinds of comments we receive and what we can and can't reasonably respond to. This leads to some recounting of our various engagement attempts over the years and what we might we willing to do in terms of seminars or course offerings, so long as we can Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Late March 2021
Recorded on March 2, after Phaedo and before our upcoming episode on Jonathan Lear. You might want to get ahold of his book Open Minded: Working Out the Logic of the Soul. We read chapters 1, 10, 7, and 4, in that order; they all concern Plato. Dylan tells us about Wim Hof, and then we talk about death! No, that argument that we shouldn't fear death because either a) it's Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Early March 2021
Recorded on Feb. 21 after our Timaeus discussion, we start with Seth's tales of Austin with no power, which is why he missed that discussion. Dylan was traveling in the northwest and was also affected. But this is not just all about the weather. We fill Seth in on what he missed and look forward to the Phaedo, and later, Avicenna with Peter Adamson, and we're looking at Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Late February 2021
Recorded on Feb. 5 after the Lise Van Boxel discussion, we engage in some focused post-gaming on that: How did people like PEL covering a secondary source in this way? How did you like our having two guests; was it just as good as having the four of us on? We also consider a potential future episode on Alain Badiou, who's been often requested. Should we invite a scholar Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Early February 2021
Recorded on Jan. 28, we first consider the question "what are the dumbest ideas in philosophy?" The particular Philosophers' Zone episode that our questioner pointed us to was this one on "The Worst Argument in the World." We consider again the Angela Davis episode idea as a way of getting into a discussion of our coverage or inclusion of controversial or even criminal Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Late January 2021
Recorded on Jan. 14, we give some off-the-cuff updates to our take on the pandemic (see ep. 241), including our coping strategies. Also, an update on the PEL book (which you will not see soon), and relatedly, should we do an Angela Davis (Are Prisons Obsolete?) episode for black history month? (Looks like this is not going to happen, but probably later.) Finally, our transcript Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Early January 2021
Recorded on Dec. 22, 2020 after our final Locke recording, this is our extra-long year-end edition. Granted, a lot of what we ALWAYS do in Nightcap is talk about what we might want to read in the future, and we really don't plan specifically more than a few episodes ahead, but here we lay out at least how we're feeling right now about how things might go in the coming year: Continue Reading …