The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog

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Ep. 221: Functionalist Theories of Mind (Putnam, Armstrong) (Part One)

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On Hilary Putnam’s “The Nature of Mental States” (1973).

What is the mind? Functionalist theories identify the mental not with the brain exactly, but with something the brain does. So some other creature without a brain (maybe a computer) might be able to do that same thing if it could duplicate the structure of what our brains do. Is this a satisfying account of the mind?

Don’t wait for part 2! Get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Sponsors: Visit omnifocus.com for a free trial of a great to-do list manager. Visit the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi. Check out our new culture/entertainment podcast, Pretty Much Pop, at prettymuchpop.com.

Ep. 221: Functionalist Theories of Mind (Putnam, Armstrong) (Citizen Edition)

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On Hilary Putnam’s “The Nature of Mental States” (1973) and David M. Armstrong’s “The Causal Theory of the Mind” (1981).

What is the mind? Functionalist theories identify the mental not with the brain exactly, but with something the brain does. So some other creature without a brain (maybe a computer) might be able to do that same thing if it could duplicate the structure of what our brains do. Is this a satisfying account of the mind?

End song: “Pain Makes You Beautiful” by Jeff Heiskell’s JudyBats, as featured on Nakedly Examined Music #5.

Ep. 220: 10-Year Retrospective of The Partially Examined Life

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Mark, Seth, Dylan, and Wes reflect on the changing state of podcasting and public philosophy over the last decade, how our goals and interests have changed since we started we started. Why don’t colleges pay their faculty to educate the public through regular, broadcasted conversations like ours? If you think we’re snarky, take a look at actual philosophy faculty! Should we continue to do more literature, poetry, and other topics that are not strictly philosophy? Also, the stalled state of the PEL book. Thanks so much to each and every Partially Examined Life listener for making it worth our time to do this!

End song: “High Rollin’ Cult” by Mark Lint with Erica Spyres, celebrating a new attempt to capture the fun of the beginning of PEL: Pretty Much Pop, which you get to hear a teaser of. Listen now to the latest episodes in advance of the masses, including our interview with Yakov Smirnoff, at patreon.com/prettymuchpop.

Sponsor: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service.

Pretty Much Pop #2: Binge Watching (Advance Citizen Release)

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What counts as binge watching? Why do we do it? Is it bad for us? Mark, Erica, and Brian, the hosts of this still-not-formally launched new entertainment podcast for the PEL Network, think about what we get out of binge watching, whether it’s bad for us, what kind of shows taste better in bulk than others, and much more.

This presentation includes a bit of the bonus content that you’d hear, along with PMP #3 with Yakov Smirnoff, were you to sign up RIGHT NOW at episode 1, and if you go pledge a little support on patreon.com/prettymuchpop. One and all can hear the first episode free there and also at prettymuchpop.com.

Ep. 219: The Harder Problem of Consciousness (Block & Papineau)

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On Ned Block’s “The Harder Problem of Consciousness” (2002) and David Papineau’s “Could There Be a Science of Consciousness?” (2003).

What would give us sufficient reason to believe that a non-human was conscious? Block thinks this is a harder problem that we might suspect. We can’t know for sure exactly what consciousness in us is, so we can’t know for sure what such a being might require (a brain? certain patterns of behavior?) for them to be enough like us that we could safely apply our own experience of our own conscious states to them. Papineau diagnoses this as a fundamental vagueness in the concepts we use to describe our conscious states.

This conversation continues from ep. 218, with guest Gregory Miller from the Panpsycast still with us.

End song: “Mindreader” by Phil Judd as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #98.

Sponsor: Visit the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi. Please support PEL and get this and every other episode ad free.

Episode 218: The Hard Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers, et al) (Part Two)

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Continuing on “Consciousness and Its Place in Nature” by David Chalmers (2003).

We finish Chalmers’s account of the types of physicialism, then move on to dualism (including epiphenomenalism), and finally dally with panpsychism, the specialty of our guest, Gregory Miller from the Panpsycast.

Listen to part 1 first or listen to the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: “Georgia Hard” by Robbie Fulks, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #36.

Sponsor: Visit the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.

Episode 218: The Hard Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers, et al) (Part One)

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On “Consciousness and Its Place in Nature” by David Chalmers (2003), with special guest Gregory Miller from the Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast.

Can we explain human experience using the terms of brain physiology? Chalmers thinks not, and lays out the arguments against this and the range of positions philosophers have taken in response to these objections. 

Continues on part two, or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Sponsor: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service.

Episode 218: The Hard Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers, et al) (Citizen Edition)

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>On “Consciousness and Its Place in Nature” by David Chalmers (2003), with special guest Gregory Miller from the Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast.

Can we explain human experience using the terms of brain physiology? Chalmers thinks not, and lays out the arguments against this and the range of positions philosophers have taken in response to these objections.

End song: “Georgia Hard” by Robbie Fulks, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #36.

REISSUE-Ep. 21: What Is the Mind? (Turing, et al) w/ New Intro

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Discussing articles by Alan Turing, Gilbert Ryle, Thomas Nagel, John Searle, and Dan Dennett. What is this mind stuff, and how can it “be” the brain? Can computers think? What is it like to be a bat? With guest Marco Wise.

Plus a new intro by Mark, Wes, and Seth reflecting back on this 2010 discussion, which we’re re-releasing to help you prepare for our upcoming episodes in this area.

End Song: “No Mind” by Mark Lint and the Fake Johnson Trio (1998).

Become a PEL Citizen or $5 Patreon supporter for more energized conversations like this, including the the Not School discussion on David Chalmers’s book The Conscious Mind.

Sponsors: Read Neal Stephenson’s Fall or Dodge in Hell. Visit the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.

Episode 217: Discussing Calderón’s “Life Is a Dream”

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On the 1636 comedy by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, considering destiny (Christian vs. Ancient Greek), skepticism, meta-theater, and the ethic of honor. Listen to our performance first. With guests Bill Youmans and Erica Spyres.

End song: “Pulling Apart” by Jonathan Segel. Hear him on Nakedly Examined Music #38.

Please fill out our bonus material survey at partiallyexaminedlife.com/bonus. Please support PEL!

Sponsors: Visit TheGreatCoursesPLUS.com/PEL for a free month of online learning. Visit the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.

PEL Audioplayers: “Life Is a Dream” by Pedro Calderón de la Barca

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Your hosts are joined by real actors to do an unrehearsed read of Calderón’s 1636 comedy La Vida Es Sueño, using Stanley Appelbaum’s 2002 translation. Ep. 217 will cover the philosophical issues the play raises.

Recorded in NYC on 4/7: Talene Monahon (Rosaura), David Epstein (Segismundo), Bill Youmans (Clotaldo), Erica Spyres (Estrella), Chris Martin (Basilio), Mark Linsenmayer (Clarín), Seth Paskin (Astolfo), Dylan Casey (soldier 1 and servant 1), and Wes Alwan (soldier 2 and servant 2).

Music by Jonathan Segel, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #38.

Please help us to do more audioplays by supporting PEL.

Sponsor: St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.

PREVIEW-Ep 216 Game of Thrones’ Fantasy Politics (Part Two)

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Get teased re. Mark and Wes’s post-finale, spoiler-filled continuation of the discussion of the show.

How does its conclusion affect its overall political message? Does it make sense to be performing feminist critiques on a show based on the premise of people murdering each other for power?

To hear the full discussion, become a PEL Citizen or $5 Patreon supporter. For more about these options see partiallyexaminedlife.com/support. Listen to our part one first, of course.

Episode 216 Follow-Up: Reflections on the End of Game of Thrones (Citizens Only)

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Mark and Wes continue discussion of the TV show after its finale. Listen to our ep. 216 first.

Yes, of course this is now full of spoilers. How does the end of the show affect its overall political message? Was it really (as George R.R. Martin depicted) about the irreducible complexity of politics (given that any character named or unnamed can actually make a difference, at least destructively) or qua TV Show is it forced to zero-in on a select set of powerful characters that we are meant to identify with? Also, does it make sense to be performing feminist critiques on a show based on the premise of people murdering each other for power?

We welcome your feedback re. future treatment of pop culture topics (via a spin-off podcast?).

Episode 216: Game of Thrones’ Fantasy Politics

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Discussing the TV show (2011-2019) based on the books by George R.R. Martin.

What’s the role of a mass-consumed fantasy series in today’s society? Is it our “fantasy” to have all these horrible things happen to us? Is this an edifying prompt to engage in public moral thinking, or a spectacular distraction of the kind that those Marxist theorists keep warning us about? We get into the function of fantasy and how a more “realistic” show plays with that, the extent to which we’re supposed to identify with the characters, depiction of moral complexity, low art vs. high art, identity issues, and more. With guest Sabrina Weiss.

End song: “Fire and Blood” by Sacrifice Feat. Mark Lint; hear the interview on Nakedly Examined Music #24.

Keep an eye out for a Citizen-only spoiler-filled follow-up discussion between Mark and Wes to be released this week!

Sponsors: Check out Bill Nye’s Science Rules and thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL

Episode 215: Brave New World: PEL Live 10th Anniversary Show

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On Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian novel, recorded at Manhattan’s Caveat on 4/6/19, with audience participation.

If we harness the power of society to employ available technologies to really focus on making people happy, what would the result be? This is Huxley’s thought experiment, but is it in all respects a dystopia, and is it a fair test of the ideal of social improvement or merely of a flawed view of human nature? You can watch this episode instead.

End song: “Brave New World” by Mark Lint. Read about it.

Get the commemorative T-shirt, and save $10 with the coupon code revealed at the beginning of the Citizen Edition of this episode. Please support PEL! Contact us to share your PEL stories.

Sponsor: Visit garyjohnbishop.com and get his new book Stop Doing That Shit: End Self-Sabotage and Demand Your Life Back.

Episode 214: More Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Part Two)

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Concluding Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885).

What’s the wise way to live? We start in earnest into part three, treating the “spirit of gravity,” where socially imposed values cover over your uniqueness; omni-satisfaction vs. being choosy; “Old and New Tablets,” where Nietzsche explores various ethical and meta-ethical issues (e.g., is self-overcoming a matter of one-time self-actualization or is it continual?); and more on the Overman and eternal recurrence.

Listen to part one first, or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: “Upright Man” by Rachel Taylor Brown, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #91.

Sponsor: Get your free trial on a world of knowledge with thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL.

Episode 214: More Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Part One)

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On the remainder of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885).

How can we keep our spirits up and avoid nihilism? We consider Nietzsche’s “solution” of eternal recurrence, why he uses a poetic, allegoric style, and more.

Don’t wait for part 2. Get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Sponsor: Get $10 off a Skylight Frame in time for Mother’s Day at skylightframe.com using promo code PEL.

About The Partially Examined Life

The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don’t have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we’re talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion

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