The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog

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“Lysistrata” w/ Lucy Lawless, Emily Perkins, Erica Spyres, Bill Youmans & Aaron David Gleason

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The PEL Players return to perform a “cold read” of Aristophanes’s play about using a sex strike to end war, first performed in 411 BCE. Jeffrey Henderson’s translation makes this very accessible, and it’s still really damn funny. Your hosts are joined by five real actors from TV, film, and Broadway. We will be following this up in ep. 188 with a full discussion of the play and the issues it raises.

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PREVIEW-Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part Three)

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Three substantial chunks of a follow-up conversation to our free speech episode. Mark and Wes discuss Jordan Peterson on speech, organizations promoting certain speech (as opposed to restricting), insults vs. arguments, offense vs. harm, “incoherence” arguments like Fish’s, fundamental principles in ethics, and more.

Get the full discussion by becoming a PEL Citizen or Patreon supporter.

Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part Two)

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Continuing our free-form discussion, trying to make sense of Stanley Fish’s “There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It’s a Good Thing, Too” (1994) and other potential rationales for prohibiting hate speech. How might the same sentence or idea be used in different speech acts, some of which might be legitimately censured but others not?

Listen to part one first, or get the Citizen Edition, along with the full-length follow-up discussion by Mark and Wes.

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Episode 187 Follow-Up: The Limits of Free Speech (Citizens Only)

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Mark and Wes continue the discussion from ep. 187. We watched some Jordan Peterson, so we talk about his position a bit, and about the appropriateness of organizations encouraging certain kinds of speech, the offense principle, the difference (and overlap!) between good-faith arguments and insults, conspiracy theories, “incoherence arguments” like Fish’s (also used by Kant, Rand, and others), and “fundamental moral principles”: Does that concept even make sense given that any principle requires judgement and probably sub-principles to apply it to real situations?

End song: “Combine Man” by RHEMA, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #67.

Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part One)

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A free-form discussion drawing on Stanley Fish’s “There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It’s a Good Thing, Too” (1994), Joel Feinberg’s “Limits to the Free Expression of Opinion” (1975), and other sources.

What are the legitimate limits on free speech? Feinberg delves into the harm and offense principles. Fish argues that every claim to free speech has ideological assumptions actually favoring some types of speech baked into it. A lively back and forth ensues!

Don’t wait for part two! Get the full, unbroken Citizen Edition now! Please support PEL! We’ll also be soon releasing a full-length follow-up discussion to this one between Mark and Wes, just for supporters.

Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Citizen Edition)

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A free-form discussion drawing on Stanley Fish’s “There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It’s a Good Thing, Too” (1994), Joel Feinberg’s “Limits to the Free Expression of Opinion” (1975), and other sources.

What are the legitimate limits on free speech? Feinberg delves into the harm and offense principles. Fish argues that every claim to free speech has ideological assumptions actually favoring some types of speech baked into it. A lively back and forth ensues, which Mark and Wes then continued in a supporter-only, 90-minute follow-up.

End song: “We Don’t Talk about It” by Steve Wynn, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #43.

Episode 186: J.L. Austin on Doing Things with Words (Part Two)

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Continuing on How to Do Things with Words (lectures from 1955), covering lectures 5–9.

Austin tries and fails to come up with a way to grammatically distinguish performatives from other utterances, and so turns to his more complicated system of aspects of a single act: locutionary, illocutionary, perlocutionary. In doing so, he perlocutionarily blows our minds.

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

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Episode 186: J.L. Austin on Doing Things with Words (Part One)

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On How to Do Things with Words (lectures from 1955).

What’s the relationship between language and the world? Austin says it’s not all about descriptive true-or-false statements, but also includes “performatives” like “I promise…” and “I do” (spoken in a wedding) that are actions unto themselves. They can’t be true or false, but they can be “unhappy” if social conventions aren’t fulfilled (e.g., you try to marry a pig). Austin thinks performatives will change your whole view of language and of linguistically expressed philosophical problems!

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

Sponsors: Visit Squarespace.com for a free trial and 10% off with offer code EXAMINED and thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service.

Episode 186: J.L. Austin on Doing Things with Words (Citizen Edition)

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On How to Do Things with Words (lectures from 1955).

What’s the relationship between language and the world? Austin says it’s not all about descriptive true-or-false statements, but also includes “performatives” like “I promise…” and “I do” (spoken in a wedding) that are actions unto themselves. They can’t be true or false, but they can be “unhappy” if social conventions aren’t fulfilled (e.g., you try to marry a pig). Austin thinks performatives will change your whole view of language and of linguistically expressed philosophical problems!

End song: “The Promise” by When In Rome. Listen to Mark interview singer/songwriter Clive Farrington on Nakedly Examined Music #40.

Episode 185: Ethics in Homer’s “Odyssey” Feat. Translator Emily Wilson (Part Two)

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Continuing with Emily Wilson on her translation of the Greek epic poem. We discuss the oikos, or estate, built on violence, and its connection to xenia, or hospitality, which serves to forge military alliances. Also: status distinctions and the role of the gods in the text.

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

End song: “Tiny Broken Boats” by Arrica Rose, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #66.

Sponsors: Get $25 off dog-walking at rover.com/partiallyexamined, promo code partiallyexamined. Get a free trial and 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at squarespace.com, offer code PEL. Try TextExpander’s snippets at textexpander.com/podcast and get 20% off your first year. Check out Seth Godin’s Akimbo podcast sethspodcast.com.

Episode 185: Ethics in Homer’s “Odyssey” Feat. Translator Emily Wilson (Part One)

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On the classic Greek epic poem, written ca. 750 BC and translated by our guest Emily Wilson in 2018.

Does this story of “heroes” have anything to teach us about ethics? Wilson wrote an 80-page introduction to her new translation laying out the issues, including “hospitality” as a political tool, the value for status and identity of one’s home (including your family and slaves), and the tension between strangeness and familiarity. Can time and change really be undone?

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

Sponsors: Visit Squarespace.com for a free trial and 10% off with offer code EXAMINED and thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service. Order Danny Lobell’s comic at fairenoughcomic.com.

Episode 185: Ethics in Homer’s “Odyssey” Feat. Translator Emily Wilson (Citizen Edition)

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On the classic Greek epic poem, written ca. 750 BC and translated by our guest Emily Wilson in 2018.

Does this story of “heroes” have anything to teach us about ethics? Wilson wrote an 80-page introduction to her new translation laying out the issues, including “hospitality” as a political tool, the value for status and identity of one’s home (including your family and slaves), and the tension between strangeness and familiarity. Can time and change really be undone?

End song: “Tiny Broken Boats” by Arrica Rose, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #66.

Episode 184: Pascal on Human Nature (Part Two)

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Continuing on Pascal’s Pensées.

More on our human desire and how God is supposed to address that, plus Pascal’s views on political philosophy, the relation between faith, reason, and custom… and finally, the wager! Why not just be a skeptic? Is Pascal right that people suck?

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

End song: “44 Days” by Dutch Henry, written and sung by Todd Long, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #34.

Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service.

Episode 184: Pascal on Human Nature (Part One)

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On Blaise Pascal’s Pensées (1670).

Is it rational to have religious faith? You’re likely familiar with “Pascal’s Wager,” but our wretchedness is such that we can’t simply choose to believe and won’t be argued into it. Pascal thinks Christianity is the only religion to accurately describe the human condition.

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

Sponsors: Visit MUBI.com/PEL for 30 days of free curated movies and Squarespace.com for a free trial and 10% off with offer code EXAMINED.

Episode 184: Pascal on Human Nature (Citizen Edition)

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On Blaise Pascal’s Pensées (1670).

Is it rational to have religious faith? You’re likely familiar with “Pascal’s Wager,” but our wretchedness is such that we can’t simply choose to believe and won’t be argued into it. Pascal thinks Christianity is the only religion to accurately describe the human condition.

End song: “44 Days” by Dutch Henry, written and sung by Todd Long, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #34.

Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part Two)

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Continuing on John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty. We discuss “partial truths,” whether “truth will out,” whether we can discard some “experiments in living” as established failures, education, “barbarians,” how Mill compares to Nietzsche, and more.

Listen to part 1 first, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition.

End song: “Flavor” by Tori Amos with strings by John Philip Shenale, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #12.

Sponsors: Visit Squarespace.com for a free trial and 10% off with offer code PEL, thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service, and textexpander.com/podcast for 20% off pain-free insertion of your heavy-use text snippets into your apps.

Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part One)

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Discussing John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty (1859).

If we disapprove of certain behaviors, when is it okay to prohibit them legally? What about just shaming people? Mill’s “harm principle” says that we should permit anything (legally and socially) unless it harms other people. But what constitutes “harm”? And how can we discourage someone from, e.g., just being drunk all the time?

Mark, Wes, and Dylan bring this debate to current issues and explore some of the weirder aspects of Mill’s view.
Don’t wait for part 2! Get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Sponsors: Visit MUBI.com/PEL for 30 days of free curated movies, thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service, and Squarespace.com for a free trial and 10% off with offer code EXAMINED.

Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Citizen Edition)

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Discussing John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty (1859).

If we disapprove of certain behaviors, when is it okay to prohibit them legally? What about just shaming people? Mill’s “harm principle” says that we should permit anything (legally and socially) unless it harms other people. But what constitutes “harm”? And how can we discourage someone from, e.g., just being drunk all the time?
Mark, Wes, and Dylan bring this debate to current issues and explore some of the weirder aspects of Mill’s view.

End song: “Flavor” by Tori Amos with strings by John Philip Shenale, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #12.

Episode 182: Reflections on PEL 2017 (Part One)

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To what extent has our podcast changed in reaction to current politics? Mark, Seth, Wes, and Dylan reflect back on our year, discuss how we select texts, and give some thumbnail sketches of potential topics. Also, does authorial intent matter, and how to talk philosophically about works that aren’t philosophical texts.

Attention: Only the first 45 min of this discussion will be posted on the blog feed. If you like PEL, consider becoming a PEL Citizen or supporting us via Patreon to get the whole thing now.

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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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