The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog

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Ep. 247: Aristotle on Rhetoric and Emotions (Part One)

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On the Rhetoric (ca. 335 BCE) book 1, ch. 1–6 and book 2, ch. 1–5, 18–24.

What role does persuasion play in philosophy? Aristotle (contra Plato) argues it can and should be used for good: in law courts, political debates, public speeches. He describes the arguments forms used in rhetoric (“enthymemes”) and analyzes the emotions that an audience might have so that speakers know what points are worth dwelling on and how to best argue them.

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Ep. 247: Aristotle on Rhetoric and Emotions (Citizen Edition)

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On the Rhetoric (ca. 335 BCE) book 1, ch. 1–6 and book 2, ch. 1–5, 18–24.

What role does persuasion play in philosophy? Aristotle (contra Plato) argues it can and should be used for good: in law courts, political debates, public speeches. He describes the arguments forms used in rhetoric (“enthymemes”) and analyzes the emotions that an audience might have so that speakers know what points are worth dwelling on and how to best argue them.

End song: “Reason with the Beast” by Shriekback, whose leader Barry Andrews was interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #107.

Ep. 246: Susan Sontag on Interpreting Art (Part Two)

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Continuing on Sontag’s essays “On Style” (1965) and “The Death of Tragedy” (1963).

Mark, Wes, Seth and Dylan keep talking about the appropriate distance to retain (or not) to a work of art, which is supposed to be relevant to moral action in the world. We also spell out how this is relevant to our recent episodes on tragedy.

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End song: “Mela” by Julie Slick, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #115.

Ep. 246: Susan Sontag on Interpreting Art (Part One)

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On Sontag’s essays “Against Interpretation” (1964), “On Style” (1965), and “The Death of Tragedy” (1963).

What is it to understand a work of art? Sontag objects to critics’ need to decode art into its “meaning” or “content,” divorcing it from how this content is embodied. She argues that the content vs. form distinction isn’t tenable; that the style of a work is an essential part of experiencing it. Sontag thinks we’re too analytical, too divorced from our instincts, and a direct encounter with art is essential to enliven us.

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Ep. 246: Susan Sontag on Interpreting Art (Citizen Edition)

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On Sontag’s essays “Against Interpretation” (1964), “On Style” (1965), and “The Death of Tragedy” (1963).

What is it to understand a work of art? Sontag objects to critics’ need to decode or translate literature into it’s “meaning” or “content,” divorcing it in the process from how this content is embodied. She argues that this content vs. form distinction isn’t tenable; that the style of a work is an essential part of experiencing it. Like Nietzsche, Sontag thinks we’re too analytical, too divorced from our instincts, and a direct encounter with art is essential to enliven us.

End song: “Mela” by Julie Slick, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #115.

Ep. 245: Fashion (Derrida, Foucault, Sontag) w/ Shahidha Bari (Part Two)

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We conclude with Foucault’s “The Ethics of the Concern of the Self as a Practice of Freedom” (1984) and add Susan Sontag’s “On Style” (1965). After our guest’s departure, we give some concluding remarks about her book Dressed: A Philosophy of Clothes (2020) and Derrida’s “The Animal That Therefore I Am” (1999).

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End song: “Clothe Me in Ashes” by K.C. Clifford, interviewed for Nakedly Examined Music #121.

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Ep. 245: Fashion (Derrida, Foucault) w/ Shahidha Bari (Part One)

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On Jacques Derrida’s “The Animal That Therefore I Am” (1999), Michel Foucault’s “The Ethics of the Concern of the Self As A Practice of Freedom” (1984), and our guest’s Dressed: A Philosophy of Clothes (2020).

Philosophy devalues appearances, but our changing dominant metaphysics (there is no “underneath” but rather a complex built out of appearance itself) should have changed this. Our guest provided us with readings that elaborate this change, arguing for our continuity with animal nature (Derrida) and the ethical importance of self-care (Foucault).

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Ep. 245: Fashion (Derrida, Foucault, Sontag) w/ Shahidha Bari (Citizen Edition)

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On Jacques Derrida’s “The Animal That Therefore I Am” (1999), Michel Foucault’s “The Ethics of the Concern of the Self As A Practice of Freedom” (1984), Susan Sontag’s “On Style” (1965), and our guest Shahidha’s book Dressed: A Philosophy of Clothes (2020).

Philosophy devalues appearance in favor of depth and soul, but our changing dominant metaphysics (there is no “underneath” but rather a complex built out of appearance itself) should have changed this. Our guest Shahidha Bari provided us with readings that elaborate this change, arguing for our continuity with animal nature (Derrida), the ethical importance of care of the self including appearance (Foucault), and the illegitimacy of the distinction between style and content (Sontag).

End song: “Clothe Me in Ashes” by K.C. Clifford, interviewed for Nakedly Examined Music #121.

Ep. 244: Camus on Strategies for Facing Plague (Part Two)

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Continuing on Albert Camus’s 1947 novel, covering the old functionary Grand, the criminal (or just paranoid?) Cottard, and more of our narrators Dr. Rieux and his doomed friend Tarrou, plus more on the overall message of the book and how it might relate to our current situation.

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End song: “You Will Kill the One You Love” by Jack Hues, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #122.

Ep. 244: Camus on Strategies for Facing Plague (Part One)

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On Albert Camus’s existentialist novel The Plague. How shall we face adversity? Camus gives us colorful characters that embody various approaches. Yes, the plague is an extreme situation, but we’re all dying all the time anyway, right?

Join Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth to tease out Camus’s positions from this bleak yet colorful text.

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Ep. 243: Aristotle’s “Poetics” on Art and Tragedy (Part Two)

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Continuing on the Poetics from around 335 BCE, on the structure of plot (every element must be essential!), the moral status of the heroes, Homeric poetry, the difference between tragedy and history, and how Aristotle’s formula may or may not apply to modern media.

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End song: “Structure of a Tragedy” by Mark Lint. Read about it.

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Ep. 243: Aristotle’s “Poetics” on Art and Tragedy (Part One)

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These notes from 335 BCE are still used in screenwriting classes. Aristotle presents a formula for what will move us, derived from Sophocles’s tragedies.

What is art? The text describes it as memesis (imitation), and tragedy imitates human action in a way that shows us what it is to be human. Aristotle has lots of advice about how to structure a plot optimized to our sensibilities. Join Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth to see if you think he’s right.

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Ep. 243: Aristotle’s “Poetics” on Art and Tragedy (Citizen Edition)

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These notes from 335 BCE are still used in screenwriting classes. Aristotle presents a formula for what will move us, derived from Sophocles’s tragedies.

What is art? A. describes it as memesis (imitation), and tragedy imitates human action in a way that shows us what it is to be human. A. has lots of advice about how to structure a plot optimized to our sensibilities. Join Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth to see if you think he’s right.

End song: “Structure of a Tragedy” by Mark Lint (2020).

Ep. 242: Stanley Cavell on Tragedy via King Lear (Part Two)

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Continuing on Cavell’s essay “The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear” (1969), shifting away from Lear in particular to a more general discussion of tragedy and Cavell’s psychological insights.

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End song: “Out of Your Hands” by Gretchen’s Wheel, i.e., Lindsay Murray, as interviewed for Nakedly Examined Music #81.

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Ep. 241: Political Philosophy and the Pandemic

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How should we think politically about the current global crisis? Do extreme circumstances reveal truths of political philosophy or do they reinforce whatever it is we already believe? Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan talk about applying philosophical insights to real-life situations rife with unknowns, John Rawls’s veil of ignorance and Adam Smith on our interconnectedness, utilitarianism, libertarianism, and more. A source we used was “How Coronavirus Is Shaking Up the Moral Universe” by John Authers.

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End song: “Date of Grace” by Rob Picott, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #80.

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Ep. 240: David Lewis on Possible Worlds and Language Games (Part Two)

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On “Scorekeeping in a Language Game” (1979) and “Truth in Fiction” (1978).

Lewis’s account of possible worlds can be applied to conversation: As we speak, each sentence adds to the “conversational score” (the set of assumptions that enable us to understand each other) while reducing the field of possible worlds that the picture we’re painting together could potentially represent. What are the gravitational forces within this kind of scorekeeping? Also, when an author creates a fictive “world,” how do facts about that world logically relate to those of the actual world? With guest Matt Teichman.

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End song: “Real Life” by Matt Wilson, as interviewed for Nakedly Examined Music #118.

Ep. 240: David Lewis on Possible Worlds and Language Games (Part One)

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On Ch. 4 of Lewis’s book Counterfactuals (1973) and the essays “Scorekeeping in a Language Game” (1979) and “Truth in Fiction” (1978).

What makes a sentence about possibility true? Lewis thinks that we need possible worlds that really exist in order to make sense of our modal intuitions. He uses this possible-world talk to make sense of conversations and the worlds created by fiction writers. With guest Matt Teichman from Elucidations.

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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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