Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free. The PEL Players are back, with more players than ever, doing an unrehearsed reading of William Shakespeare's least popular play, co-written with Thomas Middleton in Shakespeare's later years, probably around 1605. The play is about money and cynicism, where a man gets to see where his friends go when his money runs Continue Reading …
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Ep. 298: Marsilio Ficino on Love (Part Two)
Subscribe to get Parts 1 and 2 ad-free, plus a supporter exclusive Nightcap featuring more Ficino discussion, which you can preview. Continuing from part one on Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love (1475), with guest Peter Adamson. Peter gives us some context in terms of other Renaissance theories of love, and then we're back to the text, considering the role of beauty Continue Reading …
Ep. 298: Marsilio Ficino on Love (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free. On Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love (1475), with guest Peter Adamson from the History of Philosophy podcast joining Mark, Wes, and Seth. Attention: We'll be live-streaming video for our big ep. 300 on Friday, Aug. 19 at 8pm ET. More info at partiallyexaminedlife.com/pel-live. Leading up to that episode, Continue Reading …
Ep. 297: Heidegger on the Human Condition (Part Two)
Subscribe to get Parts 1 and 2 ad-free, plus a supporter exclusive Part 3, which you can preview. Continuing from part one on Being and Time, now up to Ch. 2, sec. 12 on what our "being-in-the-world" amounts to. Sponsors: Download the Zocdoc app free to find a top rated doctor at Zocdoc.com/PEL. Learn about St. John's College at sjc.edu/pel. According to H, we are Continue Reading …
Ep. 297: Heidegger on the Human Condition (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free. We continue from ep. 296 with our close reading on Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1927), covering in this part of the discussion chapter 1. Featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Sponsors: Get 10% off a month of therapy at BetterHelp.com/partially. Get $135 off 5 meal kit boxes with the first shipped free at Continue Reading …
Ep. 296: Heidegger Questions Being (Part Two)
Subscribe to get Parts 1 and 2 ad-free plus tons of bonus content. Continuing our close reading of selections of Being and Time from part one, we come back on a different day without Wes and focus on two parts from the Introduction 2, sec. 7: Sec. 5, where Heidegger says why time has to be the focus of the ontological analysis of Dasein (i.e. his description of the Continue Reading …
Ep. 296: Heidegger Questions Being (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free. This close reading of sections near the beginning of Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1926) is a direct sequel to ep. 32, which provides an overview of his project. In this episode and 297, we read and discuss particular textual passages, so you can experience along with us what it's like to read this text with its Continue Reading …
REISSUE-Ep 32: Heidegger on Being (w/ new Intro)
Subscribe to get more vintage episodes like this and an expanded version of this new introduction. Discussing Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1927) back in 2011, mostly the intro and Ch. 1 and 2, featuring Mark, Seth, and Wes. But first, a retrospective introduction by all four of us. When philosophers try to figure out what really exists (God? matter? numbers?), Continue Reading …
Ep. 295: Kant on Preventing War (Part Two)
Subscribe to get Parts 1 and 2 ad-free, plus a supporter exclusive Part 3, which you can preview. Continuing from part one on Immanuel Kant's essay "Perpetual Peace," we go further into how Kant's politics relate to his ethics and consider his actual policy proposals: each state must be a republic, i.e. somehow representative with separation of powers, and countries should Continue Reading …
Ep. 295: Kant on Preventing War (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus the supporter-only part 3 that will come out next week. On Immanuel Kant's essay "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch" (1795). Do nations have the "right" to go to war? What principles ground just international relations, and are there structures and agreements that we can embrace to prevent prevent future wars? Continue Reading …
Ep. 294: Quine on Science vs. Epistemology (Part Two)
Subscribe to get Parts 1 and 2 ad-free, plus a supporter exclusive Part 3, which you can preview. Continuing from part one on "Epistemology Naturalized" (1969), we work further through the text, getting into what this new psychology-rooted epistemology might look like. Sponsors: Get access to comprehensive software monitoring and 100GB of data free at NewRelic.com/pel. Continue Reading …
Ep. 294: Quine on Science vs. Epistemology (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus a supporter-only part 3. On W.V.O. Quine's "Epistemology Naturalized" (1969), featuring Mark, Wes, and Seth. Sponsors and Plugs: Maximize the impact of your charitable giving via GiveWell.org; choose "podcast" and enter "Partially Examined Life."Get a free T-shirt with your first order at Continue Reading …
Ep. 293: Donna Haraway on Feminist Science (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On "Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective" (1988), "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century" (1985), "A Game of Cat’s Cradle: Science Studies, Feminist Theory, Cultural Studies" Continue Reading …
Ep. 292: Langer on Symbolic Music (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 8-10 ("On Significance in Music," "The Genesis of Artistic Import," and "The Fabric of Meaning" respectively), plus ch. 7, "The Image of Time," from her Form and Feeling (1953). Is music a language? If it's "expressive," what exactly Continue Reading …
Ep. 291: Cassirer and Langer on Myth and Ritual (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On Ernst Cassirer's his An Essay on Man (1944), ch. 6-7, and Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 6-7. This discussion featuring Mark, Wes, and Seth follows the introduction of these books and the argument that we are primarily symbolic creatures in ep. 290. Why do Continue Reading …
Ep. 290: Susanne Langer on Our Symbol-Making Nature (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 1-5, plus as background most of us looked at Langer's main influence Ernst Cassirer via his An Essay on Man (1944), ch. 1-5. Featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. What is human nature, and why does natural science have such trouble studying it? Continue Reading …
Ep. 289: Aesthetic Sense Theory: Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Hume (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On David Hume's "The Standard of Taste" (1760) and its two main influences: The Moralists: A Philosophical Rhapsody (1709) by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, aka the third Earl of Shaftesbury, Part III section 2 "Beauty," and An Inquiry Concerning Beauty, Order, Harmony, Design (1725) by Continue Reading …
Ep. 288: Scruton on Ethical Art (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On Roger Scruton's Beauty (2009), ch. 5-9, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. The latter half of the book completes the survey of types of beauty that we discussed last episode by considering issues in our appreciation of artworks, and then develops a moral and political argument for Continue Reading …
Ep. 287: Roger Scruton on Beauty (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On Beauty (2009), ch. 1-4, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Scruton just died in Dec. 2020; he had taught aesthetics for more than 30 years, and this book provides an overview of issues in the philosophy of art. The chapters we read this time include an overview chapter, then Continue Reading …
REISSUE-Ep 16: Arthur Danto on Art (w/ New Intro)
To anticipate our imminent return to studying aesthetics, Mark, Seth and Dylan newly introduce our very first episode in this area from way back in March 2010, featuring Mark, Seth and Wes discussing three chapters of Danto's The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art (1986): the title essay, "The Appreciation and Interpretation of Works of Art," and "The End of Art." What Continue Reading …