The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog

Subscribe on Android Spotify patreon

You can also see them organized by topic. For episodes marked "Preview," you can access the full episode at our store, or you could become a PEL Citizen and get them from our Free Stuff for Citizens page.

View Ascending View Descending

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

by Leave a Comment

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.

Don’t wait for part two; get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now! Please support PEL!

Sponsor: Visit TheGreatCoursesPLUS.com/PEL for a free trial of unlimited learning at $10/month w/ a quarterly plan.

Ep. 240: David Lewis on Possible Worlds and Language Games (Citizen Edition)

by Leave a Comment

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.

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

Ep. 239: Montesquieu Invents Political Science (Part Two)

by 2 Comments

Continuing on The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Charles Louis de Secondat, aka Baron de Montesquieu. Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth talk more about the “motive force” behind each type of government and the separation of powers.

Begin with part 1 or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: “King of the Hill” by MINUTEMEN. Listen to Mark interview Mike Watt on Nakedly Examined Music #108.

Be sure to check out The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast.

Ep. 239: Montesquieu Invents Political Science (Part One)

by Leave a Comment

On The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Charles Louis de Secondat, aka Baron de Montesquieu.

What keeps a society functioning? Montesquieu, though of course not the first political philosopher, was perhaps the first to systematically explore correlations between characteristics of a government, its people, its climate, dominant industries, religion, and other factors. Some of his ideas directly influenced the American Constitution, and some of them are very very weird.

Don’t wait for part two; get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now! Please support PEL!

Sponsor: Visit TheGreatCoursesPLUS.com/PEL for a free trial of unlimited learning at $10/month w/ a quarterly plan.

Ep. 239: Montesquieu Invents Political Science (Citizen Edition)

by 1 Comment

On The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Charles Louis de Secondat, aka Baron de Montesquieu.

What keeps a society functioning? Montesquieu, though of course not the first political philosopher, was perhaps the first to systematically explore correlations between characteristics of a government, its people, its climate, dominant industries, religion, and other factors. Some of his ideas directly influenced the American Constitution, and some of them are very very weird.

End song: “King of the Hill” by MINUTEMEN. Listen to Mark interview Mike Watt on Nakedly Examined Music #108.

Ep. 238: Lingering Questions

by 17 Comments

Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth summarize thoughts about our recent series on social construction, gender and sex, and Judith Butler’s notion of “grievable lives.” Should we stop covering so much contemporary work and/or political topics?

End song: “The Size of Luv” by Mark Lint from Mark Lint’s Dry Folk (2018).

Sponsor: Get your first month of hair loss prevention medication free at keeps.com/pel.

Get this and every episode ad-free with a PEL Membership. Please support the podcast!

Ep. 237: Walter Benjamin Analyzes Violence (Part Two)

by 7 Comments

Continuing on Benjamin’s “Critique of Violence” (1921).

Mark, Wes, and Seth keep trying to figure out this difficult essay. Is Benjamin really advocating a workers’ revolution to end the state, or just reflecting on a hypothetical to explore the limits of the concept of violence?

According to Judith Butler’s interpretation of the essay, the takeaway is the alternative to motivation through force, i.e. speech, which Benjamin (in other essays) gives some religious significance, but the way he actually concludes the essay is in a discussion of “divine violence” as somehow transcending means-end analysis and the corruption inherent in violence.

Begin with part one or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: “Jericho” from hackedepiciotto, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #116.

Sponsor: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a free month of unlimited learning with The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service.

Ep. 237: Walter Benjamin Analyzes Violence (Part One)

by 1 Comment

On “Critique of Violence” (1921). What is violence? Benjamin gives us a taxonomy: law-creating, law-preserving, mythological, and divine. Then he deconstructs his own distinctions to demonstrate that all state power is rotten through its being founded on and continually re-established by violence or the threat of it.

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

Sponsor: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a free month of unlimited learning with The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service.

Ep. 237: Walter Benjamin Analyzes Violence (Citizen Edition)

by 1 Comment

On “Critique of Violence” (1921). What is violence? Benjamin gives us a taxonomy: law-creating, law-preserving, mythological, and divine. Then he deconstructs his own distinctions to demonstrate that all state power is rotten through its being founded on and continually re-established by violence or the threat of it.

End song: “Jericho” from hackedepiciotto, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #116.

Ep. 236: Judith Butler Interview: “The Force of Nonviolence”

by 4 Comments

On The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (2020).

What is it to be nonviolent in political activity? Most ethics allow for self-defense, but Judith has a problem with defining “self” as well as “violence,” and offers a full critique of the individualism that underlies typical Western approaches to both ethics and politics.

Mark, Seth, and Wes interview Judith about these issues and the connection to Gender Trouble.

End song: “Dancing with Death,” discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #111 with Marty Willson-Piper.

Sponsor: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a free month of The Great Courses Plus.

Get this episode ad-free with a PEL Citizenship. Please support PEL!

Ep. 235: Judith Butler’s “Gender Trouble” (Part Three)

by 5 Comments

Concluding “Gender Trouble” (1990), with just Mark, Wes, and Seth going carefully through pt I, sec v: “Identity, Set, and the Metaphysics of Substance,” and pt III, sec iv: “Subversive Bodily Acts: Bodily Inscriptions, Performative Subversions.”

Start with part one or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: “I’m a Boy” by Lys Guillorn as interviewed for Nakedly Examined Music #44.

Please support the fight against leukemia at partiallyexaminedlife.com/cancer.

Ep. 235: Judith Butler’s “Gender Trouble” (Part Two)

by 9 Comments

More Gender Trouble (1990) with Jennifer Hansen. We get into the metaphysics of substance (is gender an attribute that a person has, or is there a better way to describe the situation?), performatives, Beauvoir vs. Irigaray on femininity, and the available mechanisms for changing gender norms.

Start with Part One or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now so that you don’t have to wait for Part Three. Please support PEL!

Sponsor: Visit feals.com/PEL for premium CBD; become a member and get 50% off and free shipping.

Ep. 235: Judith Butler’s “Gender Trouble” (Citizen Edition)

by 4 Comments

On Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990). Is gender socially constructed, and if so, how?

Butler describes gender not as an essential quality of a person, but as “performed,” as habits of acting in certain ways in accordance with customs. Her idea of social construction is so totalizing that even biological sex itself is constructed. With guest Jennifer Hansen.

End song: “I’m a Boy” by Lys Guillorn as interviewed for Nakedly Examined Music #44.

Ep. 235: Judith Butler’s “Gender Trouble” (Part One)

by 17 Comments

On Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990). Is gender socially constructed, and if so, how?

Butler describes gender not as an essential quality of a person, but as “performed,” as habits of acting in certain ways in accordance with customs. Her idea of social construction is so totalizing that even biological sex itself is constructed. With guest Jennifer Hansen.

This is part 1 of 3, but you don’t need to wait. Get the full Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Ep. 234: Beauvoir on Romance in “The Second Sex” (Part Two)

by Leave a Comment

Concluding Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): “The Woman in Love” and “Myths” with guest Jennifer Hansen.

We continue on the ailments of women under patriarchy as well as the existential problems that we’re all subject to. Are we doomed to isolation, or does existentialism allow for intimacy? Is marriage in “bad faith”? We also talk narcissism, abjection, and the film Marriage Story.

Start with part 1 or get the Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: “Easier than Leaving” by Michaela Anne, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #114.

Please contribute to the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society through Mina Linsenmayer’s campaign at partiallyexaminedlife.com/cancer.

Ep. 234: Beauvoir on Romance in “The Second Sex” (Part One)

by 1 Comment

On Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): “The Woman in Love” and “Myths” with guest Jennifer Hansen. What is love under patriarchy? We all want to achieve solidity in another’s eyes, but the Othered woman wants to live through the man, and the man sees the woman as his rejected corporeal character. Party time!

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

Sponsors: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service. Visit Keeps.com/EXAMINED for a free month of hair loss medication.

Please consider contributing to the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society through Mina Linsenmayer’s campaign; see partiallyexaminedlife.com/cancer.

Ep. 234: Beauvoir on Romance in “The Second Sex” (Citizen Edition)

by Leave a Comment

On Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): “The Woman in Love” and “Myths” with guest Jennifer Hansen. We explore the maladies of love, try to figure how B’s picture relates to modern romance and what her positive prescription for good love is, and use the recent film A Marriage Story as a case study.

End song: “Easier than Leaving” by Michaela Anne, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #114.

Ep. 233: Plato’s “Protagoras” on Virtue (Part Two)

by 1 Comment

Continuing on the dialogue, where Socrates argues that Protagoras doesn’t actually know what virtue is, because he thinks that the various virtues (especially courage) are distinct, a claim that Socrates refutes in several (logically suspect) ways.

Start with part one, or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: “Make It Clear” by Feelies; hear Glenn Mercer on Nakedly Examined Music #41.

Ep. 233: Plato’s “Protagoras” on Virtue (Part One)

by 1 Comment

On the Platonic dialogue written around 380 BCE about an encounter between Socrates and one of the leading Sophists of his day.

What is virtue (“the political art” according to Protagoras), and can it be taught? What are the relations of the various virtues to each other? Do they really amount ultimately to one and the same thing, i.e., wisdom? In this entertaining dialogue, Socrates and Protagoras swap positions, and Socrates seems to parody the Sophists’ style.

Don’t wait for part two; 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.

Ep. 233: Plato’s “Protagoras” on Virtue (Citizen Edition)

by 2 Comments

On the Platonic dialogue written around 380 BCE about an encounter between Socrates and one of the leading Sophists of his day.

What is virtue (“the political art” according to Protagoras), and can it be taught? What are the relations of the various virtues to each other? Do they really amount ultimately to one and the same thing, i.e., wisdom? In this entertaining dialogue, Socrates and Protagoras swap positions, and Socrates seems to parody the Sophists’ style.

End song: “Make It Clear” by Feelies; Mark interviewed Glenn Mercer on Nakedly Examined Music #41.

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

Become a PEL Citizen!

As a PEL Citizen, you’ll have access to a private social community of philosophers, thinkers, and other partial examiners where you can join or initiate discussion groups dedicated to particular readings, participate in lively forums, arrange online meet-ups for impromptu seminars, and more. PEL Citizens also have free access to podcast transcripts, guided readings, episode guides, PEL music, and other citizen-exclusive material. Click here to join.

Blog Post Categories

Follow:

Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | Apple Podcasts