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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.

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

May 25, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

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.

Don’t wait for part two; get the unbroken Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Ep. 244: Camus on Strategies for Facing Plague (Citizen Edition)

May 25, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

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?

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

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

May 18, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

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.

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

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)

May 11, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

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)

May 11, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

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)

May 4, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

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.

Begin with Part One or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

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

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

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

April 27, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On Cavell’s essay “The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear” (1969).

Can money buy you love? What is tragedy? With guest Erin O’Luanaigh.

To get the most out of this, check out some performance of King Lear or just read the plot summary.

Don’t wait for part two; get the full Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Ep. 242: Stanley Cavell on Tragedy via King Lear (Citizen Edition)

April 26, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

On Cavell’s essay “The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear” (1969).

Can money buy you love? What is tragedy? With guest Erin O’Luanaigh.

End song: “Out of Your Hands” by Gretchen’s Wheel, per Nakedly Examined Music #81.

Ep. 241: Political Philosophy and the Pandemic

April 20, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 15 Comments

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.

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 (Part Two)

April 13, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

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.

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

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)

April 6, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

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)

April 6, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 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)

March 30, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 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)

March 23, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 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)

March 23, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

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

March 15, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 22 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)

March 9, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 8 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)

March 2, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

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)

March 2, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 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”

February 24, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 5 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.

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