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. 232: Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex” (Part One)

by Leave a Comment

On Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): the intro, conclusion, “Woman’s Situation and Character” and parts of “Lived Experience,” with guest Jennifer Hansen.

According to Beauvoir, Woman is historically conceived of by society (and herself) as “Other,” as not a Subject who creates and makes decisions. Her life is predetermined, revolving around marriage and child-bearing, and is so deformed by this situation.

Continue with part 2 or get the unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

Sponsor: Give effectively through givewell.org/PEL.

Ep. 232: Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex” (Citizen Edition)

by 1 Comment

On Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): the intro, conclusion, “Woman’s Situation and Character” and parts of “Lived Experience,” with guest Jennifer Hansen.

According to Beauvoir, Woman is historically conceived of by society (and herself) as “Other,” as not a Subject who creates and makes decisions. Her life is predetermined, revolving around marriage and child-bearing, and is so deformed by this situation.

End song: “Wrong Side of Gone” by Beth Kille as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #13.

Ep. 231: Descartes’s “Discourse” on Wisdom and Certainty (Part Two)

by 1 Comment

Continuing on Descartes’s Discourse on Method, looking closely at part 4 (his proto-Meditations) and his “provisional” Stoic ethics.

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

End song: “My Real Fantasy” By Joe Louis Walker, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #110.

Sponsors: Get 20% off at nativedeodorant.com (code PEL), 20% off at hempfusion.com (code PEL), and give effectively through givewell.org/PEL.

Ep. 231: Descartes’s “Discourse” on Wisdom and Certainty (Part One)

by 1 Comment

On René Descartes’s Discourse on Method (1637), an overview of his work that distills his method, outlines his famous Meditations, presents a provisional (Stoic) ethics, and considers whether he wants to be a public intellectual. This is all meant as a preface to scientific publications on geometry, optics, and meteors.

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

Sponsors: $10 off at skylightframe.com (code PEL), get a free trial of unlimited learning at thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL , learn about St. John’s College at sjc.edu, and give effectively through givewell.org/PEL.

Ep. 231: Descartes’s “Discourse” on Wisdom and Certainty (Citizen Edition)

by Leave a Comment

On René Descartes’s Discourse on Method (1637), an overview of his work that distills his method, outlines his famous Meditations, presents a provisional (Stoic) ethics, and considers whether he wants to be a public intellectual. This is all meant as a preface to scientific publications on geometry, optics, and meteors.

End song: “My Real Fantasy” By Joe Louis Walker, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #110.

(sub)Text: A Discussion of Todd Phillips’ Film ‘Joker’

by 5 Comments

Wes Alwan and William Sharp (psychoanalyst and professor at Northeastern) discuss the film at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. 

Why has this film done so well? It offers no spectacle, and good doesn’t triumph. It is psychologically true and expertly performed. The audience can enjoy tragedy and identify deeply with a social outcast and villain. The film successfully exploits the relationship between humor and violence, and comedy and tragedy.

Listen to more (sub)Text.

Ep. 230: Bruno Latour on Science, Culture, and Modernity (Part Two)

by 5 Comments

Continuing on Latour’s We Have Never Been Modern (1993) with guest Lynda Olman.

Latour rejects the idea of objective truth totally apart from perceivers, so is he an idealist? We lay out the “Constitution” of modernity that keeps science and politics separate, how it makes it difficult for us to address issues like climate change, and what Latour thinks should replace it.

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

End song: “Mono No Aware” by Guy Sigsworth, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #109.

Sponsors: $10 off at skylightframe.com (code PEL), 20% off at hempfusion.com (code PEL), learn about St. John’s College at sjc.edu, and give effectively through givewell.org/PEL.

Ep. 230: Bruno Latour on Science, Culture, and Modernity (Part One)

by 13 Comments

On Latour’s We Have Never Been Modern (1993) with guest Lynda Olman.

What’s the “modern” ideology of science, and is there something we should critique about it? Latour wants us to think about science not abstractly through the eternal truths it supposedly discovers, but through the concrete practices of scientists. He investigates the Modern Constitution by which science and politics are kept conceptually separate, a myth that he claims we’ve never fully bought into.

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

Sponsors: Get $10 off at skylightframe.com w/ code PEL. Get a free trial of unlimited learning at thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL. Check out Wes’s sister’s Inner Loop Radio podcast.

Ep. 230: Bruno Latour on Science, Culture, and Modernity (Citizen Edition)

by 5 Comments

On Latour’s We Have Never Been Modern (1993) with guest Lynda Olman.

What’s the “modern” ideology of science, and is there something we should critique about it? Latour wants us to think about science not abstractly through the eternal truths it supposedly discovers, but through the concrete practices of scientists. He investigates the Modern Constitution by which science and politics are kept conceptually separate, a myth that he claims we’ve never fully bought into.

End song: “Mono No Aware” by Guy Sigsworth, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #109.

Ep. 229: Descartes’s Rules for Thinking (Part Three)

by Leave a Comment

Concluding René Descartes’s Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628).

We finish rule 12 through the end, talking about simples, the faculties of intuition and judgment, perception and imagination, necessary vs. contingent truths, and how to do Cartesian science, including what constitutes a “perfectly understood problem.”

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

End song: “Perfect Design” by Ian Moore, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #94.

Sponsors: Get 20% off at nativedeodorant.com (code PEL), $10 off at skylightframe.com (code PEL), 20% off at hempfusion.com (code PEL), and learn about St. John’s College at sjc.edu.

Boston-area listeners can see Wes live talking Joker on 11/22; see partiallyexaminedlife.com/joker.

Ep. 229: Descartes’s Rules for Thinking (Part Two)

by Leave a Comment

Continuing on René Descartes’s Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628), covering rules 7 through the first part of the lengthy rule 12.

We try to figure out what he means by “enumeration”; the faculties of imagination, sense and memory; the virtues of perspicacity and sagacity; his psychology of the senses, the “common sense” where all sense data comes together, and the understanding; how Descartes recommends we do scientific investigation; why syllogisms stink; and whether some people are just better at philosophy than others.

Start with part 1. You don’t need to wait for part 3; get the full Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Sponsor: Get 3 months of unlimited learning for $30 at thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL.

Ep. 229: Descartes’s Rules for Thinking (Part One)

by Leave a Comment

On René Descartes’s Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628).

Is there a careful way to approach problems that will ensure that you’ll always be right? What if you just never assert anything you can’t be sure of? This is Descartes’s strategy, modeled on mathematics. We likewise carefully move step-by-step through this text.

Sponsor: Visit HempFusion.com for CBD supplements and use code PEL at check-out for 20% off/free shipping.

Ep. 229: Descartes’s Rules for Thinking (Citizen Edition)

by Leave a Comment

On René Descartes’s Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628).

Is there a careful way to approach problems that will ensure that you’ll always be right? What if you just never assert anything you can’t be sure of? This is Descartes’s strategy, modeled on mathematics. We likewise carefully move step-by-step through this text.

End song: “Perfect Design” by Ian Moore, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #94.

Ep. 228: Social Construction of Race (Appiah, Mills) (Part Two)

by 2 Comments

Continuing on Kwame Anthony Appiah’s “Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections” (1994), Charles Mills’s “But What Are You Really?, The Metaphysics of Race” (1998), and Neven Sesardic’s “Race: A Social Destruction of a Biological Concept” (2010) with guest Coleman Hughes.

Racial classifications vary geographically, therefore race is socially constructed. Given this, can we retain the positive aspects of group identification without hierarchies and what Appiah calls “imperialism of identity”?

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

End song: “Tired Skin” by Alejandro Escovedo, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #60.

Sponsors: Get 3 months of unlimited learning for $30 at thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL. Don’t get left behind the now: subscribe to Pretty Much Pop. 

Ep. 228: Social Construction of Race (Appiah, Mills) (Part One)

by 5 Comments

On Kwame Anthony Appiah’s “Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections” (1994), Charles Mills’s “But What Are You Really?, The Metaphysics of Race” (1998), and Neven Sesardic’s “Race: A Social Destruction of a Biological Concept” (2010). With guest Coleman Hughes.

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

Sponsors: NativeDeodorant.com (code PEL for 20% off), $15/month wireless at mintmobile.com/PEL, HempFusion.com (code PEL for 20% off/free shipping).

Ep. 228: Social Construction of Race (Appiah, Mills) (Citizen Edition)

by 4 Comments

On Kwame Anthony Appiah’s “Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections” (1994), Charles Mills’s “But What Are You Really?, The Metaphysics of Race” (1998), and Neven Sesardic’s “Race: A Social Destruction of a Biological Concept” (2010). With guest Coleman Hughes.

End song: “Tired Skin” by Alejandro Escovedo, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #60.

Ep. 227: What Is Social Construction? (Hacking, Berger) (Part Two)

by 1 Comment

Continuing Ian Hacking’s The Social Construction of What (1999) and Peter Berger’s “Religion and World Construction” (1967).

We break down Hacking’s typology of construction arguments: Are they exploring where our ideas came from or trying to change things? Are they trying to state facts about nature vs. nurture or essentially political solicitations for us to reconceptualize in healthier ways? Plus, more about the supposed divide between science wars and the culture wars and Berger’s picture of the nomos (custom) defining what it is for us to live a meaningful life.

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

End song: “The ConstruKction of Light, Part 1” by King Crimson; listen to Mark with Trey Gunn on Nakedly Examined Music #21.

Sponsors: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a free month of learning and hempfusion.com w/ promo code PEL for 20% off your first order & free shipping.

Ep. 227: What Is Social Construction? (Hacking, Berger) (Part One)

by 12 Comments

On Ian Hacking’s The Social Construction of What (1999) and Peter Berger’s “Religion and World Construction” (1967).

Guest Coleman Hughes from Dilemma joins us to survey the types of social construction arguments: the “culture wars” (e.g., race, gender) and the “science wars” (scientific findings are not read off the world but emerge from history). Something can be constructed, yet still be an objective truth we have to deal with.

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

Sponsor: HempFusion.com, code PEL for 20% off/free shipping.

Ep. 227: What Is Social Construction? (Hacking, Berger) (Citizen Edition)

by 5 Comments

On Ian Hacking’s The Social Construction of What (1999) and Peter Berger’s “Religion and World Construction” (1967).

Guest Coleman Hughes from Dilemma joins us to survey the types of social construction arguments: the “culture wars” (e.g., race, gender) and the “science wars” (scientific findings are not read off the world but emerge from history). Something can be constructed, yet still be an objective truth we have to deal with.

End song: “The ConstruKction of Light, Part 1” by King Crimson; listen to Mark with Trey Gunn on Nakedly Examined Music #21.

Ep. 226: Francis Bacon Invents Science (Part Two)

by 7 Comments

Continuing on Sir Francis Bacon’s New Organon (1620).

We cover more of Bacon’s “idols” and how Bacon divides religion from science (and what this means politically). We then move on to book 2, including Bacon’s novel update of the term “form,” and take a look at Bacon’s method of doing science by filling out tables before actually doing experiments.

Start with part one or get the full, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL, like, get Patreon’s feed for a mere $1/month.

End song: “Stuck in a Cave” by Chrome Cranks; hear Mark talk to singer/songwriter Peter Aaron on Nakedly Examined Music #93.

Sponsor: Get three months of unlimited access to The Great Courses Plus at thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL.

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