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. 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 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.

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 19 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 3 Comments

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.

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

by 4 Comments

Continuing Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) with guest Jennifer Hansen.

How does one become a Subject and how do women traditionally get shut out of this process? We get into Vol. 2, “Lived Experience” where Beauvoir details how this drama unfolds in various stages of life. Also, religion, logic, the relation of biology to situation, and more. How do we modernize Beauvoir’s critique given the evolution in women’s positions since the book was written?

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

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

Sponsor: Give effectively through givewell.org/PEL.

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.

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