The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog
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.
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.
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.
On the extant fragments of Epicurus (341–270 BCE) dealing with ethics, including his “Letter to Menoceus,” “The Principal Doctrines,” and “The Vatican Collection of Epicurean Sayings.” Plus Tim O’Keefe’s Epicureanism (2010) and Martha Nussabum’s The Therapy of Desire (1994).
How are we supposed to act once we understand nature as atoms bouncing and swerving around in the void, temporarily producing order through fortuitous collisions? Ruling out demanding gods means ethics is dictated by human nature: we avoid pain and pursue pleasure. However, we’re very bad at this, and Epicurus wants to fix all of us!
Don’t wait for part two; get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now.
Come see us live in NYC on Apr. 6. Read more at partiallyexaminedlife.com/pel-live.
Don’t forget your 2019 Wall Calendar with free domestic shipping: partiallyexaminedlife.com/calendar.
Sponsors: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL and EXPRESSVPN.com/PEL.
On the extant fragments of Epicurus (341–270 BCE) dealing with ethics, including his “Letter to Menoceus,” “The Principal Doctrines,” and “The Vatican Collection of Epicurean Sayings.” Plus Tim O’Keefe’s Epicureanism (2010) and Martha Nussabum’s The Therapy of Desire (1994).
How are we supposed to act once we understand nature as atoms bouncing and swerving around in the void, temporarily producing order through fortuitous collisions? Ruling out demanding gods means ethics is dictated by human nature: we avoid pain and pursue pleasure. However, we’re very bad at this, and Epicurus wants to fix all of us!
End song: “The Language of the Body” by Ant-Bee as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #68.
Come see us live in NYC on Apr. 6. Read more at partiallyexaminedlife.com/pel-live.
Don’t forget your 2019 Wall Calendar with free domestic shipping: partiallyexaminedlife.com/calendar.
On the fragments referred to as “On Nature” from ca. 475 BCE, featuring guest Peter Adamson from the History of Philosophy without Any Gaps podcast.
End song: “Circle” by Gareth Mitchell, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #4.
Continuing with Emily Wilson on her translation of the Greek epic poem. We discuss the oikos, or estate, built on violence, and its connection to xenia, or hospitality, which serves to forge military alliances. Also: status distinctions and the role of the gods in the text.
Listen to part one first, or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
End song: “Tiny Broken Boats” by Arrica Rose, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #66.
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On the classic Greek epic poem, written ca. 750 BC and translated by our guest Emily Wilson in 2018.
Does this story of “heroes” have anything to teach us about ethics? Wilson wrote an 80-page introduction to her new translation laying out the issues, including “hospitality” as a political tool, the value for status and identity of one’s home (including your family and slaves), and the tension between strangeness and familiarity. Can time and change really be undone?
Don’t wait for part 2! Get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!
Sponsors: Visit Squarespace.com for a free trial and 10% off with offer code EXAMINED and thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service. Order Danny Lobell’s comic at fairenoughcomic.com.
On the classic Greek epic poem, written ca. 750 BC and translated by our guest Emily Wilson in 2018.
Does this story of “heroes” have anything to teach us about ethics? Wilson wrote an 80-page introduction to her new translation laying out the issues, including “hospitality” as a political tool, the value for status and identity of one’s home (including your family and slaves), and the tension between strangeness and familiarity. Can time and change really be undone?
End song: “Tiny Broken Boats” by Arrica Rose, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #66.
Stoicism proposes an ongoing discipline of deliberately withdrawing one’s desires and aversions from external matters and applying them to what lies within one’s own person. Getting this distinction right—what is in our power and what is not—turns out to be integral to understanding and practicing Stoic philosophy as a way of life.
On the Nichomachean Ethics (ca. 350 BCE), books 6–7. Is intelligence just one thing? Aristotle picks out a number of distinct faculties, some of which are relevant to ethics, and he uses these to explain Plato’s puzzle of how someone can clearly see what the good for him is, and yet fail to pursue it due to weakness of the will.
This episode continues our discussion from way back in ep. 5.
End song: “I Die Desire” from The MayTricks (1992).
