The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog
More on the novel with guest Corey Mohler, considering Dostoyevsky qua existentialist in terms of his analysis of the crisis of meaning and his consequent views on religion.
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End song: “Don Quixote” by Nik Kershaw, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #37.
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On Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s philosophical novel from 1869. Could a morally perfect person survive in the modern world? Is all this “modernity,” which so efficiently computes our desires and provides mechanisms to fulfill them, actually suited to achieve human flourishing? Dostoyevsky’s Russian existentialism says no!
On Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s philosophical novel from 1869.
Could a morally perfect person survive in the modern world? Is all this “modernity,” which so efficiently computes our desires and provides mechanisms to fulfill them, actually suited to achieve human flourishing? Dostoyevsky’s Russian existentialism says no!
End song: “Don Quixote” by Nik Kershaw, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #37.
The popular Netflix show is rife with philosophical questions. “Can Aristotle teach Bojack a thing or two about self-love?” is one of them.
More Levinas, working this time through Time and the Other (1948).
What is it for a person to exist? What individuates one person from another, making us into selves instead of just part of the causal net of events? Why would someone possibly think that these are real, non-obvious questions that need to be addressed?
End song: “Call on You” by Mark Lint from from the 1993 Mark Lint album Spanish Armada: Songs of Love and Related Neuroses.
More Levinas, working this time through Time and the Other (1948).
What is it for a person to exist? What individuates one person from another, making us into selves instead of just part of the causal net of events? Why would someone possibly think that these are real, non-obvious questions that need to be addressed? Levinas gives us a phenomenological progression from the “there is,” terrifyingly undifferentiated Being, to becoming an individual through “hypostasis,” which is becoming an existent through a voyage out to the world and back to oneself. But this existing makes us solitary, not only in this weird ontological sense of being a distinct thing, but in a concrete, emotional sense. Overcoming this requires grasping the Other as a real Other, not as an object to fulfill our desires or get in our way. Really understanding this at our core takes some doing, and in the process, we gain a mature sense of time and of death, so, good for us!
End song: “Call on You” by Mark Lint from from the 1993 Mark Lint album Spanish Armada: Songs of Love and Related Neuroses.
On “Ethics as First Philosophy” (1984). More existentialist ethics, with a Jewish twist this time! Seth returns to join Mark and Wes in figuring out how to best leave off all this aggressive “knowing” and other forms of individual self-assertion to grasp the more primordial appearance of the Other in all his or her vulnerability, which Levinas thinks makes us wholly responsible for others right off the bat.
End song: “To Valerie” from The MayTricks’ So Chewy (1993).
On “Ethics as First Philosophy” (1984). More existentialist ethics, with a Jewish twist this time! Seth returns to join Mark and Wes in figuring out how to best leave off all this aggressive “knowing” and other forms of individual self-assertion to grasp the more primordial appearance of the Other in all his or her vulnerability, which Levinas thinks makes us wholly responsible for others right off the bat.
End song: “To Valerie” from The MayTricks’ So Chewy (1993).
Brian Wilson leads a seminar on Albert Camus’s essay “The Myth of Sissyphus,” deepening our look into Camus following PEL episode 4. Recorded 8/8/16.
Mark and Danny Lobell welcome St. Lawrence University’s Jennifer Hansen to follow up on our episodes 140 and 141. Was Beauvoir really a Kantian? Do we find her description for founding ethics persuasive? Featuring PEL listeners Luke, Alex, Tiffany, Brittany, and Ken. Recorded 6/26/16.
Given the existentialist emphasis on concrete personal experience, freedom, authenticity, responsibility, awareness of death, and personal determination of values, it is not surprising that existentialist philosophers should also consider the question of romantic love.
The films of Austrian director Michael Haneke seem to start out “normally” and then slowly descend into an abyss—but what if that abyss is in fact living authentically? Could we see Haneke’s award-winning Caché (2005) as an exemplification of Sartrean existentialism? And what are some other philosophical influences in his work?
More on The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947), this time on part III. Ep. 140 laid out man’s “ambiguity,” but what does that mean in terms of practical decision making? B. talks about the practical paradoxes of dealing with oppression and what it might mean to respect the individual given that there’s no ultimate, pre-existent moral rulebook to guide us, nothing we can point to to excuse the sacrifice of someone to a “greater good.”
Become a PEL Citizen to listen to the the Aftershow featuring Beauvoir scholar Jennifer Hansen.
End song: “Indiscretion (Mess Things Up)” from the 1993 Mark Lint album Spanish Armada: Songs of Love and Related Neuroses.
More on The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947), this time on part III. Ep. 140 laid out man’s “ambiguity,” but what does that mean in terms of practical decision making? De B. talks about the practical paradoxes of dealing with oppression and what it might mean to respect the individual given that there’s no ultimate, pre-existent moral rulebook to guide us, nothing we can point to to excuse the sacrifice of someone to a “greater good.”
Continued from ep. 140. After this, listen to the the Aftershow featuring Jennifer Hansen.
End song: “Indiscretion (Mess Things Up)” from the 1993 Mark Lint album Spanish Armada: Songs of Love and Related Neuroses.
What’s the connection between existentialism and feminism in Simone de Beauvoir’s work?
On The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947), parts I and II. We return to existentialism! Instead of describing our predicament as “absurd,” de Beauvoir prefers “ambiguous”: We are a biological organism in the world, yet we’re also free consciousness transcending the given situation. Truly coming to terms with this freedom means not only understanding that you transcend any label, but also recognizing that your freedom requires the freedom of others. The full foursome discuss whether this attempt to ground an existentialist ethics works.
End song: “Reasonably Lonely,” by Mark Lint.
On The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947), parts I and II. We return to existentialism! Instead of describing our predicament as “absurd,” de Beauvoir prefers “ambiguous”: We are a biological organism in the world, yet we’re also free consciousness transcending the given situation. Truly coming to terms with this freedom means not only understanding that you transcend any label that you or anyone else has put on you, but also recognizing that your freedom requires the freedom of others. The full foursome discuss whether this attempt to argue for an existentialist ethics works.
End song: “Reasonably Lonely,” by Mark Lint.
Our first Aftershow! Host Stephen West of the the Philosophize This! podcast is joined by Mark Linsenmayer, Alan Cook, Nick Halme, Kam Gill, Amogh Sahu, and Aaron Watson. Recorded January 25, 2015.
On Karl Jaspers’s “On My Philosophy” (1941), featuring comedian/actor/director/author Paul Provenza. What’s the relationship between science and philosophy? What about religion? Jaspers thinks that science gives you facts, but for an overarching world-view, you need philosophy. Living such a world-view requires Existenz, or a leap towards transcendence, which is of course religion’s stock and trade, though Jaspers is not a fan of dogmatism.
End song: “Another Way to Fall,” by New People, from The Easy Thing (2009). Download the album.
On Karl Jaspers’s “On My Philosophy” (1941), featuring comedian/actor/director/author Paul Provenza
