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Ep. 290: Susanne Langer on Our Symbol-Making Nature (Part Two for Supporters)

March 26, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

Continuing from part one on Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 1-5. We start off by considering whether the hardware-software distinction with regard to our minds can help make sense of what Langer has proposed in saying that symbol-making is basic to us. Is she saying that we're more flexible (software-driven) than evolutionary biology would suggest, or does her claim that  Continue Reading …

Ep. 290: Susanne Langer on Our Symbol-Making Nature (Part One for Supporters)

March 26, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 1-5, plus as background most of us looked at Langer's main influence Ernst Cassirer via his An Essay on Man (1944), ch. 1-5. Featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. What is human nature, and why does natural science have such trouble studying it? Cassirer's massive, three-volume Philosophy of Symbolic Forms (1923-1929) provides the  Continue Reading …

Ep. 284: Mark Twain’s Philosophy of Human Nature (Part One)

December 20, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. On "What Is Man" (1905) by Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth. This rare bit of philosophy wasn't published until after Twain's death (maybe because it was too bleak?), but apparently reflects the mechanistic, cynical take on humanity that informed his literary works. Twain was  Continue Reading …

Ep. 284: Mark Twain’s Philosophy of Human Nature (Part Two for Supporters)

December 17, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Continuing from part one on "What Is Man" (1905). We work through Twain's metaphors for human nature: We're like engines made out of various materials, and these materials can be refined (through education, which acts to root out prejudice), though the type of material will limit its maximum capabilities even with refinement. We also get Twain's concept of instinct:  Continue Reading …

Ep. 284: Mark Twain’s Philosophy of Human Nature (Part One for Supporters)

December 17, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On "What Is Man" (1905) by Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth. This rare bit of philosophy wasn't published until after Twain's death (maybe because it was too bleak?), but apparently reflects the mechanistic, cynical take on humanity that informed his literary works. Twain was a tech guy; he was interested in the machines of his age, and he  Continue Reading …

Ep. 251: Simone Weil’s Ideal Society

September 7, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

On "Theoretical Picture of a Free Society" (1934). What's the ideal living situation for us all, given the peculiarities of human nature? Nine years before Weil laid out her list of human needs, as covered in our last episode, she wrote a work that she hoped to be her magnum opus, Reflections Concerning the Causes of Liberty and Social Oppression. This included the "Analysis  Continue Reading …

Ep. 249: Dewey on Education and Thought (Citizen Edition)

August 3, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

On John Dewey's How We Think (1910) ch. 1 and Democracy and Education (1916) ch. 1, 2, 4, and 24. What model of human nature should serve as the basis for education policy? Dewey sees the scientific method as a refinement of ordinary thinking: We wonder about something, and experiencing that uncomfortable uncertainty, we jump for an explanation. Education should train us to  Continue Reading …

Ep. 209: Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Part Two: Discussion)

February 18, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

Mark, Seth, Wes, and Dylan continue to delve into philosophical issues raised by our interview with Fukuyama. Chiefly, he recommends a "creedal national identity" as a solution for tribalism. Does this work? More abstractly, Fukuyama takes this "demand for recognition" issue as coming from Hegel (or rather Kojeve's interpretation of Hegel, which is much easier to understand  Continue Reading …

Ep. 209: Guest Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Part One)

February 11, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

We interview Francis Fukuyama about his 2018 book Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. What motivates people? Economists point to desire, and to rationality as a way of efficiently getting what we desire. Frank says this misses out on the third aspect of the soul that Plato identified in the Republic: thymos, or spiritedness. Our thymos makes us  Continue Reading …

Ep. 209: Guest Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Citizen Edition)

February 10, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 27 Comments

We interview Francis Fukuyama about his 2018 book Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment and then continue the discussion on our own. What motivates people? Economists point to desire, and to rationality as a way of efficiently getting what we desire. Frank says this misses out on the third aspect of the soul that Plato identified in the Republic:  Continue Reading …

Episode 184: Pascal on Human Nature (Part One)

February 19, 2018 by Mark Linsenmayer 6 Comments

On Blaise Pascal's Pensées (1670). Is it rational to have religious faith? You're likely familiar with "Pascal's Wager," one of the most famous arguments for the existence of God, but it's not clear that Pascal bought into the argument as it is usually understood. To see why, you have to get Pascal's picture of human nature, which is surprisingly insightful, and is what  Continue Reading …

Ep. 184: Pascal on Human Nature (Citizen Edition)

February 19, 2018 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On Blaise Pascal's Pensées (1670). Is it rational to have religious faith? You're likely familiar with "Pascal's Wager," one of the most famous arguments for the existence of God, but it's not clear that Pascal bought into the argument as it is usually understood. To see why, you have to get Pascal's picture of human nature, which is surprisingly insightful, and is what  Continue Reading …

Topic for #102: Emerson on Wisdom and Individuality

September 4, 2014 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On 8/31/14, we discussed three essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "The American Scholar" (an address from 1837): Emerson throws out the image of Man separated out into individual men to enable us to get more kinds of things done. But this division of labor has led to narrowing of minds, so that, e.g. an individual merchant or farmer ends up being focused his whole life on the  Continue Reading …

Aristotle v. Nietzsche on Human Nature (And What This Means for New Work)

October 15, 2013 by Mark Linsenmayer 10 Comments

I want to briefly call attention to the transition between virtue ethics as conceived by Aristotle and the jump to Nietzsche in the context of our New Work discussion. I'm not looking up quotes for this post; I'm less interested in their particular views then in a divergence of ways of thinking about virtue. For Aristotle, man has a Telos, a built-in goal, a type of  Continue Reading …

Episode 70: Marx on the Human Condition (Citizens Only)

January 30, 2013 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Karl Marx

On Karl Marx's The German Ideology, Part I, an early, unpublished work from 1846. What is human nature? What drives history? How can we improve our situation? Marx thought that fundamentally, you are what you do: you are your job, your means of subsistence. All the rest, this culture, this religion, this philosophy, is just a thin layer over our basic situation. Ideas are  Continue Reading …

PREVIEW-Episode 70: Marx on the Human Condition

January 30, 2013 by Mark Linsenmayer 90 Comments

Karl Marx

This is a short preview of the full episode. Buy Now Purchase this episode for $2.99. Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes; exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020; and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat more  Continue Reading …

Episode 42: Feminists on Human Nature and Moral Psychology (Citizens Only)

September 5, 2011 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Discussing Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s utopian novel Herland (1915) and psychologist Carol Gilligan's In a Different Voice (1983). How does human nature, and specifically moral psychology, vary by sex? Charlotte Perkins Gilman claims that when philosophers have described human nature as violent and selfish, they have in mind solely male nature. Females, left to themselves in  Continue Reading …

PREVIEW-Episode 42: Feminists on Human Nature and Moral Psychology

September 5, 2011 by Mark Linsenmayer 39 Comments

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This is a 30-minute preview of a 1 hr, 35-minute episode. Buy Now Purchase this episode for $2.99. Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes; exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020; and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat  Continue Reading …

Topic for #42: Feminists on Human Nature and Moral Psychology

July 25, 2011 by Mark Linsenmayer 19 Comments

This episode will feature Azzurra Crispino, whom you might recall from our Kant on epistemology episode. We're reading two works that were significant for the development of her interest in feminist philosophy: Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland(1915) is a utopian novel about a society of all women. Gilman thought that when classic philosophers describe human nature as  Continue Reading …

Episode 23: Rousseau: Human Nature vs. Culture (Citizens Only)

July 29, 2010 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

Discussing Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse in Inequality (1754) and book 1 of The Social Contract (1762). What's the relationship between culture and nature? Are savages really slavering beasts of unquenchable appetites, or probably more mellow, hangin' about, flexin' their muscles, just chillin', eh? Rousseau engages in some wild speculation about the development of  Continue Reading …

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