The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog
Broadway stars Walter Bobbie and Bill Youmans perform Plato’s dialogue in which Socrates awaits his execution. Should Socrates defy the verdict and try to escape the city? Socrates says no; that would be ungrateful to the city whose benefits he’s enjoyed. Bill joins the full PEL foursome for a lively discussion.
End song: “Fall Away” by Mark Lint and the Fake from the album So Whaddaya Think? (2000).
Broadway stars Walter Bobbie and Bill Youmans perform Plato’s dialogue in which Socrates awaits his execution. Should Socrates defy the verdict and try to escape the city? Socrates says no; that would be ungrateful to the city whose benefits he’s enjoyed. Bill joins the full PEL foursome for a lively discussion.
End song: “Fall Away” by Mark Lint and the Fake from the album So Whaddaya Think? (2000).
An Epicurean examination of the war on drugs.
Interviewing him on his book “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets” and continuing the discussion of his first book, “Liberalism and the Limits of Justice.” Free economic transactions are supposed to benefit both the buyer and the seller, so why not allow prostitution, vote buying, pay-to-immigrate, selling ad space on your house or body, and premium versions of everything for those willing to pay more? Sandel thinks that these practices are degrading even if uncoerced, and argues that classical liberalism–by trying to maintain neutrality on philosophical questions like “what is the good?”–doesn’t have the resources to prevent rampant and undesirable commodification. Learn more.
End song: “The Like Song,” from The MayTricks’ So Chewy (1993).
Interviewing him on his book “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets” and continuing the discussion of his first book, “Liberalism and the Limits of Justice.”
Ep 97 and 98: Michael J. Sandel, Ep 99: What Have We Learned, Ep 100: Plato’s Symposium
Rawls’s principle 2a, to remind you, is (quoting from wikipedia here): Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that (Rawls, 1971, p.302; revised edition, p. 47): (a) they are to be of the greatest benefit to the least-advantaged members of society, consistent with the just savings principle (the difference principle). This has appeal to modern liberals because it Continue Reading …
When reading Rawls for the podcast, I took note of a seemingly innocuous distinction between Rawls and the traditional social contractarians that nonetheless struck me as odd given his appeal to social contract theory. The traditional social contract theorists assume that rational individuals enter into social contracts to secure natural rights. “Secure” here means ‘protect from the vicissitudes of the Continue Reading …
On John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice (1971), most of ch. 1-4. What makes for a just society? Rawls gives us a thought experiment: Imagine you don’t know whether you’re rich or poor or any of the other specifics of your situation (he calls this going behind “the veil of ignorance” into the “original position”). Now what principles would you pick to determine basic social institutions? Learn more.
End song: “Yours to Keep,” by Mark Lint & the Madison Lint Ensemble, featuring Bob Linsenmayer. Read about it.
On John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice (1971), most of ch. 1-4.
Seth Paskin summarizes the John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice.
Seth Paskin summarizes the John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice.
Listen now to Seth’s Precognition for this episode. On the evening of 11/10, we’re discussing John Rawls. What is justice? Rawls interpreted this question as asking what basic social rules and structures would result in a society that we’d consider fair. Justice is fairness, on a social level. Fairness, of course, is an intuitive notion, and begs for a philosophical Continue Reading …
In his new book The Origins of Political Order,Francis Fukuyama tackles the history of the idea and its reality “from prehuman times to the French Revolution.” Fukuyama works under the contemporary name of political science, but he is really one of the few people we have today intellectually able to go beyond the narrow confines of academic specialization and to Continue Reading …
Discussing The Republic by Plato, primarily books 1 and 2. What is justice? What is the ideal type of government? In the dialogue, Socrates argues that justice is real (not just a fiction the strong make up) and that it’s not relative to who you are (in the sense that it would always be just to help your friends and hurt your enemies). Justice ends up being a matter of balancing your soul so the rational part is in control over the rest of you.
End song: “Manager” by New People, from TImpossible Things (2011) Download the album.
Discussing The Republic by Plato, primarily books 1 and 2. What is justice? What is the ideal type of government? In the dialogue, Socrates argues that justice is real (not just a fiction the strong make up) and that it’s not relative to who you are (in the sense that it would always be just to help your friends and hurt your enemies). Justice ends up being a matter of balancing your soul so the rational part is in control over the rest of you.
What is justice? What is the ideal type of government? These are the two questions we’ll be focusing on in our discussion of the most famous book of philosophy ever. Look, we realize that if you’ve ever taken a philosophy class, you’ve likely already been introduced to this work, and there are many many other places on the Web to Continue Reading …
Discussing Jeremy Bentham’s An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation chapters 1-5, John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism, and modern utilitarian Peter Singer’s “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.”)
End song: “So Whaddaya Think?” by Mark Lint and the Fake (2000).
Discussing Jeremy Bentham’s An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation chapters 1-5, John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism, and Peter Singer’s “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.”
