Featuring Stephen West of the Philosophize This! podcast, Dylan Casey, David Buchanan, and (eventually) Amogha Sahu. Recorded February 15, 2015.
Emerson on the Over-Soul
A walk through Emerson’s essay “The Over-Soul.” We learn a lot about how the Divine is supposed to affect us if we’re in the proper mood, but get no information about what it actually is.
Not School Discussion on Antonin Artaud Posted
Our Philosophy and Theater group’s two discussions on Antonin Artaud’s “The Theater and Its Double” are now available for listening by PEL Citizens. Sign up to get ’em!
Episode 92: Henri Bergson on How to Do Metaphysics
On Bergson’s “An Introduction to Metaphysics” (1903). With guest Matt Teichman.
Episode 92: Henri Bergson on How to Do Metaphysics
On Bergson’s “An Introduction to Metaphysics” (1903). How does metaphysics differ from science? While Kant had dismissed metaphysics as groundless speculation about things beyond human knowledge, Bergson sees it as a matter of grasping things “from the inside” via intuition. With guest Matt Teichman. Learn more.
End song: “I Recall” by Mark Lint & the Simulacra
Precognition of Ep. 92: Henri Bergson
Guest Matt Teichman introduces Bergson’s essay “An Introduction to Metaphysics.”
Episode 89: Berkeley: Only Ideas Exist!
On Bishop George Berkeley’s Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (1713).
Episode 89: Berkeley: Only Ideas Exist!
On Bishop George Berkeley’s Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (1713). Does the “real” existence of the everyday objects around us have to mean existence as matter, i.e. as something that could exist in the absence of any mind to think about it? Berkeley says no! These objects are really ideas! Learn more.
End song: “I Am the Cosmos,” performed by Mark Lint, covering a 70s classic by Chris Bell.
Precognition of Ep. 89: Berkeley’s Idealism
Wes Alwan introduces George Berkeley’s Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous.
Precognition of Ep. 89: Berkeley’s Idealism
Wes Alwan introduces George Berkeley’s Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous.
Topic for #92 (and a Not School Group): Henri Bergson
Listen to Matt Teichman’s introduction to the reading. Listen to the episode. Henri Bergson is an early 20th century French philosopher that PEL listeners may recall from our philosophy of humor episode, and we’ll be tackling his philosophy proper via the entrance drug “An Introduction to Metaphysics,” a short essay from 1903 (freely available online) that is essentially pheonomenology without Continue Reading …
The Truth (and some lies) About Art
“A bad work of art is an oxymoron,” Patrick Doorly says, “like bad skill.” He thinks there’s no such thing as bad art because the term does not refer to a class of objects or a category of activity. Art simply refers to excellence or to any “high-quality endeavor,” a phrase he borrows from Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art Continue Reading …
Episode 79: Heraclitus on Understanding the World (Citizens Only)
Eva Brann discusses her book The Logos of Heraclitus (2011). What is the world like, and how can we understand it? Heraclitus thinks that the answer to both questions is found in “the logos.”
End song: “Trading Away” by New People, from Impossible Things (2011).
PREVIEW-Episode 79: Heraclitus on Understanding the World
Eva Brann discusses her book The Logos of Heraclitus (2011). What is the world like, and how can we understand it? Heraclitus thinks that the answer to both questions is found in “the logos.”
Topic for #80: Heidegger on our Existential Situation
Listen right now to Seth giving a 10-min summary of Heidegger’s essay via a new “Precognition” mini-sode. Back in episode 32 (over two years ago!) we covered the project of Martin Heidegger’s most famous work, Being and Time, composed early in his career. (Incidentally, I see a new and exciting looking translation of this on Amazon that you may want Continue Reading …
Topic for #79: Heraclitus’s Metaphysics of Tension with Eva Brann
On Saturday 6/22 the regular foursome sat down with Eva Brann, Dylan’s colleague at St. John’s in Anapolis, to talk with her about her book The Logos of Heraclitus. Heraclitus (who was active around 500 BCE) is the “Pre-Socratic” philosopher with probably the most influence today and together with Parmenides (it’s not clear which of the two lived first or Continue Reading …
Not School: Giles Deleuze’s “A Thousand Plateaus”
On Chapters 1-3 of the 1980 book by Deleuze and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari. Featuring Mark Linsenmayer, Daniel McKay, Dom Romani, Paul Harris, and Rian Mitch.
The book presents a large-scale picture of cosmology; we hashed through a set of difficult concepts.
PREVIEW-Ep. 68: Guest David Chalmers on the Scrutability of the World
On David Chalmers’s book Constructing the World (2012). How are all the various truths about the world related to each other? David Chalmers, famous for advocating a scientifically respectable form of brain-consciousness dualism, advocates a framework of scrutability: if one knew some set of base truths, then the rest would be knowable from them.
Episode 68: David Chalmers Interview on the Scrutability of the World (Citizens Only)
On David Chalmers’s book Constructing the World (2012). How are all the various truths about the world related to each other? David Chalmers, famous for advocating a scientifically respectable form of brain-consciousness dualism, advocates a framework of scrutability: if one knew some set of base truths, then the rest would be knowable from them. Learn more.
End song: “What You Want” by New People, from Might Get It Right (2013). Download the album.
Topic for #68: Interviewing David Chalmers on Conceptual Analysis and Metaphysics
On 12/4 we spoke with David Chalmers about his new book, Constructing the World. Listen to the episode. The book explores a series of related positions that attempt to generalize and improve upon Carnap’s project of logical construction in the Aufbau, the subject of our episode 67 (which will be posted soon). Carnap’s project was problematic mainly because first, it Continue Reading …