Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth discuss the celebrated 1986 essay "On Bullshit." (In part two, we'll cover by contrast his 1982 essay "The Importance of What We Care About.") Sponsors: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. Get 15% off MasterClass at masterclass.com/PEL. What is Continue Reading …
Ep. 327: Harry Frankfurt on Bullshit and Authenticity (Part One for Supporters)
Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth discuss the celebrated 1986 essay "On Bullshit." (In part two, we'll cover by contrast his 1982 essay "The Importance of What We Care About.") What is bullshit, or "humbug" as a previous essay by Max Black calls it? Frankfurt starts with Black's definition ("deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious word or deed, of Continue Reading …
Ep. 326: Michael Tomasello on the Evolution of Agency (Part Two)
Subscribe to get this ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Wes, Dylan, and guest Chris Heath continue to discuss The Evolution of Agency (2022) in light of our interview with the author in part one. We relate examples from the book of animals of various levels of complexity making deliberative decisions, exhibiting rationality, experiencing causality, or otherwise Continue Reading …
Ep. 326: Guest Michael Tomasello on the Evolution of Agency (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. The psycho-linguist prof. from Duke University joins Wes, Dylan, Seth, and Chris Heath to discuss his 2022 book, The Evolution of Agency: Behavioral Organization from Lizards to Humans. What is human agency? How would we determine whether an animal is a legitimate agent, as opposed to just Continue Reading …
Ep. 326: Michael Tomasello on the Evolution of Agency (Part Two for Supporters)
Wes, Dylan, and guest Chris Heath continue to discuss The Evolution of Agency (2022) in light of our interview with the author in part one. We relate examples from the book of animals of various levels of complexity making deliberative decisions, exhibiting rationality, experiencing causality, or otherwise engaging in agentive or proto-agentive behaviors. One particularly Continue Reading …
Ep. 326: Guest Michael Tomasello on the Evolution of Agency (Part One for Supporters)
The psycho-linguist prof. from Duke University joins Wes, Dylan, Seth, and Chris Heath to discuss his 2022 book, The Evolution of Agency: Behavioral Organization from Lizards to Humans. What is human agency? How would we determine whether an animal is a legitimate agent, as opposed to just acting automatically? Tomasello investigates this by thinking about what capabilities Continue Reading …
Ep. 325: Paul Grice on Meaning and Conversation (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this ad-free, plus a supporter-exclusive part three. Listen to a preview.. Continuing from part one on "Meaning" (1957), "Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions" (1969), and "Logic and Conversation" (1975) with guest Steve Gimbell. We tie Grice's initial project about meaning into this apparently new project in "Logic and Conversation": What Continue Reading …
Ep. 325: Paul Grice on Meaning and Conversation (Part Three for Supporters/Closereads Part One)
Mark and Wes Closeread through the 1975 ordinary language philosophy paper. What are the assumptions behind everyday conversation? When someone violates a conversational norm by, e.g., giving too much information or stating something literally untrue, what are the strategies by which we try to make sense of what they're saying as still a sensible contribution to the Continue Reading …
Ep. 325: Paul Grice on Meaning and Conversation (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on "Meaning" (1957), "Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions" (1969), and "Logic and Conversation" (1975) with guest Steve Gimbell. We tie Grice's initial project about meaning into this apparently new project in "Logic and Conversation": What are the rules that people tend to follow in conversation to actually be engaged in the cooperative enterprise of Continue Reading …
Ep. 325: Paul Grice on Meaning and Conversation (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On "Meaning" (1957), "Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions" (1969), and "Logic and Conversation" (1975), featuring Mark, Seth, Dylan, and guest prof. Steve Gimbell of Gettysburg College. Sponsors: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. Check out Drilled, a true-crime podcast about Continue Reading …
Ep. 325: Paul Grice on Meaning and Conversation (Part One for Supporters)
On "Meaning" (1957), "Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions" (1969), and "Logic and Conversation" (1975), featuring Mark, Seth, Dylan, and guest prof. Steve Gimbell of Gettysburg College. Someone who utters something typically means something in particular, but is that meaning determined just by the definitions of the words uttered? Clearly not, as words can be used in Continue Reading …
Ep. 324: Plato’s “Cratylus” on Language (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this ad-free, plus a supporter-exclusive part three. Listen to a preview.. Continuing from part one on Plato's mid-period dialogue about language. Is attaching a word to a thing, i.e. naming it, like other activities such as carpentry or sewing that can go wrong? Can we put the "form" of a thing into letters and syllabus of its name? Continue Reading …
Ep. 324: Plato’s “Cratylus” on Language (Part Three for Supporters/Closereads)
Mark and Wes do a Closeread on the latter part of the dialogue, where Socrates argues to Cratylus that even if names (words) were devised to somehow depict the things they stand for, that wouldn't guarantee that they ACCURATELY describe the world. You can't look at the definitions of words to learn about the world; you have to actually investigate the world directly. Follow Continue Reading …
Ep. 324: Plato’s “Cratylus” on Language (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content including a supporter-exclusive part three to this discussion coming out next week. On Plato's mid-period dialogue from around 388 BCE. How do words relate to the things they represent? Featuring Mark, Wes, and Dylan. Sponsors: Visit GreenChef.com/60pel (code 60pel) for 60% off and free Continue Reading …
Ep. 324: Plato’s “Cratylus” on Language (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on Plato's mid-period dialogue about language. Is attaching a word to a thing, i.e. naming it, like other activities such as carpentry or sewing that can go wrong? Can we put the "form" of a thing into letters and syllabus of its name? Socrates argues (at least through most of the dialogue) that we can, that some names can be more appropriate than Continue Reading …
Ep. 324: Plato’s “Cratylus” on Language (Part One for Supporters)
On Plato's mid-period dialogue from around 388 BCE. How do words relate to the things they represent? Featuring Mark, Wes, and Dylan. We're all familiar with the feeling when we see someone really hot but with a very dweeby name that something seems to have gone wrong. We also know Native names like "Running Eagle" that may or may not seem to really fit the person with that Continue Reading …
Ep. 323: Acquiring Language: Tomasello vs. Chomsky (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this ad-free, plus a supporter-exclusive Nightcap discussion about cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, and more. Continuing from part one on Michael Tomasello's "Language Is Not an Instinct" (1995) and Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (2003), as contrasted with Chomsky universal grammar (the Continue Reading …
Ep. 323: Acquiring Language: Tomasello vs. Chomsky (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On Michael Tomasello's "Language Is Not an Instinct" (1995) and ch. 1, 2, 8 and 9 of Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (2003), plus the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article Innateness and Language by Fiona Cowie (posted 2008, updated 2017). Featuring Continue Reading …
Ep. 323: Acquiring Language: Tomasello vs. Chomsky (Part One for Supporters)
On Michael Tomasello's "Language Is Not an Instinct" (1995) and ch. 1, 2, 8 and 9 of Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (2003), plus the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article Innateness and Language by Fiona Cowie (posted 2008, updated 2017). Featuring Mark, Wes, Seth, Dylan, and guest Christopher Heath. Clearly we are not born Continue Reading …
Ep. 311: Understanding the Dao De Jing (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one with guest Theodore Brooks on the central Daoist text attributed to Laozi. We start with more discussion of practical vs. metaphysical interpretations of the first chapter. In either case, Laozi recommends not being too self-conscious; you want to be fully present in your activities, open to the subtle cues of your environment, without too much Continue Reading …