The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

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Episode 204: The Bhagavad Gita’s Hindu Theology (Part Two)

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More on this classic text by (perhaps) Vyasa, with guest Shaan Amin.

Should we acquire good karma or behave “beyond good and evil”? How can everything be Krishna while Krishna is also the an element of virtue we’re supposed to pursue? How does this compare with Stoicism? Plus, behold Krishna unveiled and be freaked out!

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End song: “Om Hari Om 1” by Tim Jordan Kirtan feat. Michael Manring. Hear Michael on Nakedly Examined Music #31.

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Episode 204: The Bhagavad Gita’s Hindu Theology (Part One)

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On the classic Hindu text (ca. the third century BCE), part of the Indian Epic poem Mahabharata, attributed to Vyasa, using Keya Maitra’s 2018 translation/commentary.

What is it to live wisely? What grounds duty? Listen as the supreme God Krishna convinces archer hero Arjuna that it’s OK for him to kill his relatives because, you know, reincarnation and determinism and caste-related duties. Lots of metaphysical complications! With guest Shaan Amin.

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Episode 203: Kristeva vs. Lovecraft on Horror and Abjection (Part Two)

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Concluding on Julia Kristeva’s Powers of Horror (1980) and focusing on H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu” (1928). Does Lovecraft’s presentation of nameless terror capture (or improve upon) what Kristeva means by “abjection”?

End song: “The Other” by Mark Lint feat. Lucy Lawless. Read about it and support the project.

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Episode 203: Kristeva vs. Lovecraft on Horror and Abjection (Part One)

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More on Julia Kristeva’s Powers of Horror (1980) plus H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu” (1928).

What is the object of fear? Mark, Seth, and Dylan get clearer on Kristeva’s view of the establishment and loss of the integrity of the self, what the “object” of abjection is, and what this all might have to do with feminism.

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Episode 202: Julia Kristeva on Disgust, Fear, and the Self (Part Two)

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Continuing on Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection, ch. 1 and 2. We try to get clearer on Kristeva’s talk of “object,” the relationship between language and abjection, how Kristeva is advancing on Freud, how to be a mom that allows a kid to separate in a healthy way, and how abjection plays into religion and writing.

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End song: “Eyes of Fire” by Jill Freeman, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #28.

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Episode 202: Julia Kristeva on Disgust, Fear and the Self (Part One)

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On Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (1980), ch. 1 and 2.

Kristeva writes about “abjection,” where we violently reject things like corpses, bodily wastes and other fluids, and the Lovecraftian unnameable that lurks at the edge of our awareness. Her book is also all about the self, suggesting modifications to Freud’s Oedipal complex and Lacan’s mirror-stage story. With guest Kelley Citrin.

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What Does It Mean for a Thing to Be “A Thing”?

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Despite its many obvious shortcomings, the human mind is a remarkably productive generator of categories—from the Linnaean system of taxonomy to two drinkers in a bar arguing over India Pale Ales, and indeed the person sitting next to them who complains to the bartender about “hipsters” taking over his favorite bar. This natural proclivity to set out a number of Continue Reading …

Episode 201: Marcus Aurelius’s Stoicism with Ryan Holiday (Part Two)

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More on The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (ca. 180 CE) plus Ryan’s The Daily Stoic (2016).

We talk Stoicism as “pre-mourning,” love of fate, the divine plan, political ethics, ethical models, and overwriting your brain with the Stoic operating system.

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End song: “Any Way the Wind Blows” by MIR; listen to Mark talk with Asif Illyas on Nakedly Examined Music #33.

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Episode 201: Marcus Aurelius’s Stoicism with Ryan Holiday (Part One)

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On The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (ca. 180 CE) plus Ryan’s The Daily Stoic (2016).

What does Stoicism look like in practice, in both ancient and modern contexts? You might think that eschewing the shallow, out-of-our-control trappings of fame and wealth in favor of personal cultivation would make one unambitious, but Ryan uses Marcus as a prime example of how to be a Stoic while trying to accomplish great things.

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Episode 200: Kant/Mendelssohn/Foucault on Enlightenment (Part Two)

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Continuing on “What Is Enlightenment” by Immanuel Kant (1784), “On Enlightening the Mind” by Moses Mendelssohn (1784), and “What Is Enlightenment” by Michael Foucault (1984).

We finish up Kant (the courage to know!) and lay out the Mendelssohn (cultivation vs. enlightenment) and Foucault (ironically heroize the present!). Will this conversation enlighten you? Who knows?

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End song: “Holy Fool” by Love and Rockets. Listen to singer Daniel Ash on Nakedly Examined Music #35.

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Episode 200: Kant/Mendelssohn/Foucault on Enlightenment (Part One)

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On “What Is Enlightenment” by Immanuel Kant (1784), “On Enlightening the Mind” by Moses Mendelssohn (1784), and “What Is Enlightenment” by Michael Foucault (1984).

At the end of the historical period known as the Enlightenment, a Berlin newspaper asked what exactly that is, and Kant and Mendelssohn responded. Both were concerned with whether too much enlightenment among the public can cause social unrest, and so whether there should be freedom of speech and opinion. Foucault thinks that we’re not yet Enlightened, that it’s an ongoing process of critique.

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Episode 199: Guest Elizabeth Anderson on Private Government (Part Two)

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Continuing on Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (2017) and “What Is the Point of Equality?” (1999).

Should the amount of respect that a worker gets be proportional to his or her market value? Our guest tells us more about how all citizens have the right to have their interests considered and what this means for how the relationship between employers and employees might change. We talk health care, income inequality, Tyler Cowen, libertarianism, and more.

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Episode 199: Guest Elizabeth Anderson on Private Government (Part One)

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The U. of Michigan prof joins us to discuss Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk about It) (2017) and “What Is the Point of Equality?” (1999).

What is a government? Liz argues that this includes companies, and that we should thus apply political science concepts in evaluating their power. Her egalitarianism involves everyone retaining a minimum level of inalienable autonomy, and we should resist encroachments on this not just by the state but from employers as well.

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Episode 198: Plato’s Forms in the “Parmenides” (Part Two)

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We get down to the specific questions considered in this perplexing Platonic dialogue: Are there Forms for all adjectives? Does the Form of a property itself have that property? How do Forms connect with particulars? How can we mortals have any connection to heavenly Forms anyway?

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End song: “Young and Lovely” by Jherek Bischoff. Hear him on Nakedly Examined Music #65.

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Episode 198: Plato’s Forms in the “Parmenides” (Part One)

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On the most peculiar Platonic dialogue, from ca. 350 BCE.

Are properties real things in the world, or just in the mind? Plato is known for claiming that these “Forms” are real, though otherworldly. Here, though, using Parmenides as a character talking to a young Socrates, Plato seems to provide objections here to his own theory. What’s the deal?

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Episode 197: Parmenides on What There Is (Part Two)

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Continuing with guest Peter Adamson with “On Nature” (475 BCE).

We finally get to fragment 8, which describes why Being must be singular and eternal, given that the notion of Non-Being is nonsense. But how could we as individuals be asking these questions then? Does his “Way of Seeming” work to explain the appearances, as opposed to reality?

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End song: “Circle” by Gareth Mitchell, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #4.

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About The Partially Examined Life

The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don’t have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we’re talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion

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