Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content, including a supporter-exclusive part three. Finishing up U.T. Place's "Is Consciousness a Brain Process?" (1956) and starting on J.J.C. Smart's "Sensations and Brain Processes" (1959). Start with part one. Place (presaging Dennett), argues against the "phenomenological fallacy," which Continue Reading …
Partially Examined Recap: September 2026
The Partially Examined Life (PEL) focused on the philosophy of mind for much of September. The month continued the discussion of Daniel Dennett, moving from his model of consciousness to his rejection of qualia. Closereads then looked at his later account of consciousness as “fame in the brain.” Donald Davidson approached the mind from another direction with the problem of Continue Reading …
Ep. 401: Mind/Brain Identity Theory (U.T. Place, J.J.C. Smart) (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On U.T. Place's "Is Consciousness a Brain Process?" (1956) and J.J.C. Smart's "Sensations and Brain Processes" (1959). Featuring Mark, Wes, Seth, and Chris Heath. Is there some a priori reason for denying that the mind can actually be the brain? Obviously those two words don't mean the same Continue Reading …
Ep. 400: Dennett Rejects Qualia (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content, including a supporter-exclusive part three. Continuing from part one (and before that, ep. 399) on Consciousness Explained (1991), ch. 12-14. We continue discussing Dennett's response in ch. 14 to Nagel's "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" which gets us in a whole conversation about animal Continue Reading …
Closereads: Late Dennett on Consciousness (Part One)
Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get previous and future installments of this podcast. On "Are We Explaining Consciousness Yet?" (2001), which was published along with various papers by psychologists, neurologists, and other researchers to discuss the "growing consensus" about the architecture of the mind, which Dennett takes to be concordant Continue Reading …
Ep. 400: Dennett Rejects Qualia (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing from ep. 399 on Dan Dennett's Consciousness Explained (1991), now focusing on ch. 12-14, and again featuring Mark, Seth, Dylan, and Chris Heath. Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. We've given the basic outline of Continue Reading …
Ep. 399: Dan Dennett’s Model of Mind (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing from part one on Consciousness Explained, ch. 5, with some reference to ch. 12. Sponsor: Get your free trial at shopify.com/pel. Dennett seemed to be saying that the phi-phenomenon (where we see a dot as having moved and transformed into another dot, whereas it was really just Continue Reading …
Partially Examined Recap: August 2026
August at PEL began with political philosophy, as a live discussion of the Federalist Papers asked whether the American system is working as its architects intended or whether some of its problems were there from the beginning. The month then turned toward the philosophy of mind. A conversation on Donald Davidson offered one way of fitting reasons, causes, and mental events Continue Reading …
Ep. 399: Dan Dennett’s Model of Mind (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On Daniel C. Dennett's Consciousness Explained (Ch. 1, 5, and a bit of 12; ep. 400 will complete ch. 12 along with 13). Featuring Mark, Seth, Dylan, and Chris Heath. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. What is the mind? Dennett claims Continue Reading …
Partially Examined Recap: July 2026
July at PEL took up some basic questions about knowledge, reason, and their limits. C.S. Lewis argued for Christianity on the basis of morality found in human experience, and the Hegel discussions returned to the conflict between faith and Enlightenment reason. From there, Peirce challenged the idea that we have immediate knowledge even of ourselves, while Galen Strawson’s Continue Reading …
Ep. 398: Donald Davidson on Mind vs. Body (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. We finish up "Mental Events" (1970) and move on to "Actions, Reasons, and Causes" (1963), still with guest Chris Heath. Start with part one. Davidson gives us some more technical ways to think about the difference between the mental sphere and the physical. The failure of behaviorism to Continue Reading …
Ep. 398: Donald Davidson on Mind vs. Body (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On "Mental Events" (1970) and "Actions, Reasons, and Causes" (1963), featuring Mark, Wes, and returning guest Chris Heath. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Davidson was roughly in the "ordinary language" camp of analytic philosophy, Continue Reading …
Ep. 397: Federalist Papers LIVE (Part Two)
Subscribe to get the full Citizen Edition of this episode now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. We now have a free-form discussion in light of what was raised in part one about the Federalist Papers and Frederick Douglass' Fourth of July Speech: What should we do about the problems identified? Is the system broken beyond repair? Was it built with fatal flaws in it? Is Continue Reading …
Ep. 397: Federalist Papers LIVE (Part One)
Subscribe to get the full Citizen Edition of this episode now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. To celebrate our nation's 250th birthday, we gathered in front of a lovely audience near Madison WI to discuss Federalist Papers 70, 78, 39, 54, 10 by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison from 1787-1788, Anti-Federalist Papers 78-80 (aka Brutus 11 and 15), and Frederick Continue Reading …
Ep. 396: Peirce on Knowledge (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing from part one on "Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man" and "Some Consequences of Four Incapacities." Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. We start by looking more closely at the idea that all mental Continue Reading …
Ep. 396: Peirce on Knowledge (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On essays by Charles Sanders Peirce: "Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man" and "Some Consequences of Four Incapacities," both from 1868. Featuring Mark, Wes, Seth and Dylan. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Are Continue Reading …
Partially Examined Recap: June 2026
June at PEL centered on questions of reason and human understanding, at least philosophically speaking. The month continued the extended engagement with Hegel while also branching into AI, Beckett, fantasy literature, and the evolving Star Wars universe. All this plus new conversations in music and improvisation. Below is a full recap of everything published across the network Continue Reading …
Ep. 395: C.S. Lewis Argues for Christianity (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing from part one on Mere Christianity (1952), starting with book 2, "What Christians Believe." Lewis argues that the problem of evil, far from showing that there is no good God, shows that we are endowed with that moral sense that judges the world to be evil, which was Lewis' proof for Continue Reading …
Ep. 395: C.S. Lewis Argues for Christianity (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On Mere Christianity, a 1952 book crafted from radio broadcasts delivered from 1941-1944. Featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Lewis tries to argue to a general audience that Christianity provides a Continue Reading …
Ep. 394: Hegel on Faith vs. The Enlightenment (Part Two)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. We conclude our treatment for the moment of the Spirit section of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (sec. 527-73). This directly continues part one, though we began on this tear back with ep. 386 in late Feb., so that's a five-month stretch on basically the same book, either reading it or Continue Reading …