The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

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Episode 209: Guest Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Part One)

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Talking with the author about Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment (2018).

What motivates people? Frank points to thymos, the demand for recognition, as at the root of both the “end of history” (i.e., democracy as demand for equal recognition) and our current tribalist stalemates, involving desires to be seen—in virtue of group membership—as superior. Thymos may in fact be central to self-consciousness, ethics, and the origins of political association.

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Episode 208: Epicurus on Seeking Pleasure (Part Two)

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More on the ethics-related fragments of Epicurus and accounts by Martha Nussbaum and Tim O’Keefe.

What would a purely therapeutic philosophy consist of? Does philosophy as pursuit of pleasure mean that you eschew political action or other substantial goals? Mark, Wes, and Dylan try to figure out which of our desires are vain and whether society is compatible with human happiness.

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End song: “The Language of the Body” by Ant-Bee as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #68.

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Episode 208: Epicurus on Seeking Pleasure (Part One)

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On the extant fragments of Epicurus (341–270 BCE) dealing with ethics, including his “Letter to Menoceus,” “The Principal Doctrines,” and “The Vatican Collection of Epicurean Sayings.” Plus Tim O’Keefe’s Epicureanism (2010) and Martha Nussabum’s The Therapy of Desire (1994).

How are we supposed to act once we understand nature as atoms bouncing and swerving around in the void, temporarily producing order through fortuitous collisions? Ruling out demanding gods means ethics is dictated by human nature: we avoid pain and pursue pleasure. However, we’re very bad at this, and Epicurus wants to fix all of us!

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Episode 207: Herder on Art Appreciation (Part Two)

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Continuing on Johann Gottfried von Herder’s “The Causes of Sunken Taste among the Different Peoples in Whom It Once Blossomed” (1775), then moving to “On the Influence of the Belles Lettres on the Higher Sciences” (1781), “Does Painting or Music Have a Greater Effect? A Divine Colloquy” (1785), and and some of Critical Forests: Fourth Grove (written 1769). With guest rock god John “Jughead” Pierson.

What grounds good taste in society? Can an aesthetic education ground abstract thought? What would such an education consist of? Which is more affecting, music or painting?

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Episode 207: Herder on Art Appreciation (Part One)

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On Johann Gottfried von Herder’s “The Causes of Sunken Taste among the Different Peoples in Whom It Once Blossomed” (1775), “On the Influence of the Belles Lettres on the Higher Sciences” (1781), “Does Painting or Music Have a Greater Effect? A Divine Colloquy” (1785), and some of Critical Forests: Fourth Grove (written 1769). With guest rock god John “Jughead” Pierson.

What is aesthetic taste, and why do some societies (e.g., ancient Greece) seem rife with genius while others are not? Herder has some definite ideas about aesthetic, sensual education as grounding for abstract thinking, rages against attempts to copy another culture’s art forms, and likes melody over harmony. Plus he coined the term “zeitgeist”!

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Episode 206: Lucretius’s Epicurean Physics (Part One)

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On Lucretius’s poem about Epicurean science: On the Nature of Things aka De Rerum Natura from the first century BCE.

How does the world work? Lucretius presents a system that is surprisingly modern, and raises philosophical issues that are still on point today: What are the basic building blocks of the universe? How could these give rise to minds? What ethical views does a mechanistic worldview imply?

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Episode 205: Suicide with Dr. Drew (Durkheim et al) (Part Two)

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More on philosophical and psychological interpretations of and judgments about suicide with guest Drew Pinsky.

Is suicide an epidemic or a choice? Could it be both? Socrates didn’t fear death and inspired Stoics and others to see suicide in some circumstances as brave. Or is it always cowardly? Does meaninglessness motivate suicide?

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Episode 205: Suicide with Dr. Drew (Durkheim et al) (Part One)

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We are rejoined by Drew Pinsky to discuss philosophical and psychological readings by Seneca, Arthur Schopenhauer, Sigmund Freud, Emile Durkheim, Albert Camus, plus two 2017 survey papers on predictors of suicide.

Is suicide ever morally permissible? If it’s a symptom of mental illness rather than a chosen behavior, is it even appropriate to morally evaluate it?

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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”?

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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 C.E.) 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.

Continue on part 2, or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now along with the Citizen-only follow-up discussion getting more into the text of Marcus. Please support PEL!

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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