Continuing from part one on Faces At the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism (1992), with guest Lawrence Ware. We discuss mainly "The Racial Preference Licensing Act" (ch. 3), "Divining a Racial Realism Theory" (ch. 5), and "The Rules of Racial Standing" (ch. 6). The first of these essays plays with an idea (attributed to his fictional alter ego Geneva Crenshaw) Continue Reading …
Ep. 278: Derrick Bell on the Dynamics of Racism (Part One for Supporters)
On Faces At the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism (1992), a foundational text in critical race theory that presents stories and essays related chiefly to the philosophy of law. Lawrence Ware returns to talk with Mark, Seth, and Dylan about "The Space Traders." What is racism, and how can we measure its acuity? Bell thinks that an argument that racism in America Continue Reading …
Ep. 278: Derrick Bell on the Dynamics of Racism (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On Faces At the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism (1992), a foundational text in critical race theory that presents stories and essays related chiefly to the philosophy of law. Lawrence Ware returns to talk with Mark, Seth, and Dylan about "The Space Traders." What is Continue Reading …
Philosophy vs. Improv #6: Let’s Have Made a Deal!
We try to be boring. Bill tries to make a discovery amidst the canards. Mark tries to be a good meta-dupe. But is our success in these attempts guaranteed by the deal you have already made with us by listening to this? It is not. With our first celebrity guest, the final judge is unveiled! In the post-game, we talk Conan O'Brien (sound effects) and talk shows in general, Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Ep. 269: Arendt on Totalitarianism (Part Two)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode in its entirety. Citizens can get it here. Continuing from part one on “On the Nature of Totalitarianism” and On the Origins of Totalitarianism, ch. 13 (both from around 1953). In this preview, we further discuss the perverse logic of totalitarianism, how according to Arendt the ideology driving it becomes self-sustaining, generating Continue Reading …
Ep. 269: Arendt on Totalitarianism (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on “On the Nature of Totalitarianism” and On the Origins of Totalitarianism, ch. 13 (both from around 1953). We further discuss the logic of totalitarianism, how according to Arendt the ideology driving it becomes self-sustaining, generating ever-new enemies. How does this compare to (violence-free) scientism, logicism, objectivism, or anything else Continue Reading …
Ep. 269: Arendt on Totalitarianism (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. On “On the Nature of Totalitarianism” (1953) and On the Origins of Totalitarianism, ch. 13 (added in 1953), featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Totalitarianism was epitomized in fiction by 1984 but enacted in the real world in Russia under Stalin and what would have likely been the end-point of Germany under Continue Reading …
Ep. 269: Arendt on Totalitarianism (Part One for Supporters)
On “On the Nature of Totalitarianism” (1953) and On the Origins of Totalitarianism, ch. 13 (added in 1953), featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Totalitarianism was epitomized in fiction by 1984 but enacted in the real world in Russia under Stalin and what would have likely been the end-point of Germany under Hitler had he been allowed to stay in power. Is this form of Continue Reading …
REISSUE-PEL Ep 37: Locke on Political Power (w/ New Intro)
Happy Holidays! Have you heard our 2020 Holiday Party yet? Discussing John Locke's Second Treatise on Government (1690). What makes political power legitimate? Like Hobbes, Locke thinks that things are less than ideal without a society to keep people from killing us, so we implicitly sign a social contract giving power to the state. But for Locke, nature's not as bad, so Continue Reading …
PEL Nightcap Mid December 2020: New Intro to ep. 37 Locke on Political Power (Citizens Only)
Recorded on Nov. 30 after Locke II, we try a new format for this Nightcap: Relevantly to our current series on Locke, we re-listened to our first visit with the learned gentleman back in 2011: Ep. 37 on his Second Treatise on Government (1690). Seth couldn't join us for this one, but that's OK, because he was on that original episode, whereas Wes and Dylan were not, so here Continue Reading …
Ep. 256: Kropotkin’s Anarchist Communism (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode, or listen to a preview. Citizens can get the entire second part here. On Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread (1892), discussed by Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. If we want an egalitarian society, do we need the state to accomplish this? Kropotkin says no, that in fact the state inevitably serves the interests of the few, and that if Continue Reading …
Ep. 256: Kropotkin’s Anarchist Communism (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing on Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread (1892). Start with Part One. If Kropotkin is right that mutual aid is a natural tendency and so communism is very much feasible, why hasn't it happened already? This is the question that he starts off with in his Preface (added in 1913), and we go through this and many other specific points and passages from the text. Continue Reading …
Ep. 256: Kropotkin’s Anarchist Communism (Part One for Supporters)
On Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread (1892), discussed by Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. If we want an egalitarian society, do we need the state to accomplish this? Kropotkin says no, that in fact the state inevitably serves the interests of the few, and that if we got rid of it, our natural tendencies to cooperate would allow us through voluntary organizations to keep Continue Reading …
Ep. 254: Michael Sandel Against Meritocracy (Part Two for Supporters)
Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth continue the discussion on The Tyranny of Merit to talk further about how social values can and do change, and whether these changes can be engineered in the way that Sandel seems to want. Are the only options letting the market determining values on the one hand and a centralized, command economy on the other? Is it inevitable that any attempt to Continue Reading …
Ep. 254: Michael Sandel Interview: Against Meritocracy (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode, or listen to a preview. Citizens can get the entire second part here. On The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? (2020). Previously, Michael Sandel argued for the necessity for public policy to be driven by ethics (see our ep. 97) and then applied this to argue against a purely market-driven society (see our Continue Reading …
Ep. 254: Michael Sandel Interview: Against Meritocracy (Part One for Supporters)
On The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? (2020). Previously, Michael Sandel argued for the necessity for public policy to be driven by ethics (see our ep. 97) and then applied this to argue against a purely market-driven society (see our interview with him for ep. 98). A society where everything is for sale seems obviously open to critique, but what about Continue Reading …
Ep. 252: Habermas on Communication as Sociality (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing on Jürgen Habermas's “Actions, Speech Acts, Linguistically Mediated Interactions, and the Lifeworld" (1998), with guest John Foster. We get into the details about the validity claims that are inherent in speech: When I make an assertion, I'm not just uttering a fact without context, but am (ordinarily, like not if I'm saying this in the context of playing a part Continue Reading …
Ep. 252: Habermas on Communication as Sociality (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode, or listen to a preview. Citizens can get the entire second part here. On Jürgen Habermas' "Actions, Speech Acts, Linguistically Mediated Interactions, and the Lifeworld" (1998), with guest John Foster. What's the relation between individuals and society? Habermas says it's language. But don't picture this as fully formed but isolated Continue Reading …
Ep. 252: Habermas on Communication as Sociality (Part One for Supporters)
On Jürgen Habermas' “Actions, Speech Acts, Linguistically Mediated Interactions, and the Lifeworld" (1998), with guest John Foster. What's the relation between individuals and society? Habermas says it's language. But don't picture this as fully formed but isolated animal individuals that then acquire language and thereby come together to form a society. Rather, what Continue Reading …
Ep. 251: Simone Weil’s Ideal Society
On "Theoretical Picture of a Free Society" (1934). What's the ideal living situation for us all, given the peculiarities of human nature? Nine years before Weil laid out her list of human needs, as covered in our last episode, she wrote a work that she hoped to be her magnum opus, Reflections Concerning the Causes of Liberty and Social Oppression. This included the Continue Reading …