• Log In

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog

Subscribe on Android Spotify Google Podcasts audible patreon
  • Home
  • Podcast
    • PEL Network Episodes
    • Publicly Available PEL Episodes
    • Paywalled and Ad-Free Episodes
    • PEL Episodes by Topic
    • Nightcap
    • Philosophy vs. Improv
    • Pretty Much Pop
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • (sub)Text
    • Phi Fic Podcast
    • Combat & Classics
    • Constellary Tales
  • Blog
  • About
    • PEL FAQ
    • Meet PEL
    • About Pretty Much Pop
    • Philosophy vs. Improv
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • Meet Phi Fic
    • Listener Feedback
    • Links
  • Join
    • Become a Citizen
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Log In
  • Donate
  • Store
    • Episodes
    • Swag
    • Everything Else
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • My Account
  • Contact
  • Mailing List

Ep. 295: Kant on Preventing War (Part Two)

June 11, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Subscribe to get Parts 1 and 2 ad-free, plus a supporter exclusive Part 3, which you can preview. Continuing from part one on Immanuel Kant's essay "Perpetual Peace," we go further into how Kant's politics relate to his ethics and consider his actual policy proposals: each state must be a republic, i.e. somehow representative with separation of powers, and countries should  Continue Reading …

Ep. 295: Kant on Preventing War (Part Three for Supporters)

June 11, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

Concluding on Kant's "Perpetual Peace," plus Jurgen Habermas' "Kant's Idea of Perpetual Peace, with the Benefit of Two Hundred Years' Hindsight." Start with part one. We talk about the two appendices to Kant's essay: first about "realpolitik," the idea that because other states will act immorally, then the wise politician must also act immorally. As you might predict, Kant  Continue Reading …

Ep. 295: Kant on Preventing War (Part Two for Supporters)

June 5, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Continuing from part one on Immanuel Kant's essay "Perpetual Peace," we go further into how Kant's politics relate to his ethics and consider his actual policy proposals: each state must be a republic, i.e. somehow representative with separation of powers, and countries should join in a confederation. Kant also spells out the new idea of "cosmopolitan right," which only entails  Continue Reading …

Ep. 295: Kant on Preventing War (Part One for Supporters)

June 5, 2022 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On Immanuel Kant's essay "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch" (1795). Do nations have the "right" to go to war? What principles ground just international relations, and are there structures and agreements that we can embrace to prevent prevent future wars? Naturally, we consider the current conflict in Ukraine as well as other recent wars. Kant's essay reads like a  Continue Reading …

Ep. 278: Derrick Bell on the Dynamics of Racism (Part Two for Supporters)

September 27, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer 10 Comments

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)

September 27, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

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)

September 27, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

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!

August 30, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

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)

May 16, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

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)

May 10, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

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)

May 10, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer 9 Comments

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)

May 9, 2021 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

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)

December 21, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

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)

December 14, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

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)

November 9, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 10 Comments

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)

November 8, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 6 Comments

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)

November 8, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

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)

October 12, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 9 Comments

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)

October 12, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 8 Comments

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 interview  Continue Reading …

Ep. 254: Michael Sandel Interview: Against Meritocracy (Part One for Supporters)

October 11, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

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 …

Next Page »

PEL Live Show 2023

Brothers K Live Show

Citizenship has its Benefits

Become a PEL Citizen
Become a PEL Citizen, and get access to all paywalled episodes, early and ad-free, including exclusive Part 2's for episodes starting September 2020; our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat more causally; a community of fellow learners, and more.

Rate and Review

Nightcap

Listen to Nightcap
On Nightcap, listen to the guys respond to listener email and chat more casually about their lives, the making of the show, current events and politics, and anything else that happens to come up.

Subscribe to Email Updates

Select list(s):

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Support PEL

Buy stuff through Amazon and send a few shekels our way at no extra cost to you.

Tweets by PartiallyExLife

Recent Comments

  • Larry Young on Ep. 310: Wittgenstein On World-Pictures (Part One)
  • Wes Alwan on PEL Nightcap April 2022
  • Wes Alwan on Ep. 305: Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” (Part Three for Supporters)
  • Wes Alwan on Ep. 305: Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” (Part Three for Supporters)
  • Wes Alwan on Ep. 306: Dworkin and the Dobbs Decision (Part Three for Supporters)

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

Become a PEL Citizen!

As a PEL Citizen, you’ll have access to a private social community of philosophers, thinkers, and other partial examiners where you can join or initiate discussion groups dedicated to particular readings, participate in lively forums, arrange online meet-ups for impromptu seminars, and more. PEL Citizens also have free access to podcast transcripts, guided readings, episode guides, PEL music, and other citizen-exclusive material. Click here to join.

Blog Post Categories

  • (sub)Text
  • Aftershow
  • Announcements
  • Audiobook
  • Book Excerpts
  • Citizen Content
  • Citizen Document
  • Citizen News
  • Close Reading
  • Combat and Classics
  • Constellary Tales
  • Exclude from Newsletter
  • Featured Ad-Free
  • Featured Article
  • General Announcements
  • Interview
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Misc. Philosophical Musings
  • Nakedly Examined Music Podcast
  • Nakedly Self-Examined Music
  • NEM Bonus
  • Not School Recording
  • Not School Report
  • Other (i.e. Lesser) Podcasts
  • PEL Music
  • PEL Nightcap
  • PEL's Notes
  • Personal Philosophies
  • Phi Fic Podcast
  • Philosophy vs. Improv
  • Podcast Episode (Citizen)
  • Podcast Episodes
  • Pretty Much Pop
  • Reviewage
  • Song Self-Exam
  • Supporter Exclusive
  • Things to Watch
  • Vintage Episode (Citizen)
  • Web Detritus

Follow:

Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | Apple Podcasts

Copyright © 2009 - 2023 · The Partially Examined Life, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Copyright Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in