Wes and Dylan discuss Leo Strauss’s “Mass Education and Democracy” (1967) and Richard Rorty’s “Democracy and Philosophy” (2007). Must philosophical training, or liberal education more generally, necessarily be restricted a privileged minority? PEL Citizens get to find out!
Bonus Discussion: Identity Politics Preliminaries (Citizens Only)
Wes and Mark try to figure out whether anyone wants us to have a full episode on identity politics, maybe reading some Francis Fukuyama or some Ta-Nehisi Coates. We’ve already talked about white privilege, Orwellian “nationalism,” free speech, electoral strategy, James Baldwin, etc. What’s left?
Episode 188: Discussing “Lysistrata” and Politics with Lucy and Emily (Part Two)
Concluding our discussion of Aristophanes’s play with Lucy Lawless and Emily Perkins. We focus on trying to connect its lessons to the here and now: Is Lysistrata’s victory properly described as the ascension of some kind of “feminine spirit” over warlike values, and how does that actually relate to women’s struggles now to attain positions of power?
Listen to our performance and then part one of the discussion before listening to this (or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition). Please support PEL!
Sponsors: Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service. Get 20% off your first order of premium menswear essentials at mackweldon.com, promo code PEL.
Episode 188: Discussing “Lysistrata” and Politics with Lucy and Emily (Part One)
We are rejoined by actresses Lucy Lawless and Emily Perkins to discuss Aristophanes’s bawdy play. Listen to us perform it first.
Supplementary readings included Jeffery Henderson’s introduction to his 1988 translation of the play; “Sexual Humor and Harmony in Lysistrata” by Jay M. Semel (1981); and “The ‘Female Intruder’ Reconsidered: Women in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and Ecclesiazusae” by Helene P. Foley (1982).
Continue with part two, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
Sponsors: Get a free trial and 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at squarespace.com/examined, offer code EXAMINED. Visit thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service. Please also check out the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.
Episode 188: Discussing “Lysistrata” and Politics with Lucy and Emily (Citizen Edition)
We are rejoined by actresses Lucy Lawless and Emily Perkins to discuss Aristophanes’s bawdy play. Listen to us perform it first.
Supplementary readings included Jeffery Henderson’s introduction to his 1988 translation of the play; “Sexual Humor and Harmony in Lysistrata” by Jay M. Semel (1981); and “The ‘Female Intruder’ Reconsidered: Women in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and Ecclesiazusae” by Helene P. Foley (1982).
End song: “Women of Industry (ABWA Charm)” by Jill Sobule, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #18.
PREVIEW-Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part Three)
Three substantial chunks of a follow-up conversation to our free speech episode. Mark and Wes discuss Jordan Peterson on speech, organizations promoting certain speech (as opposed to restricting), insults vs. arguments, offense vs. harm, “incoherence” arguments like Fish’s, fundamental principles in ethics, and more.
Get the full discussion by becoming a PEL Citizen or Patreon supporter.
Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part Two)
Continuing our free-form discussion, trying to make sense of Stanley Fish’s “There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It’s a Good Thing, Too” (1994) and other potential rationales for prohibiting hate speech. How might the same sentence or idea be used in different speech acts, some of which might be legitimately censured but others not?
Listen to part one first, or get the Citizen Edition, along with the full-length follow-up discussion by Mark and Wes.
Sponsors: Visit Squarespace.com for a free trial and 10% off with offer code EXAMINED and the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.
Episode 187 Follow-Up: The Limits of Free Speech (Citizens Only)
Mark and Wes continue the discussion from ep. 187. We watched some Jordan Peterson, so we talk about his position a bit, and about the appropriateness of organizations encouraging certain kinds of speech, the offense principle, the difference (and overlap!) between good-faith arguments and insults, conspiracy theories, “incoherence arguments” like Fish’s (also used by Kant, Rand, and others), and “fundamental moral principles”: Does that concept even make sense given that any principle requires judgement and probably sub-principles to apply it to real situations?
End song: “Combine Man” by RHEMA, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #67.
Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Part One)
A free-form discussion drawing on Stanley Fish’s “There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It’s a Good Thing, Too” (1994), Joel Feinberg’s “Limits to the Free Expression of Opinion” (1975), and other sources.
What are the legitimate limits on free speech? Feinberg delves into the harm and offense principles. Fish argues that every claim to free speech has ideological assumptions actually favoring some types of speech baked into it. A lively back and forth ensues!
Don’t wait for part two! Get the full, unbroken Citizen Edition now! Please support PEL! We’ll also be soon releasing a full-length follow-up discussion to this one between Mark and Wes, just for supporters.
Episode 187: The Limits of Free Speech (Citizen Edition)
A free-form discussion drawing on Stanley Fish’s “There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It’s a Good Thing, Too” (1994), Joel Feinberg’s “Limits to the Free Expression of Opinion” (1975), and other sources.
What are the legitimate limits on free speech? Feinberg delves into the harm and offense principles. Fish argues that every claim to free speech has ideological assumptions actually favoring some types of speech baked into it. A lively back and forth ensues, which Mark and Wes then continued in a supporter-only, 90-minute follow-up.
End song: “We Don’t Talk about It” by Steve Wynn, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #43.
Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part Two)
Continuing on John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty. We discuss “partial truths,” whether “truth will out,” whether we can discard some “experiments in living” as established failures, education, “barbarians,” how Mill compares to Nietzsche, and more.
Listen to part 1 first, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition.
End song: “Flavor” by Tori Amos with strings by John Philip Shenale, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #12.
Sponsors: Visit Squarespace.com for a free trial and 10% off with offer code PEL, thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service, and textexpander.com/podcast for 20% off pain-free insertion of your heavy-use text snippets into your apps.
Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part One)
Discussing John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty (1859).
If we disapprove of certain behaviors, when is it okay to prohibit them legally? What about just shaming people? Mill’s “harm principle” says that we should permit anything (legally and socially) unless it harms other people. But what constitutes “harm”? And how can we discourage someone from, e.g., just being drunk all the time?
Mark, Wes, and Dylan bring this debate to current issues and explore some of the weirder aspects of Mill’s view.
Don’t wait for part 2! Get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!
Sponsors: Visit MUBI.com/PEL for 30 days of free curated movies, thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL for a one-month free trial of The Great Courses Plus Video Learning Service, and Squarespace.com for a free trial and 10% off with offer code EXAMINED.
Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Citizen Edition)
Discussing John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty (1859).
If we disapprove of certain behaviors, when is it okay to prohibit them legally? What about just shaming people? Mill’s “harm principle” says that we should permit anything (legally and socially) unless it harms other people. But what constitutes “harm”? And how can we discourage someone from, e.g., just being drunk all the time?
Mark, Wes, and Dylan bring this debate to current issues and explore some of the weirder aspects of Mill’s view.
End song: “Flavor” by Tori Amos with strings by John Philip Shenale, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #12.
Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Part Two)
Continuing with the Econtalk host on the moral aspects of economics, focused by Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Should we sacrifice ourselves to the machine of the economy? How does Smith’s idea of virtue and talk of the “impartial spectator” line up with economic growth?
Listen to part 1 first or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL! Learn how to install the Citizen feed on your mobile device. The 2018 Wall Calendar is now available to order!
End song: “Needle Exchange” by Fritz Beer, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #2.
Visit MUBI.com/PEL for 30 days of free curated movies. Check out The Panpsycast podcast at thepanpsycast.com.
Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Part One)
The host of Econtalk provides his take on our ep. 174 on The Wealth of Nations, and explores with us the idea of emergent economic order. Is the economy more like a machine or a garden or what?
Continue with part 2 or get the full, ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
Listener discounts: Visit lovepop.com/pel for 3D pop-up cards; simplecontacts.com/pel, promo code PEL; MUBI.com/PEL for curated movies; and Squarespace.com, offer code EXAMINED.
Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Citizen Edition)
The host of Econtalk provides his take on our ep. 174 on The Wealth of Nations, and explores with us the idea of emergent economic order. Is the economy more like a machine or a garden or what?
End song: “Needle Exchange” by Punchy; listen to singer/songwriter Fritz Beer interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #2.
Is Capitalism Moral? (Reactions to a Video by Walter Williams)
Yes, capitalism has provided a high standard of living, but how should goods other than monetary ones play into a public policy debate? Mark riffs off of Adam Smith and a video by Walter Williams.
Episode 170 Second Opinions: Leftists on “Society of the Spectacle”
Mark and Seth ask Doug Lain (Zero Squared), Brett O’Shea (Revolutionary Left Radio), and C. Derick Varn (Symptomatic Redness) what they think of Debord and PEL’s treatment of the book on Ep #170.
End song: “Open Your Eyes (Wake Up)” from Tyler Hislop, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #24.
Go to blueapron.com/PEL for three free meals with free shipping. Get 20% off your first pair of underwear plus free shipping meundies.com/pel.
Episode 170 Second Opinions: Leftists on “Society of the Spectacle” (Citizen Edition)
Mark and Seth ask Doug Lain (Zero Squared), Brett O’Shea (Revolutionary Left Radio), and C. Derick Varn (Symptomatic Redness) what they think of Debord and PEL’s treatment of the book on Ep #170.
End song: “Open Your Eyes (Wake Up)” from Tyler Hislop, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #24.
Episode 170: Guy Debord’s “Society of the Spectacle” (Part Two)
More on the 1967 Situtationist book. Do we buy Debord’s critique? Is any merely partial critique (i.e., no revolution) just more spectacle? Is technology inherently dehumanizing? Don’t these passivity/anti-technology arguments even apply to books? Could Debord’s model of authenticity catch on in society as a whole?
Start with part 1, or get the Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
End song: “Millionaire” by The Mekons (1993); Jon Langford appears on Nakedly Examined Music #22.
Try blinkist.com/pel for audio condensations of non-fiction books, and try Seriously Wrong: srslywrong.com.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 7
- Next Page »