Stoicism | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Episode 158: Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Part One)

February 13, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

On the Consolation, written as he awaited execution in 524 CE.

Do bad things really happen to good people? Boethius, surprisingly, says no, for Stoic (anything that can be taken away can’t be of central importance; you can’t lose your virtue in this way), Aristotelian (all things tend toward the good, and the best thing for a person is achieving his or her innate potential, which is to be virtuous), and Christian (God’s unknowable plan means that even the stuff that seems bad really isn’t) reasons.

Episode 158: Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (Citizen Edition)

February 12, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

On the Consolation, written as Boethius awaited execution in 524 CE.

End song: “Last the Evening” by Carrie Akre, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music Ep. 17.

What Epictetus Really Thinks Is in Our Power

January 17, 2017 by Greg Sadler 10 Comments

Stoicism proposes an ongoing discipline of deliberately withdrawing one’s desires and aversions from external matters and applying them to what lies within one’s own person. Getting this distinction right—what is in our power and what is not—turns out to be integral to understanding and practicing Stoic philosophy as a way of life.

Episode 144: Guest Martha Nussbaum on Anger (Part Two)

August 8, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

More interview on Anger and Forgiveness, now covering social justice, the role of anger and forgiveness in enacting justice and bringing about social change, and more on when Stoicism is legitimate or against human nature.

Episode 144: Guest Martha Nussbaum on Anger (Part One)

August 1, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

On Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice (2016). What role should we allow anger to play in our public life? Should systems of punishment be utilitarian, or should they be retributive? Nussbaum thinks that anger necessarily involves the desire for payback, which is unhelpful. We should instead use anger to prevent future harm.

Episode 144: Guest Martha Nussbaum on Anger (Citizen Edition)

August 1, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 6 Comments

On Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice (2016). What role should we allow anger to play in our public life? Should systems of punishment be strictly impartial, or should they be retributive, i.e., expressive of public anger? Nussbaum thinks that anger necessarily involves the desire for payback, and that this is nearly always unhelpful. We should instead use anger to look toward the future and prevent future harm. Mark, Wes, and Dylan interview Martha and then discuss issues raised in the interview and the book.

End song: “Forgive the Disco,” a Nussbaum-inspired Mark vocal on an instrumental by Sean Beeson, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #23.

Episode 132: Living Stoically with Seneca and Massimo (Part Two)

February 1, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 18 Comments

Continuing with Massimo Pigliucci on selected “moral epistles” by Seneca: 4. On the Terrors of Death, 12. On Old Age, 49. On the Shortness of Life, 59. On Pleasure and Joy, 62. On Good Company, 92. On the Happy Life, 96. On Facing Hardship, and 116. On Self Control. We see what Seneca has to say about love and other emotions, facing loss and other hardships, fear of death, desire, pursuing your goals, keeping company with ancient sages, and wearing nice clothes. All you have to do to be happy is have “a complete view of truth!”

Episode 132: Living Stoically with Seneca and Massimo (Part One)

January 25, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

On selected “moral epistles” (from around 65 CE) by Lucius Annaeus Seneca: 4. On the Terrors of Death, 12. On Old Age, 49. On the Shortness of Life, 59. On Pleasure and Joy, 62. On Good Company, 92. On the Happy Life, 96. On Facing Hardship, and 116. On Self Control. We’re joined by Massimo Pigliucci of the How to Be a Stoic blog. How can one most profitably interpret weird-sounding Stoic recommendations about the emotions and about following nature?

Episode 132: Living Stoically with Seneca and Massimo (Citizen Edition)

January 24, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

On selected “moral epistles” (from around 65 CE) by Lucius Annaeus Seneca: 4. On the Terrors of Death, 12. On Old Age, 49. On the Shortness of Life, 59. On Pleasure and Joy, 62. On Good Company, 92. On the Happy Life, 96. On Facing Hardship, and 116. On Self Control. We’re joined by Massimo Pigliucci of the How to Be a Stoic blog, who for a long time was on the Rationally Speaking podcast. How can one most profitably interpret weird-sounding Stoic recommendations about the emotions and about following nature?

End song: “I Lose Control” by The MayTricks from So Chewy! (1993).

Entering the Stoic World, Part 2: Metaphysics

November 11, 2015 by Peter Hardy Leave a Comment

The Stoics regarded each person as a microcosmos in whom the macrocosmos of the universal Logos is reflected.

Entering the Stoic World, Part 1: Cynicism 2.0

November 6, 2015 by Peter Hardy 5 Comments

Some early Stoics argued for disrespecting private property, fornicating in temples, and eating one’s parents when they died.

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 8: More Possessiveness

November 5, 2015 by Peter Hardy 5 Comments

With the parable of the Rich Fool, Jesus commends the practice of memento mori as a release from anxiety about one’s life.

Take on da Noise

October 22, 2015 by Chris Sumberg 2 Comments

According to the stoic Seneca, the need for absolute quiet as a prerequisite to serious reflection signals that one’s thoughts and emotions, not environmental conditions, are in turmoil. However, whether you are Seneca, The Who’s sound guy, or merely a modern apartment dweller, noise, as opposed to sound, is defined subjectively.

Episode 124: The Stoic Life with Epictetus (Part Two)

September 28, 2015 by Mark Linsenmayer 16 Comments

More on the Manual of Epictetus, aka The Enchiridion, from around 135 CE.

We discuss elements of E’s program including making your will “conformable to nature,” the connection between controlling your emotions and seeing truth, what exactly about our mentality we’re supposed to be able to control, engaging other people (or not), and how to behave at parties.

Listen to part one first or get the Citizen Edition.

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Episode 124: The Stoic Life with Epictetus (Part One)

September 21, 2015 by Mark Linsenmayer 18 Comments

On the Manual of Epictetus, aka The Enchiridion (135 CE). What’s a wise strategy for life? Stoicism says that the secret is mastering yourself. If you let yourself be perturbed by things that happen to you, then you’re a slave to those external things. Your good lies only in the things you can (with practice) control, i.e., your own attitudes, judgments, and opinions. Even a slave can be free, according to this strategy: Nothing external can break your spirit unless you let it. So, how weird and misguided is that advice? With guest Alex Fossella.

Continued on part 2, or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

Episode 124: The Stoic Life with Epictetus (Citizen Edition)

September 19, 2015 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

End song: “But I Won’t” by Mark Lint from Spanish Armada: Songs of Love and Related Neuroses (1993).

Topic for #124: The Stoic Life with Epictetus

September 19, 2015 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

We read Epictetus’s Manual aka the Enchiridion with guest Alex Fossella. Can people really control their emotions? Should they?

Episode 36: More Hegel on Self-Consciousness (Citizens Only)

April 10, 2011 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Part 2 of our discussion of G.F.W. Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, covering sections 178-230 within section B, “Self-Consciousness.”

First, Hegel’s famous “master and slave” parable, whereby we only become fully self-conscious by meeting up with another person, who (at least in primordial times, or maybe this happens to everyone as they grow up, or maybe this is all just happening in one person’s head… who the hell knows given the wacky way Hegel talks)? Then the story leads into stoicism, skepticism, and the “unhappy consciousness” (i.e. Christianity).

End song: “I Die Desire,” by Mark Lint and the Fake from the album So Whaddaya Think? (2000).

PREVIEW-Episode 36: More Hegel on Self-Consciousness

April 10, 2011 by Mark Linsenmayer 20 Comments

Part 2 of our discussion of G.F.W. Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit,” covering sections 178-230 within section B, “Self-Consciousness.”

Episode 33: Montaigne: What Is the Purpose of Philosophy? (Citizens Only)

February 18, 2011 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

Discussing Michel de Montaigne’s Essays: “That to Philosophize is to Learn to Die,” “Of Experience,” “Of Cannibals,” “Of the Education of Children,” and “Of Solitude” (all from around 1580) with some discussion of “Apology for Raymond Sebond.”

Renaissance man Montaigne tells us all how to live, how to die, how to raise our kids, that we don’t know anything, and a million Latin quotations. Montaigne put the skeptical fire under Descartes and both draws upon and mocks a great deal of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. Plus, he’s actually fun to read.

End song: “I Like Life” from Mark Lint and the Fake Johnson Trio (1998).