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Episode 176: Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments (Part Two)

November 13, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 5 Comments

Continuing with Dave Pizarro on articles by Stanley Milgram, Philip Zimbardo, and John Doris about situationism, which entails that people’s level of morality will vary by situation, as opposed to virtue ethics, which posits that how people will act in a novel situation will be determined by the quality of their character.

Listen to part 1 first or get the ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

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Episode 176: Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments (Part One)

November 6, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

On Stanley Milgram’s “Behavioral Study of Obedience” (1963), Philip Zimbardo’s “Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison” (1973), and John Doris’s “Persons, Situations, and Virtue Ethics” (1998).

Do difficult situations make good people act badly? Are there really “good” and “bad” people, or are we all about the same, but put in different situations? With guest Dave Pizarro from Very Bad Wizards.

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Episode 176: Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments (Citizen Edition)

November 6, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 5 Comments

On Stanley Milgram’s “Behavioral Study of Obedience” (1963), Philip Zimbardo’s “Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison” (1973), and John Doris’s “Persons, Situations, and Virtue Ethics” (1998).

Do difficult situations make good people act badly? Are there really “good” and “bad” people, or are we all about the same, but put in different situations?

End song: “Doing the Wrong Thing – Live” by Kaki King; listen to her on Nakedly Examined Music #54.

Episode 159: Confucius on Virtuous Conduct (Part Two)

March 6, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 4 Comments

Continuing on the Analects without our guest. We cover passages on glibness, using names properly, filial conduct, remonstrance, love of learning, places where he sounds like Socrates, and more!

Episode 159: Confucius on Virtuous Conduct (Part One)

February 27, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 7 Comments

On the Analects, compiled after 479 BCE.

How should we act? What’s the relation between ethics and politics? Can a bunch of aphorisms written in the distant past for an unapologetically hierarchical culture emphasizing traditional rituals actually give us relevant, welcome advice on these matters? Are we even in a position to determine the meaning of these sayings? With guest Tzuchien Tho.

Episode 159: Confucius on Virtuous Conduct (Citizen Edition)

February 26, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

On the Analects, compiled after 479 BCE.

How should we act? What’s the relation between ethics and politics? Can a bunch of aphorisms written in the distant past for an unapologetically hierarchical culture emphasizing traditional rituals actually give us relevant, welcome advice on these matters? Are we even in a position to determine the meaning of these sayings? With guest Tzuchien Tho.

End song: “Please Allow Me to Look at You Again,” from The Edge of Heaven (2013) by Gary Lucas, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 7.

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

February 20, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

Continuing on the Consolation, chiefly books 3 and 4, on virtue ethics (we all naturally aim at the good but can be mistaken about it or too weak to follow it), theodicy (even the apparent bad is actually good from God’s perspective), and the weird way in which those interact (fame, pleasure, wealth are really all the same thing, i.e., happiness, i.e., God).

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

February 13, 2017 by Mark Linsenmayer 5 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.

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.

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 12 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 148: Aristotle on Friendship and Happiness

October 3, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

On the final books 8–10 of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics. What does friendship have to do with ethics? With guest Ana Sandoiu.

End song: “A Few Gone Down” from The MayTricks’ Happy Songs Will Bring You Down (1994).

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 10: More Mammon

September 8, 2016 by Peter Hardy 12 Comments

Jesus’s continued critique of the imperial economic system identifies what immoral uses of money look like.

Episode 132: Living Stoically with Seneca and Massimo

January 25, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 8 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?

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

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

January 24, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 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).

Episode 124: The Stoic Life with Epictetus

September 21, 2015 by Mark Linsenmayer 19 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. Nothing external can break your spirit unless you let it. So, how weird and misguided is that advice? With guest Alex Fossella.

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

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 5: Inwardness

July 14, 2015 by Peter Hardy 9 Comments

The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector illuminates several of the virtues promoted by Jesus, and can be used as a focal point for understanding the interior aspect of his ethics proposed in the Sermon on the Mount.

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 4: Imprudence?

June 18, 2015 by Peter Hardy 17 Comments

In contrast to Jesus’s teachings on the virtue of prudence, there are also his parables that feature strong aspects of imprudence. Whereas prudence is an intellectual virtue that involves reasoning out one’s conscience, what Jesus urges in his imagery of imprudence is that we also act from sensitivity to our emotions.

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 3: Shocking Images

June 12, 2015 by Peter Hardy 3 Comments

According to the Parable of the Dishonest Manager, in the Gospel of Luke, the Kingdom of God is like a man who makes dishonest use of his boss’s money

Camus’ Great Blasphemy and the Ethics that Followed

May 29, 2015 by Amée LaTour 23 Comments

Albert Camus often gets lumped in with twentieth-century French existentialists, a crew known for its hardline atheistic membership. But Camus was something different, something much more blasphemous: an agnostic who wouldn’t revere God even if He did exist.

Parables as a Guide to Jesus the Philosopher, Part 2: Prudence

May 27, 2015 by Peter Hardy 4 Comments

Part 1 of this series ended with my arguments that because Jesus was not a systematic philosopher, it would be helpful to elaborate his moral teachings in the framework of an ethical system, and that virtue ethics is the system best suited to this purpose, as many Christians have traditionally thought. Taking up this approach, in Parts 2 to 4 Continue Reading …

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