The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop. The post Pretty Much Pop #221: Streep Does Prada first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On Jürgen Habermas’ The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity (1985), featuring guest John Ganz.  Habermas defines modernity as Enlightenment ideals, discusses what's wrong with them (subjectivity), how Hegel argues constructively that a social element needs to be added this this, and how many other critics (e.g. Adorno, Nietzsche, and Foucault) instead argue more destructively against Enlightenment values like Truth, liberty, and justice. Sponsors: Check out the Scribe Optimize Workflow AI platform at Scribe.how/PEL. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. The post Ep. 391: Habermas Defends Modernity (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

It’s 1969, and as drug guru Danny tells us, “the greatest decade in the history of mankind is over.” There will, he says, be many refugees, and the film’s implication is that Withnail—who combines self-importance and lofty ambition with substance abuse and urban squalor—will not be one of them. Marwood, by contrast, has seen the writing on the wall, in the form of the salacious tabloid stories that, while they threaten to outcompete the world’s attention for the arts, ultimately can’t be used to excuse the pair’s failure to find work as actors. Countering this attentional collapse perhaps requires getting serious: leaving bohemian pretensions behind—and along with them, as Marwood finds out in their jaunt to the countryside—a backward-looking romanticism that can be used as a cover not just for artistic paralysis but upper class predations, both economic and sexual. Wes & Erin discuss the cult classic “Withnail and I,” and whether our capacity for sublimation suffers less from the crisis of modernity than from our attempts to transcend it. The post (sub)TEXT: The Romance of Self-Destruction in “Withnail and I” (1987) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing on Rameau's Nephew, getting further into Rameau's philosophy and practices and trying to figure out what this anti-hero can tell us about ethics, given that he displays the virtue of being candid about his own vices. We talk about "trade idioms" (unethical practices that we consider normal), education, and music. How does this reading relate to Hegel (who quotes it directly)? Sponsors: Don’t get caught running yesterday’s security on today’s web: visit nordlayer.com/browser. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. The post Ep. 390: Diderot Debates a Cynic (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Every PvI recording is an experiment, and in this case, our guest (a bigwig acting coach in NYC whom I went to high school with) didn't feel great about the episode, so I offered to paywall it. Here you get to hear what you're missing, along with a little pitch about why you should support the show. To respond affirmatively to this pitch and hear (and see!) the whole episode, visit patreon.com/philosophyimprov. The post BONUS: Redacted Acting Coach first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get previous and future installments of this podcast. On Ch. 2 "The Honest Soul and the Disintegrated Consciousness" in Sincerity and Authenticity (1972). This chapter focuses on a reading of Diderot's Rameau's Nephew and what Hegel made of it in the Phenomenology. The post Closereads: Lionel Trilling on Sincerity (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On Denis Diderot's Rameau's Nephew, a dialogue written in the 1760s. Is virtue necessary for happiness, or in the real world, is vice necessary to get by? Diderot's character Rameau argues the latter: that philosophical morality is problematic, and our imperative is prudence, which in Rameau's case involves a lot of clownish deception and (ironically) truth-telling. Sponsors: Don’t get caught running yesterday’s security on today’s web: visit nordlayer.com/browser. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. Get three months free of online payroll and benefits software for small businesses at gusto.com/pel. The post Ep. 390: Diderot Debates a Cynic (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

BJ is an LA improviser/actor/TV host (who teaches wounded warriors among others), and he chats with Mark and Mary about migratory patterns, TV shows that date you, how to draw in students, the realness of birds, and playing unsafe characters. Scenes include a forced-Fargo college experience, improv class on the roof, spying on birds, and keyboard warriors. Plus Marge and Larry. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. The post PvI#116: Full Bird Mode w/ BJ Lange first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

We discuss the hard sci-fi film Project Hail Mary, which along with The Martian (2015) was based on a novel by Andy Weir and adapted by Drew Goddard. Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al consider how hard we actually like our sci-fi, the directors of these films (by Lord/Miller and Ridley Scott respectively), how the books got adapted, Weir's other work (Artemis, some webcomics, etc.), and more. How does Weir make a series of scientific problems into an actual, enjoyable plot? Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/PRETTY (code PRETTY) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post Pretty Much Pop #219: Weir-ed Sci Fi: Hail Mary and The Martian first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Concluding on "Culture and its Realm of Actuality," in Hegel's Phenomenology via sections 519-526. We get into some of the ironic psychology here: In giving loyalty to the king, the nobles actually boost themselves qua givers. They should be grateful to the king to get wealth back from him, but being dependent on the king makes them resentful. The result is duplicitous people resenting those they claim to esteem, and moral language that is thus used inconsistently (the king is "good" when praised by "bad" when resented), which encourages jaded moral nihilism. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. The post Ep. 389: Hegel on Wealth and Power (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing on Hegel's Phenomenology, "Spirit" chapter, now up to sections 511-526, which finishes off the sub-section of "Self-Alienated Spirit" called "Culture and its Realm of Actuality." Whereas in our last discussion, obeying the state (public power) ran counter to hoarding wealth (private power), at this stage, the two converge, because the state gets concentrated in a single monarch who both receives our power and doles out wealth to his supporters. So putting your effort into obtaining private wealth ironically requires surrendering your agency (and hence wealth) to the state. Sponsors: Go to NerdWallet.com/PEL for trustworthy small business loans. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. Get three months free of online payroll and benefits software for small businesses at gusto.com/pel. The post Ep. 389: Hegel on Wealth and Power (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get previous and future installments of this podcast. On "Against Narrativity" (2004), where Galen (son of P.F.) argues against the claims that we do and should make sense of our experience by conceiving of it as a story, with a logical progression and dramatic arc. Many normal people do not do this, and are not unethical for being the way they are. The post Closereads: Galen Strawson Against Narrativity (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

In this pitched, high-stakes battle, your hosts have it out about astrological biases, doing offensive accents, letting go of control in an improv scene, and group-based restrictions on who you feel you date. Does Jesus have time to appear on your toast? Are all TV characters robots in a shared robot universe? Are zodiac signs based on serial killer characteristics? How does Pluto FEEL about not being a planet any more? So many vital questions definitively addressed in one meditation together... Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. The post PvI#115: Mary and Mark Astro-Logically first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

We talk about the Scream meta-slasher film franchise, from the original Wes Craven /Kevin Williamson 1996 debut starring Neve Campbell, and Courtney Cox to the new one (#7), still with three out of four of those participants (Wes Craven being dead). Is the self-reflection about the horror genre in these films actually elevating, or just a permission structure to enjoy the base pleasure of seeing people murdered? Are these actually films that people who normally hate slasher movies still might enjoy? Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/PRETTY (code PRETTY) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PMP#218: All the “Scream”-ing first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing on the "Spirit" chapter (more specifically. "Culture and its realm of actuality") in Hegel's Phenomenology, now covering sec. 490-510. How exactly does the process of acculturation work? Sponsors: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. The post Ep. 388: Hegel on Culture (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing on Hegel's Phenomenology, "Spirit" chapter, now up to sections 484-510, which is the first part of "Self-Alienated Spirit. Culture." In Hegel's ongoing semi-mythical story about the development of the modern self and society, we're now at a point where people are "bare persons," legally recognized but not distinguished from each other. We thicken these thin selves using cultural contents: your profession, your group memberships, your style, etc. But this way of individuating is fundamentally self-alienating: these ways that we identify ourselves are foreign to our souls! The post Ep. 388: Hegel on Culture (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing on on sec. 469-483 of Hegel's Phenomenology, finishing the analysis of Antigone and bringing in Oedipus to say why the conflict between types of law is both criminal and destined. We then turn to the aftermath: a society alienated from law but with legally recognized self-conscious individuals. Sponsors: Get three months free of online payroll and benefits software for small businesses at gusto.com/pel. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. Go to HelloFresh.com/pel10fm to Get 10 free meals + a free Zwilling Knife with your third box. The post Ep. 387: Hegel on Law (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

St. Lawrence philosophy prof Jennifer L. Hansen, one of the most frequent guest on Mark's podcasts and expert in feminist philosophy, here hits it off with our new host Mary. We act out vegan jerky time, snacktime at the all-girls clubhouse, and two gals getting pulled over by a cop. Does the "come debate me" style of philosophy include unnecessarily masculine tropes? How does this Charlie Kirk model relate to what Socrates was doing? What are alternative, fun ways to get students to talk in philosophy classes? Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PvI#114: Earning Crazy Town w/ Jenny Hansen first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Photography is a technology of contradictions. It is at once mechanical and mysterious, even magical. It furnishes evidence of presence while being a token of absence. It can show us proof but can’t, without accompanying narration or context, make us understand. And perhaps most perplexing of all, it is an imperialistic technology which, paradoxically, atomizes the world and democratizes all events and experiences, making each viewer of photographs the owner of a facsimile-world in his or her head. Wes & Erin discuss two essays from Susan Sontag’s collection, “On Photography,” “In Plato’s Cave” and “America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly,” and ask what constitutes photography’s “ethics of seeing,” and whether Sontag suggests an alternative comportment towards the camera, the subject, and the photographic image. The post The Ethics of Seeing in Susan Sontag’s “On Photography” first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

In light of Judd Apatow's HBO documentary The 99-Year-Old Man, we discuss the films of Mel Brooks, which were to varying degrees formative on us (i.e. Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al). Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop. Sponsors: Get started with Claude AI at claude.ai/pmp. Visit squarespace.com/PRETTY (code PRETTY) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PMP#217: Mel Brooks’ Old Comedy first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing on Hegel's Phenomenology, "Spirit" chapter, now up to sections 464-483, which are under the sub-headings "Ethical Action. Human and Divine Knowledge. Guilt and Destiny" and "Legal Status." After anticipating it in last episode, we get  Hegel's allegorical analysis of Antigone as a clash between two types of law that cooperate in a harmonious society. With this clash, both fail, leaving us with modernity where law is alienated from individuals. Sponsors: Go to NerdWallet.com/PEL for trustworthy small business loans. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. The post Ep. 387: Hegel on Law (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content, including a supporter-exclusive part three. Continuing on the "Spirit" section of The Phenomenology of Spirit, giving a sort of social metaphysics, wherein the ethical life of a society is analyzed into two complementary types of law, human (explicit laws but also customs) and what Hegel calls "divine" (a subconscious ethical sense represented by the home and women). Sponsors: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. The post Ep. 386: Hegel on Society (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get previous and future installments of this podcast. On an excerpt from Soren Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846) that critiques Hegel's idea of logic (dialectic) and then argues for his own conception of "truth as subjectivity." The post Closereads: Kierkegaard on Knowledge first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

What is it worth raising an objection over, and how hard do you fight? We hear (and act out) Mary's roommate-searching trauma, plus Mary for President, curiosity about bellicose Twitter, respect vs. reverence, rationality and religion, dealing with QAnon believers, family Thanksgiving, giving someone else a name, vegetarianism, and the angel of philosophy. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PvI#113: Mary and Mark Pick Their Battles first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

If an understanding of music implies a love of structure, perhaps the musician’s relationship to his art mirrors the one he has with authority, both human and divine. Salieri, whose father was a man of commerce, sees God as a kind of bank manager who records prayers and sacrifices as payments on a long-term loan of musical talent. Salieri’s economics work just fine until the arrival of Mozart, who seems to have put up no collateral—he’s ”a giggling, dirty creature” in the words of Salieri—but has received the equivalent of a billion-dollar loan. Are Mozart’s gifts a glitch in divine accounting? Or are his flaws attendant on or even the result of his genius? And how can we account for the glitch in Salieri’s design, which permits longing to go unanswered by talent? Wes & Erin discuss the 1984 film “Amadeus,” directed by Milos Forman. The post (sub)TEXT: The Music of Longing in “Amadeus” (1984) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

In light of the now-completed black history month and the upcoming Oscars, we consider the "Oscars So White" issue that was a hot topic about a decade ago. We all tried to watch some of the Oscar-nominated films by black creators, like Twelve Years a Slave, Moonlight, Judas and the Black Messiah, Boyz in Da Hood, et al. What makes for a critically lauded drama in this genre? Does a film have to have black creators (not just stars) to be an authentically black film? Are such films destined for a niche audience? Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al discuss. Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly with Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark's podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel. Sponsors: Get started with Claude AI at claude.ai/pmp. Visit squarespace.com/PRETTY (code PRETTY) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PMP#216: Oscars So Black? first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On. G.W.F. Hegel's The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), sec. 438-463. What constitutes society?  We're beginning a multi-episode arc here on the "Spirit" chapter of the book, so we learn what Spirit actually is and how it relates to individuals. We also talk about the two layers of law that make up society and how these can be in or out of harmony. Sponsors: Get three months free of online payroll and benefits software for small businesses at gusto.com/pel. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. The post Ep. 386: Hegel on Society (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. In our continuing Q&A with Graham, we engage him about Kantian Things-In-Themselves, complex things (that if divided, must be cut at the joints) vs. mere heaps, fact ontology, natural kinds, fictional objects, why philosophy is not knowledge, and philosophical style. Sponsors: Go to NerdWallet.com/PEL for trustworthy small business loans. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. Go to HelloFresh.com/pel10fm to Get 10 free meals + a free Zwilling Knife with your third box.   The post Ep. 385: Guest Graham Harman on Object vs. Continuum (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Jerome is an LA composer/director/screenwriter who is involved in a lot of musical improv, so Mary and Mark interview him about that and about the function of art, plus songs for pets, a support group for people who sing all the time, and more. Hear more PvI. Jerome sticks around for the post-game, shared with you non-supporters just this once. Support the podcast to get this for most episodes, plus an ad free experience. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PvI#112: Musical Zoom w/ Jerome Kurtenbach first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

When we don't know much about some genius playwright's life, why not make up some things based on the contents of his plays? Maybe put Shakespearean dialogue right in character's mouths, so the audience will say, "hey, I remember that line!" Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al talk through the Chloe Zhao Oscar-bait historical drama, Hamnet, and its source, the 2020 novel by Maggie O'Farrell. Is the film great, or just "grief porn"? Plus, Shakespeare in Love and other biopics. Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly with Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark's podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel. Sponsors: Get started with Claude AI at claude.ai/pmp. Visit squarespace.com/PRETTY (code PRETTY) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PMP#215: Hamnet Dramatizes Shakespeare first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. An interview with Graham in light of his new book, Waves and Stones: On the Ultimate Nature of Reality, which elaborates and adds to issues that the gang previously studied in Object-Oriented Ontology. Graham argues that in addition to objects (which have parts), there are continua, such as space and time, and these continua are the links that allow otherwise forever separated objects to touch each other. Sponsors: Go to NerdWallet.com/PEL for trustworthy small business loans. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. The post Ep. 385: Guest Graham Harman on Object vs. Continuum (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1, 2, and 3 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. We consider chapter 2, "Aesthetics Is the Root of All Philosophy," where Harman describes how art can help us see behind the veil to things-in-themselves. Art is "theatrical" in that it's really the spectator who is standing in like an actor for the object encountered in art. Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. The post Ep. 384: Graham Harman’s Object-Oriented Ontology (Part Three) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

We're discussing Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Comedy Central show that premiered in 1997 and has just finished its politically relevant 28th season, featuring the usual crew: Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al. How can a show be so juvenile yet so apparently well thought out?e get into the evolution of the show,, the equal-opportunity offensive humor, the use of child characters to deliver it, their ambiguous politics, the quick turnaround production, the excellent music, and more. Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly with Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark's podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/PRETTY (code PRETTY) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post Pretty Much Pop #214: South Park Resurgence first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Vancouver philosophy prof Elijah was an evangelical Christian who turned liberal and then atheistic, and his latest book, "Unbelieving God: A Skeptics Guide," considers and debunks the various arguments for the existence of God. Mark and Mary chat with him about his journey and about the degree to which we should care about others' beliefs in this area so as to engage them in debate. In the course of this, as you'd expect, God makes a personal appearance (with Mary), and there's an aborted sketch about a brainwashing service. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PvI#111: God Smites Elijah Dann first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1, 2, and 3 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing on Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything (2018), finishing up ch. 1 (discussing what's so bad about reductionism) and moving to ch. 4, "Indirect Relations," which is about causality. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. The post Ep. 384: Graham Harman’s Object-Oriented Ontology (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get previous and future installments of this podcast. We're within the Self-Consciousness chapter of The Phenomenology of Spirit, specifically starting at sec. 206 on the Unhappy Consciousness. This comes after the famous Master-Slave section as well as sections about Stoicism and Skepticism, and it depicts a dividedness within the self stemming from a faulty view of the relation between self and world. The post Closereads: Hegel’s “Unhappy Consciousness” first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything (2018). What counts as an entity in the world? Harman includes not just physical objects, but fictional objects, "sensual objects," and even events, which you might have thought were the alternative to objects. With this promiscuous ontology comes a strange theory of causality whereby no real object touches another real object, and an epistemology that involves us having no knowledge of real objects at all, though Harman's theory art gives us a back-door to make up for this deficiency, and philosophy itself ends up sharing in these properties of art. Sponsors: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. Go to HelloFresh.com/pel10fm to Get 10 free meals + a free Zwilling Knife with your third box. The post Ep. 384: Graham Harman’s Object-Oriented Ontology (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

To kick off 2026, Mark and Mary talk about memory: memory care for the elderly, the relation between things and memories, what professional activities are worth preserving (improv performances?), being the tchotchke, womb nostalgia, puppets and percussion, plus a visit from the future. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PvI#110: Memories of 2026 w/ Mark and Mary first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Brutus is an honorable man, but Caesar is Caesar: at the beginning of Shakespeare’s play, his name is near the point of becoming synonymous with dictatorial power, and his every wish, as Mark Antony points out, has the substance of a command. For the rebels who oppose him, this identification of political authority with personal will is a perversion of republican institutions, and a form of corruption that justifies any means of putting an end to it, even if that means killing a friend. Yet Brutus’s conception of himself as unflaggingly virtuous is one he in fact shares with Caesar, and perhaps reflects the same authoritarian tendency, in grounding the legitimacy of political action in the character of a particular actor. Then again, it is not clear that democratic institutions will always forestall authoritarian tendencies, rather than enable the masses to sanction absolute power in a charismatic leader. Wes & Erin discuss Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” and its sustained reflection on how political power is constructed, located, and legitimated. The post (sub)TEXT: The Character of Authority in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get all previous and future installments of this podcast. Mark and Wes read and discuss the short 2007 article, "Can We Get Our Materialism Back, Please?" Here Bruno Latour complains that materialism as modern common sense conceives of it is actually idealist: It is a social construction. Instead, a "thick" concept of material things acknowledges and details their historical (i.e. material in the Marxist sense) origins. The post Closereads: Latour on Materialism first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Ontario guitarist Darren has released six albums of concise instrumentals since 2019, often using metal guitar tones and tropes, but with a great range of tones and often catchy melodies. We discuss "The Day Beneath Yesterday" (and listen at the end to "Dangerous Curves") from Perpetual Night (2025), "Broken Glass and Disappointment" from Thoughts and Scares (2022), and "The Earth is B Flat" from Lifting the Curse (2019). Intro: The title track from Wonders of the Invisible World (2020). More at darrenboyd.com. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic. The post NEM#245: Darren Michael Boyd’s Guitar Instrumentals Beyond Metal first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Finishing up Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, finally now turning to Freud's anthropological account of group membership. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. The post Ep. 383: Freud on Love and the Primal Horde (Part Two) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

The Netflix sci-fi/horror/teen series by the Duffer Brothers that started in 2016 has now finished with its sixth season, attempting to be both epic and sentimental. Who is this show actually aimed at? We talk about the initial appeal through various uneven seasons through the execution of the finale. Has the thing gone on so long that we can't make sense out of the continuity. Featuring, as usual, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al. Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly with Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark's podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/PRETTY (code PRETTY) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PMP#213: Stranger Things Grown Familiar first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On the second half of Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. We talk about the dual origins of group membership for Freud in personal love and in the supposed primitive society where a horde was led by a tyrannical father. Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. The post Ep. 383: Freud on Love and the Primal Horde (Part One) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Sign up for Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get all previous and future installments of this podcast. On Franz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, ch. 7, B. “The Negro and Hegel.” Hegel describes the abstract attainment of self-consciousness through recognition, but is this actually how it works in real slavery and its aftermath? ⁠Read along with us⁠, p. 216 (PDF p. Continue Reading … The post Closereads: Fanon on Hegel first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Rich runs the Dare to Fail improv school and is author of Improv Made Easier. He joins Mark and Mary to discuss contexts of failure, failing to meet your goals vs. "objective failure," how to react in an improv scene to some topic that's too offensive for you, graveyard humor vs. reverence. Featuring Steaks You Deserve, Robo-Carson, cancer torture, interactive cemetery, Sounds of Failure, and open-sourced MST3K. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain. The post PvI#109: Choose Your Own Failure w/ Rich Baker first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

It's time to sign up for the new online class on Hegel, Sartre, Arendt, Schopenhauer, and all your other favorite friends. You can learn all about it and get the link to enroll at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class. The post Announcement: Mark’s “Big Books in Continental Philosophy” Spring 2026 Class first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

The so-called “third man factor” is a phenomenon in which people in dire circumstances experience the presence of an extra person in their midst who gives comfort and aid when it’s most needed—a guardian angel, perhaps, or some figure of divine intervention. Harry Lime seems to have played just such a role in the lives of Holly Martins and Anna Schmidt. But is Lime from heaven or from hell? Perhaps a less-than-angelic third man might estrange rather than bring together, muddle rather than clarify, adulterate rather than help. And indeed, as a black market middle-man, Lime has the devilish power to intervene in people’s lives for the worse—like a narrator who edits out characters and manipulates the plot. Wes & Erin discuss the 1949 classic film “The Third Man,” about friendship and betrayal, and about the stories we tell ourselves in order to love, survive, kill, or even die. The post (sub)TEXT: Society as Swindle in “The Third Man” (1949) first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

Philosopher/writer/critic/podcaster Lawrence Ware returns to the show to meet Mary and talk about how Mark is his own personal Leroy Jesus. We act out and/or discuss orphan greeting cards, face-to-face instruction vs. writing books, imaginary friends, laugh trumpets, black ice, and is aesthetic judgment (especially of yourself) a mistake? Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Sponsor: Get the holiday deal (up to 50% off!) at MasterClass.com/IMPROV. Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at rula.com/improv. The post PvI#108: Guess Who’s Coming to Christmas Dinner… Lawrence Ware! first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.

The Hallmark Channel became famous for producing low-budget, formulaic Christmas films, and this has spread to other outlets, sometimes with higher budgets and ambitions. Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al each watched a smattering of these and share their reflections on the genre and their specific experiences. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly with Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark's podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel. Sponsors: Get up to 50% an annual membership at MasterClass.com/PRETTY. Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at rula.com/pmp. The post Pretty Much Pop #212: Holiday Romance Films first appeared on The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast.