The Philosopher's Circle

Examine the striking convergence between Jean-Paul Sartre’s concept of “bad faith” — the self-deception that denies personal freedom and responsibility — and Donald Winnicott’s psychoanalytic “False Self,” the defensive persona constructed to meet external demands at the expense of authentic existence.
This episode explores how inauthentic living creates profound psychological costs, including emotional numbness, identity fragmentation, chronic anxiety, and relational emptiness.
Essential listening for psychologists, psychotherapists, philosophers, coaches, and individuals seeking deeper self-understanding and pathways toward authentic living and psychological integration.

In this episode of Philosophical Psychodynamics, we explore Marcus Aurelius’ concept of the Internal Citadel through a psychodynamic lens, examining how Stoic practices in Meditations function as sophisticated defense mechanisms against psychological distress. We integrate existential psychology and philosophical principles to reveal how Aurelius cultivated self-awareness and emotional regulation by fortifying the inner self. Listeners will gain practical insights for building their own internal citadel in daily life, fostering greater authenticity and resilience.

Explore the intersection of ancient Hellenistic philosophy and modern depth psychology. This episode deconstructs the pursuit of *ataraxia* using psychodynamic personality axes, theories of emotional mastery, and concepts of self-fragmentation. Discover if tranquility is a state of mental health or a sophisticated defense against the universal "Anxiety of Lack."

A high-level breakdown of Heraclitus’ philosophy applied to modern psychodynamic theory, exploring the fluid self, unconscious processes, and personality development for EPPP exam success. This episode connects classical philosophy with Freud, Jung, and PDM-2 concepts to clarify dynamic versus static models of personality. Ideal for psychology students, clinicians, and licensing exam candidates seeking a deeper understanding of the unconscious mind and test-ready clinical insight.

John is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and a Miller Scholar at the Santa Fe Institute. He just finished Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life, which was published with Princeton in spring of 2020.John lives with his partner Kathy and their two lovely children, Becca and Henry. He is currently finishing Love's Conditions, the third in the trilogy after American Philosophy and Hiking with Nietzsche, and he is also working on Think Again: An Introduction to Philosophy for Norton and American Blood for Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

The Hero's journey

Edith Hall is a British scholar of classics, specialising in ancient Greek literature and cultural history, and Professor in the Department of Classics and Centre for Hellenic Studies at King's College, London

Adam Barkman (PhD, Free University of Amsterdam) is the author and editor of eleven books, most recently A Critical Companion to James Cameron (Lexington, 2018) and Making Sense of Islamic Art & Architecture (Thames & Hudson, 2015). Barkman is internationally-recognized for his work on the philosophy of C. S. Lewis, world religions and philosophies, and aesthetics (the philosophy of film). Like Tennyson’s Ulysses, Barkman is passionate about “following knowledge like a sinking star,” and spends a lot of his time reading, traveling and questioning. But there is nothing he enjoys more than spending time with his wife and five children