PEL Presents PMP#193: Severance: Mystery Box in Progress
Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al here discuss the sci-fi/office dramedy in light of its second season. We might normally wait until the end of the show, but given that season 1 was 2022, and it took three years to get us season 2, who knows it it'll actually finish? And who knows if it will not be massively disappointing at that point? We strike while the show is culturally relevant! But did ev...
55m Apr 03, 2025
55m
NEM#229: Peter Holsapple (dB's, Continental Drifters) Pays Tribute to His Adolescence
Peter recorded with Chris Stamey as early as 1972, and they reconvened as The dB's in the '80s. Peter has released six albums as the dB's, three more as a duo with Chris, four co-fronting the Continental Drifters, and three solo albums. He has also been a supporting/touring member in several bands including REM, Hootie and the Blowfish, and currently The Paranoid Style. We discuss "Larger Than...
1hr 18m Apr 01, 2025
1hr 18m
Ep. 364: Max Scheler on Sympathy (Part One)
On The Nature of Sympathy (1913, expanded 1922), Part I: "Fellow Feeling," Ch. 1-4. What is it to feel sympathy (aka "fellow feeling") for another person? It is NOT to "identify" with that person; ethics requires that the person be irreducibly Other, not part of my (extended) ego. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit https://partiallyexaminedlife....
47m Mar 31, 2025
47m
PEL Presents Closereads: Husserl on Perceiving Minds
On Edmund Husserl's Ideas, Vol. 2 (1928), Section 3, "The Constitution of the Spiritual World," Ch. 1, "Opposition Between the Naturalistic and Personalistic Worlds." Given Husserl's method of "reduction" whereby he sets aside the metaphysical status of objects in the natural world (are they mind-independent or merely ideas?), we wanted to see how he accounts for our ability to directly percei...
1hr 2m Mar 28, 2025
1hr 2m
Ep. 363: Franz Brentano's Moral Epistemology (Part Two)
Continuing on "The Origin of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong" (1889), getting into how we measure the comparative value of things. While Brentano does observe actual practices in these areas, his phenomenology detects moral facts that can be used to cast judgments of people's actual practices, saving him from relativism. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com...
50m Mar 24, 2025
50m
PEL Presents PvI#90: Empty Street
Mark and Bill introduce a new potential setting and some characters for ongoing use in future improvisations. We talk about techniques for doing that and wrap up by getting an update from Bill on his substitute teaching and talking about what makes for a good teacher. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com (http://philosophyimprov.com/) . Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.c...
49m Mar 22, 2025
49m
Ep. 363: Franz Brentano's Moral Epistemology (Part One)
On "The Origin of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong" (1889). What justifies basic moral facts? Brentano claims that right there in our experience, we can rationally sense with complete certainty that certain kinds of preferences are good ones, and others are not. This take on intuitionism is a response to Kant that (like Kant) cuts between the traditional epistemic categories of rationalism and ...
49m Mar 17, 2025
49m
PEL Presents PMP #192: Exhibitionist Reality TV
We acknowledge this hugely popular form of "entertainment" recently embodied by The Baldwins, but popularized by shows like The Osbournes and The Kardashians, wherein some celebrity and/or family just shows off their life, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al are joined by returning guest Kayla Dryesse (https://prettymuchpop.com/?s=Dryesse) to talk about why this kind of show exists, its variations,...
1hr Mar 16, 2025
1hr
Ep. 362: Ecclesiastes: Biblical Existentialism? (Part Two)
Continuing on Ecclesiastes with guest Jesse Peterson, getting into some more close reading of particular sections. We make some connection from the author's observations to ancient Greek Skepticism, Epicureanism, and Stoicism. How is the world "absurd" according to this book? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/su...
51m Mar 10, 2025
51m
PEL Presents PMP#191: Saturday Night Liver
Are we taking for granted this unique, talent-filled weekly nationally televised live comedy event that's been around for 50 years? (as in "What do we think this show is? Chopped liver?") Does its format even make sense at this time given YouTube and streaming? What will its legacy be? Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al discuss the casts, highlights, and the recent anniversary specials. For more...
56m Mar 09, 2025
56m
Ep. 362: Ecclesiastes: Biblical Existentialism? (Part One)
Ecclesiastes is often cited as one of the most philosophical books of the Bible, so we approached it in that spirit with the help of Jesse M. Peterson, whose soon-to-be-published book is called Qoheleth and the Philosophy of Value. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bon...
45m Mar 03, 2025
45m
PEL Presents NEM#228: John "JR" Robinson: Omnipresent Drummer
JR has drummed on over 200 US Billboard Hot 100 songs and 50 Grammy winning tunes. He was in Rufus w/ Chaka Khan in the late 70s/early 80s, has released two solo albums, written for soundtracks, produced other artists, and has led various combos over the years. He is currently promoting his auto-biography King of the Groove (https://www.johnjrrobinson.com/kingofthegroove) . We discuss "Gonna B...
1hr 13m Mar 02, 2025
1hr 13m
Ep. 361: Marx on Machines (Part Two)
On "Fragment on Machines" (1858). Shouldn't automating work free workers? Not according to Marx, until capitalism is overthrown. Until then, automation actually just makes labor conditions worse and certainly doesn't give people more free time, since the capitalist keeps all the surplus gained by greater productivity. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) ....
57m Feb 24, 2025
57m
PEL Presents PMP#190: The Substance: Act Your Age!
Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al discuss the Coralie Fargeat/Demi Moore film The Substance in light of its Oscar nominations, along with related reflections on lost youth, e.g. Sunset Boulevard (1950), Death Becomes Her (1992), and Neon Demon (2016). We also touch on other cloning scenarios. Is this film a serious meditation on aging in Hollywood, or just a particularly vivid but logically conf...
56m Feb 20, 2025
56m
Ep. 361: Marx on Machines (Part One)
We finish our treatment of Capital, Ch. 1, covering the little bit that Marx says about actual communism (he was wary of utopianism, contra his reputation), and think through a number of related practical problems. We introduce "Fragment on Machines" (1858). Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-fr...
48m Feb 17, 2025
48m
PEL Presents PvI#89: Improv 4 Change w/ Shawn and Aaron from srsly wrong
Mark and Bill are joined by two north-of-the-border podcasters, Shawn Vulliez and Aaron Moritz, who incorporate both improv and philosophy in their dirty leftist podcast (https://srslywrong.com/) . We simulate conversation as competing knowers-of-the-good-life and talk about using improv for political purposes. Note that this was recorded back in December when we were in the thick of Luigi Man...
54m Feb 15, 2025
54m
Ep. 360: Karl Marx on Economic Value (Part Two)
Continuing on Capital, Ch. 1 on commodities. We go into detail on his account of how money gets derived from the continued comparison of various commodities, how use value comes back into play when we compare the economic value of one commodity as compared to another, and finally, the details of commodity fetishism. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . V...
51m Feb 10, 2025
51m
PEL Presents NEM#227: Django Haskins (The Old Ceremony): Pop Noir
Django (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Haskins) is a singer/songwriter/guitarist who released his first solo album in 1996 and has released seven albums with The Old Ceremony since 2004 plus several more solo releases. We discuss The Old Ceremony songs "Too Big to Fail" (and listen to "Hangman's Party at the end) from Earthbound (2024), "The Disappear" from Walk On Thin Air (2009), and "...
1hr 3m Feb 08, 2025
1hr 3m
Ep. 360: Karl Marx on Economic Value (Part One)
On Capital (1867), Ch. 1, "The Commodity." What makes something we buy or sell valuable? Marx says it's ultimately the labor that goes into it, though there are some wrinkles in formulating this accurately, and the commodities and surrounding marketplace activity blind us to labor's role and its ethical import. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit...
48m Feb 03, 2025
48m
PEL Presents PMP#189: Bob Dylan As We Know Him
In light of the recent release of the James Mangold film A Complete Unknown, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Dylan superfan Al discuss the man, the myth, and the music. The film clearly aimed to make the music, environment, and political activity of the '60s come alive today, but does the simplification required to make a coherent film undermine that goal? We also touch on his Chronicles, plus I...
53m Feb 02, 2025
53m
PEL Presents Closereads: Marx on Stirner (Part One)
Mark and Wes read through and discuss Karl Marx's The German Ideology (1846), delving deep into the middle of his critique of Max Stirner's The Ego and Its Own. Marx articulates and criticizes Stirner's attempt to distinguish the mere common egoism of an unthinking person from the enlightened egoism that Stirner is recommending. Read along with us (https://dn790007.ca.archive.org/0/items/germ...
1hr Feb 01, 2025
1hr
Ep. 359: Karl Marx's Project (Part Two)
We continue on the introduction to Marx's Grundrisse, going through his criticisms of prior economists who were too ahistorical and didn't understand how production, consumption, distribution and exchange hang together as a single system. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons...
52m Jan 27, 2025
52m
PEL Presents PvI#88: The Dark Side of Improv w/ Randy Fertel
Randy (https://www.fertel.com/)  is a literature guy who has written a couple of books about improv and here joins Mark and Bill to talk about WINGING IT: Improv's Power and Peril in the Age of Trump, wherein he basically blames improv for giving us the orange man. Our scenes are about Trumpers hustling a fast food joint and improv for dogs. Mark and Bill stick around for some post-game bringi...
1hr 7m Jan 25, 2025
1hr 7m
Ep. 359: Karl Marx's Project (Part One)
On the intro to Marx's Grundrisse (1857) and "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845). Why economics, and why do it the way Marx does? We see Marx argues that Feuerbach's materialism was not materialistic enough, start looking at production, consumption, distribution, and exchange as moments within a single process, and talk about why anyone would want to read a historical economic text. Get more at parti...
49m Jan 20, 2025
49m
Pretty Much Pop #188: Vampire Appreciation
In light of Robert Eggers' film Nosferatu and the end of What We Do in Shadows, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al discuss the many vampire shows and films all the way back to Bram Stoker's 1897 novel. For more, visit prettymuchpop.com (http://prettymuchpop.com/) . Hear this ad-free with bonus content at https://www.patreon.com/prettymuchpop or by subscribing via Apple Podcasts to the Mark Linte...
54m Jan 18, 2025
54m
Ep. 358: Max Stirner's Egoism (Part Two)
Continuing on The Ego and Its Own, focusing now on the sections "The Owner" and "My Power." Stirner lets us know that his egoism ("ownness") is not compatible with liberal egalitarianism, which he sees as just a continuation of the Christian project of perfecting humanity. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/suppo...
42m Jan 13, 2025
42m
Ep. 358: Max Stirner's Egoism (Part One)
On The Ego and its Own (1844), another big influence on Karl Marx and a precursor of NIetzsche, or perhaps an early Ayn Rand. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Have up to a $100 donation to effective charities matched at GiveWell.org (https:...
49m Jan 06, 2025
49m
PEL Presents NEM#226: The Evolution of Iain Matthews (Fairport Convention, Southern Comfort, Plainsong)
Iain started in Britain's Fairport Convention in the late '60s, but quickly left that band to start a couple more and then move to the US for a lengthy solo career. He has in total released close to 50 albums, including many collaborations. We discus the title track from How Much Is Enough (2024), the title track from God Looked Down (1996), and "Road to Ronderlin" by Matthews Southern Comfort...
1hr 19m Jan 05, 2025
1hr 19m
Announcement: Mark's "Core Texts in Philosophy" Fall 2025 Class
Read more about Mark's online class that starts later this month at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/core-texts-spring-2025/) , and sign up at partiallyexaminedlife.com/enroll (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/enrollment/) .
5m Jan 01, 2025
5m
PEL '24-'25 Transition Nightcap
Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan reflect on our past year of PEL recording, catch you up on our habits and interests, and talk about what might come next. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to this and every recording ad-free, plus numerous Nightcaps and many hours of other bonus content. Learn about Mark's sp...
1hr 8m Dec 30, 2024
1hr 8m
Pretty Much Pop #187: Taking Down Santa Claus
For our annual holiday episode, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al talk about Santa qua mythical and cultural figure, getting into the history of the character (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/christmas/the-history-of-father-christmas/) , his film appearances (https://youtu.be/93MTfROX6n4?si=R-FOXTsKbYjjNMXy) , and how the emphasis on kids' belief compares to religious belief. Plus, grading Xm...
55m Dec 23, 2024
55m
Ep. 357: Feuerbach on the Evolution of Philosophy (Part Two)
We finally discuss Feuerbach's proposed post-Hegelian, materialist approach to philosophy in his "Principles of the Philosophy of the Future" (1843). How can a materialist framework support phenomena central to F's account like our immediate, indubitable recognition of our selves, each other, and love itself? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit ht...
53m Dec 23, 2024
53m
PEL Presents PvI#87: Mystic Toaster with Simon Critchley
Simon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Critchley) is a professor at New York's New School for Social Research (https://www.newschool.edu/nssr/faculty/simon-critchley/)  and moderates the New York Times' philosophy offering, The Stone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stone_(blog)) . He joins Mark and Bill to discuss his new book, On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy, and we used the occ...
1hr Dec 21, 2024
1hr
PEL Presents Subtext: The Sublime Mundane in Conrad Aiken’s “Morning Song of Senlin” (Part 1)
Where the repetitions of ordinary life threaten to overwhelm any sense of the sublime, the poet Conrad Aiken seems to suggest that they can be transformed into a way of being connected to it. The mundane order is, after all, just a part of the cosmic. When we get ready to go to work, it is on a “swiftly tilting planet” that “bathes in a flame of space.” The sun is “far off in a shell of silence...
48m Dec 16, 2024
48m
Ep. 357: Feuerbach on the Evolution of Philosophy (Part One)
Mark, Wes, and Dylan continue to look at Ludwig Feuerbach's "Principles of the Philosophy of the Future" (1843), recounting his story about how increasingly mature notions of God should lead philosophy eventually to a materialism where the sensual is the real. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-...
49m Dec 16, 2024
49m
PEL Presents PMP#186: From Oz Books to Wicked Film
We're coming up on the 125th anniversary of L. Frank Baum's children's book, The Wizard of Oz, and the film version of (the first half of) the musical Wicked has been released. Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al talk about the landmark 1939 film musical, the 1978 film The Wiz, Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked, the stage musical, the other Oz books by Baum, Maguire, et al, and other films like 1...
55m Dec 12, 2024
55m
Ep. 356: Feuerbach Against Theology (Part Two)
We dig in and start our detailed treatment of Ludwig Feuerbach's essay "Principles of the Philosophy of the Future" (1843). Feuerbach claims that people don't realize that the entity they worship is really just whatever it is about humanity and the world that we value, wrongly posited as an independent entity. So God is a mirror for any given society. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (ht...
52m Dec 09, 2024
52m
PEL Presents NEM#225: Loudon Wainwright III, the Reporter-Songwriter
Loudon has released 30 albums since 1970. He's the quintessential singer-songwriter, relying on crafty, personal lyrics delivered dynamically and typically solo, though his studio work has varied in production style and orchestration level over the years. We discuss "How Old is 75" from Lifetime Achievement (2022), "Road Ode (Live)" from Career Moves (1993), and "Be Careful There’s a Baby in t...
1hr 9m Dec 08, 2024
1hr 9m
Philosophy vs. Improv #86: Friends with App-Platter Benefits w/ Sarah Shockey and Tommy Maranges
It's a TEAM PLAY episode just in time for the holiday season! Returning guests improviser and podcaster (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marty-sarah-love-wrestling/id1134012081) Sarah and recovering Philosophy Bro Tommy join Mark and Bill to talk AND EXPERIENCE friendship, with our longest single improv scene to date. What is friendship? Do you know your friends enough to imitate them? Do...
59m Dec 06, 2024
59m
Ep. 356: Feuerbach Against Theology (Part One)
On Ludwig Feuerbach's "Principles of the Philosophy of the Future" (1843) and the introduction to The Essence of Christianity (1841). What was the original point of religion? Can we retain what was emotionally good about it yet direct our efforts to purely practical matters? Feuerbach says yes, and this was a key influence on Marx. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexami...
51m Dec 02, 2024
51m
PEL Presents PMP#185: Steve Martin: X-Tuple Threat
Steve Martin was the biggest comic celebrity in the late '70s, became a huge movie star, and now delivers gentle comedy and fast banjo licks according to his desired rich guy schedule. In light of the popularity of Only Murders in the Building, we consider his many talents. Our 50ish hosts Mark and Sarahlyn are all in on this guy, but our 40ish hosts Lawrence and Al are not necessarily tickled....
51m Dec 01, 2024
51m
PEL Presents SUBTEXT: The Aesthetics of Death in "Beetlejuice" (Part 1)
Adam and Barbara Maitland are dead, but their troubles have just begun. The farmhouse decor of their home is under threat from the pretentious modernism of Delia Deetze, and her plan to remake it in her own image could turn their post-life purgatory into earthbound hell. Solving this problem leaves them with an impossible choice between figuring out how to navigate an intractable netherworld bu...
43m Nov 30, 2024
43m
Ep. 355: Marx on Alienation (Part Two)
Continuing on "Estranged Labor," "Private Property and Communism," and "The Power of Money on Bourgeois Society" with guest Lawrence Dallman. Does capitalism give rise to alienation, or is it alienation that is responsible for capitalism? Does a person (capitalist) have to be responsible for someone's alienation? What would we be like unalienated? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https:...
50m Nov 25, 2024
50m
PEL Presents PvI#85: Prototype Protoplasm w/ Mike Gorgone
Mike hosts the Hitchhikers and Appetizers podcast (https://improvinaction.com/projects/hitchhikers-and-appetizers/) , and we recorded this episode a bit before Halloween, before the election and the consequent mass exodus, as a sort of memo to the future, i.e. you. We blister our way through many topics including discovery, hospital dramas, time travel sex, self-experimentation, ancient aliens,...
52m Nov 21, 2024
52m
Ep. 355: Marx on Alienation (Part One)
On three of Karl Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, "Estranged Labor," "Private Property and Communism," and "The Power of Money on Bourgeois Society." Featuring guest Lawrence Dallman. What is the plight of the working poor? It's that they are in an unnatural situation with regard to their work, which is supposed to gain them a sense of self but doesn't do so when it's a res...
39m Nov 18, 2024
39m
PREMIUM-PEL Thick-of-Fall Nightcap 2024
Mark, Wes, and Seth talk about horror media and what scares us in light of Halloween. We then give some follow-up discussion re. our Williamson and Chappell interviews. Do we actually want to participate in Williamson's science-minded analytic philosophy of the future? Were we too one-sided in our trans coverage? We respond to an email about our trans episode. If you're not hearing the full ve...
10m Nov 17, 2024
10m
PEL Presents (SUB)TEXT: A Strange Fashion of Forsaking in the Poetry of Thomas Wyatt (Part 1)
As an advisor to Henry VIII and ambassador to France and Italy, poet Thomas Wyatt was something of a professional court-surfer, practiced in riding the peaks and troughs of royal favor. Such were his verbal and diplomatic gifts that, though twice accused of and imprisoned for treason, he was twice released. His poetry reflects all the intrigue, paranoia, airlessness, and downright cruelty of th...
52m Nov 16, 2024
52m
Ep. 354: Guest Tim Williamson on Philosophic Method (Part Two)
We continue talking with Tim about Overfitting and Heuristics in Philosophy (2024), considering Tim's overall project and view of what philosophy should be doing and with what tools. We get into modeling, ethics, public philosophy, and more. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and t...
41m Nov 11, 2024
41m
Ep. 354: Guest Tim Williamson on Philosophic Method (Part One)
Oxford philosophy professor Timothy Williamson talks to us about his new book, Overfitting and Heuristics in Philosophy. How can we best apply the insights of philosophy of science to philosophy itself? Maybe some alleged philosophical counter-examples are just the result of psychological heuristics gone wrong. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com (https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/) . Visit...
43m Nov 04, 2024
43m
PEL Presents #184: !BREAKING! Comedy News
Many people use shows like Last Week Tonight or The Daily Show to not just satirize the news but to provide us with our news. Late night shows, SNL, and many other shows get in on this, and conservative media is catching up via Gutfield! How does the comedy news format relate to panel shows, podcasts, and other light-hearted political talk? For more, visit prettymuchpop.com (http://prettymuchp...
53m Nov 03, 2024
53m