The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mark, Mary, and Jenny are joined by improviser Anthony to restore us to a 2 X 2 Team Play balance, again reading part of Martha Nussbaum's The Therapy of Desire as a way of exploring ancient traditions by which one might use philosophy for self-improvement. We act out and/or discuss vacation portal polyamory, voluntarily living in dangerous places, life return bureaucracy, risk bricks, connecting the classroom to the real world, and the first weekly check-in of the robots' revolution scheduling society. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at patreon.com/philosophyimprov.

Finishing up on Hippias Minor and moving on to the Ion, where Socrates convinces a rhapsode (someone who does public, dramatic readings of Homer and is a Homer scholar) that his talent is a matter of inspiration and not knowledge. So how does this relate to Plato's dismissal of poets in the Republic? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: If you're ready to launch your business before Black Friday, go to Shopify.com/pel to start your free trial.

Bruce has released 34 solo albums between 1970 and the present. He's a very accomplished finger-picker and often plays entirely solo but has also written rock, jazz, Christian, and 80s syntho songs. We discuss "Louis Collins" from The Blood of Others (2026), "Look How Far" from Breakfast in New Orleans Dinner in Timbuktu (1999), and Let's Go Laughing" from High Winds White Sky (1971). End song: "Café Society" from Bone on Bone (2017). Intro: "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" from Stealing Fire (1984). Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic. Sponsor: Visit Tidal.com/NEM to create an account and start uploading your music for free.

On the 2024 low-budget horror blockbuster film by Curry Barker. Mark, Lawrence, and Sarahlyn are joined by feminist philosopher Jenny Hansen to talk about this peculiar film. Is it a feminist tract exposing "nice guys" for their underlying narcissism, or just a lengthy Twilight Zone episode getting creative about the mechanics of the old magic wish trope? Like Get Out, this film is a surreal take on exploitation, but it also places itself in the tradition of Fatal Attraction as playing on our fear of and disdain for "clingy women." Did Barker even know what his message is? Is this film actually scary? Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop.

On two short Platonic dialogues, written perhaps around a decade after Socrates' death in 399 BCE. Hippias Minor, where Hippias is (like many of Socrates' interlocutors) a Sophist. In this case, this means that Hippias presents himself as an expert in all sorts of practices (techne) including not only literary marvels but even making his own clothes. Do these things add up to virtue? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

On The Concept of Mind (1949), Ch. 6, "Self-Knowledge." Ryle is arguing against a Cartesian take on mind that he sees as over-intellectualizing. In this case, it is not the case that every conscious act is itself an object of an act of consciousness: Not all consciousness is self-conscious, and introspection itself must involve a layer of mentality (the act of self-consciousness) that is not itself the object of an act of consciousness. Read along with us, starting on p. 136 (PDF p. 199). Subscribe to Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy; follow us there via the free tier to get many other episodes like this one ad free, or pay us to get subsequent parts to this and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife for a nice combo deal.)

The new official crew of Mark Linsenmayer, Mary Hynes, and "Jus' Jenny" Hansen kicks off our new endeavor to explore ancient self-help/psychologically therapeutic philosophical traditions via Martha Nussbaum's book "The Therapy of Desire," which we've read the intro of. We talk and/or act about preconceptions about philosophy, AA, a single-celled support group, a foul-mouthed poetry slam, and more. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at patreon.com/philosophyimprov.

Finishing up U.T. Place's "Is Consciousness a Brain Process?" (1956) and starting on J.J.C. Smart's "Sensations and Brain Processes" (1959). Place argues against the "phenomenological fallacy," i.e. the reality of the contents of one's inner life. Then Smart considers objects against mind/brain identity: Must qualities of sensations be something over and above qualities of brain processes? Finally, is mind/brain identity a scientific hypothesis at all? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Joan Wasser started as violinist/support member in the 90s for The Dambuilders and then for Mind Science of the Mind and Antony and the Johnsons. In the mid-90s, she co-led a band called Black Beetle that released nothing, but taught her songwriting. She's had 13 solo releases, as she has continued to guest and tour with major artists including Iggy Pop, and Gorillaz. We discuss "Eternal Flame" from Real Life Evolution (2026), "I Defy" from Real Life (2006), and "Full-Time Heist" from Lemons, Limes and Orchids (2024). Intro: "The Magic" from The Deep Field (2011). End song: "Valid Jagger" from Damned Devotion (2018). More at joanaspolicewoman.com. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.

We discuss high school drama TV shows and films in light of the genre-breaking, star-birthing teen drama Euphoria. Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al touch on Riverdale, Skins, Degrassi, John Hughes films, Buffy, Saved By the Bell, 90210, and many others. How much of the plots are driven by "affluenza?" What do they have to say about friendship? Is there something very white about even shows like Euphoria that have plenty of POC characters? Do the "genre" shows (e.g. The Craft) count? What about anime? Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop. Sponsor: Get started with Claude AI at claude.ai/pmp.

On U.T. Place's "Is Consciousness a Brain Process?" (1956) and J.J.C. Smart's "Sensations and Brain Processes" (1959), w/ guest Chris Heath. Is there some a priori reason for denying that the mind can actually be the brain? Obviously those two words don't mean the same thing, but can we think of them as a single thing under two descriptions? Place argues that the identity is not unlike other scientific identities, like lightning being the same as a motion of electric charges. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Mark and Seth rejoin to complete our treatment of Consciousness Explained, focusing on Dennett's responses to Frank Jackson's Mary the Color Scientist thought experiment, Searle's Chinese Room, inverted qualia, and more. If you're not hearing the full version of this part of the discussion, sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.

As an interlude between our Philosophy vs. Improv seasons, here's an interview left over from July with Mark's former classmate, actor/director/writer David, who runs Actor Class on Times Square. We talk about his career and his insights about Broadway, Shakespeare, contemporary entertainment, theory in acting, and more. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at patreon.com/philosophyimprov.

Continuing on Consciousness Explained, ch. 12-14, especially responding to Dennett's discussion of Nagel's "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" which which gets us in a whole conversation about animal consciousness. What is it like to be any languageless creature? How is the debate relevant to ethical issues? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

On "Are We Explaining Consciousness Yet" (2001), an article published with and commenting on papers by psychologists, neurologists, etc. on the state of consciousness studies at the time, featuring his newer metaphor for consciousness, "fame in the brain." Follow along with us. You can choose to watch this on video. Subscribe to Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy; follow us there via the free tier to get many other episodes like this one ad free, or pay us to get part 2 and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife for a nice combo deal.)

To begin our new season, we're up to the moment covering the first season of Elizabeth Meriwether's Hulu crime drama Furious, about an abused detective pursuing, and ultimately relating to, an abused revenge killer. The first half is spoiler free! How does this relate to other revenge fantasy films (e.g. Kill Bill) or other shows where we're supposed to be attracted to a female killer (Killing Eve)? It it good in the manner of The Wire? We talk a lot about casting, the showrunner, and especially decisions made in ending the season. Would this have been much better as a mini-series than as something that will now have a second season that may well jump the shark? Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop.

We focus on the final chapters of Dan Dennett's Consciousness Explained, where he confronts various views, figures, and thought experiments that contend that he's failed to explain the essence of consciousness: the "what it's like" element of any conscious experience that is distinct from a mere judgment or processing of information. One could imagine a being that organizationally matches Dennett's multiple drafts model, acts just like an intelligent person, and yet lacks consciousness. Dennett denies this. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health.

Jacqui rose to fame with the Australian electronic dance band Single Gun Theory (three albums '87-'94), did some one-off collaborations, and released her first solo album in 2008. After an album as CiiVE and some solo singles, she's now released her second solo album, Desiderium. We discuss "Planet" and listen at the end to "Cycles" from that new album, plus "Myriad" from Auraphonic (2008), and "The Sea of Core Experience" by Single Gun Theory from Flow, River of My Soul (1994). Intro: "Take Me Back" by Single Gun Theory from Millions, Like Stars in My Hands, The Daggers in My Heart Wage War (1991). More at jacquihunt.net. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.

We wrap up Mary's first year with the podcast, and changes are afoot for our upcoming season, but why? Let's explore to the point of physical discomfort! We act out an odd annual employee review, a dramatic pitch for a new play, and the navel-gazing club. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at patreon.com/philosophyimprov.

Continuing on Consciousness Explained (Ch. 5, 12). We talk about appearance vs. judgment and whether Dennett's denial of this distinction makes sense or just holds for very short time-scales, as in the phi-phenomenon experiment. Does the rejection of appearances and rejection of the concept of qualia undermine the very thing Dennett is trying to describe? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Get your free trial at shopify.com/pel.

On "First Person Authority" (1984). What warrants our superior knowledge of our own mental states, as oppose to those of others? Why is this not obvious? Read along with us. You can choose to watch this on video. Subscribe to Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy; follow us there via the free tier to get many other episodes like this one ad free, or pay us to get part 2 and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife for a nice combo deal.)

On Daniel C. Dennett's Consciousness Explained (Ch. 1, 5), featuring guest Mark, Seth, Dylan, and guest Chris Heath. What is the mind? Dennett puts forth his "multiple drafts" model against the centralization that he characterizes as the "Cartesian Theater." Dennett claims that there is no central place in the brain, or (more controversally) no central processing center in experience, that receives data from the senses and then initiates action (and memory, and other post-experiential processing). How counter-intutitive is this, exactly? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel.

Chris Sunami, the editor of the PEL book, joins Mark, Wes and Seth as part of the launch of his new book, Free Your Mind, which is a series of PEL-like conversations all coming out of Chris' brain, using the model of Plato's symposium to talk about race, AI, art, religion, and more. Chris then starts us talking about what we all might want to communicate to all the future people, so we get going on empathy (and its limits), loneliness, phone addiction, physical media, used book stores, the first albums we bought, and more. If you're not hearing the full version of this discussion, sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.

Continuing on Consciousness Explained (Ch. 5, 12). We talk about appearance vs. judgment and whether Dennett's denial of this distinction makes sense or just holds for very short time-scales, as in the phi-phenomenon experiment. Does the rejection of appearances and rejection of the concept of qualia undermine the very thing Dennett is trying to describe? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

How shall we break down the universe into basic types of things? Peirce has an idiosyncratic way of thinking about this problem and coming up with his division, revolving around the steps and presuppositions involved in predicating something. Read along with us. You can choose to watch this on video. Subscribe to Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy; follow us there via the free tier to get many other episodes like this one ad free, or pay us to get part 2 and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife for a nice combo deal.)

On "Mental Events" (1970) and "Actions, Reasons, and Causes" (1963), w/ guest Chris Heath. When we talk about mental events (e.g. desires) causing physical occurrences (an action to obtain what is desired), are we giving a causal picture in the scientific sense, which would rule out free will? Or are reason-giving and causality just different language games? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Learn about Mark's fall philosophy of mind class at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.

We now have a free-form discussion in light of what was raised in part one about the Federalist Papers and Frederick Douglass' Fourth of July Speech: What should we do about the problems identified? Is the system broken beyond repair? Was it built with fatal flaws in it? Is it just working as normal, and the pendulum will inevitably swing away from madness as the system reasserts itself? We then open it up for a Q&A, which gets us talking about property vs. liberty, the power of corporations, the moral basis of our government, and our outlook on the future. Learn about Mark's fall philosophy of mind class at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.

To celebrate our nation's 250th birthday, we gathered in front of a lovely audience near Madison WI to discuss Federalist Papers 70, 78, 39, 54, 10 by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison from 1787-1788, Anti-Federalist Papers 78-80 (aka Brutus 11 and 15), and Frederick Douglass' Fourth of July Speech (1852). Is the American experiment working out as planned? We talk about the Founders' arguments regarding the unitary executive, the independence of the judiciary, factionalism, the 3/5 compromise for representing slaves, and finally, whether slavery corrupted the whole thing. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health.

Continuing on "Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man" and "Some Consequences of Four Incapacities." We talk about inference, the self, introspection, willing, the limits on what kinds of terms can have meaning, and more. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Learn about Mark's Key Ideas in the Philosophy of Mind fall class at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.

On "Realistic Monism: Why Physicalism Entails Panpsychism" (2008). Strawson argues that physicalism should not just be taken as matter in motion. Instead, the physical is a broader category that includes not just chairs and molecules, but also "my experience of red." Yet he's not trying to say that experiences are just brain states; they clearly include qualia (what it's like to experience red). And he's also not just trying to solve the problem by redefining "physical" to include "mental" (though he is doing that). Instead, he's claiming that we have no warrant to claim that the properties of the physical are exhausted by what third-person science can investigate, and that we can't solve the mind-body problem unless we posit that (at least some) physical objects have a mental aspect. Sounds like Spinoza to us! Subscribe to Closereads (and get a link to this text to read along) at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy; follow us there via the free tier to part two and many other episodes like this one ad free, or pay us to get parts 2-5 and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife for a nice combo deal.)

On 1868 essays by Charles Sanders Peirce: "Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man" and "Some Consequences of Four Incapacities." Do we know when knowledge is intuitive? Is there any such thing as intuitive knowledge? Do we directly experience the self or anything introspective, or do we just infer facts about ourselves from external perspectives? Peirce provides counter-intuitive responses to all these questions. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel.

Continuing on Mere Christianity (1952). We discuss his take on the problem of evil, how happiness is impossible without Christ, our potential to evolve from bios (biological nature) vs. zoe (spiritual nature), sexual morality, pride, and more. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health.

On Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, sec. 551-559, which are sections assigned for but not actually covered on PEL #394. We get more info on how The Enlightenment supposedly mischaracterizes faith, but also how faith sees The Enlightenment and what Hegel considers to be good points coming out of The Enlightenment's critique.

On Mere Christianity (1952), where Lewis presents the moral argument for the existence of God and present Christianity as uniquely solving the human conundrum that our moral phenomenology presents, i.e. that the moral law is real in us yet we can never fulfill it. Once you're on board with that reasoning, faith is a matter of sticking to your realization even though Christianity's moral rules are extremely stringent. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Don't miss the PEL Live show in Madison, WI on Saturday afternoon, July 11. See partiallyexaminedlife.com/live for details. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel.

We conclude our treatment for the moment of the Spirit section of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, sec. 527-73. Hegel's diagnosis: The Enlightenment and faith only seem to be in conflict because they are two sides of "pure consciousness," i.e. thought as a retreat from the actual world. So yes, if you see faith as mere belief, as a thought about some unprovable matter of fact, that is not going to stand critical scrutiny. Hegel's conception of faith will instead be an involved, behavioral, social engagement with the world. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Don't miss the PEL Live show in Madison, WI on Saturday afternoon, July 11. See partiallyexaminedlife.com/live for details. 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.

On Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), sec. 527-73, i.e. "Faith and Pure Insight" and "The Struggle of Enlightenment with Superstition." Picking up where we left off in this book, an intangible part of us ("pure consciousness") escapes the attempts of culture to define us. This spiritual part has two sides: pure insight, which is the destructive critical faculty popularized by The Enlightenment which sees through all hypocricy and unwarranted belief; and faith, which Enlightenment either dismisses as superstition or chases into a little corner isolated from the real, empirical world. Eventually, the tension between these leads to a conception of faith that Hegel finds more congenial: Awareness of God is just a function of self-consciousness itself, though we don't typically recognize this. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Don't miss the PEL Live show in Madison, WI on Saturday afternoon, July 11. See partiallyexaminedlife.com/live for details. 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.

Concluding our treatment of Ch. 2 of Hegel's Faith and Knowledge (1802). Hegel wants to connect various ideas in Kant: The idea of an "intuitive, achetypal intellect" which we have to refer to in explaining biology, the synthesizing imagination that makes experience possible, and the unknown agency that makes things-in-themselves suitable for processing by our knowledge faculties and vice versa. For Hegel, these things all point to Reason as both the way we know God and the activity of God Himself: Hegelian Reason is the bringing together of seemingly opposite things, and so underlying our minds must be some greater kind of mind that brings together mind and world to create experience. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Don't get caught running yesterday's security on today's web: visit nordlayer.com/browser. 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.

Continuing on Ch. 2 of Hegel's Faith and Knowledge (1802) , plus some of the material being critiqued from Kant's Critique of Judgment (1790), chiefly sec. 76 and 77. Kant's third critique is not just about beauty but about apprehending nature, and he claims that as humans, we can only understand natural objects by seeing them as purposive (i.e. teleologically): An organism has a healthy state that it is designed to aim at. While Kant can't use the classical Design argument to thus argue that we know that God exists qua designer, he argues that as a practical matter, we must regard such a designer as present. Hegel argues that this is one of many points where Kant should stop dithering and just admit that his project involves Reason actually knowing theological facts. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Learn about PEL Live in Madison July 11 at partiallyexaminedlife.com/live.

We read part of The Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), specifically the parts about Homer's epic as an allegory for the merely apparent triumph of modernism (capitalism, instrumental reason) over myth (savagery, magical thinking). Subscribe to Closereads (and get a link to this text to read along) at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy; follow us there via the free tier to part two and many other episodes like this one ad free, or pay us to get parts 2-5 and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife for a nice combo deal.)

Continuing on Faith and Knowledge (1802), Ch. 1 and 2. We start off by discussing how beauty might give us a window into things-in-themselves according to the Romantics, who were in part following Kant's lead. Also, what version of the ontological argument for the existence of God does Hegel believe? We try to figure out what Hegel is praising in Kant's positing of synthetic a priori claims, and yet how he thinks Kant didn't understand the implications of this view. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. 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.

On Faith and Knowledge (1802), Ch. 1 and 2. Famously, Kant critiqued Reason to effectively forbid theology and metaphysics, and a young G.W.F. Hegel was not happy about that. He argues against the reduction of Reason to merely applying to the realm of experience, which makes religion merely a subjective, insubstantial matter. Hegel thought he could do better. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. 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.

Your four hosts review the critiques of modernity, try to figure out where Kant fits in, and then discuss Habermas' characterization of Nietzsche's anti-Enlightenment project. If you're not hearing the full version of this part of the discussion, sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.

Continuing on on The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, Ch. 1, 2, and 5 with guest John Ganz. We further discuss Habermas' characterizations of Hegel's take on modernity and eventually get to Adorno and Horkheimer, whose dismissals of modernity Habermas thinks go too far. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. including a supporter-only part three to this episode. Sponsors: Don't get caught running yesterday's security on today's web: visit nordlayer.com/browser. 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.

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. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Check out the Scribe Optimize Workflow AI platform at Scribe.how/PEL. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.

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)? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. 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.