The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 213: Nietzsche's Zarathustra (Part Two) Apr 22, 2019

Show notes

Continuing on Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, books 1 and 2 (1883).

We talk through Nietzsche's symbolism (tightrope walkers and gravediggers and snakes, oh my!), the path toward the overman, his screed against the state, the Will to Power as the will to overcome oneself by reconciling oneself with the past, and more.

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

PREMIUM-(sub)Text#6: Melanie Klein's "Notes on Some Schizoid Mechanisms" Apr 21, 2019

Show notes

Wes Alwan is joined by Dr. Glenn Mobray to discuss this classic 1946 psychoanalytic text.

This is a preview of a 63-minute discussion. You can listen to the whole thing by becoming a PEL Citizen or $5 Patreon supporter. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to learn how.

Listen to more (sub)Text.

Episode 213: Nietzsche's Zarathustra (Part One) Apr 15, 2019

Show notes

On Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, books 1 and 2 (1883).

What is wisdom? In this text whose style parodies the Bible, we get pithy advice and allegorical imagery to guide us away from self-defeating, life-denying attitudes and orient us towards creative self-overcoming (i.e. exertion of the Will to Power). The Last Man who no longer knows how to give birth to a dancing star is a rotten egg!

Please support PEL!

Glimpse: Sartre on Literature (for Partially Examined Life #212) Apr 11, 2019

Show notes

Should literature be political? Jean-Paul Sartre thought that all literature is political, because of what literature is.

That's a very weird-sounding view. Mark Linsenmayer from the Partially Examined Life philosophy podcast tries to make it sound like something you should at least consider.

This is but a Glimpse. To hear the full Partial Examination of this book, visit partiallyexaminedlife.com.

Episode 212: Sartre on Literature (Part Two) Apr 08, 2019

Show notes

Continuing on What is Literature? (1948).

Sartre gives a phenomenology of reading and writing that makes reading into a creative act of completing the writer's work, and calls this cooperation ethical: the work is an appeal to the reader's freedom, and also the reader's responsibility to then know what the work reveals. Are you shirking, all you skimmers?

Start with part one, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

End song: "Things I Shouldn't Have Told You" by Sam Phillips, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #90.

Episode 212: Sartre on Literature (Part One) Apr 01, 2019

Show notes

On Jean-Paul Sartre's What is Literature (1948), ch. 1 and 2.

What's the purpose of literature? Why write prose as opposed to poetry? Sartre argues that while poetry is about the words themselves, prose is about the ideas, so it's necessarily political. A written work is essentially an ethical appeal for a reader to apply his or her own faculties and experiences to complete the work through the act of reading.

Please support PEL!

Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Part Three) Mar 25, 2019

Show notes

Moving finally on to Jean-Paul Sartre's "Black Orpheus" (1948), where he introduces a book of black poetry by praising its revolutionary spirit as embodied in "negritude." Is this a legitimate consciousness-raising exercise or a weird fetishization of blackness?

Listen to parts one and two first, or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition, which will also get you access to (sub)Text#5 on Checkhov's Uncle Vanya Please support PEL!

End song: "Punch Bag" by Godley & Creme as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music #3.

Sponsor: Visit TheGreatCoursesPLUS.com/PEL for two months of unlimited learning for 99 cents.

Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Part Two) Mar 18, 2019

Show notes

Continuing on Jean-Paul Sartre's Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (1946).

Is there an "authentic" way to respond to persecution? As part of his critique of anti-semitism, Sartre criticized the responses of some Jews to this situation, e.g. denying that the persecution exists, pretending to not be Jewish, or in any way accepting the terms of anti-semitism and setting up one's life in reaction to it. Sartre instead recommends solidarity and "concrete liberalism," which we try to figure out.

Listen to part one first. Please support PEL!

Episode 211: Sartre on Racism and Authenticity (Part One) Mar 11, 2019

Show notes

On Jean-Paul Sartre's Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (1946) and "Black Orpheus" (1948).

How can we best understand the psychology of racism? Sartre condemns anti-Semitism as denying the facts of the human condition: the responsibility for fixing problems and not blaming them on a demonized other. But he also criticizes "the democrat" for a humanism that pretends we're in a post-racial world, calling instead for "concrete liberalism" that treats Jews not as abstract individuals but as real people in an an oppressed situation.

Please support PEL!

PEL Presents Constellary Tales #6: Philip K. Dick's "Minority Report" w/ Mark Linsenmayer Mar 11, 2019

Show notes

PEL's Mark Linsenmayer joins hosts Ken Gerber and Brian Hirt to weigh in on the philosophical implications of precognitive crime fighting in Philip K. Dick's "The Minority Report." Brian quizzes Mark and Ken on PKD movie trivia.

Get more Constellary Tales podcasts, and read original sf in the magazine at constellary.com. Listen to PEL #175 on Blade Runner.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected