Wes, Dylan, and guest Chris Heath continue to discuss The Evolution of Agency (2022) in light of our interview with the author. We relate examples from the book of animals of various levels of complexity making deliberative decisions, exhibiting rationality, experiencing causality, or otherwise engaging in agentive behaviors. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor : Learn about St. John's Colle...
Oct 09, 2023•52 min
On The Evolution of Agency (2022), with the author, and guest panelist Chris Heath. What is human agency? How would we determine whether an animal is a legitimate agent, as opposed to just acting automatically? Tomasello investigates this by thinking about what capabilities and behaviors constitute agency and the degree to which near-human animals have these. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion....
Oct 02, 2023•45 min
Continuing on "Meaning" (1957), "Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions" (1969), and "Logic and Conversation" (1975) with guest Steve Gimbell. We tie the articles together, talk more about the rules implicit in conversation, and try to relate Grice's project to other parts of philosophy. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and a supporter-exclusive part three to this discussion ....
Sep 25, 2023•56 min
On "Meaning" (1957), "Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions" (1969), and "Logic and Conversation" (1975), featuring Mark, Seth, Dylan, and guest Steve Gimbell . Grice tries to give a rigorous analysis of what it means for a speaker (as opposed to a sentence) to mean something in particular. Let the increasingly elaborate potential counter-examples commence! Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion, including a...
Sep 18, 2023•47 min
Mark and Wes do a Closeread on the latter part of the dialogue, where Socrates argues to Cratylus that even if names (words) were devised to somehow depict the things they stand for, that wouldn't guarantee that they ACCURATELY describe the world. You can't look at the definitions of words to learn about the world; you have to actually investigate the world directly. Closereads supporters (see patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy ) can watch video for this episode and get all the Closereads content:...
Sep 13, 2023•11 min
Continuing on Plato's mid-period dialogue about language. Is attaching a word to a thing, i.e. naming it, like other activities such as carpentry or sewing that can go wrong? Can we put the "form" of a thing into letters and syllabus of its name? We go through many examples where Socrates claims to have done just that. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and a supporter-exclusive part three to this discussion ....
Sep 11, 2023•46 min
On Plato's mid-period dialogue from around 388 BCE. How do words relate to the things they represent? Socrates first argues that words represent things, and so doing etymology is a way of learning philosophical truths, then seemingly reverses himself. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion, including a supporter-exclusive part three to this episode coming out next week....
Sep 04, 2023•45 min
Mark, Seth, Dylan, and eventually Wes talk about traveling, Barbie, gender, evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, 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 .
Aug 29, 2023•10 min
Continuing on Michael Tomasello's "Language Is Not an Instinct" (1995) and Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (2003), as contrasted with Chomsky universal grammar (the flag that Steven Pinker continues to carry). With guest Christopher Heath. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and a supporter-exclusive Nightcap discussion about cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, and more ....
Aug 28, 2023•48 min
On Michael Tomasello's "Language Is Not an Instinct" (1995) and Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (2003). With guest Christopher Heath. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.
Aug 21, 2023•46 min
Are we underlyingly all really a single, unified organism? Or do we just have a lot in common? PEL's most verbose hosts Mark Linsenmayer and Wes Alwan begin unraveling this puzzling claim by reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 essay "The Over-Soul" and explaining it line-by-line. Watch this episode on video at YouTube . We encourage you to read along in the essay with us . This is the first of four parts. To hear the others as they are released this week, plus weekly episodes going forward and th...
Aug 14, 2023•55 min
Mark and Wes conclude with some close reading of Part 6 of System of Transcendental Idealism (1800), section 3: "Relation of Art to Philosophy." Schelling thinks that art enables us to do intuitively what philosophy tries to do with concepts. We're providing this typically supporter-exclusive content for all of you in anticipation of the new Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes project that we'll be unveiling next week. Sponsors: Get 50% off the #1 Meal Kit for Eating Clean (plus free shippi...
Aug 07, 2023•57 min
Continuing on "On the Relation Between the Plastic Arts and Nature" (1807) and Part 6 of System of Transcendental Idealism (1800). We talk sculpture vs. painting and why art is the direct, intuitive way to achieve the insight that philosophy can only approximate using concepts. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Learn about the online Core Philosophy Texts course Mark is running this fall at partia...
Jul 31, 2023•48 min
Discussing "On the Relation Between the Plastic Arts and Nature" (1807) and Part 6 of System of Transcendental Idealism (1800). Is the goal of art to imitate nature? Only if that means showing the divine, ideal, dynamic aspect of the subject matter (and the artist)! Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion....
Jul 24, 2023•44 min
Mark, Wes, and Seth talk about how we might cover philosophy of technology, and other areas like medical ethics, business ethics, environmental ethics, etc. Do we remember things that we recorded a few years back? What summer films are we looking forward to? Finally, can we cover David Foster Wallace? If you're not hearing the full version of this discussion , sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support ....
Jul 21, 2023•12 min
We continue on Theory of Art , getting more into sections of the text about the relationship between beauty and purposiveness, genius, unconscious vs. conscious creation, style vs. manner, and art imitating nature. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and a supporter-exclusive Nightcap discussion largely about philosophy of technology . Learn about the online Core Philosophy Texts course Mark is running this fall at partiallyexam...
Jul 17, 2023•45 min
Covering the elder Schlegel brother's Theory of Art (ca. 1800). How does our experience of Beauty relate to the infinite? Schlegel provides a Romantic response to Kant on knowing the divine, inner essences of things through art, how genius works, and the relationship between art and nature. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion....
Jul 10, 2023•46 min
Mark and Wes conclude our discussion of the younger Schlegel brother by going through more of his critical fragments, largely published in 1797 in the journal Lyceum Tier Schonen Kunste . 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 ....
Jul 08, 2023•11 min
We continue on Schlegel's "Dialogue on Poesy" (1799) and "Concerning the Essence of Critique" (1804). How can Romantic art always aim at some common source of our humanity yet also require originality? How can having some sort of common mythology help artists be original in this way, and how can we embrace mythology as modern people? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and a supporter-exclusive part three to this discussion ....
Jul 03, 2023•43 min
On selected fragments from 1797-1801, "Dialogue on Poesy" (1799), and "Concerning the Essence of Critique" (1804). What makes art "Romantic"? Schlegel sees good art as uniquely, authentically reaching out to a divine source that underlies and connects each of us. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion....
Jun 26, 2023•46 min
We complete our treatment of On the Aesthetic Education of Man by considering its final letters in more detail. Does Reason really make us more moral? And does the embrace of Beauty really point us to Reason, or does self-consciousness rule out immersion in art? 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 ....
Jun 23, 2023•10 min
Starting with letter 20 in On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795), we tell more of the story of how art is supposed to get us from sensation to thinking. Aesthetic perception ends up being essential to any conceptualization (thinking) whatsoever! Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and a supporter-exclusive part three to this discussion ....
Jun 19, 2023•49 min
On the second half of Friedrich Schiller's On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795), getting into the mechanics of how aesthetic experience work in giving us a midpoint between animality and pure rationality where we can feel free. Also, does art reveal truth? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion....
Jun 11, 2023•47 min
Mark and Wes dive deeper into the text of the first several letters of On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795). Are verbal descriptions of art destined to fall short? What is it to put yourself forward as a representative of your species? These and many more of Schiller's puzzling proclamations are debated in detail! 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 ....
Jun 10, 2023•11 min
We continue working through letters 1-15 of On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795), helped by Markus Reuter . We get clearer on what Schiller means by Beauty, and how two contrary drives toward matter and form somehow cancel each other out to combine in a "play drive" that is at the heart of appreciating and creating art. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and a supporter-exclusive part three to this discussion ....
Jun 05, 2023•54 min
Can art make us better people? Musician Markus Reuter joins Mark, Wes, and Seth to discussion the first half of On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795). Given the failure of the French Revolution, this famous German poet wondered what could make the masses capable of governing themselves? His answer: Beauty! Aesthetic appreciation puts us at a distance from our savage desires, enables the abstract thought necessary for Kantian rationalist morality, and yet keeps us in touch with our feelings so...
May 29, 2023•45 min
To conclude our discussion of the novel, we turn to the philosophies of Dmitri and Ivan, plus the Biblical book of Job and our takeaways. Do we need some philosophy of transcendence to cope? 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 ....
May 22, 2023•11 min
Following up on our live episode , we further ponder the 1869 novel, revisiting the "problem of evil" arguments and how the various brothers cope with an imperfect world. Plus, we relate Dostoevsky to other existentialists. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion, including a supporter-exclusive final part to this discussion....
May 15, 2023•55 min
Continuing on Dostoevsky's 1880 novel, we respond to some objections to the Christian arguments that the characters Alyosha and Zosima put forward to respond to Ivan's "Rebellion" and "Grand Inquisitor" arguments. Most of these objections come from the audience Q&A. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get lots of bonus content, including the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition of this episode....
May 08, 2023•36 min
On Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1880 existentialist novel, focusing mostly on the "Rebellion" and "Grand Inquisitor" chapters. How can we reconcile ourselves to the existence of evil and suffering? The character Ivan argues that we can't, that children's suffering can't be justified by any alleged Divine Plan. Dostoevsky's answer to this challenge is practical, concrete love and service to others, but does this really address or merely sidestep Ivan's challenge? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com . Vi...
May 01, 2023•40 min
