Continuing on Cavell's essay "The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear" (1969), shifting away from Lear in particular to a more general discussion of tragedy and Cavell's psychological insights. Begin with Part One or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition . Please support PEL! End song: "Out of Your Hands" by Gretchen's Wheel, i.e., Lindsay Murray, as interviewed for Nakedly Examined Music #81 ....
On Cavell's essay "The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear" (1969). Can money buy you love? What is tragedy? With guest Erin O'Luanaigh . Don't wait for part two; get the full Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!...
How should we think politically about the current global crisis? Do extreme circumstances reveal truths of political philosophy or do they reinforce whatever it is we already believe? Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan talk about applying philosophical insights to real-life situations rife with unknowns, John Rawls' veil of ignorance and Adam Smith on our interconnectedness, utilitarianism, libertarianism, and more. A source we used was "How Coronavirus Is Shaking Up the Moral Universe " by John Authers...
On "Scorekeeping in a Language Game" (1979) and "Truth in Fiction" (1978). Lewis's account of possible worlds can be applied to conversation: As we speak, each sentence adds to the "conversational score" (the set of assumptions that enable us to understand each other) while reducing the field of possible worlds that the picture we're painting together could potentially represent. What are the gravitational forces within this kind of scorekeeping? Also, when an author creates a fictive "world," h...
On Ch. 4 of Lewis's book Counterfactuals (1973) and the essays “Scorekeeping in a Language Game” (1979) and “Truth in Fiction” (1978). What makes a sentence about possibility true? Lewis things that we need possible worlds that really exist in order to make sense of our modal intuitions. He uses this possible world talk to make sense of conversations and the worlds created by fiction writers. With guest Matt Teichman from Elucidations . Please support PEL!...
Continuing on The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Charles Louis de Secondat, aka Baron de Montesquieu. Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth talk more about the "motive force" behind each type of government and the separation of powers. Begin with part 1 or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition . Please support PEL! End song: "King of the Hill" by MINUTEMEN. Listen to Mark interview Mike Watt on Nakedly Examined Music #108 ....
On The Spirit of the Laws (1748) by Charles Louis de Secondat, aka Baron de Montesquieu. What keeps a society functioning? Montesquieu, though of course not the first political philosopher, was perhaps the first to systematically explore correlations between characteristics of a government, its people, its climate, dominant industries, religion, and other factors. Some of his ideas directly influenced the American Constitution, and some of them are very very weird. Please support PEL!...
Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth summarize thoughts about our recent series on social construction, gender and sex, and Judith Butler's notion of "grievable lives." Should we stop covering so much contemporary work and/or political topics? End song: "The Size of Luv" by Mark Lint from Mark Lint's Dry Folk (2018). Get this and every episode ad-free with a PEL Membership . Please support the podcast!...
Continuing on Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" (1921). Mark, Wes, and Seth keep trying to figure out this difficult essay. Is Benjamin really advocating a workers' revolution to end the state, or just reflecting on a hypothetical to explore the limits of the concept of violence? According to Judith Butler's interpretation of the essay, the takeaway is the alternative to motivation through force, i.e. speech, which Benjamin (in other essays) gives some religious significance, but the way he actu...
On "Critique of Violence" (1921). What is violence? Benjamin gives us a taxonomy: law-creating, law-preserving, mythological, and divine. Then he deconstructs his own distinctions to demonstrate that all state power is rotten through its being founded on and continually re-established by violence or the threat of it. Don't wait for part two. Get the full ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!...
On The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (2020). What is it to be nonviolent in political activity? Most ethics allow for self-defense, but Judith has a problem with defining "self" as well as "violence," and offers a full critique of the individualism that underlies typical Western approaches to both ethics and politics. Mark, Seth, and Wes interview Judith about these issues and the connection to Gender Trouble . End song: "Dancing with Death," discussed on Nakedly Examined Music ...
Mark, Erica, and Brian discuss Michael Schur's NBC TV show. Is it good? Does it actually teach moral philosophy? We talk sit-com tropes, TV finales, the show's convoluted structure, the puzzle of heaven, and more. For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop . This podcast is part of the Partially Examined Life network and is curated by openculture.com ....
Concluding "Gender Trouble" (1990), with just Mark, Wes, and Seth going carefully through pt I, sec v: "Identity, Set, and the Metaphysics of Substance," and pt III, sec iv: "Subversive Bodily Acts: Bodily Inscriptions, Performative Subversions." Start with part one or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition . Please support PEL! End song: "I'm a Boy" by Lys Guillorn as interviewed for Nakedly Examined Music #44 ....
More Gender Trouble (1990) with Jennifer Hansen . We get into the metaphysics of substance (is gender an attribute that a person has, or is there a better way to describe the situation?), performatives, Beauvoir vs. Irigaray on femininity, and the available mechanisms for changing gender norms. Start with Part One or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition . Please support PEL!...
On Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990). Is gender socially constructed, and if so, how? Butler describes gender not as an essential quality of a person, but as "performed," as habits of acting in certain ways in accordance with customs. Her idea of social construction is so totalizing that even biological sex itself is constructed. With guest Jennifer Hansen . Please support PEL!...
We consider The Irishman in the context of Scorsese's body of work and the styles and themes that his films tend to exhibit. Writer/podcaster Colin Marshall joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to talk about connecting with Scorsese's sensibility and their status as "art films." Plus S's use of music, comments on Marvel, CGI age alternation, and more. For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop . This podcast is part of the Partially Examined Life...
Concluding Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): "The Woman in Love" and "Myths" with guest Jennifer Hansen . We continue on the ailments of women under patriarchy as well as the existential problems that we're all subject to. Are we doomed to isolation, or does existentialism allow for intimacy? Is marriage in "bad faith"? We also talk narcissism, abjection, and the film Marriage Story . Start with part 1 or get the Citizen Edition . Please support PEL! End song: "Easier than Leaving" by ...
On Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): "The Woman in Love" and "Myths" with guest Jennifer Hansen . What is love under patriarchy? We all want to achieve solidity in another's eyes, but the Othered woman wants to live through the man, and the man sees the woman as his rejected corporeal character. Party time! Please support PEL!...
Mark, Erica, and Brian talk about the unique place these films have in the brains of people of a certain age, how we grappled with the prequels, and why we feel the need to fill in and argue about the details. We focus primarily on The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker. For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop . This podcast is part of the Partially Examined Life network and is curated by openculture.com ....
Continuing on the dialogue, where Socrates argues that Protagoras doesn't actually know what virtue is, because he thinks that the various virtues (especially courage) are distinct, a claim that Socrates refutes in several (logically suspect) ways. Start with part one , or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition . Please support PEL! End song: "Make It Clear" by Feelies; hear Glenn Mercer on Nakedly Examined Music #41 ....
Covering Alan Moore's 1986 graphic novel, the new HBO series and the 2009 film. Mark, Erica, and Brian are joined by David , psych prof at Cornell and host of Very Bad Wizards . How does Moore's style translate to the screen? How well did the show handle politics? Should there be a second season? For more, visit prettymuchpop.com . Hear bonus content for this episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop . This podcast is part of the Partially Examined Life network and is curated by openculture.com ....
On the Platonic dialogue written around 380 BCE about an encounter between Socrates and one of the leading Sophists of his day. What is virtue ("the political art" according to Protagoras), and can it be taught? What are the relations of the various virtues to each other? Do they really amount ultimately to one and the same thing, i.e. wisdom? In this entertaining dialogue, Socrates and Protagoras swap positions, and Socrates seems to parody the Sophists' style. Don't wait for part two; get the ...
Continuing Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) with guest Jennifer Hansen . How does one become a Subject and how do women traditionally get shut out of this process? We get into Vol. 2, "Lived Experience" where Beauvoir details how this drama unfolds in various stages of life. Also, religion, logic, the relation of biology to situation, and more. How do we modernize Beauvoir's critique given the evolution in women's positions since the book was written? Start with part one or get the ful...
On Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): the intro, conclusion, “Woman’s Situation and Character” and parts of “Lived Experience," with guest Jennifer Hansen . According to Beauvoir, Woman is historically conceived of by society (and herself) as "Other," as not a Subject who creates and makes decisions. Her life is pre-determined, revolving around marriage and child-bearing, and is so deformed by this situation. Don't wait for part two; get the unbroken Citizen Edition now. Please support ...
Continuing on Descartes’s Discourse on Method , looking closely at part 4 (his proto- Meditations ) and his "provisional" Stoic ethics. Listen to part one first or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition . Please support PEL! End song: "My Real Fantasy" By Joe Louis Walker, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #110 ....
On René Descartes’s Discourse on Method (1637), an overview of his work that distills his method, outlines his famous Meditations , presents a provisional (Stoic) ethics, and considers whether he wants to be a public intellectual. This is all meant as a preface to scientific publications on geometry, optics, and meteors. Please support PEL!
Continuing on Latour's We Have Never Been Modern (1993) with guest Lynda Olman . Latour rejects the idea of objective truth totally apart from perceivers, so is he an idealist? We lay out the "Constitution" of modernity that keeps science and politics separate, how it makes it difficult for us to address issues like climate change, and what Latour thinks should replace it. Start with part 1 or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition . Please support PEL! End song: "Mono No Aware" by Guy Sigsworth,...
On Latour's We Have Never Been Modern (1993) with guest Lynda Olman . What's the "modern" ideology of science, and is there something we should critique about it? Latour wants us to think about science not abstractly through the eternal truths it supposedly discovers, but through the concrete practices of scientists. He investigates the Modern Constitution by which science and politics are kept conceptually separate, a myth that he claims we've never fully bought into. Don't wait for part two; g...
Concluding René Descartes's Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628). We finish rule 12 through the end, talking about simples, the faculties of intuition and judgment, perception and imagination, necessary vs. contingent truths, and how to do Cartesian science, including what constitutes a "perfectly understood problem." Start with part one , or get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL! End song: "Perfect Design" by Ian Moore, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #94 ....
Continuing on René Descartes's Rules for Direction of the Mind (1628), covering rules 7 through the first part of the lengthy rule 12. We try to figure out what he means by "enumeration;" the faculties of imagination, sense and memory; the virtues of perspicacity and sagacity; his psychology of the senses, the "common sense" where all sense data comes together, and the understanding; how Descartes recommends we do scientific investigation; why syllogisms stink; and whether some people are just b...
