The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
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The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
The Partially Examined Life is a podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a short text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don't have to know any philosophy, or even to have...
Episodis Recents
966 episodis
Ep. 399: Dan Dennett's Model of Mind (Part Two)
Continuing on Consciousness Explained (Ch. 5, 12). We talk about appearance vs. judgment and whether Dennett's denial of this distinction makes sense...
PEL Presents Closereads: Donald Davidson on Self-Knowledge (Part One)
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 obvio...
PEL Presents PMP#229: What's Spider-Man Up To?
It's been 2019 since our last Spider-Man episode, so what's with the new film (Brand New Day), and the Spider-Verse, and Nicholas Cage being Spider No...
Ep. 399: Dan Dennett's Model of Mind (Part One)
On Daniel C. Dennett's Consciousness Explained (Ch. 1, 5), featuring guest Mark, Seth, Dylan, and guest Chris Heath.
What is the mind? Dennett p...
PREMIUM-PEL Sunami Nightcap August 2026
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-lik...
PEL Presents NEM#259: Glenn Morrow (Bar/None): Songwriting Re-Emergence
lenn was a central figure in the Hoboken punk scene, fronting the band "a" in the late '70s and then The Individuals in the early '80s. His next band,...
Ep. 398: Donald Davidson on Mind vs. Body (Part Two)
Continuing on Consciousness Explained (Ch. 5, 12). We talk about appearance vs. judgment and whether Dennett's denial of this distinction makes sense...
PEL Presents PvI#123: Brain Spritzing w/ Bill Arnett and Jenny Hansen
Future co-host philosophy Jenny joins past co-host improviser Bill along with the usual Mark and Mary for some tag-team mud swimming, hot takes about...
PEL Presents Closereads: Peirce's New Categories (Part One)
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...
Ep. 398: Donald Davidson on Mind vs. Body (Part One)
On "Mental Events" (1970) and "Actions, Reasons, and Causes" (1963), w/ guest Chris Heath.
When we talk about mental events (e.g. desires) causi...
PMP#228: Spielberg's Alien Fetish
We discuss the various films Steven Spielberg has released about alien encounters: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. The Extra Terrestri...
Ep. 397: Federalist Papers LIVE (Part Two)
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:...
PEL Presents NEM#258: Dan Montgomery: Direct Communication
Dan was Ben Vaughn's sound-man and released his first solo album of Americana rock in 2004. We discuss "Busted" from his eighth album (produced by Vau...
PEL Presents PvI#122: Hello from Iran w/ AmirAli Maleki
AmirAli is a philosophy researcher in Iran who tries to make Islamic philosophy speak to and with the West. We hear about doing philosophy in the "Isl...
Announcement: Mark's "Key Ideas in the Philosophy of Mind" Fall 2026 Class
Enrollment is now open for our new online class.
It will be nine 75 min sessions, running from late Aug. to mid Dec., starting with Aristotle an...
Ep. 397: Federalist Papers LIVE (Part One)
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...
PEL Presents PMP#227: The Odyssey: Epic Film
We discuss the already over-discussed Christopher Nolan adaptation of Homer's classic poem. Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al discuss their cinema-going...
PEL Presents NEM#257: Josh Joplin Doesn't Look Back… Until Now
With his roots in folk, Josh released three rock albums in the '90s before his big hit "Camera One," from Useful Music (2001), which is getting a Silv...
Ep. 396: Peirce on Knowledge (Part Two)
Continuing on "Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man" and "Some Consequences of Four Incapacities."
We talk about inference, th...
PEL Presents Closereads: Galen Strawson on Panpsychism (Part One)
On "Realistic Monism: Why Physicalism Entails Panpsychism" (2008). Strawson argues that physicalism should not just be taken as matter in motion. Inst...
PEL Presents PMP#226 Toy Story Played Out
In light of Toy Story 5, the gang (Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al) consider the Pixar franchise that started in 1995. We consider the premise whereby...
Ep. 396: Peirce on Knowledge (Part One)
On 1868 essays by Charles Sanders Peirce: "Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man" and "Some Consequences of Four Incapacities."
...
PEL Presents PvI#121: Meat Suit Dolls w/ Maddie Mutations
The LA-based clown, multimedia performance artist, and doll stylist (see maddiemutations.com) joins Mary and Mark to talk about her Doll Court show, c...
PEL Presents NEM#256: Bruce Soord (Pineapple Thief): Heartbreaking Prog by Ear
Bruce started as guitarist for the '90s for Vulgar Unicorn and started Pineapple Thief as a solo project in 1999, though it quickly became a full band...
Ep. 395: C.S. Lewis Argues for Christianity (Part Two)
Continuing on Mere Christianity (1952). We discuss his take on the problem of evil, how happiness is impossible without Christ, our potential to evolv...
PEL Presents Closereads: Hegel on Faith vs. The Enlightenment (aka PEL#394 pt. 3)
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...
PEL Presents PMP#225: Survivor the Constant (with Wes!)
Survivor has remained a top-rated show since its debut in 2000, and some of us (Sarahlyn and our guest Wes Alwan) have stuck with it throughout, Mark...
Ep. 395: C.S. Lewis Argues for Christianity (Part One)
On Mere Christianity (1952), where Lewis presents the moral argument for the existence of God and present Christianity as uniquely solving the human c...
PEL Presents PvI#120: Mark and Mary in the Struggle Club
Your wise and authoritative hosts explore forms of respectful address, what counts as good philosophy, the holodeck full-contact Fantasy Island experi...
Ep. 394: Hegel on Faith vs. The Enlightenment (Part Two)
We conclude our treatment for the moment of the Spirit section of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, sec. 527-73.
Hegel's diagnosis: The Enlighten...
PEL Presents NEM#255: Michael Timmins (Cowboy Junkies): Mellow But Energized
Michael is the songwriter and guitarist for the Canadian band Cowboy Junkies (featuring two of his siblings and a childhood friend), with whom he's re...
PEL Presents PMP#224: Fantasy Novels Galore
Mark and Al share their mutual interest in fantasy novels. Is "high fantasy" fundamentally different than what enjoyed as kids? Did Peter Jackson's Lo...
Ep. 394: Hegel on Faith vs. The Enlightenment (Part One)
On Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), sec. 527-73, i.e. "Faith and Pure Insight" and "The Struggle of Enlightenment with Superstition."
Pic...
PEL Presents PvI#119: Ms. Philosophy vs. Improv w/ Mary and Jenny
What would PvI be with zero masculine energy? This episode features your usual co-host Mary Hynes and our frequent guest Jennifer Hansen (philosopher...
Ep. 393: Kant vs. Hegel (Part Two)
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, ache...
PEL Presents NEM#254: Teddy Thompson Gets Off the Sofa
The golden-voiced son on Richard and Linda is more tied to '50s/'60s rock and country than he his to his parents' folk influences, and he's recorded t...
PEL Presents PMP#223: What Is Star Wars Now?
In light of The Mandalorian and Grogu (and the Disney+ Darth Maul cartoon), we (Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al) check back in with Star Wars. Is it...
Ep. 393: Kant vs. Hegel (Part One)
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...
PEL Presents PvI#118: Aphoristically w/ Andrea Roccella
Mark and Mary are joined by Andrea, an Italian teacher with a broad performing background who's written a book of philosophical, poetic aphorisms call...
PEL Presents Closereads: Horkheimer and Adorno on The Odyssey (Part One)
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 mod...