The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

PEL Presents PvI#126: Waiting for Cluckman w/ Anthony LeBlanc

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

Ep. 402: Plato Talks Homer: Hippias Minor and Ion (Part Two)

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) t

PEL Presents NEM#262: Bruce Cockburn Expands Political/Spiritual Folk

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, Chri

PEL Presents PMP#232: Obsession (for Men?)

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 f

Ep. 402: Plato Talks Homer: Hippias Minor and Ion (Part One)

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

PEL Presents Closereads: Gilbert Ryle on Self-Knowledge (Part One)

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 t

PEL Presents PvI#125: Mrs. Nussbaum's Credit Card

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 philoso

Ep. 401: Mind/Brain Identity Theory (U.T. Place, J.J.C. Smart) (Part Two)

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 "p

PEL Presents NEM#261: Joan as Policewoman's Living Growth

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-l

PEL Presents PMP#231: Euphoric Teens

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, Ski

Ep. 401: Mind/Brain Identity Theory (U.T. Place, J.J.C. Smart) (Part One)

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 reas

PREMIUM-Ep. 400: Dennett Rejects Qualia (Part Three)

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,

PEL Presents Philosophy vs. Theater w/ David Epstein

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 Act

Ep. 400: Dennett Rejects Qualia (Part Two)

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 c

PEL Presents Closereads: Late Dennett on Consciousness (Part One)

On "Are We Explaining Consciousness Yet" (2001), an article published with and commenting on papers by psychologists, neurologists, etc. on the state of consciousness stu

PEL Presents PMP#230: Gettin' Furious

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 ulti

Ep. 400: Dennett Rejects Qualia (Part One)

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

PEL Presents NEM#260: Jacqui Hunt (Single Gun Theory) Now Master of Her Synth Domain

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

PEL Presents PvI#124: Navel Evaluation (Our Season 5 Finale)

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 od

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 or just holds for ve