Mon, 28 September 2015
More on the Manual of Epictetus, aka The Enchiridion, from around 135 CE. We discuss elements of E's program including making your will "conformable to nature," the connection between controlling your emotions and seeing truth, what exactly about our mentality we're supposed to be able to control, engaging other people (or not), and how to behave at parties. Listen to part one first or get the Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
|
Mon, 21 September 2015
On the Manual of Epictetus, aka The Enchiridion (135 CE). What's a wise strategy for life? Stoicism says that the secret is mastering yourself. Nothing external can break your spirit unless you let it. So, how weird and misguided is that advice? With guest Alex Fossella. End song: "But I Won't" by Mark Lint from Spanish Armada: Songs of Love and Related Neuroses (1993). Get this and every episode ad-free by becoming a PEL supporter at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support. |
Mon, 14 September 2015
Continuing our discussion of Amartya Sen's On Ethics and Economics (1987) with some comparisons to F.A. Hayek and his essay "The Use of Knowledge in Society" (1945), with guest Seth Benzell. Listen to Seth B's introduction and part one first. Learn more.
|
Mon, 7 September 2015
On F.A. Hayek's "The Use of Knowledge in Society" (1945) and Amartya Sen's On Ethics and Economics (1987). Is economics a pseudoscience? Are its assumptions by necessity too over-simplifying? Hayek objects to the idea of planning an economy, because the planners aren't in a position to know enough. With guest Seth Benzell, who starts us off with a "precognition" of the material. End song: "People Who Throw Away Love" by Mark Lint from The Cheese Stands Alone. Get this and every episode ad-free by becoming a PEL supporter at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support. |
Sun, 6 September 2015
Haven't had enough Augustine? Danny Lobell and Wes Alwan welcome Augustine scholar James Wetzel and PEL Citizens Terra Leigh Bell, Amogh Sahu, and Scott Anderson to discuss our Augustine episodes, covering humility, love, desire, grief, sex, misogyny, degrees of reality, and how love of God fits with relating to other people. Minimally edited, recorded the same day it's being posted, we present a full Aftershow on our public feed for the very first time. (The last?) What do you think? Get all the aftershows and every episode ad-free by becoming a PEL supporter at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.
Direct download: PEL_Ep121122_Augustine_Aftershow_9-6-15.mp3
Category:Podcast Episodes -- posted at: 9:37pm CDT |
Mon, 31 August 2015
Concluding on The Confessions (400 CE), books 10–13. More on memory and how it relates to Plato's "recollection," Augustine's take on will (Do we pursue something we take to be the good per Plato or do we intentionally pursue evil?), what it meeans to live as hooked up with God, and the kinds of answers Augustine gives to tricky questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of time. Listen to part one first, and ep. 121 before that.
|
Mon, 24 August 2015
Yet more on The Confessions, now on books 10–13. What is memory and how does it relate to time and being? Augustine thinks that memory is a storehouse, but it contains not just the sensations we put in it, but also (à la Plato's theory of recollection) all legitimate knowledge. It's our route to God, to real Being. Mark, Wes, and Dylan also discuss time, language, knowledge, the existence of evil, and more. This continues our discussion from ep. 121. Listen to the Aftershow featuring James Wetzel! End song: "The Past Is Not Real" by Mark Lint from Songs from the Partially Examined Life. Read about it. Get this and every episode ad-free by becoming a PEL supporter at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support. |
Wed, 19 August 2015
Guest Seth Benzell outlines Hayek's "The Use of Knowledge in Society" (1945) and Sen's On Ethics and Economics (1987).
|
Mon, 17 August 2015
More on The Confessions, books 1–9. Love the world, but only insofar as you're really loving the creator, so don't get too carried away. What are the logical and not-so-logical-but-certainly-predictable implications of this view? Listen to part one first.
|
Mon, 10 August 2015
On The Confessions (400 CE), books 1–9. The question is not "What is virtue?" because knowing what virtue is isn't enough. The problem, for Aurelius Augustinus, aka St. Augustine of Hippo, is doing what you know to be right. End song: "I Still Want" by New People, from Impossible Things (2011). Get this and every episode ad-free by becoming a PEL supporter at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support. |