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 read the text we're talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion. For links to the texts we discuss and other info, check out www.partiallyexaminedlife.com. We also feature episodes from other podcasts by our hosts to round out your partially examined life, including Pretty Much Pop (prettymuchpop.com, covering all media), Nakedly Examined Music (nakedlyexaminedmusic.com, deconstructing songs), Philosophy vs. Improv (philosophyimprov.com, fun with performance skills and philosophical ideas), and (sub)Text (subtextpodcast.com, looking deeply at lit and film). Learn about more network podcasts at partiallyexaminedlife.com.

Mark and Wes interview perhaps the world's most influential living philosopher, then the full foursome discusses. We discuss his ongoing work rooted in his 1971 essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," about the warped priorities of our consumerist society: We spend money on luxuries while innocent children overseas die from inexpensively preventable causes. For more about Peter, see www.petersinger.info.

End song: "Ann the Word" by Beauty Pill (2015), explored in Nakedly Examined Music #19.

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Direct download: PEL_ep_150_9-13-16.mp3
Category:Podcast Episodes -- posted at: 7:52am CDT

Broadway stars Walter Bobbie and Bill Youmans perform Plato's dialogue in which Socrates awaits his execution. Should Socrates defy the verdict and try to escape the city? Socrates says no; that would be ungrateful to the city whose benefits he's enjoyed. Bill joins the full PEL foursome for a lively discussion.

End song: "Fall Away" by Mark Lint and the Fake from the album So Whaddaya Think? (2000).

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Direct download: PEL_ep_149_9-4-16.mp3
Category:Podcast Episodes -- posted at: 7:00am CDT

Concluding on Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, books 8–10. Should you share your sorrow with your friends? Can you be friends with someone in a different social station? Do you really need to love yourself before you can be a friend? Why are real friendships in modern society so hard? Do we all at some level know what's really good, even if we proclaim different ideas?
Direct download: PEL_ep_148pt2_8-30-16.mp3
Category:Podcast Episodes -- posted at: 9:06am CDT

On the final books 8–10 of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. What does friendship have to do with ethics? With guest Ana Sandoiu.

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Direct download: PEL_ep_148_8-30-16.mp3
Category:Podcast Episodes -- posted at: 7:00am CDT

Continuing on the Nichomachean Ethics, bks 6–7. More on intellectual virtues (like nous or rational intuition), plus we finally get to weakness of the will (akrasia), which is much better than simply being a jerk with wrong moral beliefs.
Direct download: PEL_ep_147pt2_8-9-16.mp3
Category:Podcast Episodes -- posted at: 7:00am CDT

On the Nichomachean Ethics (ca. 350 BCE), books 6–7. Is intelligence just one thing? Aristotle picks out a number of distinct faculties, some of which are relevant to ethics, and he uses these to explain Plato's puzzle of how someone can clearly see what the good for him is, and yet fail to pursue it due to weakness of the will. This episode continues our discussion from way back in ep. 5.

End song: "I Die Desire" from The MayTricks (1992).

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Direct download: PEL_ep_147_8-9-16.mp3
Category:Podcast Episodes -- posted at: 7:00am CDT

Concluding Levinas's Time and the Other (1948), in which we talk about the present being freedom, before there's even a will! Also: being encumbered by your own body, relating to the world as nourishment, and getting over yourself through good lovin.'
Direct download: PEL_ep_146pt2_7-27-16.mp3
Category:Podcast Episodes -- posted at: 7:00am CDT

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Direct download: PEL_ep_146_7-27-16_AdFree.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:40pm CDT

More Levinas, working this time through Time and the Other (1948). What is it for a person to exist? What individuates one person from another, making us into selves instead of just part of the causal net of events? Why would someone possibly think that these are real, non-obvious questions that need to be addressed?

End song: "Call on You" by Mark Lint from from the 1993 Mark Lint album Spanish Armada: Songs of Love and Related Neuroses.

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Direct download: PEL_ep_146_7-27-16.mp3
Category:Podcast Episodes -- posted at: 7:00am CDT

Continuing on "Ethics as First Philosophy" (1984) and other essays. We try to complete Levinas's story on how revealing the flawed, aggressive character of our culture and personal attitudes can lead us to recognition of the ethical demand of the Other.
Direct download: PEL_ep_145pt2_7-17-16.mp3
Category:Podcast Episodes -- posted at: 7:00am CDT