The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mar 24 2025 1027 ep. 7.3k

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Philosophy vs. Improv #90: Empty Street

Mark and Bill introduce a new potential setting and some characters for ongoing use in future improvisations. We talk about techniques for doing that and wrap up by getting an update from Bill on his substitute teaching and talking about what makes for a good teacher. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Check ou

Ep. 363: Franz Brentano’s Moral Epistemology (Part Two)

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing on "The Origin of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong" (1889), getting into how we measure the comparative value of things. While Brentano does observe actual practices in these areas, his phenomenology detects moral facts that can be used to cast judgments of people's actual practices, saving

Pretty Much Pop #192: Exhibitionist Reality TV

We acknowledge this hugely popular form of "entertainment" recently embodied by The Baldwins, but popularized by shows like The Osbournes and The Kardashians, wherein some celebrity and/or family just shows off their life, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al are joined by returning guest Kayla Dryesse to talk about why this kind of show exists, its variations, and its redeeming value (

(sub)TEXT: The Weight of Memory in Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” (1940)

Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film—part love story, part ghost story, part courtroom melodrama—centers on a poor, timid young woman who falls in love with wealthy aristocrat Maxim de Winter, a widower tortured over the death of his first wife. When the young woman becomes the second Mrs. De Winter and moves into Maxim’s estate, she finds her predecessor’s initials sta

Ep. 363: Franz Brentano’s Moral Epistemology (Part One)

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content, including a brand new Nightcap recording. On "The Origin of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong" (1889). What justifies basic moral facts? Brentano claims that right there in our experience, we can rationally sense with complete certainty that certain kinds of preferences are good ones, and others are not

(sub)TEXT: Possibility and Loss in the Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke

In his poem “You Who Never Arrived,” Rainer Maria Rilke suggests that we can mourn love as an unrealized possibility, and see this loss signified everywhere in the ordinary objects of the external world. In “Be Ahead of All Parting” (II.13 from his “Sonnets to Orpheus”), he seems to claim that poetry has the capacity to redeem such losses—and retrieve them, so to spea

Ep. 362: Ecclesiastes: Biblical Existentialism? (Part Two)

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Continuing on Ecclesiastes with guest Jesse Peterson, getting into some more close reading of particular sections. We make some connection from the author's observations to ancient Greek Skepticism, Epicureanism, and Stoicism. How is the world "absurd" according to this book? Sponsors: Learn about St.

Pretty Much Pop #191: Saturday Night Liver

Are we taking for granted this unique, talent-filled weekly nationally televised live comedy event that’s been around for 50 years? (as in “What do we think this show is? Chopped liver?”) Does its format even make sense at this time given YouTube and streaming? What will its legacy be? Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al discuss the casts, highlights, and the Co

Ep. 362: Ecclesiastes: Biblical Existentialism? (Part One)

Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. Ecclesiastes is often cited as one of the most philosophical books of the Bible, so we approached it in that spirit with the help of Jesse M. Peterson, whose soon-to-be-published book is called Qoheleth and the Philosophy of Value. Sponsor: Check out the History of the Germans podcast at historyofthege

Pretty Much Pop #190: The Substance: Act Your Age!

Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al discuss the Coralie Fargeat/Demi Moore film The Substance in light of its Oscar nominations, along with related reflections on lost youth, e.g. Sunset Boulevard (1950), Death Becomes Her (1992), and Neon Demon (2016). We also touch on other cloning scenarios. Is this film a serious meditation on aging in Hollywood, or just a particularly vivid but lo