Society & Culture

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

by Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

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Latest episodes

Ep. 403: Are LLMs Actually Intelligent? (Part One)

October 26, 2026 · 49 min

On Raphaël Millière and Cameron Buckner's "A Philosophical Introduction to Language Models, Part I: Continuity With Classic Debates" (2023). Is the Large Language Model type of architecture currently in use by AIs a legitimate basis for…
PEL Presents PMP#233: Not-Scary Carrie

October 24, 2026 · 55 min

We discuss the new Mike Flanagan series adaptation of Stephen King's 1974 novel in comparison to the 1976 Brian De Palma film and the other adaptations (the 2013 film, the 2002 TV movie, and 1998's The Rage: Carrie 2). Featuring Mark…
PEL Presents PvI#126: Waiting for Cluckman w/ Anthony LeBlanc

October 23, 2026 · 51 min

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 of exploring ancient traditions by which one might use philosophy for…
Ep. 402: Plato Talks Homer: Hippias Minor and Ion (Part Two)

October 19, 2026 · 55 min

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) that his talent is a matter of inspiration and not knowledge. So how…
PEL Presents NEM#262: Bruce Cockburn Expands Political/Spiritual Folk

October 18, 2026 · 1 hr 7 min

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, Christian, and 80s syntho songs. We discuss "Louis Collins" from The…

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

October 16, 2026 · 44 min

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 film. Is it a feminist tract exposing "nice guys" for their underlying…
Ep. 402: Plato Talks Homer: Hippias Minor and Ion (Part One)

October 12, 2026 · 47 min

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) a Sophist. In this case, this means that Hippias presents himself as…
PEL Presents Closereads: Gilbert Ryle on Self-Knowledge (Part One)

October 11, 2026 · 58 min

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 the case that every conscious act is itself an object of an act of…
PEL Presents PvI#125: Mrs. Nussbaum's Credit Card

October 9, 2026 · 49 min

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 philosophical traditions via Martha Nussbaum's book "The Therapy of Desire,"…
Ep. 401: Mind/Brain Identity Theory (U.T. Place, J.J.C. Smart) (Part Two)

October 5, 2026 · 60 min

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 "phenomenological fallacy," i.e. the reality of the contents of one's…
PEL Presents NEM#261: Joan as Policewoman's Living Growth

October 3, 2026 · 58 min

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-led a band called Black Beetle that released nothing, but taught her…
PEL Presents PMP#231: Euphoric Teens

October 1, 2026 · 53 min

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, Skins, Degrassi, John Hughes films, Buffy, Saved By the Bell, 90210, and…

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About the show

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.