Cover image of The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

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 wit... Read more

Ranked #1

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Episode 119: Nietzsche on Tragedy and the Psychology of Art

Episode 119: Nietzsche on Tragedy and the Psychology of Art

On Friedrich Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy (1872). Nietzsche thought that you could tell how vital or decadent a civi... Read more

6 Jul 2015

2hr 46mins

Ranked #2

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Ep. 242: Stanley Cavell on Tragedy via King Lear (Part One)

Ep. 242: Stanley Cavell on Tragedy via King Lear (Part One)

On Cavell's essay "The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear" (1969). Can money buy you love? What is tragedy? With ... Read more

27 Apr 2020

43mins

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Ranked #3

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Ep. 218: The Hard Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers et al) (Part One)

Ep. 218: The Hard Problem of Consciousness (Chalmers et al) (Part One)

On "Consciousness and Its Place in Nature" by David Chalmers (2003), with special guest Gregory Miller from the Panpsyca... Read more

17 Jun 2019

55mins

Ranked #4

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Episode 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: "Twilight of the Idols" (Part One)

Episode 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: "Twilight of the Idols" (Part One)

On Friedrich Nieztsche's 1888 book summarizing his thought and critiquing the founding myths of his society. (For Wes Al... Read more

4 Dec 2017

51mins

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Ranked #5

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Ep. 224: Kierkegaard Critiques The Present Age (Part One)

Ep. 224: Kierkegaard Critiques The Present Age (Part One)

On Soren Kierkegaard's essay "The Present Age" (1846) and Hubert Dreyfus’s "Nihilism on the Information Highway: Anonymi... Read more

26 Aug 2019

47mins

Ranked #6

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Episode 213: Nietzsche's Zarathustra (Part One)

Episode 213: Nietzsche's Zarathustra (Part One)

On Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, books 1 and 2 (1883). What is wisdom? In this text whose style parodies... Read more

15 Apr 2019

52mins

Ranked #7

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Ep. 233: Plato's "Protagoras" on Virtue (Part One)

Ep. 233: Plato's "Protagoras" on Virtue (Part One)

On the Platonic dialogue written around 380 BCE about an encounter between Socrates and one of the leading Sophists of h... Read more

6 Jan 2020

53mins

Ranked #8

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PREMIUM-Episode 32: Heidegger: What is “Being?”

PREMIUM-Episode 32: Heidegger: What is “Being?”

Discussing Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1927), mostly the intro and ch. 1 and 2 of Part 1.

8 Feb 2011

32mins

Ranked #9

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PREMIUM-Episode 61: Nietzsche on Truth and Skepticism

PREMIUM-Episode 61: Nietzsche on Truth and Skepticism

On Friedrich Nietzsche's "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" (1873). What is truth? This essay, written early in Nie... Read more

15 Aug 2012

31mins

Ranked #10

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Episode 124: The Stoic Life with Epictetus

Episode 124: The Stoic Life with Epictetus

On the Manual of Epictetus, aka The Enchiridion (135 CE). What's a wise strategy for life? Stoicism says that the secret... Read more

21 Sep 2015

2hr 8mins

Ranked #11

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PREMIUM-Episode 70: Marx on the Human Condition

PREMIUM-Episode 70: Marx on the Human Condition

On Karl Marx's The German Ideology, Part I, an early, unpublished work from 1846. What is human nature? What drives hist... Read more

30 Jan 2013

30mins

Ranked #12

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Episode 192: "The Closing of the American Mind": Allan Bloom on Education (Part One)

Episode 192: "The Closing of the American Mind": Allan Bloom on Education (Part One)

On Allan Bloom's 1987 best-selleing polemic. What is the role of the university in our democracy? Bloom thinks that toda... Read more

11 Jun 2018

51mins

Ranked #13

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Episode 171: Buddhism vs. Evolution with Guest Robert Wright (Part One)

Episode 171: Buddhism vs. Evolution with Guest Robert Wright (Part One)

Bob joins the PEL four to discuss his new book Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enligh... Read more

4 Sep 2017

52mins

Ranked #14

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Episode 2: Descartes’s Meditations: What Can We Know?

Episode 2: Descartes’s Meditations: What Can We Know?

On Descartes's Meditations 1 and 2. Get this and every episode ad-free by becoming a PEL supporter at partiallyexaminedl... Read more

14 May 2009

1hr 39mins

Ranked #15

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Episode 170: Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" (Part One)

Episode 170: Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" (Part One)

What is culture? In modern capitalism, Debord’s 1967 book describes it as all about the economy. It’s not just our jobs ... Read more

14 Aug 2017

54mins

Ranked #16

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Episode 201: Marcus Aurelius's Stoicism with Ryan Holiday (Part One)

Episode 201: Marcus Aurelius's Stoicism with Ryan Holiday (Part One)

On The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (ca. 180 C.E.) plus Ryan's The Daily Stoic (2016). What does Stoicism look like in... Read more

22 Oct 2018

57mins

Ranked #17

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Episode 116: Freud on Dreams

Episode 116: Freud on Dreams

On Sigmund Freud's On Dreams (1902) and other stuff. Are dreams just random, or our best key to understanding the mind? ... Read more

25 May 2015

2hr 25mins

Ranked #18

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Episode 174: Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" (Part One)

Episode 174: Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" (Part One)

On the foundational, 1776 text of modern economics. How does the division of labor and our instinct to exchange lead to ... Read more

16 Oct 2017

54mins

Ranked #19

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PREMIUM-Episode 65: The Federalist Papers

PREMIUM-Episode 65: The Federalist Papers

On Alexander Hamilton/James Madison's Federalist Papers (1, 10-12, 14-17, 39, 47-51), published as newspaper editorials ... Read more

27 Oct 2012

31mins

Ranked #20

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PREMIUM-Episode 84: Nietzsche’s “Gay Science”

PREMIUM-Episode 84: Nietzsche’s “Gay Science”

On Friedrich Nietzsche's The Gay Science (1882, with book 5 added 1887). What is wisdom? Nietzsche gives us an updated t... Read more

11 Nov 2013

32mins

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