• 57 minutes 25 seconds
    PEL Presents PvI#119: Ms. Philosophy vs. Improv w/ Mary and Jenny

    What would PvI be with zero masculine energy? This episode features your usual co-host Mary Hynes and our frequent guest Jennifer Hansen (philosopher at St. Lawrence University). They chat about being hot in a hostile world, interacting with AI, fighting with parrots, and they act out scenes involving the f*cks store and the actress who is too perfect.

    Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support.

    19 June 2026, 5:49 pm
  • 54 minutes
    Ep. 393: Kant vs. Hegel (Part Two)

    Concluding our treatment of Ch. 2 of Hegel's Faith and Knowledge (1802). Hegel wants to connect various ideas in Kant: The idea of an "intuitive, achetypal intellect" which we have to refer to in explaining biology, the synthesizing imagination that makes experience possible, and the unknown agency that makes things-in-themselves suitable for processing by our knowledge faculties and vice versa.

    For Hegel, these things all point to Reason as both the way we know God and the activity of God Himself: Hegelian Reason is the bringing together of seemingly opposite things, and so underlying our minds must be some greater kind of mind that brings together mind and world to create experience.

    Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

    Sponsors: Don't get caught running yesterday's security on today's web: visit nordlayer.com/browser. Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.

    15 June 2026, 4:10 am
  • 1 hour 10 minutes
    PEL Presents NEM#254: Teddy Thompson Gets Off the Sofa

    The golden-voiced son on Richard and Linda is more tied to '50s/'60s rock and country than he his to his parents' folk influences, and he's recorded ten albums of tuneful, straightforward but highly idiosyncratic rock and country tunes since 2000.

    We discuss "Come Back" (and listen at the end to "So This Is Heartache") from Never Be the Same (2026), "Move At Speed" from Heartbreaker Please (2020), and "I Should Get Up" from Separate Ways (2006). Intro: "In My Arms" from A Piece of What You Need (2008). More at teddythompson.net.

    Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.

    13 June 2026, 4:15 pm
  • 54 minutes 45 seconds
    PEL Presents PMP#223: What Is Star Wars Now?

    In light of The Mandalorian and Grogu (and the Disney+ Darth Maul cartoon), we (Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al) check back in with Star Wars. Is it now "just another franchise"? Does the movie meet expectations? What's the right volume of Star Wars media? Are the cartoons good? What variety of creators and genres is there room for? Should anyone bother with the books and comics?

    Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop.

    11 June 2026, 5:41 pm
  • 51 minutes
    Ep. 393: Kant vs. Hegel (Part One)

    Continuing on Ch. 2 of Hegel's Faith and Knowledge (1802) , plus some of the material being critiqued from Kant's Critique of Judgment (1790), chiefly sec. 76 and 77.

    Kant's third critique is not just about beauty but about apprehending nature, and he claims that as humans, we can only understand natural objects by seeing them as purposive (i.e. teleologically): An organism has a healthy state that it is designed to aim at. While Kant can't use the classical Design argument to thus argue that we know that God exists qua designer, he argues that as a practical matter, we must regard such a designer as present. Hegel argues that this is one of many points where Kant should stop dithering and just admit that his project involves Reason actually knowing theological facts.

    Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

    Learn about PEL Live in Madison July 11 at partiallyexaminedlife.com/live.

    8 June 2026, 3:54 am
  • 50 minutes 7 seconds
    PEL Presents PvI#118: Aphoristically w/ Andrea Roccella

    Mark and Mary are joined by Andrea, an Italian teacher with a broad performing background who's written a book of philosophical, poetic aphorisms called Think Town: self-help reflections and directives about fear, ego, happiness, etc.

    There's a long history of aphorisms in philosophy, and philosophy invented the self-help genre, but how does philosophy work given the lack of argumentation?

    We explore the monster under the bed, AI agents, making philosophy personally applicable, being receptive, DOT ego secretions, and more.

    Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support.

    6 June 2026, 9:00 pm
  • 1 hour 12 seconds
    PEL Presents Closereads: Horkheimer and Adorno on The Odyssey (Part One)

    We read part of The Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), specifically the parts about Homer's epic as an allegory for the merely apparent triumph of modernism (capitalism, instrumental reason) over myth (savagery, magical thinking).

    Subscribe to Closereads (and get a link to this text to read along) at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy; follow us there via the free tier to part two and many other episodes like this one ad free, or pay us to get parts 2-5 and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife for a nice combo deal.)

    5 June 2026, 10:49 pm
  • 49 minutes 27 seconds
    Ep. 392: Early Hegel Elevates Reason (Part Two)

    Continuing on Faith and Knowledge (1802), Ch. 1 and 2. We start off by discussing how beauty might give us a window into things-in-themselves according to the Romantics, who were in part following Kant's lead. Also, what version of the ontological argument for the existence of God does Hegel believe? We try to figure out what Hegel is praising in Kant's positing of synthetic a priori claims, and yet how he thinks Kant didn't understand the implications of this view.

    Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

    Sponsors: Don't get caught running yesterday's security on today's web: visit nordlayer.com/browser. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.

    1 June 2026, 3:04 am
  • 1 hour 14 minutes
    PEL Presents NEM#253: Synth-Scaper Richard Barbieri (Japan, Porcupine Tree)

    Richard played with art-rock band Japan from 1975 through their five albums, then continued to collaborate with members of that group, releasing several increasingly atmospheric albums as Jansen-Barbieri, Jansen-Barbieri-Karn, Rain Tree Crow, et al. He joined Porcupine Tree in 1995 and has played on their 20+ albums, and began putting out ambient solo releases in 2004 (perhaps seven albums' worth to this point) while continuing to collaborate.

    We discuss "A New Simulation" from Hauntings (2026), "All Fall Down" from Stranger Inside (2008), and "Sleepers Awake" by Jansen-Barbieri from Stone to Flesh (1995). End song: "Waiting to Be Born" by Steve Hogarth and Richard Barbieri, recorded 2015 and released in 2023. Intro: "The Experience of Swimming" by Japan, from Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980). More at richardbarbieri.bandcamp.com.

    Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.

    31 May 2026, 5:11 pm
  • 50 minutes 44 seconds
    PEL Presents PMP#222: Lordlings of the Flies

    In light of the new, well-acted and well-shot BBC/Netflix adaptation, we discuss William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies and its previous (1963, 1991) adaptations. Featuring Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al.

    What do we think of the updates made for this retelling? Its pacing? Its repeated close-up shots of kids' silent faces? Is this per usual obviously inferior to the novel, or does it actually present deeper characters and a more visceral presentation of their degradation?

    Sponsor: Get started with Claude AI at claude.ai/pmp.

    Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop.

    28 May 2026, 9:33 pm
  • 52 minutes 32 seconds
    Ep. 392: Early Hegel Elevates Reason (Part One)

    On Faith and Knowledge (1802), Ch. 1 and 2. Famously, Kant critiqued Reason to effectively forbid theology and metaphysics, and a young G.W.F. Hegel was not happy about that. He argues against the reduction of Reason to merely applying to the realm of experience, which makes religion merely a subjective, insubstantial matter. Hegel thought he could do better.

    Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

    Sponsors: Don't get caught running yesterday's security on today's web: visit nordlayer.com/browser. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.

    25 May 2026, 4:33 am
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