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PODCAST

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

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

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

59:35

Ep. 401: Mind/Brain Identity Theory (U.T. Place,...

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/10/05

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 inner life. Then Smart considers objects against mind/brain identity: Must qualities of sensations be something over and above qualities of brain processes? Finally, is mind/brain identity a scientific hypothesis at all? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit

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53:14

PEL Presents PMP#231: Euphoric Teens

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/10/01

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 many others. How much of the plots are driven by "affluenza?" What do they have to say about friendship? Is there something very white about even shows like Euphoria that have plenty of POC characters? Do the "genre" shows (e.g. The Craft) count? What about anime

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49:37

Ep. 401: Mind/Brain Identity Theory (U.T. Place,...

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/09/28

On U.T. Place's "Is Consciousness a Brain Process?" (1956) and J.J.C. Smart's "Sensations and Brain Processes" (1959), w/ guest Chris Heath. Is there some a priori reason for denying that the mind can actually be the brain? Obviously those two words don't mean the same thing, but can we think of them as a single thing under two descriptions? Place argues that the identity is not unlike other scientific identities, like lightning being the same as a motion of electric charges. Get more at

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10:54

PREMIUM-Ep. 400: Dennett Rejects Qualia (Part Three)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/09/26

Mark and Seth rejoin to complete our treatment of Consciousness Explained, focusing on Dennett's responses to Frank Jackson's Mary the Color Scientist thought experiment, Searle's Chinese Room, inverted qualia, and more. If you're not hearing the full version of this part of the discussion, sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.

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51:06

Ep. 399: Dan Dennett's Model of Mind (Part Two)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/09/07

Continuing on Consciousness Explained (Ch. 5, 12). We talk about appearance vs. judgment and whether Dennett's denial of this distinction makes sense or just holds for very short time-scales, as in the phi-phenomenon experiment. Does the rejection of appearances and rejection of the concept of qualia undermine the very thing Dennett is trying to describe? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Get

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54:35

PEL Presents Closereads: Donald Davidson on...

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/09/05

On "First Person Authority" (1984). What warrants our superior knowledge of our own mental states, as oppose to those of others? Why is this not obvious? Read along with us. You can choose to watch this on video. Subscribe to Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy; follow us there via the free tier to get many other episodes like this one ad free, or pay us to get part 2 and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife

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48:45

PEL Presents PMP#229: What's Spider-Man Up To?

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/09/04

It's been 2019 since our last Spider-Man episode, so what's with the new film (Brand New Day), and the Spider-Verse, and Nicholas Cage being Spider Noir? Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al discuss in this, our SEASON FINALE! Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop.

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47:34

Ep. 399: Dan Dennett's Model of Mind (Part One)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/08/31

On Daniel C. Dennett's Consciousness Explained (Ch. 1, 5), featuring guest Mark, Seth, Dylan, and guest Chris Heath. What is the mind? Dennett puts forth his "multiple drafts" model against the centralization that he characterizes as the "Cartesian Theater." Dennett claims that there is no central place in the brain, or (more controversally) no central processing center in experience, that receives data from the senses and then initiates action (and memory, and other post-experiential processing)

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10:25

PREMIUM-PEL Sunami Nightcap August 2026

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/08/30

Chris Sunami, the editor of the PEL book, joins Mark, Wes and Seth as part of the launch of his new book, Free Your Mind, which is a series of PEL-like conversations all coming out of Chris' brain, using the model of Plato's symposium to talk about race, AI, art, religion, and more. Chris then starts us talking about what we all might want to communicate to all the future people, so we get going on empathy (and its limits), loneliness, phone addiction, physical media, used book stores, the first

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52:03

Ep. 398: Donald Davidson on Mind vs. Body (Part One)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/08/17

On "Mental Events" (1970) and "Actions, Reasons, and Causes" (1963), w/ guest Chris Heath. When we talk about mental events (e.g. desires) causing physical occurrences (an action to obtain what is desired), are we giving a causal picture in the scientific sense, which would rule out free will? Or are reason-giving and causality just different language games? Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor:

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01:15:58

PEL Presents NEM#257: Josh Joplin Doesn't Look Back…...

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/07/31

With his roots in folk, Josh released three rock albums in the '90s before his big hit "Camera One," from Useful Music (2001), which is getting a Silver Anniversary rework/reissue. (The intro music for this episode is the new version.) He has released seven more albums since then. We discuss "Goodbye Berlin" from GpYr (2025), "History of I Do" from Figure Drawing (2023), "Juniper" from Boxing Nostalgic (1997), and conclude by listening to "High, Low & Wide" from the self-titled album by his folk

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55:19

Ep. 396: Peirce on Knowledge (Part Two)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/07/27

Continuing on "Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man" and "Some Consequences of Four Incapacities." We talk about inference, the self, introspection, willing, the limits on what kinds of terms can have meaning, and more. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Learn about Mark's Key Ideas in the

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56:43

PEL Presents Closereads: Galen Strawson on...

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/07/27

On "Realistic Monism: Why Physicalism Entails Panpsychism" (2008). Strawson argues that physicalism should not just be taken as matter in motion. Instead, the physical is a broader category that includes not just chairs and molecules, but also "my experience of red." Yet he's not trying to say that experiences are just brain states; they clearly include qualia (what it's like to experience red). And he's also not just trying to solve the problem by redefining "physical" to include "mental" (though

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57:09

PEL Presents PMP#226 Toy Story Played Out

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/07/24

In light of Toy Story 5, the gang (Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al) consider the Pixar franchise that started in 1995. We consider the premise whereby your toys are loyal slaves that come to life whenever unobserved, the critique of screen-play in the new film, the use of nostalgia in the films, the repetition and/or escalation throughout the series, the horror-adjacency of living dolls, the emotional manipulation, and whether enough is enough. Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free

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54:00

Ep. 393: Kant vs. Hegel (Part Two)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/06/15

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:

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01:10:52

PEL Presents NEM#254: Teddy Thompson Gets Off the Sofa

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/06/13

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

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52:32

Ep. 392: Early Hegel Elevates Reason (Part One)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/05/25

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:

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09:43

PREMIUM-Ep. 391: Habermas Defends Modernity (Part Three)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/05/24

Your four hosts review the critiques of modernity, try to figure out where Kant fits in, and then discuss Habermas' characterization of Nietzsche's anti-Enlightenment project. If you're not hearing the full version of this part of the discussion, sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.

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51:17

PEL Presents PMP#221: Streep Does Prada

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/05/15

We discuss the career of Meryl Streep in light of The Devil Wears Prada 2, insofar as we (Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al) have a hold of it; she's been in over 65 films! Is she really the best actor on the planet? Did Prada need a sequel? We all brought in our own experiences with her catalog, touching on Sophie's Choice, Kramer vs. Kramer, A Cry in the Dark, Adaptation, The Iron Lady, Death Becomes Her, Postcards From the Edge, Doubt, The Laundromat, Let Them All Talk, Florence Foster Jenkins, et

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51:39

Ep. 391: Habermas Defends Modernity (Part One)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast ·

2026/05/11

On Jürgen Habermas' The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity (1985), featuring guest John Ganz. Habermas defines modernity as Enlightenment ideals, discusses what's wrong with them (subjectivity), how Hegel argues constructively that a social element needs to be added this this, and how many other critics (e.g. Adorno, Nietzsche, and Foucault) instead argue more destructively against Enlightenment values like Truth, liberty, and justice. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit

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