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PODCAST

Socratic State of Mind Podcast

Exploring the wisdom of history"s greatest men and women to help us live more productive, tranquil, and moral lives. andrewperlot.substack.com

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

12:16

When Socrates Fought His Shadow

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/08/25

This is my second and final Gorgias read-along essay. In the first, we heard Socrates’s unconventional view that Rhetoric is contemptible because it persuades without creating understanding. He also insists it’s better to be wronged than to do wrong to others. Now we get to see what the opposite of these opinions looks like when played out to their natural conclusion.Socrates comes out swinging!This time, he’s struggling against a kind of shadow Socrates holding polar-opposite values — Callicles, a

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12:39

How Plato Accidentally Created a Far-Right Icon

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/08/21

Every digital street corner has a Callicles these days, calling for the strong to cast off their shackles and remake the world.Which is weird. The Philosopher Plato probably dropped Callicles — a real-life Athenian sophist — into his dialogue, Gorgias, so he could have Socrates wipe the floor with him. We’ll dive into Callicles’s Socratic clash in my second read-along essay next week, but let’s quickly sum up his ideas:* Law of the Jungle: It’s natural and right for the strong and capable to

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17:43

Plato's Gorgias Is Darker Than You Think

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/08/15

You’ve still got time to join our Gorgias read-along, and I hope you do. Gorgias is a powerful piece that changed how I look at the world and conduct my life. Today, we look at the ominous first half of the dialogue. The seemingly pedantic beginning of Gorgias is darker than it seems.To see why, let’s play the WWWWWH game I used long ago as a newspaper reporter.Who:Socrates: Our “protagonist,” whom I describe here.Gorgias: The nicest interlocutor of this dialogue. He’s happy to engage with Socrates

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8:48

How Plato Wrote For Eternity

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/08/11

“The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”— Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, Part II, Chapter 1Plato thought it no slight to put his greatest wisdom into fantasy.He was a playwright as a young man, and though he burned his plays after finding Socrates and his philosiphia — his love of wisdom — Plato brought the playwright’s touch to the philosopher’s craft. His goal was admirable: luring average

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12:05

They Want to Stop You: Bypass Them With Your Mouth

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/08/07

“Philosophy teaches us to act, not to speak.” — Seneca, Letters, 20.1Shut up!No, seriously. Stop telling the world. Stop updating the fam. Stop impressing the gram. If you’re broadcasting what you’re up to or the big plan ahead, you’re probably making a mistake. If you’re name-dropping and holding up accomplishments for the crowd's admiration, that’s still a mistake, but for entirely different reasons. You can call it being humble if you want, or “don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched,”

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6:58

How Attention Brings Pleasure To Weight Loss

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/08/04

“…by never relaxing our attention, we shall escape at least a few faults.” — Epictetus, Discourses, 4.12.19The yawning vacuum ripped open when we avoid overeating and heavily processed tasty food can be filled by virtue, but only if we’re paying attention.Previously, we’ve:* Determined that most of the things talking heads claim drive our obesity epidemic miss the mark. * Identified a group of Christians who place moral aspersions on food choice and end up dramatically thinner, and discussed a

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9:20

The Injustice Of Being Obese

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/07/28

Original article: https://andrewperlot.substack.com/p/the-injustice-of-being-obese“Luxury in food is not only unnecessary but harmful to the body, the soul, and society.”— Musonius Rufus, Lectures and Sayings, Fragment 18No one wants to be the bad guy.So justice — one of the four parts of virtue — is a beloved topic on the political right and left, though the sides conceptualize justice and just actions very differently.People who make a show of justice-alignment often deviate from it in their

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10:26

Virtuous Tricks That Convince The Obese To Eat Better...

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/07/23

Original Article: https://open.substack.com/pub/andrewperlot/p/virtuous-tricks-that-convince-the?r=1xulhu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true“Of all corporeal operations, digestion is the one which has the closest connection with the moral condition of man.” — Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste, 82Muhahah!I feel so Machiavellian writing that headline.It’s bunk, of course, because you can’t trick people into virtue — but some tricks might help them realize

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17:39

The Only Substitute For Tasty Food

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/07/17

“The more one has, the more one wants, since satisfactions received only stimulate instead of filling needs.” — Emile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology.“Nature abhors a vacuum.” Aristotle observed this 2,300 years ago, and for humans, pleasure vacuums may be most abhorrent of all. Let go of harmful pleasures and you’ll probably relapse or fill the void with something else. Well, most of the rich world is now wrapped up in unhealthy food tailored to maximize enjoyment rather than health. You

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8:57

Can We Be Slim if Obesity Isn't Bad?

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/07/14

Original Article: https://open.substack.com/pub/andrewperlot/p/can-we-be-slim-if-obesity-isnt-bad?r=1xulhu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true“You seem, Antiphon, to imagine that happiness consists in luxury and extravagance. But I hold that: to need nothing is divine; to need as little as possible is nearest to the divine.” — Socrates, Memorabilia, 1.6I’ve got a question for you: “Does anything matter?”Weird question, I know. But I suspect it has some predictive qualities.For

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21:17

We're All Deluded About Food & Obesity

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/07/10

“Pass the margarine,” I say to the man across the table, and he hands it over with a smile. Then I punch him in the face. “This psychopath just gave me exactly what I asked for!” I scream so every diner can hear my outrage. “What if he’d given that margarine to my defenseless child? Are we going to stand for this?”Most look up from their chicken fried steaks and nachos in confusion. “Yah,” one says. “It’s tasty.”But some glance past their Pringle cans, surveying distended bellies. “Tell um,

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8:05

What No One told Us About "Love Thine Enemy"

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/06/23

Original article. Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

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8:47

The Social Jiu-Jitsu of Ben Franklin & The Stoics

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/06/19

Original article Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

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8:39

Why Crowds Roar At The Wrong Places

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/06/16

Original Article Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

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6:47

Is Wisdom Hidden In Crowds?

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/06/12

Original article. Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

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7:17

We Should Judge More

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/06/09

Original Article. Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

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9:09

Why Your Excellence is Opposed

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/06/05

Original article. Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

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7:23

How to Human Tonight

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/06/02

Original article. Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

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5:49

In Defense of Heartless Stoics

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/05/26

Original article. Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

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20:17

Don't Blame Babyboomers: Blame This

Socratic State of Mind Podcast ·

2025/05/22

Original article. Get full access to Socratic State of Mind at andrewperlot.substack.com/subscribe

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