PODCAST

I Learned Nothing

A philosophy podcast for curious idiots, by curious idiots.

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

01:19:29

BONUS PATREON EPISODE 2!!! ILN PAT-REON EP 30: The...

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/05/23

We're releasing a free Pat-reon, putos!! Pat had laryngitis a while back so Ben invites friend of the show, comic extraordinaire, and host of Avery and Adam's Christmas Committee: The Podcast Avery Moore to teach him about the arcane topic of the Air Buddies Universe. Strap in bitches, because this one's gooder'n hell. And if you want more, join our Patreon for just $5 a month. Also, check out Mr. Dogg herself, Avery Moore (@AveryReedMoore) for more hilarity!

01:18:00

ILN EP 124: Ecce Homo w/ Lando Shepard

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/05/08

Pat was feeling saucy so Ben tantalizes him with a stirring discussion of podcast favorite Friedrich Nietzsche's self-effacing autobiography Ecce Homo, which is Latin for "Behold the Homo." Nah, just playing. Joining in on the third mic is comedian, carpet cleaner, and Professor of Culinary Arts at Columbia University Lando Shepard. The three intrepid lads discuss Nietzsche's work, the chapters of which are titled "Why I Am So Wise", "Why I Am So Clever", and "Why I Write Such Good Books."

01:21:50

ILN EP 123: Sex and Power

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/04/08

Pat was feeling socially distanced so Ben keeps him company as they take a dip in a rather steamy topic: Sex AND Power. As the world reels from the Great Cough of 2020, the WisdomBois talk all things Foucault, focusing specifically on the complex relationship between sex, power, and knowledge, under the avuncular gaze of King Daddy himself: Michel Foucault. Also, since we're all struggling, and if you enjoy the podcast, any little bit helps. If you Venmo $5 to @PatDeanRules, Pat will send you 4

01:33:05

ILN EP 122: Albert Camus w/ Derek Kopswa

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/03/30

Pat was feeling nihilistic so Ben calls for back up. Who does he call? Well he's forced to call the Kopswa of course! In these absurd, trying times, Ben decides the perfect antidote is to teach Pat about French existentialist (don't call me that!) and human ashtray Albert Camus, with the help of fellow Austin comic and actual Nobel Prize winner Derek Kopswa. In Episode 122, they discuss life, love, death, and despair while the world burns around them. Wait a minute...What happened to Episode 121

01:28:28

ILN EP 120: Louis Althusser

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/03/15

Pat was feeling interpellated so Ben briefs him on the updated Marxist philosophy of the EXTREMELY cancelled French theorist Louis Althusser. Ben spills the tea with Pat about the life and writings of the most tormented son of a bitch in 20th Century French thought. Raised as a nice Catholic boy, Louis took an interest in philosophy early. Unfortunately, his academic career was interrupted when he was suddenly drafted in 1940, immediately captured, and imprisoned as a Nazi POW for the entirety of

01:17:34

ILN EP 119: Rights

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/03/05

Pat was feeling privileged so Ben dives into the nebulous concept that makes Our Country Great: our God-given Rights. Turns out this talk couldn't have come sooner, since 30 minutes in, Pat confuses the FIRST TWO AMENDMENTS in a blooper for the ages. Ben teaches Pat about who has rights, where they come come from and what actions they cover, all the while enduring the distracting snores of Pat's roommate and Mother of Tim, Victoria, who decided to fall asleep on the floor of the living room for some

01:43:28

ILN EP 118: William of Ockham

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/02/24

Pat was feeling parsimonious so Ben clues him into the cutting edge philosophy of Medieval thinker/virgin William of Okham. Known primarily for his eponymous dictum, Okham's Razor, Willie O also made a name for himself as a nominalist, borderline heretic, and for pissing off the Pope, whom he called out as a member of the one percent. Ben checks Pat on his wanton invocation of Okham's Razor, but in the end, the WisdomBois shake hands and enjoy a good laugh, secure in their knowledge that, since

01:34:50

ILN EP 117: The Repugnant Conclusion

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/02/09

Pat was feeling forward-thinking so Ben dashes all hopes of that with a survey of one of the simplest yet confounding thought experiments in recent philosophy: The Repugnant Conclusion. Based on the writings of late British philosopher/madlad Derek Parfit, The Repugnant Conclusion is the end result of taking Utilitarianism's commitment to maximizing happiness to its logical conclusion. If it's our goal to increase the amount of happiness in the world, it's our duty to maximize the number of lives

01:22:13

ILN EP 116: Andy Clarke

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/01/27

Pat was feeling cybernetic so Ben updates him on the cutting edge of philosophy pioneered by British thinker/arch-nerd Andy Clarke. This enfant terrible of contemporary philosophy of mind has advanced some of the most popular ideas ever written about in WIRED magazine. He's developed a new approach to cognitive science by advocating an embodied theory of mind and has suggested that thought and knowledge manifests itself beyond the constraints of our physical bodies. Pat suggested this one based

01:25:18

ILN EP 115: The Anthropic Principle

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/01/20

Pat was feeling like the center of the Universe so Ben validates that feeling by teaching him about the controversial Anthropic Principle. As if balking at our improbable existence in this hostile Universe weren't anguishing enough, scientists have started pointing out how the very fact of us observing the Universe is stupid enough to doubt the randomness of the BIG BANG. This means that some of these heathen eggheads are leaving room for the possibility of a designer, which is leaving many a

01:27:45

ILN EP 114: Maurice Merleau-Ponty

I Learned Nothing ·

2020/01/12

Pat was feeling disembodied so Ben teaches him the very French philosophy of 20th Century existentialist/cigarette smoker Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Merleau-Ponty took Edmund Husserl's phenomenology and ran with it. Using this en vogue method, Merleau-Ponty developed a unique system of thought focused on the lived experience through our bodies that thoroughly unnerves Pat. Fun times!

01:39:26

ILN EP 113: The Survival Lottery

I Learned Nothing ·

2019/12/25

Pat was feeling absent so Ben enrolls I Learned Nothing's first ever guest STUDENT! Friend, comedian, and co-host of Avery and Adam's Christmas Committee Adam Hrabik joins Ben to learn about one of the most chilling and infuriating philosophical thought experiments of all time: The Survival Lottery. Ben gets to annoy someone new for once by challenging Adam's assumptions of what counts as murder, what it means to save a life, and ultimately, who deserves to die. Merry Christmas, everyone! (This is

01:10:11

ILN EP 112: Philosophy of Mathematics

I Learned Nothing ·

2019/12/16

Pat was feeling quantifiable so Ben comes in hot with some theories about numbers, and boy is Pat peeved. In what might be the yelliest episode of I Learned Nothing to date, Ben and Pat scream about math for about an hour and a half. Like a fool, Ben convinces himself that he can enlighten Pat on some of the most pressing and troubling questions surrounding the discipline of mathematics, such as the reality of numbers, why this domain of knowledge is so known for its unimpeachable certainty, and why

01:21:17

ILN EP 111: Frantz Fanon

I Learned Nothing ·

2019/12/12

Pat was feeling chauvinistic so Ben sets him straight with the revolutionary existentialism of post-colonial philosopher Frantz Fanon. Born in the overseas French department of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles, Frantz Fanon grew up knowing first-hand the degradation of colonial oppression and racism. After training as a clinical psychiatrist and mingling with French titans of existentialism, Fanon published his own theories on racism and its effects on the lived, phenomenological experience of

00:59:35

BONUS PATREON BITCH EPISODE!!! ILN PAT-REON EP 9:...

I Learned Nothing ·

2019/12/06

Pat AND Ben were feeling generous so they've unleashed a Patreon episode on the world for FREE! Ep. 9 of our Pat-Treon Experiment is now free to the public. Introducing His Imperial Majesty Joshua Norton I, Emperor of the United States, Protector of Mexico, and absolute raving lunatic who wandered the streets of 19th century San Francisco. Tune in to hear Pat turn the tables on Ben and teach him a thing or two about a thing or two. Just $5 a month for a BONUS episode every week. Pat teaches Ben

01:37:20

ILN EP 110: William James

I Learned Nothing ·

2019/11/25

Pat was feeling pragmatic so Ben teaches him the All-American philosophy of William James. James' prolific career and work spanned many diverse topics, such as the philosophy of religion, epistemology, and the foundations of psychology. More than Sigmund Freud, James had a lasting influence on the actual science of psychology, all without having to resort to bonkers theories about child sexuality and our secret desire to fuck our own dads. He also made an essential contribution to the development of

01:36:22

ILN EP 109: Judith Butler w/ Victoria Tyler

I Learned Nothing ·

2019/11/19

Pat was feeling misogynistic (again) so Ben had to even the scales by bringing in Gender Studies expert and Pat's certifiably insane roommate Victoria Tyler to help teach Pat how to not hate women. Join Vic and Ben as they clumsily explain to Pat the social & political theories of American philosopher & radical feminist Judith Butler. By walking through the main points in Butler's magnum opus Gender Trouble, Ben reveals to Pat how gender is socially constructed and determined primarily by

01:21:45

ILN EP 108: Jean-François Lyotard

I Learned Nothing ·

2019/11/04

Pat was feeling libidinal so Ben clues him into the postmodern philosophy of the man who put a name to the movement: Jean-François Lyotard. In typical French fashion, Lyotard contradicted the running metaphysical theories of the day by bitch-slapping the Enlightenment and its overt reliance on arbitrary meta-narratives. In his seminal work The Postmodern Condition, this French theorist/human chimney identified postmodern philosophy as a shattering of our most deeply held narratives, and a subsequent

01:34:21

ILN EP 107: Yukio Mishima w/ Eric J. Nagurney

I Learned Nothing ·

2019/10/29

Pat was feeling fanatical so Ben brings in a colleague from the University of Mississippi's East Asian Studies Department, Prof. Eric J. Nagurney, to teach Pat about the nationalist philosophy of Yukio Mishima. Mishima, born Kimitake Hiraoka, was (and perhaps remains) Japan's most celebrated novelist of the 20th Century. This dude embodied the unique homegrown philosophy of Bushido, fusing elements of Eastern philosophy, Shinto religion, and the far-right nationalism that got Japan in so much

01:23:04

ILN EP 106: Dirty Hands

I Learned Nothing ·

2019/10/22

Pat was feeling conflicted so Ben sorts him out by analyzing the Problem of Dirty Hands. If you’ve ever seen an episode of 24, you’ll be more than familiar with this classic ethical dilemma/tired plot device. If not, it goes kind of like this: As leader of a country or community facing an existential threat to its very survival, do you violate well-established moral norms in order to avoid complete annihilation? At what point do the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Ben & Pat

165 results

I Learned Nothing

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Voices of Life

APG Mannheim

Promo Estereo Podcast

Promo Estereo

Talking Timelines Podcast

Talkingtimelines

גיקונומי

ראם שרמן ודורון ניר

Drømmefanger

Drømmefanger