PODCAST

Hotel Bar Sessions

Leigh M. Johnson, Jennifer Kling, Bob Vallier

A podcast where the real philosophy happens.

education philosophy

All Episodes

52:46

Nostalgia

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/12/19

"Nostalgia" is a portmanteau coined in 1688 by Johannes Hofer, combining the Greek nostros (homecoming) and algos (pain, ache). Hofer was a medical student, and he invented this term to describe a kind of melancholia, a somewhat depressive state–- and so, from its inception, "nostalgia" was viewed as a mood disorder. For the Romantics, it was a sentimentality for the past, the good old days of yore, combining the sadness of loss with a joy that that loss is not complete or total

55:36

Sophistry

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/12/12

Bad arguments are nothing new, so why does it appear as if they have become so pervasive in public discourse? When we watch so-called "debate" videos with titles like "Conservative professor DESTROYS woke student" or "Liberal pundit OWNS Conservative Senator," are we actually watching a rational debate? Is anyone learning anything in these exchanges? Or, as is most likely, are we watching the performance of a well-reasoned debate, absent any concern for the truth whatsoever?The ancient

63:08

The Enshittification of... everything?

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/12/05

This week’s episode takes Cory Doctorow’s term “enshittification” and uses it as a diagnostic for late-capitalist life, not just for tech platforms but for democracy, higher education, and work more broadly. Our co-hosts unpack Doctorow’s three-stage model—platforms start out good to users, then pivot to serving business customers, and finally squeeze both users and customers to extract maximum value for shareholders—and argue about whether this is really a new “platform logic” or just

56:46

Quiet Resistance (with Tamara Fakhoury)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/11/28

Many of us think of resistance as "protest," communicative acts aimed at fighting injustice, and done with others in public. But what happens when that kind of resistance isn’t possible or safe? When showing up, or waving a sign, or making a public speech might get you jailed, or silenced, or disappeared? Is it possible to resist oppression without following Western scripts surrounding protest? This week, we are joined by guest Dr. Tamara Fakhoury (University of Minnesota) to talk about her

58:12

Therapy

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/11/21

What does it mean to be “well-adjusted” in a society that might itself be profoundly unwell? And when we use therapy-speak to explain everything from bad relationships to bad politics, do we risk losing sight of moral responsibility for bad behavior altogether? Is self-knowledge even possible in a world built on historical and political denial?Grab a drink, get comfortable, and join us for a little collective introspection — no copay required!Full episode notes available at this

62:15

Furious Minds (with Laura K. Field)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/11/14

This week’s episode of Hotel Bar Sessions brings political theorist Laura K. Field (author of Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right) into the bar to talk about the intellectuals cranking the rhetoric up to eleven while insisting they’re just “doing Great Books.” We follow the trail from Straussian seminar rooms and conservative think tanks to Trump rallies and “no kings” protests, asking what happens when a self-styled aristocracy of the mind decides liberal democracy is played

58:11

Imagination (with Stephen T. Asma)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/11/07

The imagination has regularly been subordinated to so-called "rational" or "scientific" models of thought. This week, we're joined by Stephen T. Asma (Columbia College, Chicago), who argues that imagination has deep, perhaps pre-linguistic, roots that ought to be recovered. What if we re-centered the powers of imagination, rooted in imagistic thinking and bodily gestures (like dance), instead of dismissing them as mere "fancy"?Drawing on the esoteric tradition, Asma leads us through an

60:00

Comedy

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/10/31

This week’s episode of Hotel Bar Sessions on the topic of comedy is a gut buster, not least because one of your co-hosts pretends to be a stand-up comedian at night-- the only job for a philosopher that pays less than being an adjunct professor! Comedy is a historically and philosophically rich topic, starting with primitive hominids drawing penises on cave walls. Our cohosts' begin with Plato, then try to anticipate what Aristotle might have said about comedy (it would not have been

69:44

The Hills We Die on

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/10/24

How do we choose the "hills" that we're willing to die on? Are we actually willing to DIE on them? If not, what would it take to convince us to climb back down the hill and compromise?This week , our co-hosts are digging deep into the question of our "deepest commitments," trying to find where there is room for compromise, and where the lines we draw are ultimately un-crossable.Full episode notes available at this

39:41

Meet the NEW Co-Hosts!

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/10/17

Welcome to the newest chapter of Hotel Bar Sessions! We're excited to introduce our new co-hosts, Bob Vallier and Jennifer Kling in this "Meet the Co-Hosts" conversation!Hotel Bar Sessions podcast extends our sincere thanks to outgoing co-host, Talia Mae Bettcher, for her contributions to the HBS archive.Even deeper gratitude is owed to former co-host Rick Lee, who worked tirelessly and reliably for 13.5 seasons to craft the "voice" of Hotel Bar Sessions. We know you will all miss Rick's

64:30

Eternity

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/10/10

What does it mean to speak of eternity? Is eternity best understood as infinite time, stretching endlessly forward and backward, or as something wholly outside of time—a changeless, timeless "eternal now"? In this episode, the hosts wrestle with these competing conceptions, drawing on philosophy, theology, and personal experience to ask whether eternity is a thinkable concept or a regulative ideal forever beyond our grasp.The discussion ranges from Aristotle’s view of time as the measure of

50:33

Crowds and Mobs

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/10/03

What makes the difference between a crowd singing in unison at a concert and a mob storming the gates of power? In this episode, the hosts take listeners into the messy, unpredictable space where solidarity teeters on the edge of chaos. They unpack how naming a gathering as a “mob” is never neutral—it does political work, shaping both public perception and police response. From the joyful swell of protest chants to the frightening intensity of January 6th, this conversation asks: when does

60:53

Free Will (with Mark Balaguer)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/09/26

When we make choices, are these choices free? That is, are we able to choose one thing over another, to do one thing rather than another, independent of the laws of physics, including the biology and chemistry of our bodies and brains? Or are all of our choices determined by processes that could, in theory, be traced back to deterministic causes, if only we had enough information?Whether we are free in our willing or not, does it matter? And if so, why?This week, we are joined by Prof. Mark

63:38

How The Manosphere Killed Cool (with Robin James)

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/09/19

This week, we're joined by scholar, editor, and philosopher, Robin James, to talk about her provocative recent essay entitled “We’re through being Cool: Tech Bros, Manosphere Influencers, Ancient Greek Masculinity, and AI,” posted at James' blog, It’s Her Factory. When we think about "cool," we think about effortless, confident, style... but being cool has always been about more than style. It’s about resistance to authority, overcoming patriarchy, refusal to fit in. Yet, a cohort of

57:59

The "Expertise" Crisis

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/09/12

Today, there seems to be an intense distrust of experts in all sorts of fields. From medical experts in the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services, to “elite intellectuals” at Universities and Colleges, no one who has expertise is beyond suspicion. We hear that we should “do our own research” and not trust what those with training and knowledge tell us. What makes an expert legitimate? What’s the difference between the skepticism that drives science and

20:58

MINIBAR: Cancer

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/09/05

Hotel Bar Sessions is on it's regular "break" between seasons, but we're offering up these "minibar" sessions from our co-hosts (individually) in in the interimThis week, listen to HBS co-host Talia Mae Bettcher talk about her recent run-in with cancer, and the long, dark night of the soul it inspired.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/cancer---------------------SUBSCRIBE to the podcast now to automatically download new episodes when Season 14

16:58

MINIBAR: In Defense of Metaphysics

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/08/29

Hotel Bar Sessions is on it's regular "break" between seasons, but we're offering up these "minibar: sessions from our co-hosts (individually) in in the interimThis week, listen to HBS co-host Rick Lee talk about what metaphysics really is, how it's often misunderstood, and why it's so important. Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/in-defense-of-metaphysics---------------------SUBSCRIBE to the podcast now to automatically download new episodes when

14:38

MINIBAR: Living in Occupied D.C.

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/08/22

Hotel Bar Sessions is on it's regular "break" between seasons, but we're offering up these "minibar: sessions from our co-hosts (individually) in in the interimThis week, listen to HBS co-host Leigh M. Johnson talk about what it's like to live in "occupied" D.C. as a new resident.Full episode notes available at this link:https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/living-in-occupied-dc---------------------SUBSCRIBE to the podcast now to automatically download new episodes when Season 14 begins in

65:34

Arendt's "Banality of Evil"

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/08/15

This week, the HBS hosts discuss Hannah Arendt’s concept of the banality of evil.In 1961, Adolf Eichmann was put on trial in Israel for crimes against humanity and crimes against the Jewish People. The philosopher Hannah Arendt covered the trial for The New Yorker. Her articles were collected in the book Eichmann in Jerusalem, which had the subtitle, A Report on the Banality of Evil. What did she mean by the phrase “banality of evil?” She remarks that there is nothing monstrous, hideous, or

60:41

Major Life Changes

Hotel Bar Sessions ·

2025/08/08

In this week’s episode, the HBS hosts talk about positive and negative major life changes.While change is a part of life, major changes can cause major upheavals in one’s sense of oneself in relation to the world. Indeed, they may teach us to perceive life anew. What might such changes show us, if anything, about traditional philosophical concepts such as the self, the good life, autonomy, and relatedness with others?Full episode notes available at this

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