The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

On Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Illustrations (1977), ch. 4-6 on "jus ad bellum," which refers to moral justifications for going to war. Self-defense is permissible while aggression is not, but this leaves many questions unanswered, and Walzer gives us many historical examples to consider.

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Purported the first summer blockbuster, Jaws has now hit 50 years, and so we discuss this wonderful early Spielberg film, its ill-conceived sequels, some of the making-of docs, and the legacy of shark/big carnivore films that it spawned.

Is the film as flawless as it's made out to be? Are the sequels as awful as typically described? Mark. Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al discuss!

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Continuing on the 1785 course lecture notes by Georg Ludwig Collins. We cover duties to oneself, which are actually the most important ones. There are some interesting subtleties even though Kant is clearly a creature of his time and place, e.g. in his views of sexuality.

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New York singer-songwriter Willie has released sixteen albums since 1980. He has opened for The Who and Bruce Springsteen, among others, but rejected the major label life after his first two albums.

We discuss "An Irish Goodbye" (feat. Paul Brady) from The Great Yellow Light (2025) (and listen at the end to "Wake Up, America" feat. Steve Earle from that album), "Cell Phones Ringing (In the Pockets of the Dead)" from Streets of New ...

We discuss lecture notes from Kant's 1785 ethics course, which provide more examples and an emphasis on the practical than his more famous works.

For instance, we get more information on ethical motivation: How can the rational recognition of ethical principles lead to moral feelings?

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LA Second City improv instructor Mary joins us to act out a pet sitting job interview, talk about sharing our public spaces with animals, and finally return to Empty Street to see if we can get some animal action going in the mart.

In the post-game, we talk about Bill's new academic studies and Mark's upcoming Gen Con trip.

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In light of the new film Ballerina, we discuss the John Wick franchise that kicked off in 2014 with four films plus a (bad) Peacock TV show. We also watched the recent documentary Wick Is Pain.

Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al are joined by Brian Casey to mostly talk about the main four films in the series: They have a formula, but is that bad?

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Concluding our treatment of The Sources of Normativity. We give Korsgaard's tweaks to Kant, including her distinction between the categorical imperative and the moral law. We then explain her reference to Wittgenstein's private language argument in her argument that reason-giving, and hence morality, can't be merely self-referential.

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Not only is John a multi-instrumentalist who's played with Violent Femmes, Allen Ginsberg, Hal Willner, John Prine, et al, but he's released around 24 albums as a solo artist or with groups including the NYC world music outfit TriBeCaStan.

We discuss "(Be Careful What You Say to) An Armed Lady" by Folklorkestra from A Strange Day in June (2023), the title track from Forever Ago (with La Societe; del Musici) (2018), "Bed Bugs" by Tr...

On lectures 3 and 4 of The Sources of Normativity (1996), where we get Korsgaard's positive view on how morality becomes obligatory for an individual, which has to do with identity, reason-giving, and our fundamentally social nature. And yet, her view is an interpretation of Kant!

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Mark Schiff is a legendary stand-up who currently podcasts with friend-of-PEL and philosophy enthusiast, Daniel Lobell as We Think It's Funny.

These gents join Mark and Bill to talk about stand-up vs. improv, comedy LPs, waterless urinals, bad press, the path to enlightenment, and how to get rid of syphilis. We run a scene on hiring entertainment for the company party, and engage in some riffs that can only be called improv.

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We dive further into the text of lectures 1 and 2 of The Sources of Normativity (1996).

We give Korsgaard's account of the idea of reflective endorsement through Hume and Bernard Williams to get to her own view. When you come to know the origins of your moral sentiments, do you still stand behind them?

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In immediate reaction to the Apple TV+ Seth Rogan show The Studio, we talk about Hollywood's obsession with itself and how studio dynamics interfere with what exactly we all get to see. Also, what's with the fascination with old Hollywood? What's the appeal of Hollywood gossip?

Erica our first-season co-host returns to join Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al.

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On The Sources of Normativity (1996), lectures 1 and 2.

How are facts related to obligations? We don't want to merely explain our moral impulses, but justify them. Korsgaard walks us through the views of Hobbes, Hume, Bernard Williams and others to arrive at her own breed of Kantianism, which we'll lay out in ep. 371.

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This famed finger-style guitarist broke through with Jefferson Airplane's seven albums from 1966-1972, recorded eight with Hot Tuna 1970-1976 (with subsequent reunions by both bands), recorded his first solo album in 1974 and then 10 more from 1981-2025, and has collaborated with John Hurlburt, members of the Grateful Dead, and Janice Joplin.

We discuss "In My Dreams" from Ain't in No Hurry (2015), "Been So Long" from River of Time...

Khafiz Kerimov and Nicholas Bellinson teach at St. John's College, and they channeled the educational style of that school into a new podcast called Invasive Thoughts.

They join Mark and Bill to talk (and act) about various educational technologies, teacher-student relations, circle-drawing competitions, the passivity of thinking, bad quotation use, and more.

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Continuing on Natural Goodness, getting more into concrete cases of moral reasoning. How and why do we decide to keep promises, even in cases where violating them would produce more utility? How do we take into account different kinds of grounds in moral reasoning?

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On the eight-film action series that launched in 1996 (based on the 1966 TV series) in light of its apparently final film. Featuring Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al.

Is this a coherent narrative as the last film would have you believe, or just an excuse for a series of Tom Cruise physically challenges? Maybe the latter is enough for us!

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Kolby runs After Dinner Conversations, which curates short stories about philosophy. He's also been a "producer" of improv shows.

We talk about what makes a story philosophical, Kolby tells some stories, and we run some scenes about teleporter shenanigans and guidance counseling.

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