The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Corey has released many of zydeco music since 2004, and mixes his dedication to tradition (even recording a recent album in Louisiana Creole) with his love of many types of music.

We discuss "J'ai Parti dans la Campagne" (and listen at the end to "Outro") from his new release, Live in Alaska; "That Girl Wanna Dance" from the Grammy nominated Nothin' But the Best (2012); and "Way Back Home," a Jazz Crusaders (Wilton Felder) cover re...

More on The Problem of Christianity, discussing how communities relate to history, how individuals relate to communities, and what's unique about Royce's ideal Christian world community.

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Sponsors: Get an exclusive 5% discount on NordProtect plans. Go to nordprotect.com/pel and use the code pel at chec...

Seth is an improviser and aspiring professional "muse," which is a type of life coach that hangs out with you to see where you could be more in touch with your humanity so that you can then work out a coherent plan for your adult life. He discusses with Mary and Mark the conflict between authentic individual humans and a social structure filled with oppressive systems.

Should we "deprogram" ourselves from our standardized upbringin...

In light of One Battle After Another, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al walk through the range of his films from his 1996 crime film Hard Eight through his much lauded Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Punch-Drunk Love, and There Will Be Blood and his more controversial recent ones like Licorice Pizza, The Master, The Phantom Thread, and Inherent Vice.

Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly ev...

On sections of The Problem of Christianity (1913) which establish Royce's concept of a community of interpretation: individuals working together with a sense of shared history and expectation. He claims that such a grouping can be counted as a literal mind and that it solves the problem of human meaning.

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussi...

Marshall began creating his catchy, harmonically thick rock tunes in the early '80s with six major label albums, but went indie in the '90s to record four more as well as several EPs and live collections.

We discuss "Stranger and Stranger," newly reworked for From the Hellhole (2025), "Right On Time" from Jaggedland (2009), "Fantastic Planet of Love" from Life's Too Short (1991), and we conclude by listening to Our Town" from Field...

Continuing on sources from ancient Egypt, finishing up the instructional literature: "The Instruction of Ptahhotep," and "The Instruction Addressed to King Merikare," and then we move to the dialogues, ""The Eloquent Peasant," and "The Dispute Between a Man and His Ba."

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Sponsors: Rula patients typical...

Scott, ex-professor at Oklahoma State University and author of "Thinking Ethically: A Handbook for Making Moral Choices," chats with Mark and Mary about ethical debate in our age of seemingly unbridgeable divides. We engage in some suspect philosophical counseling, have a staged mini-debate about affirmative action, and simulate a new class of discussion-intensive air travel. More at scottgelfand.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov....

In light of Noah Hawley TV show Alien Earth, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al revisit the franchise through its seven canon films beginning with Ridley Scott's 1979 classic.

While there's plenty of sheer repetition (alien loose, killing people one by one) throughout these properties, the various filmmakers attempt to avoid sure repetition by shifting genres. On the new show, we get a pronounced shift to focusing on the synthetic hum...

The co-author of the African run of the History of Philosophy Podcast (and new book) joins us to go over philosophical works from 2200-1400 BCE: "The Instruction of Ptahhotep," "The Instruction Addressed to King Merikare," "The Great Hymn to the Aten," "The Dispute Between a Man and His Ba," and "The Eloquent Peasant."

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of...

Mark is joined by returning NEM guest Don Rauf (from Life In a Blender), singer/songwriter/cartoonist David Heatley), and writer/musician Dave "Diggy" Dawson aka Dave Philpott.

Is funny music necessarily less sincerely emotional, and so a failure at what music is supposed to do? We discuss rock star personas, ironic use of genre, humor in musical gesture, Zappa, Spinal Tap, and more.

Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexami...

Mark and Mary are joined by improvisor-comedian-actress-filmmaker-host Vickie to talk about code switching and authenticity. Can you be authentic and still work a day job? Can Problem Solvers, Inc. solve the office restroom schedule? Are authentic hippies really beatniks? Also, displaying comic America on Korean talk shows, ethical pornography, commerce vs. art, granola in your hair, and more.

Vickie sticks around for a bit of post...

Continuing on bits of Thomas Aquinas: Selected Philosophical Writings, completing our analysis of his arguments for the existence of God and then turning to eternity and the possibility of actually talking about God, given our finitude.

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to...

It's a special two-hander where Mark and Lawrence reflect on the appeal of horror and how the new Monster: Ed Gein Netflix show has to contribute, given that it is not merely a (very loose) presentation of real events, and itself a horror drama, but also a commentary on the Hollywood properties influenced by the Ed Gein murders, including Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Silence of the Lambs. We bring this up to date by inc...

Singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Jonathan (currently based in Minneapolis) has been putting out indie rock solo albums since 1992, but has also ventured into traditional Finnish folk music and has multiple releases of tunes that I won't call Christian rock, but more rock that grapples with being someone who goes to church.

We discuss "Diner by the Train" (and listen at the end to "Evidence") from Waves (2025), "Home Unknown"...

On selections from Thomas Aquinas: Selected Philosophical Writings, mostly taken from the Summa Theologica (1268).

Given our flawed, finite human nature, how do we fit into the universe? In particular, how can we know and talk about things far beyond our experience such as God and eternity? In this part, we discuss arguments for the existence of God.

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to ...

How does your body talk to you? Your favorite hosts-of-a-philosophy-and-improv-comedy show Mark Linsenmayer and Merry Mary Hynes re-connect after both being sick to get a bit Halloweeny so as to talk about various food-related monsters, experiencing art by disgraced creators, inner homunculi a la "Inside Out," movie talk, Nietzsche's nose fetish, and more.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at...