The Partially Examined Life is a podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a short text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don't have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we're talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion. For links to the texts we discuss and other info, check out www.partiallyexaminedlife.com. We also feature episodes from other podcasts by our hosts to round out your partially examined life, including Pretty Much Pop (prettymuchpop.com, covering all media), Nakedly Examined Music (nakedlyexaminedmusic.com, deconstructing songs), Philosophy vs. Improv (philosophyimprov.com, fun with performance skills and philosophical ideas), and (sub)Text (subtextpodcast.com, looking deeply at lit and film). Learn about more network podcasts at partiallyexaminedlife.com.
On. G.W.F. Hegel's The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), sec. 438-463. What constitutes society? We're beginning a multi-episode arc here on the "Spirit" chapter of the book, so we learn what Spirit actually is and how it relates to individuals. We also talk about the two layers of law that make up society and how these can be in or out of harmony. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Get three months free of online payroll and benefits software for small businesses at gusto.com/pel. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.
02/03/2026 • 50:49
John has released at least fifteen albums, more than half of these under the name King Missile, but even this name covers three different bands, since John until recently didn't play any instruments, so his music is always collaborative with one or more music writers. Apart from his various musical projects, he's published around 50 books of poetry and publishes poems every day on his Facebook page. We discuss "Her Cock is True" from the yet-to-be-released King Missile album Quest for Fire, "Eating People" from The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (2003), and "Sensitive Artist" from Fluting on the Hump (1987). End song: "Garden" by You, Me and This Fuckin' Guy from Garden Variety Fuckers (2020). Intro: "Detachable Penis" from Happy Hour (1992). Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic. Sponsor: Get three months free of online payroll and benefits software for small businesses at gusto.com/nem.
28/02/2026 • 81:54
In our continuing Q&A with Graham, we engage him about Kantian Things-In-Themselves, complex things (that if divided, must be cut at the joints) vs. mere heaps, fact ontology, natural kinds, fictional objects, why philosophy is not knowledge, and philosophical style. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Go to NerdWallet.com/PEL for trustworthy small business loans. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. Go to HelloFresh.com/pel10fm to Get 10 free meals + a free Zwilling Knife with your third box.
23/02/2026 • 61:31
Jerome is an LA composer/director/screenwriter who is involved in a lot of musical improv, so Mary and Mark interview him about that and about the function of art, plus songs for pets, a support group for people who sing all the time, and more. Hear more PvI. Jerome sticks around for the post-game, shared with you non-supporters just this once. Support the podcast to get this for most episodes, plus an ad free experience. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain.
22/02/2026 • 63:42
When we don't know much about some genius playwright's life, why not make up some things based on the contents of his plays? Maybe put Shakespearean dialogue right in character's mouths, so the audience will say, "hey, I remember that line!" Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al talk through the Chloe Zhao Oscar-bait historical drama, Hamnet, and its source, the 2020 novel by Maggie O'Farrell. Is the film great, or just "grief porn"? Plus, Shakespeare in Love and other biopics. Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly with Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark's podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel. Sponsors: Get started with Claude AI at claude.ai/pmp. Visit squarespace.com/PRETTY (code PRETTY) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain.
19/02/2026 • 64:15
An interview with Graham in light of his new book, Waves and Stones: On the Ultimate Nature of Reality, which elaborates and adds to issues that the gang previously studied in Object-Oriented Ontology. Graham argues that in addition to objects (which have parts), there are continua, such as space and time, and these continua are the links that allow otherwise forever separated objects to touch each other. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Go to NerdWallet.com/PEL for trustworthy small business loans. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.
16/02/2026 • 47:54
Folky singer/songwriter and psychotherapist Robert started in the '80s but considers 1994 his professional debut and has now released his seventh album since then, The Space Between Us. We discuss "Attic of Desire" (and the intro is "The Forest From the Tree") from that album, plus "Uncertain" from Beloved (2017), the title track from Earthside Down (1998). End song: "Rock A Bye" feat. Victoria Williams from Days Like These (1994). More at robertdeeble.com. Watch Robert's video for "The Forest From the Tree." The previous version of "Attic of Desire" was called "A Formal Apology" from Thirteen Stories (2003). Watch Robert and his band play "Earthside Down" live in 2002. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic. Sponsor: Download the Gametime app and use code NEM for $20 off your first purchase of concert tickets.
13/02/2026 • 79:21
We consider chapter 2, "Aesthetics Is the Root of All Philosophy," where Harman describes how art can help us see behind the veil to things-in-themselves. Art is "theatrical" in that it's really the spectator who is standing in like an actor for the object encountered in art. 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 take action for your health.
09/02/2026 • 44:47
Vancouver philosophy prof Elijah was an evangelical Christian who turned liberal and then atheistic, and his latest book, "Unbelieving God: A Skeptics Guide," considers and debunks the various arguments for the existence of God. Mark and Mary chat with him about his journey and about the degree to which we should care about others' beliefs in this area so as to engage them in debate. In the course of this, as you'd expect, God makes a personal appearance (with Mary), and there's an aborted sketch about a brainwashing service. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain.
08/02/2026 • 53:36
We're discussing Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Comedy Central show that premiered in 1997 and has just finished its politically relevant 28th season, featuring the usual crew: Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al. How can a show be so juvenile yet so apparently well thought out?e get into the evolution of the show,, the equal-opportunity offensive humor, the use of child characters to deliver it, their ambiguous politics, the quick turnaround production, the excellent music, and more. Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly with Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark's podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/PRETTY (code PRETTY) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain.
05/02/2026 • 54:01
Continuing on Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything (2018), finishing up ch. 1 (discussing what's so bad about reductionism) and moving to ch. 4, "Indirect Relations," which is about causality. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.
02/02/2026 • 55:15
We're within the Self-Consciousness chapter of The Phenomenology of Spirit, specifically starting at sec. 206 on the Unhappy Consciousness. This comes after the famous Master-Slave section as well as sections about Stoicism and Skepticism, and it depicts a dividedness within the self stemming from a faulty view of the relation between self and world. Subscribe to Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy; follow us there via the free tier to get episodes like this ad free, or pay us to get future installments in this series and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife for a nice combo deal.)
30/01/2026 • 57:28
On Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything (2018). What counts as an entity in the world? Harman includes not just physical objects, but fictional objects, "sensual objects," and even events, which you might have thought were the alternative to objects. With this promiscuous ontology comes a strange theory of causality whereby no real object touches another real object, and an epistemology that involves us having no knowledge of real objects at all, though Harman's theory art gives us a back-door to make up for this deficiency, and philosophy itself ends up sharing in these properties of art. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. Go to HelloFresh.com/pel10fm to Get 10 free meals + a free Zwilling Knife with your third box.
26/01/2026 • 50:20
To kick off 2026, Mark and Mary talk about memory: memory care for the elderly, the relation between things and memories, what professional activities are worth preserving (improv performances?), being the tchotchke, womb nostalgia, puppets and percussion, plus a visit from the future. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain.
23/01/2026 • 47:20
Finishing up Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, finally now turning to Freud's anthropological account of group membership. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.
19/01/2026 • 55:50
Ontario guitarist Darren has released six albums of concise instrumentals since 2019, often using metal guitar tones and tropes, but with a great range of tones and often catchy melodies. We discuss "The Day Beneath Yesterday" (and listen at the end to "Dangerous Curves") from Perpetual Night (2025), "Broken Glass and Disappointment" from Thoughts and Scares (2022), and "The Earth is B Flat" from Lifting the Curse (2019). Intro: The title track from Wonders of the Invisible World (2020). More at darrenboyd.com. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.
17/01/2026 • 68:00
The Netflix sci-fi/horror/teen series by the Duffer Brothers that started in 2016 has now finished with its sixth season, attempting to be both epic and sentimental. Who is this show actually aimed at? We talk about the initial appeal through various uneven seasons through the execution of the finale. Has the thing gone on so long that we can't make sense out of the continuity. Featuring, as usual, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al. Get more at prettymuchpop.com. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly with Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark's podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/PRETTY (code PRETTY) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain.
15/01/2026 • 52:47
On the second half of Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. We talk about the dual origins of group membership for Freud in personal love and in the supposed primitive society where a horde was led by a tyrannical father. 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 take action for your health.
12/01/2026 • 42:25
Rich runs the Dare to Fail improv school and is author of Improv Made Easier. He joins Mark and Mary to discuss contexts of failure, failing to meet your goals vs. "objective failure," how to react in an improv scene to some topic that's too offensive for you, graveyard humor vs. reverence. Featuring Steaks You Deserve, Robo-Carson, cancer torture, interactive cemetery, Sounds of Failure, and open-sourced MST3K. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support. Sponsor: Visit squarespace.com/LINSENMAYER (code LINSENMAYER) for a free trial and 10% off your first website or domain.
10/01/2026 • 48:46
It's another year, and this time we each came in with a short bucket list of philosophical works that we'd like to read before this podcast concludes, whenever that might be. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. It's time to enroll in Mark's spring Big Books in Continental Philosophy Class! Learn more at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.
05/01/2026 • 42:00
Continuing on the first half of Sigmund Freud's Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, now getting really into Freud's own type of explanation, whereby he explains how libidinal ties bind group members, typically via their shared love of a leader or leading idea. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Make a tax deductible donation at GiveWell.org; pick "podcast" and enter "The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast" at checkout. Interested in Mark's spring Continental Philosophy class? Learn more and reserve your spot at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.
29/12/2025 • 48:42
On the first half of Sigmund Freud's Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921). Why do members of a mob get dumber and less inhibited? Freud considers Gustave Le Bon's famous book on crowds but then turns to more organized groups like armies and churches. For all groups, Freud thinks that the leader (or leading ideal) replaces our conscience to some degree. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. Get an exclusive 5% discount on NordProtect plans. Go to nordprotect.com/partially and use the code partially at checkout. Interested in Mark's spring Continental Philosophy class? Learn more and reserve your spot at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.
22/12/2025 • 45:50
We discuss the first six questions from the "Moral Action" section in the Summa Theologica (1268), which we read in Thomas Aquinas: Selected Philosophical Writings (1993). If you're not hearing the full version of this part of the discussion, sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.
18/12/2025 • 10:41
Continuing to discuss the virtue and moral action from the Summa Theologica (1268). We discuss the definition of virtue and some subsequent questions about what parts of us the term virtue properly applies to. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel. Get an exclusive 5% discount on NordProtect plans. Go to nordprotect.com/partially and use the code partially at checkout. Buy the PEL book! Interested in Mark's spring Continental Philosophy class? Check partiallyexaminedlife.com/class for the latest.
15/12/2025 • 59:11
On selections about virtue and moral action from the Summa Theologica (1268). Aquinas defines virtue, tells us how it metaphysically fits us into the universe, and discusses how it actually works in us to make us perform moral acts. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at rula.com/pel. Get $45 off Aura's best-selling Carver Mat electronic picture frame at auraframes.com and use promo code PEL at checkout. Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. Interested in Mark's spring Continental Philosophy class? Check partiallyexaminedlife.com/class for the latest.
08/12/2025 • 49:30
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 $45 off Aura's best-selling Carver Mat electronic picture frame at auraframes.com and use promo code PEL at checkout. Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. Interested in Mark's spring Continental Philosophy class? Check partiallyexaminedlife.com/class for the latest.
01/12/2025 • 52:51
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 discussion. Sponsors: Have up to $100 matched when you donate to a well-researched charity at givewell.org; pick PODCAST and enter The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast at checkout. Get $45 off Aura's best-selling Carver Mat electronic picture frame at auraframes.com and use promo code PEL at checkout. Interested in Mark's spring Continental Philosophy class? Check partiallyexaminedlife.com/class for the latest.
23/11/2025 • 46:54
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 typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at rula.com/pel. Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.
17/11/2025 • 71:12
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 bonus discussion. Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health.
10/11/2025 • 43:54
We complete our Aquinas treatment for the moment by considering emotions: categorizing them, asking whether they have opposites, and making them coherent given Aquinas' Aristotelian conception of soul. If you're not hearing the full version of this part of the discussion, sign up via one of the options described at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.
08/11/2025 • 08:51
