The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

950 episodes

Ep. 396: Peirce on Knowledge (Part One)
2026/07/20 | 49 mins.
On 1868 essays by Charles Sanders Peirce: "Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man" and "Some Consequences of Four Incapacities."
Do we know when knowledge is intuitive? Is there any such thing as intuitive knowledge? Do we directly experience the self or anything introspective, or do we just infer facts about ourselves from external perspectives? Peirce provides counter-intuitive responses to all these questions.
Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.
Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel.
PEL Presents PvI#121: Meat Suit Dolls w/ Maddie Mutations
2026/07/18 | 51 mins.
The LA-based clown, multimedia performance artist, and doll stylist (see maddiemutations.com) joins Mary and Mark to talk about her Doll Court show, clown types and the role of the fool, failing on stage, cities as women, silly villains, and more.
Will Carol overcome her anxiety to go into the big meeting? Will Maddie keep all the nice dolls to herself? What should the demands of the LA doll union be? How edgy can a clown be? We wrap up with an exercise about numeric levels of joy.
Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at patreon.com/philosophyimprov.
Sponsor: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code IMPROV at oneskin.co/IMPROV.
PEL Presents NEM#256: Bruce Soord (Pineapple Thief): Heartbreaking Prog by Ear
2026/07/17 | 1h 9 mins.
Bruce started as guitarist for the '90s for Vulgar Unicorn and started Pineapple Thief as a solo project in 1999, though it quickly became a full band. He's released 16 studio albums with Pineapple Thief and four solo albums. More at brucesoord.com and pineapplethief.com.
We discuss "Pillars" from Ghosts in the Park (his 2026 solo album) and some Pineapple Thief tracks: the title track from It Leads to This (2024), "Clapham" from 10 Stories Down (2005), remixed for 3000 Days (2008), plus to conclude "Alone at Sea" from Magnolia (2014). Intro: "Private Paradise" by from Abducted at Birth (1999, originally called Abducting the Unicorn).
Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic, which will get you access to a bonus episode with Bruce from 2018.
Ep. 395: C.S. Lewis Argues for Christianity (Part Two)
2026/07/13 | 54 mins.
Continuing on Mere Christianity (1952). We discuss his take on the problem of evil, how happiness is impossible without Christ, our potential to evolve from bios (biological nature) vs. zoe (spiritual nature), sexual morality, pride, and more.
Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.
Sponsors: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health.
PEL Presents Closereads: Hegel on Faith vs. The Enlightenment (aka PEL#394 pt. 3)
2026/07/12 | 56 mins.
On Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, sec. 551-559, which are sections assigned for but not actually covered on PEL #394.
We get more info on how The Enlightenment supposedly mischaracterizes faith, but also how faith sees The Enlightenment and what Hegel considers to be good points coming out of The Enlightenment's critique.

More Philosophy podcasts

Trending Philosophy podcasts

About The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

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.

Podcast website

Philosophy Society & Culture

Listen to The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast, The Thomistic Institute and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app

Get the free radio.net app

Stations and podcasts to bookmark
Stream via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
Supports Carplay & Android Auto
Many other app features

Open app

Get the free radio.net app

Stations and podcasts to bookmark
Stream via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
Supports Carplay & Android Auto
Many other app features

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Scan code,
download the app,
start listening.