logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2021
40m 9s

Ep. 284: Mark Twain’s Philosophy of Huma...

Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey
About this episode

On "What Is Man" (1905). Twain describes a person as a machine. We have no free will and always act to win our own self-approval. This was a bleak enough picture that the essay was not printed until after Twain's death.

Part two of this episode is only going to be available to you if you sign up at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support or via Apple Podcasts.

Up next
Jul 6
PEL Presents #200: Hollywood Studio Antics (feat. The Studio and Erica Spyres)
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? E ... Show More
57m 55s
Jul 7
Ep. 370: Christine Korsgaard on the History of Ethics (Part Two)
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 s ... Show More
49m 24s
Jun 29
PEL Presents NEM#233: Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna) Is Not Taking This for Granted
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 ... Show More
1h 13m
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2022
“Mark Twain: The Reports Of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated!”
Mark Twain has arguably been called the greatest American author, and in his first interview since his death in 1910, it’s not hard to see why. Twain wrote such classics as Life on the Mississippi and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- and is responsible for some of the wittie ... Show More
27m 4s
Jun 2014
Episode #026 ... Thomas Hobbes pt. 1 - The Social Contract
On this episode of the podcast, we learn about Thomas Hobbes. We first ask ourselves what it would be like to live in a society with no laws or government, much like the scenario depicted in The Purge. Next, we question whether or not humans are inherently selfish and how this af ... Show More
29m 12s
Oct 2017
#99 Will Storr: Selfies, Self-esteem & Our Environment
This episode is with Will Storr, journalist and author of many books including his most recent work of non-fiction called SELFIE. We talk about his new book Selfie: how we became so self-obsessed and what it’s doing to us. He unpicks our society’s longing for self-esteem and wher ... Show More
42m 49s
May 2014
Episode 47: Schooled By Our Listeners
Tamler and David leech off of their listeners and dedicate an episode to their favorite comments, questions, and criticisms from the past few weeks (but not before Tamler goes on a rant about bicycle helmets). Included in this episode: Does doing research on hypothetical moral di ... Show More
1h 2m
Apr 2019
David Brooks' Moral Journey
Tina Brown talks with David Brooks, the New York Times op-ed columnist and author of the new book The Second Mountain. Brooks posits that decades of unfettered individualism and social freedom have left us all morally adrift. But he has identified four principles that can get one ... Show More
33m 49s
May 2019
Thoreau: the writer who went to the woods
Rajan Datar and guests explore the life and legacy of the American thinker Henry David Thoreau and his famous work 'Walden', which describes the young writer's experiment in living simply at Walden Pond in Massachusetts, for two years, two months and two days in the 1840s. A land ... Show More
39m 58s
Sep 2022
Eve's Diary by Mark Twain
Imagine waking up in a strange and wonderful place with no memory and no one to guide you. Your world is filled with strange creatures and incredible beauty along with one enigmatic creature who looks similar to you but is still quite different. Here is the sequel to “Extracts fr ... Show More
45m 37s
Jun 2023
The Word For Man Is Ishi
In 1911, a Native American man, the only member of his community to survive a genocide, encountered the new Anthropology department at The University of California, Berkeley. What happened next helped to define the ethical quandaries of the field and, in a strange turn, the histo ... Show More
49m 18s
Mar 2022
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
Tonight's snoozy tale is the Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain. Published in 1881, it is the story of two boys, born on the same day, identical in appearance, and from very different backgrounds. In this episode, Tom Canty, the pauper, meets the Prince for the first time.If you ... Show More
40 m
Jun 2023
How Emerson Can Help You Become a Stoic Nonconformist
When we think about Stoic philosophers, we typically think about the thinkers of ancient Greece and Rome, like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. But my guest, Mark Matousek, says there was an incredibly insightful Stoic philosopher who lived on the American continent in more modern ... Show More
46m 28s
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami