When we find ourselves in a dark place, what if we didn't "lighten things up"? Sean Illing talks with philosopher Mariana Alessandri, whose new book Night Vision offers a new way of understanding our dark moods and experiences like depression, pain, and grief. Alessandri describes the deep influence of what she calls the "light metaphor" — the belief that li ... Show More
Mar 2
Of course you're anxious
We use the word “anxiety” to describe stress, dread, worry, panic, even vibes. Which just goes to show: We really don’t know what anxiety is, or where it comes from, or what we’re supposed to do with it. Today’s guest is philosopher Samir Chopra, author of Anxiety: A Philosophica ... Show More
41m 54s
Jan 2022
Learning to Listen to the Voices Only You Hear
<p>The world has gotten louder, even when we’re alone. A day spent in isolation can still mean a day buffeted by the voices on social media and the news, on podcasts, in emails and text messages. Objects have also gotten louder: through the advertisements that follow us around th ... Show More
59m 8s
Apr 2021
Quand Circé raconte son Odyssée : le pouvoir de la narration et de l'empathie
<p>Bienvenue dans Passerelles, un podcast pensé pour éveiller la curiosité des apprenantes et des apprenants de français.</p>
<p>Dans chaque épisode, je partage avec vous une question inspirée par les podcasts que j'écoute, par mes lectures. Et tout simplement par des choses qui ... Show More
21m 14s
Feb 2024
"The Better Angels of Our Nature" Part 1: You're Not Wrong, Pinker. You're Just An *sshole
<p>This week we're tackling Steven Pinker's 900 page dissection of the reasons why violence, torture and war have declined over the last 10,000 years. Was it an indeterminate mixture of politics, economics, technology and serendipity? Or did some European guys write so ... Show More
1h 37m
Sep 2023
Episode 268: Blood Meridian, Part 1
<p class="MsoNormal">In part one of our two-part episode on Cormac McCarthy's blood-soaked phantasmagorical 1985 masterpiece <em>Blood Meridian,</em> David and Tamler talk about the historical sources of the novel, the cosmic questions the book poses, the capriciousness of the ne ... Show More
1h 17m
Feb 2024
108: To Strive or Not to Strive: Straw Dogs
"If you believe that humans are animals, there can be no such thing as the history of humanity, only the lives of particular humans. If we speak of the history of the species at all, it is only to signify the unknowable sum of these lives. As with other animals, some lives are ha ... Show More
1h 6m
May 2023
America's New Religions & the Cult of Self-Making | Tara Isabella Burton
<p dir="ltr">In Episode 314 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with novelist, sociologist, and theologian Tara Isabella Burton about America's new religions, the evolution of the self in contemporary culture, and what it all means for the future of Western society.</p> <p d ... Show More
59m 37s