Nietzsche listed Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) among the best French writers of the Renaissance, and called him a link to classical antiquity. The personal seal of Montaigne read, “What do I know?” For Montaigne, doubting was no less pleasing than knowing, and he exemplified the philosopher’s proclivity to inquire about every proposition. In his work we fi ... Show More
Today
142: Commands, Symbols & Games - Nietzsche, Cassirer & Wittgenstein on Language
In this episode we're going to explore three very different thinkers who nonetheless converge on their theories of language. We're going to see if we can't extract an intelligible whole out of the ideas generated by this trio: the Nietzschean theory of language as command, the vi ... Show More
1h 37m
May 26
141: Ernst Cassirer - Language & Myth
In this episode, we're venturing into the life and thought of Ernst Cassirer, the last humanist of the Enlightenment tradition. Cassirer is widely known today for his debate with Heidegger at Davos, in which Cassirer appeared as the old style philosopher against the new world sig ... Show More
1h 40m
Nov 2018
Episode 51, Simone de Beauvoir (Part I - The Life of Simone de Beauvoir)
<p id="yui_3_17_2_1_1541970387469_936">Simone de Beauvoir was a pioneer for the second-wave feminist movement and one of the most famous philosophers to have lived. Strikingly, Beauvoir did not label herself as a philosopher, since she never attempted to provide an original treat ... Show More
1h 1m
Nov 2018
Episode 51, Simone de Beauvoir (Part II - The Ethics of Ambiguity)
<p>Simone de Beauvoir was a pioneer for the second-wave feminist movement and one of the most famous philosophers to have lived. Strikingly, Beauvoir did not label herself as a philosopher, since she never attempted to provide an original treatise which aimed to fully encapsulate ... Show More
1h 3m
May 2025
Close Readings: Nietzsche's 'Schopenhauer as Educator'
In this extended extract from their series 'Conversations in Philosophy', part of the LRB's Close Readings podcast, Jonathan Rée and James Wood look at one of Friedrich Nietzsche's early essays, 'Schopenhauer as Educator'. For Nietzsche, Schopenhauer’s genius lay not in his ideas ... Show More
32m 14s
Dec 2018
Episode 51, Simone de Beauvoir (Part IV - Further Analysis and Discussion)
<p>Simone de Beauvoir was a pioneer for the second-wave feminist movement and one of the most famous philosophers to have lived. Strikingly, Beauvoir did not label herself as a philosopher, since she never attempted to provide an original treatise which aimed to fully encapsulate ... Show More
50m 41s
Dec 2018
Episode 51, Simone de Beauvoir (Part III - The Second Sex)
<p>Simone de Beauvoir was a pioneer for the second-wave feminist movement and one of the most famous philosophers to have lived. Strikingly, Beauvoir did not label herself as a philosopher, since she never attempted to provide an original treatise which aimed to fully encapsulate ... Show More
57m 46s
Apr 2022
Episode 5 - Un XXème siècle inspirant - Sartre et De Beauvoir
<p>Philosophy Is Sexy n’est pas qu’un podcast, c’est une parenthèse intime, un pas de côté, pour oser la philosophie, la désacraliser, la remettre au cœur de notre vie et se laisser inspirer. Marie Robert, auteure du best-seller traduit en quinze langues, "Kant tu ne sais plus qu ... Show More
25m 41s