logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2024
42m 29s

Ep. 335: Aristotle on Fundamental Explan...

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

Continuing on Aristotle's Metaphysics, book 1. We get seriously into Aristotle's four types of causation and how previous philosophers in leaving out one or most of these made a mistake. This includes a critique of Platonic forms, which as eternal, unchanging patterns can't actually explain why change occurs in the world.

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and bonus content including a supporter-exclusive Closereads/part 3 drilling into the argument against Platonic forms in Aristotle's Metaphysics. Listen to a preview.

Up next
Jul 17
PEL Presents NEM#256: Bruce Soord (Pineapple Thief): Heartbreaking Prog by Ear
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 disc ... Show More
1h 9m
Jul 13
Ep. 395: C.S. Lewis Argues for Christianity (Part Two)
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.co ... Show More
54m 59s
Jul 12
PEL Presents Closereads: Hegel on Faith vs. The Enlightenment (aka PEL#394 pt. 3)
56m 56s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2025
Aristotle on Final Causes
On Aristotle's Physics, book 2, ch. 8 on "final causation," i.e. purposiveness as a natural explanation. Modern science doesn't much like this kind of explanation, but Aristotle found it essential, and here's his argument for it. Read along with us. You can choose to watch this o ... Show More
1h 9m
Jun 2011
HoP 038 - Down To Earth - Aristotle on Substance
Aristotle's critique of Platonic Forms and defense of his own metaphysics 
20m 31s
Jul 2013
Episode #006 ... Aristotle Pt. 2
On this episode of the podcast, we continue learning about Aristotle, a man who created the first system of biological classification, the first system of logic, and the first formal scientific method. We find out why Aristotle was anti-women and pro-slavery, and learn how Plato ... Show More
37m 45s
May 2014
Episode #021 ... One God - St. Thomas Aquinas
On this episode of the podcast, we learn about the Christian Aristotelean philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas. We begin by examining a song by The Postal Service which sets the stage for a discussion about how often humans mistake correlation with causation. Next, we learn about Arist ... Show More
25m 54s
Jul 2013
Episode #005 ... Aristotle Pt. 1
This week we talk about various different applications of Aristotle's ethics in modern life. We discuss making a "plan" for your life, the underlying similarities between all human desires and the best way to live life. Thank you so much for listening! Could never do this without ... Show More
38m 13s
Jun 2013
Episode #002 ... Presocratic Philosophy - Italian
Today we talk about why philosophy is taken for granted, the crazed cult leader of ancient Greek philosophy, Pythagoras, the annoying dark cloud of deductive reasoning, Parmenides and the super hero Empedocles. Thank you so much for listening! Could never do this without your hel ... Show More
36m 34s
Jun 2013
Episode #001 ... Presocratic Philosophy - Ionian
Today we discussed the "Out of Africa" theory, the adversity of early humans, the term "Pre-Socratic", the first philosopher Thales, the meanest philosopher Heraclitus and Democritus, the godfather of the theory of atomism. Thank you so much for listening! Could never do this wit ... Show More
49m 20s
Aug 2024
Episode 290: Blinded by the Light (Plato's Cave Pt. 2)
<p>David and Tamler continue their discussion of Plato's allegory of the cave. We talk about the connections with mystical traditions including Gnosticism, Sufism, and Buddhist paths to awakening. We also dig deeper into what Socrates calls 'dialectic' – what allows this method t ... Show More
1h 37m
Mar 2024
Episode #197 ... New Atheists and cosmic purpose without God - (Zizek, Goff, Nagel)
As we regularly do on this program-- we steelman different philosophical positions. Hopefully the process brings people some joy. Today we go from ideology, to New Atheism vs Creationism, to Aristotle, to Thomas Nagel, to Phillip Goff's new book called Why? The Purpose of the Uni ... Show More
38m 45s