The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast Partially Examined Life

Your four hosts plus book editor Chris Sunami reflect on doing the podcast for 15 years and making the new book, which you should order on April 25.
Plus, the three rules, future ambitions, and more.
Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.
Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.
Learn more about the book at partiallyexaminedlife.com/book.

Continuing on The Philosophy of Nature: A Guide to the New Essentialism (2002) with guest Chris Heath.
We get further into the text about metaphysical realism, criteria for a natural kind, properties vs. predicates, and much more.
Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.
Learn about the new PEL book at partiallyexaminedlife.com/book. Make a note on your calendar to purchase it on Thursday, April 25.

When we write, how much is planned vs. improvised? How much is inspirational vs. double-or-triple checked? How does this factor weigh into how much music we release, how eclectic our sound is, and how well we improvise with others?
This discussion features three returning guests:
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. was the keyboardist/singer for Jellyfish and Imperial Drag, and more recently as a solo artist and with the Likerish Quartet. Hear his solo episode. The end song on this episode "I'm Startin' a Band" from his Radio Daze EP (2023). David Christian is the singer/guitarist for Britain's Comet Gain. Hear his solo episode. The intro music to this discussion is "Love and Hate on the Radio" from Radio Sessions 1996-2011. Portland-based Rachel Taylor Brown has released 10 solo albums. Hear her solo episode. Her song choice relevant to this discussion was "Stagg Field." Sponsor: Get 50% off your first box of ready-to-eat meals at FactorMeals.com/pretty50 (use code pretty50).
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David is co-host of the excellent Overthink podcast, popular among the young people today, and so we have him monologue to children as an anti (?) drug speaker. How can drugs change us, our sense of self, and the ways we see the world? Can some drugs be considered "natural"? Also, legally defensible drug use at work, and Nancy Reagan the Heel.
Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.
Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions, a video version of the podcast, and other bonus stuff.

On The Philosophy of Nature: A Guide to the New Essentialism (2002). What kind of metaphysics underlies chemistry and physics? Ellis argues that items such as chemical elements and physical particles have essences, and that these essential properties determine their behavior, which is characterized by scientific laws. Thus, these laws are necessary; they apply in all possible worlds.
Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.
Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.
Learn about our new book at partiallyexaminedlife.com/book.

We're reading the final text by René Descartes, published in 1649, about how mind and body relate to each other.

Read along with us: https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/descartes1649.pdf

This is the first of four Closereads episodes going through this text. You can hear them all by signing up to support Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy.