Podcast
The Partially Examined Life
A reading group of former philosophy graduate students discusses one philosophical text per episode.
These are Stoa's briefs of episodes from The Partially Examined Life. The episodes belong to their makers, and every brief links to the original.
Episode briefs 8
Plato's Hippias Minor: Knowledge, Virtue, and Lying
The hosts discuss Plato's Hippias Minor alongside the Ion to ask whether knowing what is right is the same as being disposed to do it.
Ryle's Attack on the Cartesian Theater of the Mind
Two hosts closely read Gilbert Ryle's chapter on self-knowledge, debating whether his case against introspection as a private inner sense succeeds.
Place and Smart on Mind-Brain Identity Theory
Four hosts work through U.T. Place's and J.J.C. Smart's classic papers defending the identity theory of mind and brain.
Place and Smart on Whether Consciousness Is a Brain Process
A philosophy podcast's hosts and guest work through two founding papers in mind-brain identity theory and debate whether identity claims about consciousness can be established at all.
Dennett's Rejection of Qualia and the Self
Four speakers work through the closing chapters of Daniel Dennett's Consciousness Explained, on qualia, the self, and Nagel's bat.
Davidson on Why We Trust Our Own Minds More Than Others'
Wes Alwyn and Mark Linsenmeyer close-read Donald Davidson's "First Person Authority" and its rival explanations for why we trust our own self-reports more than anyone else's.
Dennett's Multiple Drafts Model vs. the Cartesian Theater
Hosts and guest Chris Heath work through Dennett's Consciousness Explained, testing his case against a single inner viewer of experience.
Davidson on Anomalous Monism and Reasons as Causes
Mark, Wes, and Chris work through Donald Davidson's arguments that mental and physical vocabularies cannot yield strict laws, and that reasons genuinely cause actions.