Overthink

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Hello folks! As we hit the 5-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, we thought it would be the perfect time to do an episode on treason. We’d love your thoughts on treason, January 6th, and anything else you’re overthinking about these days in our subscriber chat. Additionally, Ellie and David will be hosting a Substack livestream (maybe two!) this month and we’d love all your questions and comments about everything philosophy :) With love, here’s to the first Overthink episode of 2026 <3

Do we ever have a duty to commit treason? In episode 155 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about “the crime of crimes.” They look at the emergence of this legal concept and its evolution over time, and discuss some of the most important historical cases involving treason:  Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, and John Brown. Can we say that treason is always bad when America's founding itself depended on an act of treason? Who is capable of committing a treasonous act? And is treason ever morally permissible? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss how treason is seen in Hobbes’ political philosophy and whether we need to recover insurrection as a political possibility.

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Works Discussed:

Neil Cartlidge, “Treason,” The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Law and Literature

Cécile Fabre, “The Morality of Treason”

George P. Fletcher, “The Case for Treason”

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish

Phyllis Greenacre, “Treason and the Traitor”

Leonard Harris, “Honor and Insurrection or A Short Story about why John Brown (with David Walker’s Spirit) was Right and Frederick Douglass (with Benjamin Banneker’s Spirit) was Wrong”

Lee McBride, “Insurrectionary Ethics and Racism”

Highlight: Treason as Betrayal

* As David mentions, to approach treason from a philosophical angle, it is useful to define it as a subset of a general type of action or behavior, such as betrayal

* Psychoanalyst Phyllis Greenacre distinguishes between subcategories of betrayal in her article '“Treason and the Traitor”

* Betrayal is generally a violation of trust

* She outlines two subterms of betrayal:

* Treachery: personal betrayal amongst individuals

* Treason: betrayal against the state

* Ellie and David then jump into the question who exactly can betray the state?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit overthinkpod.substack.com

Content warning: this episode extensively discusses rape, sexual violence, and incest.

In episode 154 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk to philosopher Manon Garcia about her book,  Living with Men: Reflections on the Pelicot Trial. They discuss the rape case of Gisèle Pelicot and how the subsequent trial of her husband and fifty additional men sheds light on the normalization and acceptance of sexual violence in what is known as ‘rape culture.’ In what ways is the current understanding of consent as ‘permission giving’ harmful?  How is heterosexual love often tied to objectification? Why does the ‘boys will be boys’ mentality make it difficult for us to rely on the criminal justice system? And how do we live with men knowing that cases such as these are incredibly common? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss the politics of language and the risk of eroticization in recounting stories of sexual violence, and they think through where we should go from here in terms of sexual and romantic attachments to men.

Works Discussed:

Manon Garcia,  Living with Men: Reflections on the Pelicot TrialSimone de Beauvoir and Gisèle Halimi, Djamila Boupacha

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Highlight: Contradiction of Strength versus Weakness

* In the Pelicot trial, the defendants were characterized as both strong and weak in their defense

* On the one hand, their desire to dominate a woman was portrayed as stereotypically masculine

* On the other hand, a lot of the defense relied on their weakness, such as lack of intelligence, education, or maturity

* Manon Garcia makes a comparison that the men are both like stallions and animals that cannot control themselves

* Garcia also points out that “for them, the sexy they have with their wife, it’s fungible with raping an unconscious old lady” and questions how the defendants could even get aroused

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit overthinkpod.substack.com

What do Labubus, Beanie Babies, Hello Kitty, and Furbies have in common? They’re all cute! In episode 153 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss cuteness. From the idea of cuteness as a logic of contagion to the evolutionary explanation for why we find babies so adorable, this episode has it all. How is the increasing demand for shortform content a symptom of cuteification? What are the harms of categorizing certain animals as cute? In what ways is cuteness tied to consumption? And is society heading towards a future of cuteness? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts talk about the emergence of cuteness in Kawaii culture and what is so cute about Paddington bear.

Works Discussed:

Amy Ireland and Maya B. Kronic, Cute Accelerationism

Sianne Ngai, Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, and Interesting

Sianne Ngai, The Cute

Dylan Wittkower, “On The Origins of the Cute as a Dominant Aesthetic Category in Digital Culture”

Sarah Wolfensohn, “Too Cute to Kill? The Need for Objective Measurements of Quality of Life”

Go to Quince.com/overthink for free shipping on your orders and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

Highlight: Cuteness and Commodity

* Sianne Ngai argues we related to commodities in terms of cuteness

* Packaging a commodity may imply cuteness

* Capitalism plays into the increasing cute-ification of commodities

* Anytime we aestheticize something, we objectify it, and cute-ification is the endpoint of objectification

* Objects we buy are already passive, but cuteness increases their passivity

* Cuteness also constricts the gap between consumer and commodity

* As items are better advertised and created for our desires, they’re getting smaller, plushier, and cuter

* Do you think cuteness, consumption, and capitalism are as connected as Ngai believes?

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit overthinkpod.substack.com

It’s time for something new! In episode 152 of Overthink, Ellie and David take a deep dive into Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality, Volume 1. From the repressive hypothesis to the role of confession in producing the truth of sex, your hosts get into all of the juicy content of this seminal book. They also talk about the difference between “ars erotica” and “scientia sexualis,” two key concepts in Foucault’s treatment of sexuality. Why does Foucault reject the view that sexuality has been repressed? What is the function of power in sexuality? How does the desire for truth about oneself produce various discourses of sexuality? And, when all is said and done, are Foucault’s reflections on power in this work too homogenous? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss the pedagogization of children’s sexuality and Foucault’s problematic treatment of a historical case involving the sexual abuse of a minor.

Works Discussed:

Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality Volume 1

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Highlight: The Repressive Hypothesis

* Ellie and David make it clear: Foucault is against and dispels the myth that sexuality is repressed

* From the 18th to the 21st century, we’ve talked about sex all the time

* Sometimes, we indirectly discuss sex, e.g. sexual advertisements

* If you believe in the repressive hypothesis, you may be led to believe in the speaker’s benefit: anybody who speaks about sexuality is subversive and a radical

* Instead of asking why are we repressed, Foucault asks why do we say that we are repressed?

* Ellie and David discuss much more about the repressive hypothesis in the episode, so this is just skimming the surface, but please do tell us about your thoughts!!

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We’ve all been sold the ideal of meritocracy. The American dream, our education system, and our politics are all based on it. But what if meritocracy is actually impossible--and based on a misunderstanding of how society works? In episode 151 of Overthink, Ellie and David put meritocracy in the spotlight. They think through the inherent inequality of meritocracy, its tendency to skew toward conservatism, and what Trump’s attacks on DEI reveal about how society favors merit. How does meritocracy create vertical social distance between those in power and the working class? And is meritocracy even a worthwhile ideal? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts get into the role that merit plays in Christian theology and the promise of heaven.

Listen to David discuss 5 books that have been on Overthink Podcast recently:

* Jacques Soustelle, Daily Life of the Aztecs on the Eve of the Spanish Conquest

* Mariana Alessandri, Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves Through Dark Moods

* Jennifer Banks, Natality: Toward Philosophy of Birth

* Gaston Bachelard, The Psychoanalysis of Fire

* Simon Critchley, Mysticism

And leave a comment below with your thoughts or questions 🙌

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit overthinkpod.substack.com

Hello Overthinkers and happy beginning of December ❄️ We will start rolling out more posts for our Substack. We would love any recommendations or requests from our community of videos you’d like to see! 😊

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit overthinkpod.substack.com

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit overthinkpod.substack.com

Thank you for joining us for another episode. Quick announcement: we’ll be releasing more posts on Substack, so drop any questions you have for Ellie and David in our subscriber chat! Also, feel free to suggest any content you’d like to see on Substack. We’d love to hear from you :)

What would it be like to live without happiness being your highest goal? In episode 150 of Overthink, Ellie and David speak with philosopher Sebastian Purcell about the philosophy of the Aztecs, detailed in his new book The Outward Path: The Wisdom of the Aztecs. They discuss Aztec pessimism, how the Aztecs take an “outside-in” approach to the self, and how their view of the mind as inherently chaotic shapes their moral outlook. How can the Aztec notion of ‘right speech’ help us gain control over the internal chaos of the mind? And why did they Aztecs reject the possibility of redemption? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts dive deeper into the pessimism of the Aztecs and the claustrophobia of the Spanish conquest.

Go to Quince.com/overthink for free shipping on your orders and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Go to Rula.com/overthink for convenient therapy that’s covered by insurance.

Works Discussed:

Sebastian Purcell, The Outward Path: The Wisdom of the Aztecs

Jacques Soustelle, Daily Life of the Aztecs on the Eve of the Spanish Conquest

Go to Quince.com/overthink for free shipping on your orders and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Go to Rula.com/overthink for convenient therapy that’s covered by insurance.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit overthinkpod.substack.com

Thanks for bearing with us as we got this episode to you all, hope you enjoy it!

Hang loose! In episode 149 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about all things surfing. They explore the long history of wave-riding across the globe, from Peru to West Africa, and consider how surfing helps us to reimagine social issues and what surfing reveals about the connection between flow and freedom. Is surfing the pinnacle of human life? How has the sportification of surfing directly contravened surfing’s anti-capitalist ethos? Why is the average surfer an image of white masculinity? And how is this image tied to indigenous erasure? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss the similarities between surfing and skating, surfing as an art, and the existential risk of surfing.

Go to Rula.com/overthink for convenient therapy that’s covered by insurance.

Works Discussed:

Daniel Brennan, Surfing and the Philosophy of Sport

Kevin Dawson, Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora

William Finnegan, Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

Aaron James, Surfing with Sartre: An Aquatic Inquiry Into a Life of Meaning

Peter Kreeft, I Surf, Therefore I Am: A Philosophy of Surfing

Aileen Moreton Robinson, “Bodies That Matter: Performing White Possession on the Beach”

Peter J. Westwick and Peter Neushul, The World in the Curl: An Unconventional History of Surfing

Wade in the Water: A Journey Into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture (2023)

Highlight: Indigenous Roots of Surfing

* Several indigenous cultures that have been surfing long before the modern surfing we know today

* E.g. Hawaiian, Polynesian, and Australian indigenous

* For Hawaiians in particular, historians Peter Westwick and Peter Neushul discuss surfing’s social dimensions

* Surfing was a way to publicly display personal strength and leadership skills for Hawaiian chiefs

* While chiefs often had a lot of leisure time to surf, surfing was also common across the community, including women

* Ellie and David also discuss Captain James Cook’s colonial perspective of surfing in Hawaii in the 1770s, surfing in West Africa, and how the image of the stereotypical white, blonde, male surfer symbolizes the white colonization of surfing and even access to beaches

More on surfing in Indigenous cultures:

* “The Kuleana Way: Surfing as Indigenous Hawaiian Resistance” by Jackson Beall

* “The Little-Known Black History of Surfing” by Mia Harris

* “Paris Olympics bring French neo-colonialism to forefront” by Karim Zidan for Sports Politika

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit overthinkpod.substack.com

How can we explain the rise of loneliness in our world? In episode 148 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the difference between loneliness and solitude, how loneliness could help explain the rise of fascism in the US, and the public health implications of loneliness. What is the male loneliness epidemic, and does it truly exist? Does the state have a moral obligation to address the loneliness of its citizens? And do we have a fundamental human right to connection? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts get into the etymology of loneliness and discuss the type of companionship that animals offer humans.