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Phi Fic episodes
- Episode 185: Ethics in Homer's "Odyssey" Feat. Translator Emily Wilson (Part Two)
Continuing with Emily Wilson on her translation of the Greek epic poem. We discuss the "oikos" or estate, built on violence, and its connection to "xenia," or hospitality, which serves to forge military alliances. Also: status distinctions and the role of the gods in the text.
Listen to part one first, or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
End song: "Tiny Broken Boats" by Arrica Rose, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #66.
1 hr 14 min - Episode 185: Ethics in Homer's "Odyssey" Feat. Translator Emily Wilson (Part One)
On the classic Greek epic poem, written ca. 750 BC and translated by our guest Emily Wilson in 2018.
Does this story of "heroes" have anything to teach us about ethics? Wilson wrote an 80-page introduction to her new translation laying out the issues, including "hospitality" as a political tool, the value for status and identity of one's home (including your family and slaves), and the tension between strangeness and familiarity. Can time and change really be undone?
51 min - Episode 184: Pascal on Human Nature (Part Two)
Continuing on Pascal's Pensées. More on our human desire and how God is supposed to address that, plus Pascal's views on political philosophy, the relation between faith, reason, and custom... and finally the wager! Why not just be a skeptic? Is Pascal right that people suck?
Listen to part 1 first or get the unbroken, ad-free, Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!
End song: "44 Days" by Dutch Henry, written and sung by Todd Long, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #34.
1 hr 10 min - Episode 184: Pascal on Human Nature (Part One)
On Blaise Pascal's Pensées (1670). Is it rational to have religious faith? You're likely familiar with "Pascal's Wager," but our wretchedness is such that we can't simply choose to believe and won't be argued into it. Pascal thinks Christianity is the only religion to accurately describe the human condition.
53 min - Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part Two)
Continuing on John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. We discuss "partial truths," whether "truth will out," whether we can discard some "experiments in living" as established failures, how Mill compares to Nietzsche, education, "barbarians," and more.
Listen to part 1 first, or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition.
End song: "Flavor" by Tori Amos with strings by John Philip Shenale, interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #12.
1 hr 7 min - Phi Fic #20 “Lord Jim” by Joseph ConradIt is when we try to grapple with another man's intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun. It is as if loneliness were a hard and absolute condition of existence; the envelope of flesh and blood on which our eyes are fixed melts before the outstretched hand, and there remains only the capricious, inconsolable and elusive spirit that no eye can follow, no hand can grasp. –Lord JimIt’s within the loneliness of guilt that Jim, the titular character of this episode’s reading by Joseph Conrad, struggles.Young Jim leaves a relatively comfortable life on land to follow his dream of a life at sea. He quickly ascends the ranks and is hired on as first mate on the Patna, a steamer set to cross the Red Sea with a “cargo” of 800 religious pilgrims, far exceeding the ship’s capacity. On one of the first nights of the voyage, the ship hits an underwater obstruction and begins taking on water. Fearing that the ship will sink, Jim urges preparation of the lifeboats for what pilgrims could be saved, but the captain and a few crewman instead quietly lower a lifeboat for themselves and abandon ship, saving only themselves. In a pivotal moment, Jim jumps into the lifeboat with the captain. Back at port, the four men are brought up before the magistrate’s council but the others flee, leaving only Jim to face the music. All four are publicly censured and lose the right to sail.At the trial, Jim meets Captain Marlow (a recurring character in Conrad’s books, and Lord Jim’s narrator), and as they become acquainted, confesses his guilt to him. Marlow is intrigued by Jim and tries to help him recover from his fall from grace. After a few false starts, Marlow eventually helps arrange for him to find work on a remote island across the sea, as Jim desperately tries to save himself.It is my belief no man ever understands quite his own artful dodges to escape from the grim shadow of self-knowledge. –Lord JimJoin us as Nathan finds that Conrad seems, in this complex, nonlinear, far-reaching work, to be struggling with the soul of humanity, and Daniel notes the poignant contradiction of Jim having contempt for the captain but then following him into the lifeboat. Cezary points out that almost immediately when they’re in the boat they talk about what their story’s going to be, and Jim says he’s going to just say the truth. Laura discusses Conrad’s sharp questioning of the value of life with the decision the captain, and Jim, made of whether to save the smaller amount of people because they couldn’t save the larger amount, and Mary notes that ultimately, you’re supposed to go down with your ship.Watch the trailer for the 1965 film starring Peter O’Toole.Thanks to Christopher Nolen for the music.If you have thoughts, recommendations, or questions that you want to send our way, please do via [email protected].Hear more Phi Fic.Check out the Phi Fic Facebook page.1 hr 4 min
- 1 hr 4 min
- Episode 183: Mill on Liberty (Part One)
Discussing John Stewart Mill's On Liberty (1859).
If we disapprove of certain behaviors, when is it okay to prohibit them legally? What about just shaming people? Mill's "harm principle" says that we should permit anything (legally and socially) unless it harms other people. But what constitutes "harm"? And how can we discourage someone from, e.g., just being drunk all the time?
Mark, Wes, and Dylan bring this debate to current issues and explore some of the weirder aspects of Mill's view.
1 hr 1 min - TEASER-Episode 182: Reflections on PEL 2017 (Part Two)
The PEL guys get personal and political and tell you in brief about things like Planet of the Apes, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and Vine Deloria Jr. in the second half of our year-in-review discussion.
Here you get a taste. You can only hear the meat with the full, ad-free episode, posted for PEL Citizens (see partiallyexaminedlife.com/support!) or at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife.
4 min - Episode 182: Reflections on PEL 2017 (Part One)
To what extent has our podcast changed in reaction to current politics? Mark, Seth, Wes, and Dylan reflect back on our year, discuss how we select texts, and give some thumbnail sketches of potential topics. Also, does authorial intent matter, and how to talk philosophically about works that aren't philosophical texts.
Attention: Only the first 45 min of this discussion will be posted on the blog feed. If you like PEL, consider becoming a PEL Citizen or supporting us via Patreon to get the whole thing now.
54 min
About Phi Fic
From the publisher's feed
Dicussions of literature from a philosophical perspective.