Phi Fic

Phi Fic

By 'Philosophical Fiction' from The Partially Examined LifeArtsFiction
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Phi Fic episodes

  • Phi Fic #8 “Erewhon” by Samuel Butler
    "Utopia means Nowhere."

    Welcome to Erehwon by Samuel Butler, wisely chosen by Daniel for this month's read. We all agreed that we enjoyed our conversation about it even more than the actual reading experience.
    Is there not a molecular action to thinking, a dynamical theory of the passions…should we not ask what levers a man is made of rather than what is his temperament…?
    Laura just wasn't buying the narrator so Daniel did his best to ease her distrust by clarifying the force of Butler's goal in taking down English society's norms. Nathan responds by reminding us of that cause-and-effect balance on our lives. Cezary fears he may be too thick to get it, as Butler assigns consciousness to machines, and Mary questions the Erewhonian practice of punishment for physical ailments. Join us as we work our way through this remarkable, at times prophetic, novel.
    "Thank you, ghost babies!"
    And thanks to Christopher Nolen for our music.
    If you have thoughts, recommendations, or questions that you want to send our way, please do via [email protected].
    Hear more Phi Fic.

    1 hr 24 min
  • Episode 152: Alexis de Tocqueville on Democracy in America (PEL Live!)

    Democracy is in peril! So said Tocqueville in 1835 and 1840 when Democracy is America was published, and it's still true now. Democracy is always just one demagogue away from stripping us of our liberties, though certain structural and cultural features can make that more or less likely. He liked our volunteerism and innovation, but not so much our tendencies toward materialism and isolation and our lack of philosophical curiosity. Recorded live at Brown University 10/27/16 with audience Q&A. Watch the video!

    End song: "Shot of Democracy" by Cutting Crew. Listen to Mark's interview with singer/songwriter Nick Eede on Nakedly Examined Music #10.

    1 hr 28 min
  • Episode 151: Edmund Burke’s Conservatism

    On Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). What relevance do the concerns of a monarchy-defending aristocrat have for us today? Surprisingly, a lot! The full foursome discuss possible conflicts between freedom, rights, and well-being. What is political freedom without public wisdom? The tyranny of the mob!

    End song: "Hard Times of Old England" from Peter Knight's Gigspanner (from Layers of Ages, 2015); listen to Mark's interview with Peter on Nakedly Examined Music #27.

    1 hr 57 min
  • PEL Special: Bill Bruford on Nakedly Examined Music #25
    NEM now features jazz, hip-hop, classical, folk, and more. Check out all the episodes at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com, where you can subscribe and follow on Facebook. Bill was the original drummer for Yes, a default member of King Crimson, and briefly played with Genesis and the late '70s supergroup U.K., but most of his output has been with his own jazz-inflected Earthworks and Bruford, as rock proved too confining for his rhythmic and tonal creativity.
    1 hr 19 min
  • Phi Fic #7 “The Call of Cthulhu” by H. P. Lovecraft
    Get ready for the frightening, the horrifying, the sublime—the (in)famous Cthulhu! It’s time for H.P. Lovecraft! Join us as we read the tome of this scandalous mythos, this perturbing unrealism—The Call of Cthulhu. Lovecraft opens his work about the green, gelatinous, multi-dimensional creature with fear for all us human sycophants:
    The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
    Listen as Mary predicts humanity’s post-scientific-disaster scene of us going back to just hanging with Cthulhu, and Cezary’s analogy between Cthulhu and Moses. (What?!) See why Lovecraft ended his most famous work—the first great sci-fi horror—with this:
    Let me pray that, if I do not survive this manuscript, my executors may put caution before audacity and see that it meets no other eye.
    Thanks to Christopher Nolen for our music.
    If you have thoughts, recommendations, or questions that you want to send our way, please do via [email protected].
    Hear more Phi Fic.

    1 hr 1 min
  • Episode 150: Guest Peter Singer on Famine, Affluence, and Morality

    Mark and Wes interview perhaps the world's most influential living philosopher, then the full foursome discusses. We discuss his ongoing work rooted in his 1971 essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," about the warped priorities of our consumerist society: We spend money on luxuries while innocent children overseas die from inexpensively preventable causes. For more about Peter, see www.petersinger.info.

    End song: "Ann the Word" by Beauty Pill (2015), explored in Nakedly Examined Music #19.

    2 hr 8 min
  • Episode 149: Plato’s “Crito”: A Performance and Discussion

    Broadway stars Walter Bobbie and Bill Youmans perform Plato's dialogue in which Socrates awaits his execution. Should Socrates defy the verdict and try to escape the city? Socrates says no; that would be ungrateful to the city whose benefits he's enjoyed. Bill joins the full PEL foursome for a lively discussion.

    End song: "Fall Away" by Mark Lint and the Fake from the album So Whaddaya Think? (2000).

    1 hr 21 min

About Phi Fic

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Dicussions of literature from a philosophical perspective.