What's the crisis of liberal democracy? Dylan, Wes and Seth are joined by St. John's College President J. Walter Sterling to discuss Abraham Lincoln's "On the Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions" (1838) plus the beginnings of Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now (2018), Patrick Deneen's Why Liberalism Failed (2018), and Francis Fukuyama's "Liberalism and Its Discontents" (the 2020 essay).

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. 

Enrollment is now open for Mark's online political philosophy course. See partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.

Nessa teaches philosophy at Lone Star Community College and writes on the philosophy of humor. We thought we should get this topic out before we wrap our season (and Bill's regular participation) and reach 100 episodes.

We go through the main theories (superiority, incongruity/surprise, unconscious triggering, i.e. funny because it's true on some level we don't necessarily want to admit). Then Nessa (fictionally) becomes our podcast format consultant. We wrap up by considering the appeal of various stand-up comedians.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support.

We are concluding our treatment of Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (1984), and given that you likely haven't listened to the seven preceding parts, this discussion can serve as a standalone summary of not only Railton's view, but of the best efforts of Mark and Wes to actually figure out what a plausible naturalistic, empirical account of ethics could amount to. You can consider this a conclusion to our recent PEL episode series on meta-ethics.

Read along with us, starting on PDF p. 42.

Sign up to support Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy to get all parts of this discussion plus lots more content. Get all public Closereads episodes (including part one of this series) at closereadsphilosophy.com or on YouTube.

I bet you’d like to have an excuse to read some Aristotle, and Locke, Rousseau, Simone Weil, and other fun texts. Well, go read about this opportunity at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class, and then follow the link to enroll.

Not sure? Watch a sample (a full seminar from last semester on Plato) of what such a class is really like.

Continuing on on Just and Unjust Wars (1977), ch. 5-6. When might it be morally permissible to strike first? When is it permissible (or obligatory?) to intervene in another country's internal affairs militarily? We discuss Walzer's historical examples and apply his theories to current wars.

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Sponsors: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at shopify.com/pel.

Enrollment is now open for Mark's online political philosophy course. See partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.

In light of the new James Gunn film Superman, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al talk about the character, his stories, and past films and shows.

Did Zack Snyder (Man of Steel) miss the point? Are the Richard Donner films (chiefly 1978's Superman: The Movie) as good as nostalgia would have us recall them? How does one write a convincing plot centered around a flawless, basically all-powerful hero? How should the Lex Luthor character fit in?

Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for this and nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly with Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark's podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel.

...OK, maybe not his ending, but it's a late career boost into overdrive: This 66-year-old has been making music since the '80s, but you're only going to find two of his releases on the streaming services right now, and only this new album (released 20 years after the previous one) has the polish to count as a world-conquering, professional release.

We discuss two songs from this new album Diner of Doubt: "My Dead Friend," and "I Have a Lotta Dreams," plus "Build Another One" (and the intro, "Chinese Lights") from Might Could Have (2004). End song: "Oh Dee Oh Oh" (2023). More at teetempleton.com.

Hear more Nakedly Examined Music. Support us on Patreon.

Sponsors: Visit functionhealth.com/NAKEDLY to take control of your health through testing and get $100 off your membership. Check out The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers for discussion of classic albums with cool guests.

On Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Illustrations (1977), ch. 4-6 on "jus ad bellum," which refers to moral justifications for going to war. Self-defense is permissible while aggression is not, but this leaves many questions unanswered, and Walzer gives us many historical examples to consider.

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Sponsors: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health. Check out Richard Dawkins' The Poetry Of Reality Podcast at thepoetryofreality.com.

Enrollment is now open for Mark's online political philosophy course. See partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.

Recorded back in June, posting now as we near the end of our season and Bill's tenure on the show, this episode now bleeds with dramatic irony. Mark and Bill discuss how to give a good speech, AI in academics, and we have a tear-stained visit to Empty Street.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at philosophyimprov.com/support.

Purported the first summer blockbuster, Jaws has now hit 50 years, and so we discuss this wonderful early Spielberg film, its ill-conceived sequels, some of the making-of docs, and the legacy of shark/big carnivore films that it spawned.

Is the film as flawless as it's made out to be? Are the sequels as awful as typically described? Mark. Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al discuss!

Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for this and nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly with Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark's podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel.