On selections of the central Mohist text, from ca. 430 B.C.E., with guest Tzuchien Tho.

Mozi claims that we should regard everyone on the same level as our family and believe whatever doctrines will be most beneficial to the people.

Sponsors: Check out the Continuing the Conversation web series by St. John's College at sjc.edu. Check out The Daily Shower Thoughts Podcast at https://bit.ly/DailyShowerThoughts.

Get your streaming or in-person ticket to our April 15 live show at partiallyexaminedlife.com/live.

We talk transcendental idealism and Schopenhauer with Cole, who teaches philosophy at the College of Southern Nevada. Also, the least effective confidential informant!

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com.

Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions, video versions of recent episodes, and other bonus stuff.

Perhaps alone in the Marvel Universe, Black Panther is taken seriously as a political statement, both in the content of its stories and in how the films are produced. Wakanda purports to present an alternate historical condition of Africa had it not been colonized.

Mark, Lawrence Ware, Anthony LeBlanc, and Viola Burlew discuss the comics and films, getting into the political ideas, the social function, the heroic character, and the unique challenge of making the film when the main actor has died.

For more, visit prettymuchpop.com. Hear bonus content at patreon.com/prettymuchpop or by subscribing via Apple Podcasts to the Mark Lintertainment Channel.

Sponsor: Check out the PopPsych101 podcast at anchor.fm/poppsych101.

Concluding our discussion of the Daodejing with guest Theo Brooks. We cover some more ambiguous cosmological passages and return to political philosophy.

Mark and Bill act out a couple of scenes of a person trying to convince a stubborn person of something. But there's a twist in the characterization! Also, before you were born, the world did not exist.

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com.

Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions, video versions of recent episodes, and other bonus stuff.

Sponsor: Check out the Self Esteem Party podcast on TheSonarNetwork.com.

For our second full discussion on the Daodejing by Laozi, we talk about the actions and attitudes that characterize the Daoist sage. With Theo Brooks.

Topics include being virtuous vs. just following rules, Daoist tranquility, achieving without trying too hard, and more.

Mark, Sarahlyn, Lawrence, and guest Landen Celano from the Grunt Work podcast talk about talk about our ambivalence toward the three-camera, laugh-tracked half-hour comedies that filled our childhoods. Why did some of these stand the test of time? Are some shows well suited for hate-watching or background watching? Why the Night Court reboot doing so well?

We touch on some new shows like Kevin Can F*** Himself and Reboot that reflect on sitcom tropes, shows that subverted the format even at the time (Norman Lear), the juggernaut that is Chuck Lorre, catch phrases, and our memories of Three's Company, Happy Days, Good Times, Saved by the Bell, A Different World, etc.

For more, visit prettymuchpop.com. Hear bonus content at patreon.com/prettymuchpop or by subscribing via Apple Podcasts to the Mark Lintertainment Channel.

Continuing on the central Daoist text with guest Theodore Brooks. We explore practical vs. metaphysical interpretations of the Dao, the relation of things to their opposites, emptiness, and "straw dogs."

Roman Polanksi’s 1974 film “Chinatown” seems to have little to do with its titular neighborhood, which is the setting for only one horrible and final scene. Chinatown functions instead to represent the traumatic moment that drives this story just because it is hidden from view—a place indecipherable even to the hard-boiled private investigator who has seen it all … the place he doesn’t go … the place that bothers him to talk about … the place where inaction and evasion are the only ways to avoid causing harm. Wes & Erin discuss what Chinatown has to do with “Chinatown,” and how the theme connects the seemingly disparate themes of police work, political corruption, water rights, and incest.

Rachael was a mentor of Bill's and works with him at the newly reopened iO Theater. So it's like we have TWO improv instructors here. We run some  scenes, talk a bit too much about chili, and touch on functionalism, idealism, napism, and other isms. Jump into the marzipan! Brucie and Frucie are waiting for you!

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com.

Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions, video versions of recent episodes, and other bonus stuff.

Sponsor: Check out the History Cache Podcast.