Philosophize This!

8 Aug 2026

Today we talk more about Peter Sloterdijk’s book You Must Change Your Life. We talk about Heidegger, the subject-object view of the world, how environments form us, symbolic immunity, modern

14 Jul 2026

Today we talk about half of the book You Must Change Your Life by Peter Sloterdijk. From criticism towards views of change that he thinks are far too centered on belief and moral strength, to a

27 Jun 2026

Today we talk about the book Critique of Cynical Reason by Peter Sloterdijk. Cynicism as a defense mechanism. Why the cynic isn't crazy. The way it ladders up into institutions and infects things

31 May 2026

Today we talk about some of the best arguments for and against lying in the history of philosophy. Hope you love it. :) Sponsor: Nord VPN: https://nordvpn.com/philothis  Thank you so much for

10 May 2026

Today we talk about some of Macintyre's later work. How he thinks philosophy isn’t optional. It’s already hiding inside everything we do. How he thinks modern universities create experts who know

26 Apr 2026

Today we talk about Macintyre's book Dependent Rational Animals. Hope you love it. :) Sponsors: Nord VPN: https://nordvpn.com/philothis  Saily: https://www.saily.com/philothis Thank you so much

12 Apr 2026

Today we talk about the book Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry by Alasdair Macintyre. We talk about each of the different sets of assumptions people bring to moral debates that often contain the

11 Feb 2026

Today we talk about the book After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre. We talk about his genealogy of moral discourse. The teleologies of Aristotle. The failure of the Enlightenment moral project. Our

27 Dec 2025

Today we talk about the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. We compare more traditional takes on the themes of the play to a more modern, philosophical analysis of the play done by Simon

29 Nov 2025

Today we talk about the philosophy behind the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. We talk about how ineffective violence and honor codes are as ways of maintaining the stability of a

16 Nov 2025

Today we talk about the philosophical themes of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. We talk about the hypocrisy and false nostalgia of political violence. The ironies of living by a

8 Nov 2025

Today we talk more about the work of Charles Taylor and his book The Varieties of Religion Today. We look at different answers to a classic question around religious belief. The sociological and

17 Oct 2025

Today we talk about the work of the philosopher Charles Taylor. First, we trace the historical origins of how he views the modern self. From the Greeks to the Reformation. From Descartes to Rousseau.

8 Oct 2025

Today we talk about the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. We talk about the mix of Romantic and Enlightenment attitudes and how it leads to problems without the proper oversight. We talk about

30 Sep 2025

Today we talk about two famous critiques of Stoicism. One by Friedrich Nietzsche who thought the Stoics weren’t life affirming enough and so rob themselves of some of the best parts of life. The

13 Sep 2025

Today we talk about the collection of journals known as Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. We mark the differences between Stoicism, modern Stoic ethics, and the journals of Marcus Aurelius. We talk

4 Sep 2025

Today we talk about one of Han's earlier books where he offers an alternative to classic western ideas about subjectivity. We talk about Zen as a religion without God. Substance and emptiness.

13 Aug 2025

Today we try to produce a philosophical guide for the book The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. We talk about Parmenides, Nietzsche's eternal recurrence, kitsch as something more than

4 Aug 2025

Today we talk about two different theories for why we ritualize self-destructive behavior. We check out a lesser-known work from Dostoevsky called The Gambler. We consider how much we can hold people

7 Jul 2025

Today we talk about the book The Crisis of Narration by the philosopher Byung Chul Han. We talk about the history of storytelling. Walter Benjamins distinction between a Paris fire and a revolution

28 Jun 2025

Today we talk about the late work of Wittgenstein in Philosophical Investigations. We talk about the meaning of words. Augustine's theory. Forms of life. Rules and practices. Grammar. Geometry.

14 Jun 2025

Today we talk about the early work of Ernst Bloch. Hope as anticipatory consciousness. The darkness of the lived moment. Educated hope vs false hope. Music as an experiential metaphysics and gateway

25 May 2025

Today we talk about Kafka's book The Castle and how the symbolism is interpreted by two powerhouse philosophers: Theodore Adorno and Hannah Arendt. Hope you love it! :) Sponsors: Incogni:

12 May 2025

Today we talk about Camus' book The Fall and what the main character represents in his larger project. We also talk about someone Camus deeply admired, Franz Kafka, and how to think of the images he

18 Apr 2025

Today we talk about the concept of exile from the work of Camus. We focus on a couple stories from his book Exile and The Kingdom. We talk about why Camus insists that true lucidity can only arise

4 Apr 2025

Today we talk about Camus’ concept of rebellion and how it offers a powerful alternative to abstract ideologies. We talk about solidarity as the foundation for justice without systems. We talk

27 Mar 2025

We look at Albert Camus' The Plague. We talk about a common misreading from the Myth of Sisyphus. We talk about different cycles of his work from his earlier individual confrontation with the absurd

15 Mar 2025

Today we talk about the book The Stranger by Albert Camus. We talk about why Camus saw himself as an artist and not a philosopher. We talk about happiness. The absurd and it's full implications. The

3 Mar 2025

Today we talk about the relationship between philosophy and religion. We talk about the duck-rabbit as a metaphor that may have something useful to teach us about the way we experience reality. We

16 Feb 2025

Today we talk about the philosophical themes around love in The Brothers Karamazov. We talk about Dostoevsky's existential, tragic form of Christianity. Family as a microcosm of society. Active love

1 Feb 2025

Today we talk about the book The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky. We talk about the curse of sainthood. The connection between beauty and morality via his moral-aesthetic spectrum. Realism vs. Idealism.

13 Jan 2025

Today we discuss the philosophical themes of the book Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky. We talk about western liberalism, the lack of moral leadership, the promises of Nihilism, the Madman and the Saint,

23 Dec 2024

Today we talk about the philosophical themes that Dostoevsky had in mind when writing Crime and Punishment. We talk about Russian Nihilism and its consequences. Rational Utilitarianism and Egoism. A

17 Dec 2024

Today we talk about the philosophical themes of one of Dostoevsky's most famous books: Notes From Underground. We talk about contemplative inertia, the "stone wall" of rationality, utopian socialism,

6 Dec 2024

Today we talk about expanding our view of what a religious quest includes. The limits of dualistic thinking. Technological enframing and obsession with utility. Self-emptying. Consciousness, Nihility

18 Nov 2024

Today we look at the work of Keiji Nishitani. We examine Nihilism in a deeper way than we've ever covered on the podcast before. We talk about The Great Doubt. Zen Buddhism. Sunyata. The self as

30 Oct 2024

Today we talk about whether it's possible to achieve not just freedom of the will, but freedom from the will. The technological enframing of reality from the perspective of Heidegger. Misconceptions

21 Oct 2024

Today we look at Heidegger's critique of metaphysics and the traditional subject-object framing in philosophy. How multiple framings are necessary for a fuller picture of our being. His challenge to

13 Oct 2024

Today we talk about Deleuze's interpretation of Nietzsche's work. We talk about difference taken to radical new levels. The image of thought from the history of philosophy. Nietzsche framed as the

30 Sep 2024

Today we begin by talking about Nietzsche's concept of life-affirmation. Contrasting it with the renunciative, rational traditions of Western thought. The episode then delves into Greek tragedy

22 Sep 2024

Today we talk about Nietzsche's views on the decay of western society. We talk about his problems with Socrates. The genealogy of Egalitarianism that has led to our modern societies, and how to

12 Sep 2024

We talk about Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. His critique of the banking model of education. The importance of critical consciousness. His Existentialist influence. The dialectic between

26 Aug 2024

Today we talk about Peter Singer's response to an anticapitalist critique of his work. Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek's thoughts on the wrong ways to be thinking about ethical terminology. Philosophy in

18 Aug 2024

On this episode, we track the changes in Peter Singer's ethical views throughout his career. We talk about Emotivism. R.M. Hare's Prescriptivism. Nozick's Experience Machine. Some thought experiments

1 Aug 2024

Today we talk more about the work of Martha Nussbaum and her book The Monarchy of Fear. We discuss emotions as important appraisals of reality. The comparison of shame and guilt and their social

21 Jul 2024

Today we talk about the concept of Technofeudalism as described by Yanis Varoufakis. We talk about the comparisons of our world to the feudal system, the origins in the economic policy of 2008, and a

1 Jul 2024

Today we talk about the dark side of meritocracy, the effects it has on the way people see each other, the dialectic of pride and humility, education reform, and a rethinking of the way we see

24 Jun 2024

Today we talk about some of the benefits of being a practitioner of philosophy. Michael Sandel's view of the three main approaches to justice throughout the history of philosophy. The strengths and

17 Jun 2024

Today we continue developing our understanding of the ideas that have led to what Mark Fisher calls Capitalist Realism. We talk about tolerant relativism, postmodern artwork, the slow cancellation of

3 Jun 2024

Today we begin our discussion on the work of Mark Fisher surrounding his concept of Capitalism Realism. We talk about the origins of Neoliberalism, it's core strategies, some critiques of