# The Partially Examined Life

The Partially Examined Life is a podcast and downloadable audio series about philosophy. It is self-described at the beginning of many episodes as "a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living, but then thought better of it." The most frequent participants are Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, and Dylan Casey. The show also sometimes brings on experts to discuss particular topics. The podcast's website also hosts other podcasts: music-based Nakedly Examined Music, Phi Fic: Truth in Fiction, Combat & Classics and Constellary Tales.

## History

The show came together as the brain child of Mark Linsenmayer who reached out to Seth Paskin and Wes Alwan to do the show in the format of a podcast. Mark, Seth, and Wes had been classmates at the University of Texas while earning their master's degrees in Philosophy. The first full episode, "The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living," aired (became downloadable) on May 12, 2009. Dylan Casey later joined the program as a regular after previously having been a frequent guest. Dylan also manages The Partially Examined Life website. In 2024, they released a companion book of the same name to coincide with the show's 15th anniversary.

### Awards

| Award | Year | Category | Result | Ref. |
| Academy of Podcasters | 2015 | Ideas & Education | Finalist | |

### References to The Partially Examined Life

* The A.V. Club discussed The Partially Examined Life in their publication for the week of February 23–29.
* The National Catholic Reporter mentioned The Partially Examined Life in a blog post on Kierkegaard on February 27, 2012.
* Bad Philosophy Podcast episode 116 mentions The Partially Examined Life.
* Artist Dennis Hollingsworth mentioned The Partially Examined Life in a post on his website, referring to Episode six on Leibniz.
* Well-known American art critic and philosopher Arthur Danto, whose essays "The Appreciation and Interpretation of Works of Art," and "The End of Art" were the subject of Episode 16 "Danto on Art," listened to and enjoyed the program. He later wrote to the show and suggested follow up readings.
* The Partially Examined Life was reviewed by Colin Marshall of Maximum Fun on January 2, 2012.
* Patricia Churchland, well known Canadian-American philosopher and author, appeared on the podcast to discuss her work "Braintrust: What neuroscience tells us about Morality" in Episode 41.
* Slate's Stephen Metcalf talks up The Partially Examined Life on the Culture Gabfest.

## List of episodes

The following is an incomplete list of official episodes of The Partially Examined Life. The podcasters have also released music, pre-episodes ("Precognitions"), and other non "official episode" media. This list includes only the official, numbered episodes of the podcast.
| No. | Title | Participants | Air date |
| 0 | "Introduction To The Podcast" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | May 11, 2009 (2009-05-11) |
| 1 | "The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living (released in two parts)" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | May 12, 2009 (2009-05-12) |
| 2 | "Descartes's Meditations: What Can We Know?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | May 13, 2009 (2009-05-13) |
| 3 | "Hobbes's Leviathan: The Social Contract" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | June 7, 2009 (2009-06-07) |
| 4 | "Camus and the Absurd" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | June 22, 2009 (2009-06-22) |
| 5 | "Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | July 16, 2009 (2009-07-16) |
| 6 | "Leibniz's Monadology: What Is There?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | July 31, 2009 (2009-07-31) |
| 7 | "Wittgenstein's Tractatus" What Is There and Can We Talk About It" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | August 19, 2009 (2009-08-19) |
| 8 | "Wittgenstein's Tractatus (and Carnap): What Can We Legitimately Talk About?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | September 4, 2009 (2009-09-04) |
| 9 | "Utilitarian Ethics: What Should We Do?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | September 18, 2009 (2009-09-18) |
| 10 | "Kantian Ethics: What Should We Do?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | October 19, 2009 (2009-10-19) |
| 11 | "Nietzsche's Immoralism: What is Ethics, Anyway?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | November 10, 2009 (2009-11-10) |
| 12 | "Chuang Tzu's Taoism: What Is Wisdom?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | December 6, 2009 (2009-12-06) |
| 13 | "What Are The Metaphysical Implications of Quantum Physics?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, and Dylan Casey | January 3, 2010 (2010-01-03) |
| 14 | "Machiavelli on Politics" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | February 7, 2010 (2010-02-07) |
| 15 | "Hegel on History" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | February 24, 2010 (2010-02-24) |
| 16 | "Danto on Art" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | March 4, 2010 (2010-03-04) |
| 17 | "Hume's Empiricism: What Can We Know?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | March 29, 2010 (2010-03-29) |
| 18 | "Plato: What Is Knowledge?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | April 20, 2010 (2010-04-20) |
| 19 | "Kant: What Can We Know?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Azzurra Crispino | May 14, 2010 (2010-05-14) |
| 20 | "Pragmatism - Pragmatism - Peirce and James" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan and Dylan Casey | June 9, 2010 (2010-06-09) |
| 21 | "What Is The Mind? (Turing, et al)" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | June 28, 2010 (2010-06-28) |
| 22 | "More James's Pragmatism: Is Faith Justified? What Is Truth?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan and Dylan Casey | July 18, 2010 (2010-07-18) |
| 23 | "Rousseau: Human Nature vs. Culture" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | July 29, 2010 (2010-07-29) |
| 24 | "Spinoza on God and Metaphysics" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | August 24, 2010 (2010-08-24) |
| 25 | "Spinoza on Human Nature" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | September 10, 2010 (2010-09-10) |
| 26 | "Freud on The Human Condition" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | September 25, 2010 (2010-09-25) |
| 27 | "Nagarjuna on Buddhist "Emptiness"" | Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, and Erik Douglas | October 10, 2010 (2010-10-10) |
| 28 | "Nelson Goodman on Art as Epistemology" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan and Jay Bailey | October 31, 2010 (2010-10-31) |
| 29 | "Kierkegaard on The Self" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan and Daniel Horne | November 21, 2010 (2010-11-21) |
| 30 | "Schopenhauer on Explanations and Knowledge" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | December 19, 2010 (2010-12-19) |
| 31 | "Husserl's Phenomenology" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | January 10, 2011 (2011-01-10) |
| 32 | "Heidegger: What is Being?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan | February 7, 2011 (2011-02-07) |
| 33 | "Montaigne: What Is the Purpose of Philosophy?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | February 18, 2011 (2011-02-18) |
| 34 | "Frege on the Logic of Language" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Matt Teichman (host of Elucidations) | March 13, 2011 (2011-03-13) |
| 35 | "Hegel on Self-Consciousness" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Tod McDonald | April 10, 2011 (2011-04-10) |
| 37 | "Locke on Political Power" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Sabrina Weiss | May 6, 2011 (2011-05-06) |
| 38 | "Bertrand Russell on Math and Logic" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, John Pelton | May 25, 2011 (2011-05-25) |
| 39 | "Schleiermacher Defends Religion" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Daniel Horne | June 10, 2011 (2011-06-10) |
| 40 | "Plato's Republic: What Is Justice?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | July 11, 2011 (2011-07-11) |
| 41 | "Pat Churchland on the Neurology on Morality (Plus Hume's Ethics)" | Mark Linsenmayer, Dylan Casey, and Patrica Churchland | July 18, 2011 (2011-07-18) |
| 42 | "Feminists on Human Nature and Moral Psychology" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey, Azzurra Crispino | September 5, 2011 (2011-09-05) |
| 43 | "Arguments for the Existence" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Robert Scott | October 11, 2011 (2011-10-11) |
| 44 | "New Atheist Critiques of Religion" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | October 29, 2011 (2011-10-29) |
| 45 | "Moral Sense Theory: Hume and Smith" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Getty Lustila | September 15, 2011 (2011-09-15) |
| 46 | "Plato on Ethics & Religion" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Matt Evans | November 16, 2011 (2011-11-16) |
| 47 | "Satire and Consciousness and the Self" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | November 30, 2011 (2011-11-30) |
| 48 | "Merleau-Ponty on Perception and Knowledge" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | December 17, 2011 (2011-12-17) |
| 49 | "Foucault on Power and Punishment" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey and Katie McIntyre | January 11, 2012 (2012-01-11) |
| 50 | "Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey, David Buchanan | February 3, 2012 (2012-02-03) |
| 51 | "Semiotics and Structuralism (Saussure, et, al)" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, C. Derick Varn | February 24, 2012 (2012-02-24) |
| 53 | "Philosophy and Race (DuBois Martin Luther King, Cornel West)" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Lawrence Ware | March 17, 2012 (2012-03-17) |
| 53 | "Buddhism and Naturalism with Guest Owen Flanagan" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Owen Flanagan | March 26, 2012 (2012-03-26) |
| 54 | "More Buddhism and Naturalism" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, | April 6, 2012 (2012-04-06) |
| 55 | "Wittgenstein on Language" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Philosophy Bro | May 2, 2012 (2012-05-02) |
| 56 | "More Wittgenstein on Language" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Philosophy Bro | May 14, 2012 (2012-05-14) |
| 57 | "Henri Bergson on Humor" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Jennifer Dziura | May 31, 2012 (2012-05-31) |
| 58 | "What Grounds Ethical Claims? (Moore, Stevenson, MacIntyre)" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | June 20, 2012 (2012-06-20) |
| 60 | "Aristotle: What's the best Form Of Government" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | July 22, 2012 (2012-07-22) |
| 61 | "Nietzsche on Truth and Skepticism" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, and Jessica Berry | August 15, 2012 (2012-08-15) |
| 62 | "Voltaire’s Novel “Candide”" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, (recorded together in Madison, WI) | September 5, 2012 (2012-09-05) |
| 63 | "Existentialist Heroes in Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men”" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Eric Petrie | September 21, 2012 (2012-09-21) |
| 64 | "Celebrity, with guest Lucy Lawless" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Lucy Lawless | October 6, 2012 (2012-10-06) |
| 65 | "Then Federalist Papers" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | October 27, 2012 (2012-10-27) |
| 66 | "Quine on Linguistic Meaning and Science" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Matt Teichman | November 21, 2012 (2012-11-21) |
| 67 | "Carnap on Logic and Science" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Matt Teichman | December 7, 2012 (2012-12-07) |
| 68 | "David Chalmers Interview on the Scrutability of the World" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, | December 21, 2012 (2012-12-21) |
| 69 | "Plato on Rhetoric vs. Philosophy" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, | January 12, 2013 (2013-01-12) |
| 70 | "Marx on The Human Condition" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, | January 30, 2013 (2013-01-30) |
| 71 | "Martin Buber’s “I and Thou”" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Daniel Horne | February 15, 2013 (2013-02-15) |
| 72 | "Terrorism with Jonathan R. White" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Jonathan R. White | March 9, 2013 (2013-03-09) |
| 73 | "Why Do Philosophy? (And What Is It?)" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | March 22, 2013 (2013-03-22) |
| 74 | "Jacques Lacan’s Psychology" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | April 3, 2013 (2013-04-03) |
| 75 | "Lacan & Derrida Criticize Poe’s “The Purloined Letter”" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey | April 19, 2013 (2013-04-19) |
| 76 | "Deleuze on What Philosophy Is" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey, Daniel Coffeen | May 14, 2013 (2013-05-14) |
| 77 | "Santayana on the Appreciation of Beauty" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, | June 9, 2013 (2013-06-09) |
| 78 | "Ayn Rand on Living Rationally" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, | July 1, 2013 (2013-07-01) |
| 79 | "Heraclitus on Understanding the World" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Eva Brann | July 15, 2013 (2013-07-15) |
| 80 | "Heidegger on our Existential Situation" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, | August 8, 2013 (2013-08-08) |
| 81 | "Jung on the Psyche and Dreams" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, | August 29, 2013 (2013-08-29) |
| 82 | "Karl Popper on Science" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | September 24, 2013 (2013-09-24) |
| 83 | "New Work with Guest Frithjof Bergmann" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Frithjof Bergmann | October 10, 2013 (2013-10-10) |
| 84 | "Nietzsche’s “Gay Science”" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | November 11, 2013 (2013-11-11) |
| 85 | "Rawls on Social Justice" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | December 7, 2013 (2013-12-07) |
| 86 | "Thomas Kuhn on Scientific Progress" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | December 24, 2013 (2013-12-24) |
| 87 | "Sartre on Freedom and Self-Deception" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | January 1, 2014 (2014-01-01) |
| 88 | "G.E.M. Anscombe: Should We Use Moral Language?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Philosophy Bro | February 18, 2014 (2014-02-18) |
| 89 | "Berkeley: Only Ideas Exist!" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, | March 12, 2014 (2014-03-12) |
| 90 | "Sci-Fi and Philosophy with Guest David Brin" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey, Brian Casey, David Brin | March 26, 2014 (2014-03-26) |
| 91 | "Transhumanism (Plus More on Brin)" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Brian Casey, | March 29, 2014 (2014-03-29) |
| 92 | "Henri Bergson on How to Do Metaphysics" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Matt Teichman | April 11, 2014 (2014-04-11) |
| 93 | "Freedom and Responsibility (Strawson vs. Strawson)" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Tamler Sommers | May 2, 2014 (2014-05-02) |
| 94 | "Schopenhauer on Reading, Writing, and Thinking" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | May 22, 2014 (2014-05-22) |
| 95 | "Gödel on Math" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Adi Habbu | June 16, 2014 (2014-06-16) |
| 96 | "Oppenheimer and the Rhetoric of Science Advisers" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin Dylan Casey, Lynda Walsh | July 1, 2014 (2014-07-01) |
| 97 | "Michael Sandel on Social Justice and the Self" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, | July 19, 2014 (2014-07-19) |
| 98 | "Guest Michael Sandel Against Market Society" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Michael Sandel | July 26, 2014 (2014-07-26) |
| 99 | "Looking Back on 100 Discussions and 5+ Years" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Daniel Horne | August 11, 2014 (2014-08-11) |
| 100 | "Plato’s Symposium Live Celebration!" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Daniel Horne, Philosophy Bro | August 15, 2014 (2014-08-15) |
| 101 | "Maimonides on God" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Danny Lobell | September 1, 2014 (2014-09-01) |
| 102 | "Emerson on Wisdom and Individuality" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | September 19, 2014 (2014-09-19) |
| 103 | "Thoreau on Living Deliberately" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | October 14, 2014 (2014-10-14) |
| 104 | "Robert Nozick’s Libertarianism" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Stephen Metcalf | October 27, 2014 (2014-10-27) |
| 105 | "Kant: What Is Beauty?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, | November 15, 2014 (2014-11-15) |
| 106 | "Pyrrhonian Skepticism According to Sextus Empiricus" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Jessica Berry | December 4, 2014 (2014-12-04) |
| 107 | "Edmund Burke on the Sublime" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey, Amir Zaki | December 19, 2014 (2014-12-19) |
| 108 | "Dangers of A.I. with Guest Nick Bostrom" | Mark Linsenmayer, Dylan Casey, Nick Bostrom, Luke Muehlhauser | January 6, 2015 (2015-01-06) |
| 109 | "Jaspers’s Existentialism with Guest Paul Provenza" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Paul Provenza | January 19, 2015 (2015-01-19) |
| 110 | "Alfred North Whitehead: What Is Nature?" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | February 2, 2015 (2015-02-02) |
| 111 | "Gadamer’s Hermeneutics: How to Interpret" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | March 2, 2015 (2015-03-02) |
| 112 | "Ricoeur on Interpreting Religion" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Lawrence Ware | March 16, 2015 (2015-03-16) |
| 113 | "Jesus’s Parables" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Lawrence Ware | April 6, 2015 (2015-04-06) |
| 114 | "Schopenhauer: “The World Is Will”" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | April 27, 2015 (2015-04-27) |
| 115 | "Schopenhauer on Music with Guest Jonathan Segel" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, Jonathan Segel | May 11, 2015 (2015-05-11) |
| 116 | "Freud on Dreams" | Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey | May 23, 2015 (2015-05-23) |
| 117 | "Discussing Sophocles’s “Antigone”" | Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey, John Castro | June 15, 2015 (2015-06-15) |