The Partially Examined Life

The Partially Examined Life
Official Logo for the Podcast, drawn by Ken Gerber
Presentation
Starring	Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, Dylan Casey
Genre	Philosophy
Format	Guided discussion / Informal conversation
Created by	Mark Linsenmayer
Written by	Various
Language	English
Updates	Periodic
Length	90 minutes - 130 minutes
Production
Theme music composed by	Mark Linsenmayer
No. of episodes	111
Publication
Debut	May 11th, 2009
Website	http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com

The Partially Examined Life is a podcast and downloadable audio series about philosophy.^[1] 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 (Madison, WI), Seth Paskin (Austin, TX), Wes Alwan (Boston, MA), and Dylan Casey (Middleton, WI). The show also sometimes brings on experts to discuss particular topics.

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 (become 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 and Facebook page.

Podcasters

The four main hosts of The Partially Examined Life are Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Alwan, and Dylan Casey. The podcast also sometimes brings on guests who are subject matter experts or a suitable replacement for a regular when they cannot make the recording of an episode.

Mark Linsenmayer

Mark Linsenmayer is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Texas. He received his Masters in Philosophy from The University of Texas specializing in continental philosophy and explanations of consciousness. He has continued his pursuits in academia by teaching a course in ethics at Lakeland College in Madison, WI.

Mark has played in several bands and released a good deal of music. He also hosts the Nakedly Examined Music podcast. He resides in Madison, WI with his wife and two children.

Wes Alwan

Wes Alwan graduated from St. John's College and gained his masters in philosophy from The University of Texas with a focus on ancient philosophy, Kant, and Nietzsche. Wes was born in Savannah, Georgia, and spent part of his life living in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Wes currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and works as a writer and media strategist.

Seth Paskin

Seth attended Reed College in Portland, OR before working towards, but not completing, his Masters in philosophy at the University of Texas. Seth spent much of this time in Germany studying Martin Heidegger and is fluent in German. He also spent a good deal of his graduate career yelling at friends about Spinoza's Ethics, an activity which he has come to regret.

Seth lives in Austin, TX where he is extremely active in the community. Seth previously served on the Board of Offender re-entry NGO and the African Leadership Bridge.

Dylan Casey

Dylan Casey received his undergraduate degrees in physics and political philosophy at Michigan State University before obtaining a master's degree high energy Particle Physics at the University of Rochester and a PHD in experimental particle physics, also from the university of Rochester. Dylan is currently on the faculty of St. John's College, but is on leave while researching radiation therapy in Madison, WI.

While at the University of Rochester Dylan worked on the Dzero Experiment at the Fermilab. He currently resides in Middleton, WI.

References To The Podcast and Famous Guests

The Partially Examined Life has been referenced and discussed in several outlets, including the publications of philosophers discussed on the show. One prominent example is a review of Episode 50 in the Onion's AV club.

References to The Partially Examined Life

• The AV Club, a publication of The Onion, discussed The Partially Examined Life in their publication for the week of February 23–29 ^[2]
• The National Catholic Reporter mentioned The Partially Examined Life in a blog post on Kierkegaard on February 27, 2012 ^[3]
• Bad Philosophy Podcast episode 116 mentions The Partially Examined Life^[4]
• Artist Dennis Hollingsworth mentioned The Partially Examined Life in a post on his website, referring to Episode six on Leibniz ^[5]
• Well-known American art critic and philosopher Arthur Danto, who's 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.^[6]
• The Partially Examined Life was reviewed by Colin Marshall of Maximum Fun on January 2, 2012^[7]
• 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.^[8]
• Slate's Stephen Metcalf talks up the Partially Examined Life on the Culture Gabfest. ^[9]

List of Episodes

The following is a full list of complete, 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.

References