E16 Levinas: The Face of the Other

E16 Levinas: The Face of the Other

Begin with philosophy here! In the penultimate episode of First Philosophy, Awee discusses Emmanuel Levinas and his radical claim that ethics comes before everything else. Instead of understanding the world first, Levinas argues that we are immediately confronted by the “other,” whose presence places a demand on us that cannot be reduced to knowledge, interpretation, or theory. Philosophy, then, is no longer about truth or being—but about responsibility. Sonia and Kas interrupt, interpret, and unpack these ideas, translating Levinas’ dense philosophy into concrete examples and sharp discussions. Through debate, analogies, and moments of tension, they try to make sense of a thinker who resists being fully understood—while showing why his ideas still feel urgent today.

E15 Gadamer: Hermeneutics

Begin Philosophy here! In the fifteenth episode of First Philosophy, Awee continues with the philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer and the idea that understanding is never neutral. Every act of interpretation begins within traditions, prejudices, and historical contexts, and according to Gadamer these are not obstacles to knowledge but the very conditions that make understanding possible. Sonia and Kas t explore the consequences of this view for philosophy and dialogue. If interpretation always exceeds our control, can we ever reach objective understanding?  Let's begin, finally!

E14 Gadamer: Truth and Method

Begin with philosophy here! In the fourteenth episode Awee Prins continues our journey from Martin Heidegger to Hans-Georg Gadamer, tracing the shift from Heidegger’s analysis of technology as a way of revealing to Gadamer’s idea that we live within a fundamentally hermeneutic universe. If technology is not merely technological, then truth is not merely scientific. Kas and Sonia push the discussion further by connecting these ideas to contemporary culture — from human resource management to historical interpretation — asking what it really means to say that we are always interpreting, always historically situated, and never outside perspective. Let's begin, finally!

E13 Heidegger: The Question Concerning Technology

Begin with philosophy here! In the thirteenth episode of First Philosophy, we continue our deep dive into Martin Heidegger by reading and unpacking The Question Concerning Technology. Rather than asking whether technology is good or bad, Heidegger urges us to question it more fundamentally: what kind of world does modern technology reveal to us? From “standing reserve” and enframing to the dominance of calculative thinking, this episode explores why technology is not just a collection of tools, but an entire way of relating to beings, nature, and ourselves. As always, Kas and Sonia try to help, interject, and underscore key parts and passages. They also discuss Heidegger’s complex legacy with regard to his association with the Nazi Party and the infamous Black Notebooks. Let’s begin, finally!

E12 Heidegger: From Sartre’s Humanism to Heidegger’s Turn

Begin with philosophy here. In this episode of First Philosophy, Awee Prins begins with Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialism through the lens of freedom, responsibility, bad faith, and the phenomenon of the gaze. Sartre’s insistence that we are “condemned to be free” is unpacked with care, revealing a philosophy far less nihilistic than it is often assumed to be. From the claim that there are no accidents in life to the unsettling demand that everything that happens to us is, in a profound sense, ours, Sartre’s existentialism emerges as a radical call to take responsibility for meaning itself. Only after moving through Sartre’s account of human freedom does the episode return to Martin Heidegger. Heidegger’s analysis of being-in-the-world and situated existence reframes Sartre’s existentialism, showing its deeper ontological roots and shifting the focus from individual choice alone to the structures of meaning that always already shape our experience. Throughout the episode, Sonia and Kas intercede with clarifications, objections, and contextual expansions. They connect Sartre’s analysis of the gaze to later developments in feminist theory, critical theory, and to Michel Foucault’s notion of the medical and disciplinary gaze, showing how questions about being seen evolve into analyses of power, normalization, and social control. Let's begin, finally!