The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mark, Wes, and Dylan continue to look at Ludwig Feuerbach's "Principles of the Philosophy of the Future" (1843), recounting his story about how increasingly mature notions of God should lead philosophy eventually to a materialism where the sensual is the real. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com [https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/]. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support [https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support] to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Have up to a $100 donation to effective charities matched at GiveWell.org [https://givewell.org]. Check out the Constant Wonder podcast [https://www.byuradio.org/constant-wonder] Learn about Mark's spring Core Texts in philosophy class at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class. [https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/core-texts-spring-2025/] Buy the PEL book for someone cool at partiallyexaminedlife.com/book [https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/book/].

Where the repetitions of ordinary life threaten to overwhelm any sense of the sublime, the poet Conrad Aiken seems to suggest that they can be transformed into a way of being connected to it. The mundane order is, after all, just a part of the cosmic. When we get ready to go to work, it is on a “swiftly tilting planet” that “bathes in a flame of space.” The sun is “far off in a shell of silence,” but its light decorates the walls of our homes. We might wonder, in light of modernity’s crisis of faith, if the sublime is meant to replace the divine, and if so whether what Aiken calls “humble offerings” to a “cloud of silence” are enough. Wes & Erin discuss Aiken’s “Morning Song of Senlin,” and whether humanity’s religious impulses can be fully compensated with an aesthetic or ironic relation to nature and cosmic scale.

We're coming up on the 125th anniversary of L. Frank Baum's children's book, The Wizard of Oz, and the film version of (the first half of) the musical Wicked has been released. Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al talk about the landmark 1939 film musical, the 1978 film The Wiz, Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked, the stage musical, the other Oz books by Baum, Maguire, et al, and other films like 1985's Return to Oz and 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful. How does this film stack up to other recent Broadway-to-film adaptations? Will there ever be a faithful film or TV adaptation of the books? For more, visit prettymuchpop.com [http://prettymuchpop.com/]. Hear this ad-free with bonus content at patreon.com/prettymuchpop [https://www.patreon.com/prettymuchpop] or by subscribing via Apple Podcasts to the Mark Lintertainment Channel [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/mark-lintertainment/id6442569583?id=6442569583].

We dig in and start our detailed treatment of Ludwig Feuerbach's essay "Principles of the Philosophy of the Future" (1843). Feuerbach claims that people don't realize that the entity they worship is really just whatever it is about humanity and the world that we value, wrongly posited as an independent entity. So God is a mirror for any given society. Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com [https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/]. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support [https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support] to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsors: Have up to a $100 donation to effective charities matched at GiveWell.org [https://givewell.org]. Learn about St. John's College at sjc.edu/pel [https://sjc.edu/pel]. Learn about Mark's spring Core Texts in philosophy class at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class. [https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/core-texts-spring-2025/] Buy the PEL book for someone cool at partiallyexaminedlife.com/book [https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/book/].

Loudon has released 30 albums since 1970. He's the quintessential singer-songwriter, relying on crafty, personal lyrics delivered dynamically and typically solo, though his studio work has varied in production style and orchestration level over the years. We discuss "How Old is 75" from Lifetime Achievement (2022), "Road Ode (Live)" from Career Moves (1993), and "Be Careful There’s a Baby in the House" from Album II (1971). We wrap up by listening to "Missing You" from Last Man on Earth (2001). Intro: "The Swimming Song" from Attempted Mustache (1973). Learn more at lw3.com [https://lw3.com/]. Hear more Nakedly Examined Music [http://nakedlyexaminedmusic.com]. Support us on Patreon [http://patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic].