The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

PEL Presents Closereads: Galen Strawson on Panpsychism (Part One)

56 min · 27. juli 2026
Billede af episoden PEL Presents Closereads: Galen Strawson on Panpsychism (Part One)

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On "Realistic Monism: Why Physicalism Entails Panpsychism" (2008). Strawson argues that physicalism should not just be taken as matter in motion. Instead, the physical is a broader category that includes not just chairs and molecules, but also "my experience of red." Yet he's not trying to say that experiences are just brain states; they clearly include qualia (what it's like to experience red). And he's also not just trying to solve the problem by redefining "physical" to include "mental" (though he is doing that). Instead, he's claiming that we have no warrant to claim that the properties of the physical are exhausted by what third-person science can investigate, and that we can't solve the mind-body problem unless we posit that (at least some) physical objects have a mental aspect. Sounds like Spinoza to us! Subscribe to Closereads (and get a link to this text to read along) at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy [https://www.patreon.com/c/closereadsphilosophy]; follow us there via the free tier to part two and many other episodes like this one ad free, or pay us to get parts 2-5 and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife [https://www.patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife] for a nice combo deal.)

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1325 episodes

episode PEL Presents Closereads: Galen Strawson on Panpsychism (Part One) artwork

PEL Presents Closereads: Galen Strawson on Panpsychism (Part One)

On "Realistic Monism: Why Physicalism Entails Panpsychism" (2008). Strawson argues that physicalism should not just be taken as matter in motion. Instead, the physical is a broader category that includes not just chairs and molecules, but also "my experience of red." Yet he's not trying to say that experiences are just brain states; they clearly include qualia (what it's like to experience red). And he's also not just trying to solve the problem by redefining "physical" to include "mental" (though he is doing that). Instead, he's claiming that we have no warrant to claim that the properties of the physical are exhausted by what third-person science can investigate, and that we can't solve the mind-body problem unless we posit that (at least some) physical objects have a mental aspect. Sounds like Spinoza to us! Subscribe to Closereads (and get a link to this text to read along) at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy [https://www.patreon.com/c/closereadsphilosophy]; follow us there via the free tier to part two and many other episodes like this one ad free, or pay us to get parts 2-5 and everything else we've recorded. (Alternatively, support both PEL and Closereads at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife [https://www.patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife] for a nice combo deal.)

27. juli 202656 min
episode PEL Presents PMP#226: Toy Story Played Out artwork

PEL Presents PMP#226: Toy Story Played Out

In light of Toy Story 5, the gang (Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al) consider the Pixar franchise that started in 1995. We consider the premise whereby your toys are loyal slaves that come to life whenever unobserved, the critique of screen-play in the new film, the use of nostalgia in the films, the repetition and/or escalation throughout the series, the horror-adjacency of living dolls, the emotional manipulation, and whether enough is enough. Get more at prettymuchpop.com [https://prettymuchpop.com]. Get an ad-free experience, plus bonus talking for nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop [https://www.patreon.com/prettymuchpop]. Sponsors: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code PMP at oneskin.co/PMP [https://www.oneskin.co/PMP]. Get started with Claude AI at claude.ai/pmp [https://claude.ai/pmp].

24. juli 202657 min
episode Ep. 396: Peirce on Knowledge (Part One) artwork

Ep. 396: Peirce on Knowledge (Part One)

On 1868 essays by Charles Sanders Peirce: "Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man" and "Some Consequences of Four Incapacities." Do we know when knowledge is intuitive? Is there any such thing as intuitive knowledge? Do we directly experience the self or anything introspective, or do we just infer facts about ourselves from external perspectives? Peirce provides counter-intuitive responses to all these questions. 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. Sponsor: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel [https://shopify.com/pel].

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episode PEL Presents PvI#121: Meat Suit Dolls w/ Maddie Mutations artwork

PEL Presents PvI#121: Meat Suit Dolls w/ Maddie Mutations

The LA-based clown, multimedia performance artist, and doll stylist (see maddiemutations.com [https://maddiemutations.com/]) joins Mary and Mark to talk about her Doll Court show, clown types and the role of the fool, failing on stage, cities as women, silly villains, and more. Will Carol overcome her anxiety to go into the big meeting? Will Maddie keep all the nice dolls to herself? What should the demands of the LA doll union be? How edgy can a clown be? We wrap up with an exercise about numeric levels of joy. Hear more at philosophyimprov.com [http://philosophyimprov.com/]. Support the podcast and listen ad-free at patreon.com/philosophyimprov [https://patreon.com/philosophyimprov]. Sponsor: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code IMPROV at oneskin.co/IMPROV [https://www.oneskin.co/IMPROV].

18. juli 202651 min