The Partially Examined Life

→ WHAT IT COVERS Singer-songwriter Lande Hekt discusses her musical evolution from Devon punk band Muncie Girls to four solo albums, covering songwriting process, DIY music economics, vocal arrangement techniques, and the structural choices behind four songs spanning 2016 to her 2024 release Lucky Now, including political lyrics, climate themes, and layered guitar production methods.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Part two of The Partially Examined Life's reading of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (sections 438–463) traces how ethical life evolves from unreflective custom through the conflict between human law and divine law, using Sophocles' Antigone as the central case study, culminating in the Enlightenment's dissolution of that tension into individual moral conscience.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Mark Linsenmeyer and Mary Hynes use the concept of "picking your battles" as a lens to examine energy allocation, social conflict, spiritual belief, online discourse, and the ethics of engagement — drawing from Mary's 11-roommate search, Facebook political arguments, and a confrontation with a pig owner at a Christmas market. → KEY INSIGHTS - **Energy allocation framework:** Evaluate every potential conflict by asking "where do I have power here?

→ WHAT IT COVERS Pretty Much Pop hosts Lawrence Weir, Al Baker, Sarah Lynn Breck, and Mark Linsenmayer examine what qualifies as a "Black film," why Oscar recognition for Black cinema remains limited, and whether the Academy's standards require Black creators to compromise their artistic vision to win. → KEY INSIGHTS - **Defining Black Cinema:** A film qualifies as Black not by featuring Black actors on screen but by having Black creative control behind the camera — writers, directors, and...

→ WHAT IT COVERS The Partially Examined Life hosts Mark Linsenmayer, Seth Paskin, Wes Allenby, and Dylan Casey open a multi-part reading of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit sections 438–463, examining what Hegel means by "spirit" as society's collective consciousness and how it grounds all individual thought and ethics. → KEY INSIGHTS - **Hegel's Metaphysical Unit:** For Hegel, the fundamental metaphysical unit is not the individual but the social group.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Mark Linsenmayer interviews John S. Hall, poet and frontman of King Missile, across 81 minutes covering Hall's daily poetry practice, the reunion with original collaborator Dog Bowl, the mechanics of setting spoken-word poetry to music, and the creative philosophy behind four decades of absurdist, conversational verse. → KEY INSIGHTS - **Daily creative output via constraint:** Hall writes five poems per day on weekdays, posting them to Facebook and Instagram.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Graham Harman joins the Partially Examined Life hosts for part two of a discussion on his book *Waves and Stones*, covering object-oriented ontology's core tension between discrete objects and continua, the limits of skepticism, how undermining and overmining fail to exhaust objects, and whether any direct access to reality is philosophically defensible.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Composer and musical director Jerome Kurtenbach joins Philosophy vs. Improv hosts Mark Linsenmayer and Mary Hynes to explore musical improvisation — how it functions as live storytelling, why Zoom technology breaks live musical sync, how childhood play builds compositional instinct, and how surrender and adaptability connect philosophical thinking to creative performance practice.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Four hosts from Pretty Much Pop analyze Chloe Zhao's film *Hamnet*, based on Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel, examining how the story of Shakespeare's son's death from plague becomes a meditation on grief, Shakespearean tragic structure, and the relationship between lived human loss and dramatic art, alongside broader discussion of Shakespeare biography films.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Philosopher Graham Harman discusses his object-oriented ontology with The Partially Examined Life hosts, defending his position that objects never directly contact each other and explaining how real objects interact only through sensual properties. The conversation explores the distinction between real and sensual objects, the role of aesthetics versus knowledge, and how causation works as composition.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Singer-songwriter Robert Deeble discusses his seventh album The Space Between Us, spanning a career from 1989 to 2025. The conversation explores his songwriting evolution, collaboration with producer Rich Hordinsky, use of nylon string guitar and string arrangements, balancing a therapy practice with music, and detailed production choices on tracks from multiple albums including Earth Side Down and Beloved.

→ WHAT IT COVERS The Partially Examined Life examines Graham Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology chapter two on aesthetics as philosophy's foundation. The discussion analyzes how metaphor provides indirect access to real objects through theatrical engagement, contrasting Harman's interpretation of Ortega y Gasset's essay with traditional metaphor theories and exploring how subjects stand in for inaccessible objects.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Philosophy professor Elijah Dann discusses his journey from evangelical Christianity through progressive faith to atheism, examining traditional arguments for God's existence and religious belief. He explains his book "Unbelieving God: A Skeptic's Guide" and advocates for public debate about religious epistemology in universities and workplaces.

→ WHAT IT COVERS The Partially Examined Life examines South Park's 28-season run, focusing on creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone's satirical approach, their recent resurgence through fearless Trump criticism in 2025, their six-day production cycle, contractual creative freedom at Comedy Central, and debates over their equal-opportunity offense strategy versus instances of insensitivity around race, gender identity, and stereotypes.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Episode 384 continues examining Graham Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology, focusing on his concepts of undermining versus overmining, the distinction between real and sensual objects, and his theory of vicarious causation. The discussion explores how objects interact without direct contact and why Harman argues science only accesses sensual objects, not real ones.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Mark and Wes conduct a close reading of Hegel's "Unhappy Consciousness" section from Phenomenology of Spirit, comparing three translations (Pinkard, Inwood, and Miller). They analyze how consciousness divides itself between unchangeable essence and changeable existence, ultimately determining Miller's translation provides the clearest rendering of Hegel's notoriously difficult prose.

→ WHAT IT COVERS The Partially Examined Life examines Graham Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology, exploring his argument that real objects exist independently but remain inaccessible to direct knowledge. The discussion covers Harman's rejection of reductionism, his Kantian framework distinguishing real versus sensory objects, and his claim that metaphor and aesthetics provide indirect access to things-in-themselves.

→ WHAT IT COVERS Mark Linson and Mary Hynes explore memory, possessions, and legacy through personal stories about aging parents, downsizing belongings, and discovering family history. The conversation weaves between philosophical reflection on sentimental objects and improvised scenes featuring talking instruments, time-traveling grandchildren, and infant philosophers discussing band t-shirts.

→ WHAT IT COVERS The Partially Examined Life concludes their discussion of Freud's Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, examining identification, the primal horde theory, hypnosis as dominance submission, and how leaders versus ideals shape group behavior. → KEY INSIGHTS - **Identification as developmental process:** Freud argues altruistic ethical impulses toward others originate from hostility and envy that get transformed through identification with peers and affectionate ties to...

→ WHAT IT COVERS Canadian guitarist Darren Michael Boyd discusses his transition from band work to solo instrumental guitar albums, releasing six albums since 2019. He covers composition techniques, guitar tone choices, the challenge of building audiences for instrumental rock outside traditional metal scenes, and balancing melodic accessibility with technical playing across genres from metal to surf.