Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes
Episodes
Aquinas and Scotus on Law (Part One)
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
While we modern folks have a generally clear distinction between law as in descriptive laws of nature and law as in ethical or civil commandments, the...
Josiah Royce on Interpreting Other People
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On "The Problem of Christianity," vol. 2, lecture 12, ch. 9, "The Will to Interpret." The point is to help explain Royce's idea of a community of int...
Hegel on Reason (Part One)
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Part C (AA) Reason, V. The Certainty and Truth of Reason. This section comes right after the self-consciousness se...
Dispute Between a Man and His Ba
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this famous, impossibly ancient (ca. 1900 BC!) Egyptian text, a man negotiations with the part of his soul that's supposed to help him in the after...
Aquinas and Aristotle on Soul
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From Disputed Questions in De Anima (1269) as presented in Thomas Aquinas: Selected Philosophical Writings (Oxford 1993), "Passage 18: Soul in Human B...
Hobbes on Liberty
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Leviathan (1651), ch. 21, "On the Liberty of Subjects." Thomas Hobbes is known for defending absolute monarchy, so as you'd predict, he's not going...
Aristotle on Final Causes
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Aristotle's Physics, book 2, ch. 8 on "final causation," i.e. purposiveness as a natural explanation. Modern science doesn't much like this kind of...
Horkheimer and Adorno on Enlightenment (Part One)
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On "The Concept of Enlightenment" (1944), the first essay in this Frankfurt School book of critical theory, The Dialectic of Enlightenment. Our autho...
Hegel on Stoicism (Part One)
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Discussing the section on Stoicism in Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit," which is under "Freedom of Self-Consciousness," "Stoicism, Scepticism, and th...
Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (Wrap Up)
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Concluding our treatment of Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (1984). This is our eighth discussion of this reading, but don't worry if you haven't lis...
Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (Part Four)
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What? Part Four? Yes, we're jumping back into a 1984 paper that we began a couple of years ago in light of our recent PEL activity on contemporary eth...
H.A. Prichard on Ethics (Part One)
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On "Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?" (1912). Prichard claims that we feel certain actions to be obligatory, and that we have no justification...
Parfit on Game Theory (Part One)
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Derek Parfit's "Prudence, Morality, and the Prisoner's Dilemma" (1978). What is a "prisoner's dilemma" and what is its relevance to ethics? In gene...
Spinoza on Emotions (Part One)
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Spinoza's Ethics, Third Part, "Concerning the Origin and Nature of the Emotions." We want to see how emotions ground ethics, but first, we have to...
Scheler on Personhood (Part Three)
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On "Formalism in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values" (1916), Ch. 6 "Formalism and Person," sec. 3, "Person and Act." While you may want to listen...
Edith Stein on Self (Part One)
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss "On the Problem of Empathy," ch. 4 "Empathy as the Comprehension of Mental Persons," starting with section 2, "The Mental Subject" and into...
Scheler on Personhood (Part One)
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Ch. 6 "Formalism and Person," in Max Scheler's most famous work, Formalism in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values (1916). Ethical Formalism is K...
Schopenhauer on Ethics (Part One)
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On The Basis of Morality (1840), Part III: "The Founding of Ethics," Ch. 5: "Statement and Proof of the Only True Moral Incentive." Everything up to...
Husserl on Perceiving Minds
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Edmund Husserl’s Ideas, Vol. 2 (1928), Section 3, “The Constitution of the Spiritual World,” Ch. 1, “Opposition Between the Naturalistic ...
Guattari on Fascism (Part One)
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Wes read through and discuss the beginning of Felix Guattari's "Everybody Wants to Be a Fascist" (1973). Guattari was a Lacanian psychotherap...
Marx on Stirner (Part One)
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Wes read through and discuss Karl Marx's "The German Ideology" (1846), delving deep into the middle of his critique of Max Stirner's "The Ego...
Husserl on Essences (Part One)
29 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mark and Wes read through and discuss Edmund Husserl's Ideas (1913), ch. 1, "Matter of Fact and Essence" in First Book, "General Introduction to a Pu...
Mill on Induction (Part One)
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're discussing John Stuart Mill's A System of Logic (1843), specifically from Book III, "Of Induction," ch. 8, "Of the Four Methods of Experimental ...
Sartre on Nothingness (Part Two)
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We continue reading Part One of Being and Nothingness, with ch. 2, "Negations." We get some context and then jump into the classic question of whether...
Sartre on Nothingness (Part One)
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We skip the introduction of Being and Nothingness (1943) and start with Part One, "The Problem of Nothingness," Ch. 1, "The Origin of Negation." Read ...
F.H. Bradley's "Appearance and Reality" (Part Two)
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We begin Bradley's argument for idealism: The world as we perceive it is appearance, not reality. In ch. 1, "Primary and Secondary Qualities," we see ...
F.H. Bradley's "Appearance and Reality" (Part One)
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bradley was a prominent British Hegelian, best known now for being the springboard for Bertrand Russell, who was initially a follower but then rejecte...
Heidegger on Technology (Part Two)
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We move from the discussion of the four types of causes, to "disclosure," to an environmental critique. Read along with us starting on p. 10. To get ...
Heidegger on Technology (Part One)
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is technology, REALLY? People think of it as neutral, as something that can be used for good or misused, but what is it really to be a TOOL in su...
William James on Asceticism and Saints (Part One)
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On "The Varieties of Religious Experience," the conclusion of lecture 15. Why do some saintly types engage in ascetic practices like voluntary poverty...
Plotinus on The Intelligence (Part Two)
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On "The Intelligence, The Ideas, and Being," starting on section 6. What is "The Intelligence" anyway? How does its storehouse of Forms get into the m...
Plotinus on The Intelligence (Part One)
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On "The Intelligence, The Ideas, and Being" from the Enneads (270 C.E.), about the various elements of Neo-Platonist cosmology: You've got The One, w...
Merleau-Ponty on the Body (Part One)
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We begin a long series on Maurice Merleau Ponty's "Phenomenology of Perception" (1945), focusing on Part I, "The Body": "Experience and Objective Thou...
Levinas on Buber (Part Two)
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on "Martin Buber and the Theory of Knowledge," with the "Experience and Meeting" section, whereby we try to make sense of the theory that t...
Levinas on Buber (Part One)
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read the first pages of Emmanuel Levinas' 1958 article, "Martin Buber and the Theory of Knowledge." In these initial sections, subtitled "The Probl...
Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (Part Two)
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss the fact-value distinction, both with regard to ethics but also epistemology, i.e. how the search for facts depends on what we're looking f...
Peter Railton's "Moral Realism" (Part One)
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading a 1984 essay by Mark's U. of Michigan undergrad advisor, included among the most cited philosophy papers in some list that Wes found. Ra...
Descartes' "Passions of the Soul" (Part Two)
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on this text about the mechanics of how mind and body work together. Is this schematically useful or hopelessly archaic? You decide! Read a...
Descartes' "Passions of the Soul" (Part One)
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading the final text by René Descartes, published in 1649, about how mind and body relate to each other. Read along with us. Learn more about...
Isaiah Berlin on Liberty (Part Two)
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on "Two Concepts of Liberty" (1969), we finish up the negative conception ("freedom from") and give Berlin's strange account of positive fr...
Isaiah Berlin on Liberty (Part One)
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading through the beginning of "Two Concepts of Liberty" (1969). What are the various ways we can conceive of freedom, and is the concept nece...
Aristotle Against Platonic Forms (Part Two)
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on Aristotle's Metaphysics, book 1, ch. 9. Why does Aristotle insist that Forms have to be in objects, contra Plato? What would it mean for...
Aristotle Against Platonic Forms (Part One)
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Aristotle offers a critique of Plato's theory of forms at a few points in his Metaphysics, and in this and the following part of this series, we'll be...
Al-Kindi on Dispelling Sorrows (Part Two)
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on Yaqub ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi's Islamic, Stoic-flavored ethical treatise. What habits should we instill that will immunize us against loss? W...
Al-Kindi on Dispelling Sorrows (Part One)
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading a 9th century Arabic philosopher (from what's now Iraq), in fact the "father of Arab philosophy," Yaqub ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi, writing abou...
Hegel on Jesus and Kant (Part Two)
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on "The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate," ch. 2: "The Moral Teaching of Jesus: The Sermon on the Mount Contrasted with the Mosaic Law a...
Hegel on Jesus and Kant (Part One)
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading an early Hegel essay, "The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate," ch. 2: "The Moral Teaching of Jesus: The Sermon on the Mount Contrasted...
Kierkegaard on Irony (Part Two)
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We complete our treatment of Soren Kierkegaard's On the Concept of Irony (1841), "Irony as a Controlled Element, the Truth of Irony." How can a contro...
Kierkegaard on Irony (Part One)
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read the conclusion to Soren Kierkegaard's On the Concept of Irony (1841), "Irony as a Controlled Element, the Truth of Irony." The discussion star...
Hume on Passions (Part Two)
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Book II of A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Part I, "Pride and Humility," sections 3 and 4. Pride, according to Hume, has both a cause (whatever ...
Hume on Passions (Part One)
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Book II of A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), this time reading sections 1 and 2 in Part I, "Pride and Humility." How does David Hume deal with hum...
Forms in Plato's "Republic" (Part Two)
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We complete Plato's "divided line" schema at the end of Book VI of the Republic (and are going to hold off on the actual allegory of the cave in book ...
Forms in Plato's "Republic" (Part One)
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Toward the end of Book VI and into Book VII of the Republic, Plato gives a series of metaphors for the role "the good itself" plays in our knowledge a...
Grice's "Logic and Conversation" (Part Two)
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on the 1975 paper, we describe how the various maxims of Grice's conversational "Cooperative Principle" can be violated in systematic ways ...
Grice's "Logic and Conversation" (Part One)
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read through Paul Grice's 1975 ordinary language philosophy paper. What are the assumptions behind everyday conversation? When someone violates a c...
Epictetus' Discourses (Part Two)
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read through book one, chapter two. How can a person on every occasion maintain his proper character? Read along with us. Learn more about your ad ...
Epictetus' Discourses (Part One)
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Ch. 1 of this classic of ancient Stoicism, a series of informal lectures written down by Epictetus' student Arrian in around 108 C.E. What is it ab...
Reason in Hobbes' "Leviathan" (Part Two)
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing on ch. 5 in Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan" (1651). We go through seven ways of producing absurd reasoning according to Hobbes. Read along with ...
Reason in Hobbes' "Leviathan" (Part One)
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Reading ch. 5 in Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan" (1651) to see how a materialist empiricist with a highly restrictive view of what counts as real knowledge...
Plato's "Cratylus" on Language
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the latter portion of Plato's middle-period dialogue, where Plato argues to Cratylus that even if names (words) were devised to somehow depict the ...
Zhuangzi, Ch. 19
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're reading the "Fathoming Life" chapter of this seminal Daoist philosopher, using the Ziporyn translation: Just the first couple pages to really fo...
Hegel on Spinoza (Part Two)
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're continuing reading through the entry on Spinoza from Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy (1830). Let's Make Philosophy Mathematical Ag...
Hegel on Spinoza (Part One)
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read through the Spinoza entry in Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy (1830). Does this tell us more about Spinoza, or about Hegel? Read ...
Emerson's Oversoul (Part Two)
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're continuing to go through Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 essay "The Over-Soul." What is this godhood allegedly in us that transcends time and space? ...
Emerson's Oversoul (Part One)
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are we underlyingly all really a single, unified organism? Or do we just have a lot in common? We begin unraveling this puzzling claim by reading Ralp...
Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes - A Quick Intro
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Reading through difficult philosophy texts line-by-line to try to figure out what’s really being said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...