PEL Presents PvI#120: Mark and Mary in the Struggle Club
episode
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
53 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 23 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the premise of Philosophy vs. Improv and who are the hosts?
This is Philosophy vs. Improv, where two sages try to teach each other a thing or two, and maybe you, the audience, get something out of it as well. My name is Mark Linton Meyer, representing the philosopher's position today.
And I am Mary Hines, and I am representing the improvisational position today on Philosophy vs. Improv.
Do you think that the gravitas of one's voice gives one more authoritative stance?
Well, as a matter of fact, I was just teaching a lesson yesterday. I'm teaching two different classes with Second City this term, Improv 1 and Improv 2. And Improv 2 was all about characters, and characters are my favorite. And we explored the nuance of status, high status and low status, which is really interesting because everyone has different interpretations tropically. The question I asked them is, is what sensory information do you intake that gives you the information to discern status? And we determined, I mean, I like to frame when I'm teaching, I already know the answer to the question, but I like to ask them like, what do you think? And then it adds more to how I teach it and I'm always learning in the moment.
So the answer, that is a long way to say,
yes. Well, thank you, Herr Professor.
No, I do have a student debt, but I don't have a doctorate student debt.
So I mentioned that just one of my favorite philosophy professor undergrad who I resolved, you know, was a very old guy and, you know, seemed like a very high status individual. And he had come from Germany. I think his family was involved in the Holocaust, fleeing the Holocaust, stuff like that.
And
he was a little critical of like, yes, in Germany, you would just say hair professor or whatever. But in America, oh, we don't believe in stats. So instead of just putting it in the title and making it formal like that, it just shows up in every little groveling thing that the juniors would say. So it might ironically, if you formalize status like, make you free to not have to worry about it so much. And I'm not sure if this is really true, but this was his experience.
The German language is very fascinating. So my family were Austrian and Irish on mom and dad's side, respectively. And I have a strong relationship with my family that lives in Pechtoldsdorf, which is a town southwest of Vienna. And I got a German immersion when I went over there and then I studied German in school. And I always had a difficult time with it because they have very specific, not only words that you use, but how you conjugate the words depending on status. And they're very like, even how you greet someone in a store, it's very dogmatic. And I guess English has that too. Yeah. Right. Like a sir or a ma'am or like how do we modify our language when we are communicating with an elder or someone of a higher status?
Well, first and last name is the obvious thing. And so when I became a professional and was was given the advice that like, look, you're all professionals. So it doesn't matter if the person I'm communicating with is some sort of senior professor or whatever. Just call them senior. Bob, call him Lucy, whatever, because that's what we're doing here.
I feel like that requires permission to be able to be casual though, right? Like,
may I call you by your first name? It's not casual. In emails in particular, facing somebody face-to-face, I think there's more of a question of like, how do I... Yeah, you kind of want to establish, but if you're just... You don't... Here, before I send you my first email, let me ask you what you prefer. I mean, maybe I have, you know, said, dear doctor, whatever. And then they respond with their first name. And then like, that's the permission. And then
they let you know. Yeah. I always stay on the side of formal out of courtesy. And then once it's established, oh, call me Bob. Then great. Sure. I can still honor your expertise and call you by your first name.
Yeah, so I find it weird, the cases where, so we got an inquiry from somebody who wanted to be on the podcast, but it was from this person's assistant who was referring to them, you know, it's like some documentary filmmaker as Mr. So-and-so.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the premise of Philosophy vs. Improv and who are the hosts?
0:04–7:08
2
How do Mark and Mary define respectful forms of address and status?
7:08–15:09
3
Why do the hosts consider capitalism “predatory” in the internet‑service example?
15:09–21:53
4
What criteria do they use to decide what counts as “good” philosophy?
21:53–28:18
5
How does the “Struggle Club” scenario explore authority and re‑education?
28:18–34:48
6
What role does playfulness and fear of play have in improv teaching?
34:48–41:15
7
How do the hosts compare philosophy education versus doing philosophy?
41:15–46:56
8
What are the final takeaways and next steps for listeners?
46:56–53:03
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
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Ep. 400: Dennett Rejects Qualia (Part One)
PEL Presents PvI#124: Navel Evaluation (Our Season 5 Finale)
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