- Media Type |
- audio
- Podknife tags |
- Ideas,
- Philosophy,
- Society & Culture
- Categories Via RSS |
- Courses,
- Education,
- Philosophy,
- Society & Culture
The best of all possible podcasts, Leibniz would say. Putting big ideas in dialogue with the everyday, Overthink offers accessible and fresh takes on philosophy from enthusiastic experts. Hosted by professors Ellie Anderson (Pomona College) and David M. Peña-Guzmán (San Francisco State University).
This podcast currently has no reviews.
Submit ReviewIn episode 102 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss diverse ideas of racial mixedness, from family-oriented models of mixed race to José Vasconcelos’ and Gloria Anzaldua’s idea of the ‘mestizo’ heritage of Mexican people. They work through phenomenological accounts of cultural hybridity and selfhood, wondering how being multiracial pushes beyond the traditional Cartesian philosophical subject. Is mestizaje or mixed-race an identity in its own right? What are its connections to the history of colonialism and contemporary demographic trends? And, how can different relations to a mixed heritage lead to flourishing outside of white supremacist categories?
Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works Discussed
Linda Martín Alcoff, Visible Identities: Race, Gender, and the Self Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera Rosie Braidotti, Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory Elisa Lipsky-Karasz, “Naomi Osaka on Fighting for No. 1 at the U.S. Open”Mariana Ortega, In-Between: Latina Feminist Phenomenology, Multiplicity, and the Self
Naomi Osaka, “Naomi Osaka reflects on challenges of being black and Japanese”
Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude Adrian Piper, “Passing for White, Passing for Black” Carlin Romano, “A Challenge for Philosophy”
José Vasconcelos, La Raza Cósmica Naomi Zack, Race and Mixed Race
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Welcome your robot overlords! In episode 101 of Overthink, Ellie and David speak with Dr. Shazeda Ahmed, specialist in AI Safety, to dive into the philosophy guiding artificial intelligence. With the rise of LLMs like ChatGPT, the lofty utilitarian principles of Effective Altruism have taken the tech-world spotlight by storm. Many who work on AI safety and ethics worry about the dangers of AI, from how automation might put entire categories of workers out of a job to how future forms of AI might pose a catastrophic “existential risk” for humanity as a whole. And yet, optimistic CEOs portray AI as the beginning of an easy, technology-assisted utopia. Who is right about AI: the doomers or the utopians? And whose voices are part of the conversation in the first place? Is AI risk talk spearheaded by well-meaning experts or investor billionaires? And, can philosophy guide discussions about AI toward the right thing to do?
Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Nick Bostrom, SuperintelligenceAdrian Daub, What Tech Calls ThinkingVirginia Eubanks, Automating InequalityMollie Gleiberman, “Effective Altruism and the strategic ambiguity of ‘doing good’”Matthew Jones and Chris Wiggins, How Data HappenedWilliam MacAskill, What We Owe the FutureToby Ord, The PrecipiceInioluwa Deborah Raji et al., “The Fallacy of AI Functionality”Inioluwa Deborah Raji and Roel Dobbe, “Concrete Problems in AI Safety, Revisted”Peter Singer, Animal LiberationAmia Srinivisan, “Stop The Robot Apocalypse”
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Overthink goes meta! In the 100th episode Ellie and David reflect on the podcast’s journey and the origins of its (flawless!) title. They take up the question, “What is overthinking?” Is it a kind of fixation on details or an unwanted split in the normal flow of ideas? Then, they turn to psychology to make sense of overthinking’s highs and lows, as the distracting voice inside your head and a welcome relief from traumatic memories. Through the philosophies of John Dewey and the Frankfurt School, they look at different ways to understand the role of overthinking in philosophy and the humanities. Is overthinking a damper on good decisions, or perhaps the path to preserving the possibility of social critique?
Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works Discussed
John Dewey, How We ThinkMax Horkheimer, “The Social Function of Philosophy”Herbert Marcuse, “Remarks on a Redefinition of Culture”Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, “Responses to depression and their effects on the duration of depressive episodes”Charles Orbendorf, “Co-Conscious Mentation”Suzanne Segerstrom et al., “A multidimensional structure for repetitive thought”Stephanie Wong et al., “Rumination as a Transdiagnostic Phenomenon in the 21st Century”
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Who’s afraid of zombification? Apparently not analytic philosophers. In episode 99 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk all about zombies and their unfortunate legacy in the thought experiments of academic philosophy. Their portrait as brain-eating and consciousness-lacking mobs is a far cry from their origins in the syncretic sorcery at the margins of Haitian Voodoo. This distance means that the uncanny zombie raises provocative questions about the problematic ways philosophy integrates and appropriates nonwestern culture into its canon. Your hosts probe beyond limits of the tradition when they explore zombification in animals, in reading, in Derrida, and beyond.
Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works Discussed
Ellie Anderson, “Derrida and the Zombie”David J. Chalmers, The Conscious MindWade Davis, The Serpent and the RainbowDescartes, MeditationsLeslie Desmangles, The Faces of the GodsDaniel C. Dennett, "The Unimagined Preposterousness of Zombies" & Consciousness ExplainedZora Neale Hurston, Tell my HorseEdgar Allan Poe, “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”Justin Smith-Ruiu, “The World as a Game”
The Last of Us (2023)Night of the Living Dead (1968)Get Out (2017)
Overthink, Continental Philosophy: What is it, and why is it a thing?
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
They say this one is the real deal. In Episode 98 of Overthink, Ellie and David untangle the philosophy behind the way we compare, judge, and defend our reputations. From Machiavelli’s advice to despots looking to stay popular, to disgruntled students venting on their professors online, reputation can glide you to victory or trigger your fall from grace. Exploring concepts like the Matthew effect, the homo comparativus, and informational asymmetry, your hosts ask: Why do both Joan Jett and Jean-Jacques Rousseau refuse reputation’s fickle pleasures? Does David actually have a good work-life balance, or is everyone else hoodwinked? And, what is the place of quantified reputation in an increasingly digital world?
Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works Discussed
Kwame Anthony Appiah, The Honor Code
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Bad Reputation
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
Louise Matsakis, “How the West Got China’s Social Credit System Wrong,” Wired Magazine
Gloria Origgi, Reputation: What It Is and Why It Matters
Gloria Origgi, "Reputation in Moral Philosophy and Epistemology"
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Reveries of the Solitary Walker
Jean-Paul Sartre, The Transcendence of the Ego
Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Jordi Xifra, “Recognition, symbolic capital and reputation in the seventeenth century”
Overthink Episodes
Ep 28, Cancel Culture
Ep 19, Genius
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
The village is aglow! In episode 97 of Overthink, Ellie and David guide you through the ideas that make a metropolis tick. From Plato’s spotless Republic to Saudi Arabia’s futuristic The Line, they talk the foul and the vibrant of what it means to live in a city. Why are there so few public plazas in Brasilia? Why did David lose his wallet in Mexico City? How do gridded street layouts reflect colonial fantasies? And how did a medieval woman writer, Christine de Pizan, beat Greta Gerwig to the punch in imagining a Barbie-like City of Ladies?Check out the episode's extended cut here!Works DiscussedMarshall Berman, All That Is Solid Melts Into AirDon T. Deere, “Coloniality and Disciplinary Power: On Spatial Techniques of Ordering”Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the EarthJane Jacobs, The Life and Death of Great American CitiesQuill R. Kukla, City LivingChristine de Pizan, City of LadiesPlato, RepublicAngel Rama, The Lettered CityGeorg Simmel, “Metropolis and Mental Life”Iris Marion Young, "City Life and Difference"Blade Runner (1982)Parasite (2019)Barbie (2023)Overthink ep. 32, AstrologyPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
“They find our bodies repulsive.” On episode 96 of Overthink, Ellie and David bring on Dr. Kate Manne, philosopher and author of Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia. She explains the moral failures and biomedical perils of our fatphobic culture and its misleading imperative to diet. This look at the politics of fat, fatness, and fatphobia in the philosophical canon and beyond to reveal rich links to questions of accessibility, justice, and intimacy. Should we trust the BMI (Body Mass Index) as a measure of health? Is the future in Ozempic? Why are we encouraged to see our body’s biological need for nutrition as “food noise”? And what might it take to hear the music of our human bodily diversity?Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works DiscussedPaul Campos, The Obesity MythAncel Keys, et al., “Indices of relative weight and obesity”Adolphe Quetelet, On Man and the Development of His FacultiesSabrina Strings, Fearing the Black BodyAudre Lorde, A Piece of LightThomas Nagel, “Free Will”Kate Manne, Unshrinking: How to Face FatphobiaOverthink ep 27. From Body Positivity to Fat Feminism (feat. Amelia Hruby)
Follow Dr. Kate Manne on Substack!
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Night vision. Superhuman strength. And… kale salad? In episode 95 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore the weird world of biohackers, who leverage science and technology to optimize their bodies. The movement raises rich philosophical questions, from the blurry ethics of self-experimentation, to the consequences of extreme Cartesian dualism, to the awkward tension in our technological nostalgia for a pastoral paradise. If biohacking taps into the basic human desire to experience and investigate, it perhaps also pushes too far toward transcending our bodies. The stakes are political, metaphysical, and ethical — and your hosts are here to make philosophical sense of it all.Works DiscussedDave Asprey, Smarter Not HarderAlison Gopnik, The Philosophical BabyMirjam Grewe-Salfeld, Biohacking, Bodies, and Do-It-YourselfMichel de Montaigne, "Of Experience"Max More, The Transhumanist ReaderJoel Michael Reynolds, "Genopower: On Genomics, Disability, and Impairment"Smithsonian Mag, “200 Frozen Heads and Bodies Await Revival at This Arizona Cryonics Facility”Baruch de Spinoza, EthicsWashington Post, “The Key to Glorifying a Questionable Diet? Be a tech bro and call it ‘biohacking'"Patricia J. Zettler et. al., “Regulating genetic biohacking”Austin Powers (1997)If Books Could Kill PodcastOverthink ep 31. Genomics feat. Joel Michael Reynolds
Works DiscussedLauren Berlant, Cruel OptimismJeffery R. Di Leo, "Corporate Humanities in Higher Education"David Graeber, Debt: The First 5,000 YearsCathy Park Hong, Minor FeelingsGeoffery Ingham, The Nature of MoneyNietzsche, The Genealogy of MoralsPlato, RepublicShakespeare, The Merchant of VeniceShatapatha BrahmanaAdam Smith, The Wealth of NationsHEROES actPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Tell us who you pity and we’ll tell you who you are! In episode 93 of Overthink, Ellie and David guide you through the philosophy behind this “well-meaning” emotion. From Aristotle’s account of pity in theater, to problematic portrayals of disability in British charity telethons, pity has had an outsized role our social and cultural worlds. But who is the object of our pity, and why? Your hosts dissect various archetypes of pity, such as Father Mackenzie (a character in Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles) and the elusive Corn Man (a figure invented by Ellie while in Greece!). Where is the line between pity and compassion? How does pity interact with our social responsibilities and power structures? And, is pity a meaningful part of the good life, or is it an emotion we would all be better off without?Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works DiscussedAristotle, Poetics & RhetoricThe Beatles, Eleanor RigbyDavid Hume, A Treatise of Human NatureKristján Kristjánsson, “Pity: A Mitigated Defense”Martha Nussbaum, “Tragedy and Self-Sufficiency: Plato and Aristotle on Fear and Pity”Jean-Paul Sartre, Anti-Semite and JewAdam Smith, The Theory of Moral SentimentsJoseph Stramondo, “How an Ideology of Pity is a Social Harm for People With Disabilities”Bernard Whitley, Mary Kite, and Lisa Wagner, Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcastSpecial thanks to Alexandra Peabody for her support in researching this episode!
Let a thousand flowers bloom! In episode 92 of Overthink, Ellie and David have a panoramic conversation on love beyond monogamy with philosophy professor, podcaster, and author of Why It's OK To Not be Monogamous, Justin L. Clardy. They envision relations of love and special attachment that aren't bound to the notion of sacrifice. They also turn to personal stories and question the role of marriage in consumer capitalism and its nonstop pressure to find the One and Only. Together, they find in non-monogamous pathways to reimagine agency, identity, and community — and a nudge toward a richer philosophy of our relations with the world around us.Note: Ellie misspeaks when she mentions that married couples have lower satisfaction levels than unmarried ones. The correct claim, based on this study, is that they have fewer social ties. We apologize for the mistake!Works DiscussedMarina Adshade, "The Origins of the Institutions of Marriage"Simone de Beauvoir, She Came to StayElizabeth Brake, Minimizing MarriageJustin Clardy, Why It’s OK to Not Be MonogamousCarrie Jenkins, What Love IsRobert Nozick, "Love's Bond"Pages The Reading GroupRelated Overthink episodes15. Marriage16. Monogamy17. Open Relationships18. PolyamoryCheck out the episode's extended cut here!
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
Is mom still doing your laundry!? In episode 91 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore the twisty world of mommy issues, from the OG mother Mary to today’s seducing MILFs. They look into psychonalytic theories of the mom-child bond, paying close attention to ways these theories have been challenged and expanded in the 20th century. They also discuss Simone de Beauvoir’s critique of maternal devotion by diving into some its most extreme, and problematic, manifestations. Your hosts ask: Is it true that mothers identify more easily with their children of the same gender? Do macho men and wimpy boys sexualize their mothers in similar ways? And of course: who’s the biggest mama’s boy of them all?Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works DiscussedSimone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex and The Ethics of AmbiguityNancy Chodorow, The Reproduction of MotheringMichelle Dean, "Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter To Be Sick, …"Jacques Derrida, Reflections on the Mother TongueSigmund Freud, The Freud ReaderDonald Winnicott, The Good Enough ParentDon Jon (2013)MILF Manor (2023)
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Who’s your daddy? Episode 90 is all about daddy issues. Ellie and David investigate father-child relations and the sexual, emotional, and familial worlds they create. From summer zaddies and sexy dad bods to hero feminist dads, your hosts travel from psychoanalysis all the way to theology to explore the expansive world of father figures. Do we all, as Julia Kristeva says, harbor unconscious fantasies of seeing our fathers “beaten”? Could civilization itself, as Freud suggests, be rooted in an archaic act of patricide for which we still feel guilty without realizing it? Ellie and David tackle hard questions about how parenthood, gender, and vulnerability interact. They even wonder whether they might have “daddy issues” of their own!Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works DiscussedKatherine Angel, Daddy IssuesSigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo, and "A Special Type of Choice of Object made by Men"Carl Jung, A Theory of PsychoanalysisJulia Kristeva, A Father is Being BeatenJenn Mann, "Think You Have Daddy Issues?"Father of the Bride (1991)The Golden Bachelor (2023)
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
No, you’re not hallucinating! In episode 89 of Overthink, Ellie and David investigate the loopy world of psychedelics. Did you know that after doing psychedelics Jean-Paul Sartre went through a “lobster phase” during which he hallucinated lobsters everywhere he went? Once paraded as mind-opening gateways to the nature of reality, psychedelics are back in the conversation today as tools of therapy and neuroscience. Your hosts take a crack at the philosophy of these puzzling substances, from their implications for phenomenology and the nature of consciousness, to the ethics of their medicinal use, in light of their risks and long-lasting effects. If a trip can transform our mind and senses, it might be that our everyday perception really is far weirder than we think.
Check out the episode's extended cut here!Works DiscussedRobin Carhart-Harris, et al. “The Entropic Brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs”Alison Gopnik, The Philosophical BabyAldous Huxley, The Doors of PerceptionMike Jay, “Sartre’s Bad Trip”Chris Letheby and Jaipreet Mattu, "Philosophy and Classic Psychedelics: A review of some emerging themes"Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of PerceptionMichael Pollan, How to Change Your MindAnil Seth, Being You: A New Science of ConsciousnessDana G. Smith, “What Does Good Psychedelic Therapy Look Like?”Simeon Wade, Foucault in California Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Ellie and David are serving… dinner! In episode 88 of Overthink, your favorite podcasters explore the philosophy of food, discussing everything from Glaucon’s plea for fancy meals in the Republic, to the rich ways in which food is intertwined with our individual and cultural identities. They welcome food critic and philosophy professor Shanti Chu for a lively conversation about the gendering of meals, the ethics of food systems (lab-grown meat, anyone?), the future of restaurants, and much more. Bon appetit!Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works DiscussedCarol J. Adams, The Sexual Politics of MeatShanti Chu, “Nonviolence through Veganism” and “Public Philosophy and Food: Foodies, Ethics, and Activism”Claude Fischler, "Food, Self, and Identity"A. Breeze Harper, Sistah VeganEmmanuel Levinas, Totality and InfinityPlato, RepublicEric Schlosser, Fast Food NationPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Time to be real! In episode 87 of Overthink, Ellie and David go back and forth about authenticity. They explore its deep roots in existentialist philosophy and Romanticism, and grapple with the paradoxes of being authentic in the era of reality TV, social media, and friendly-branded megacorps. They dive into philosophical critiques of authenticity, and explore how Heidegger’s writings on “Eigentlichkeit” (often translated as “authenticity” or “actuality”) stand up today. Is authenticity the same thing as sincerity? Can you be authentic and insincere, or sincere and inauthentic? Who do we try to be authentic for: ourselves or other people? And might drag queens be the greatest example of postmodern authenticity?
Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works Discussed
Taylor Carman, "The Concept of Authenticity"Skye Cleary, How to Be AuthenticBrit Dawson, “Buying and selling authenticity: a decade of reality TV”Alessandro Ferrara, The Critique of AuthenticityMartin Heidegger, Being and TimeHans-Georg Moeller and Paul D’Ambrosio, You and Your ProfileLionel Trilling, Sincerity and AuthenticityCharles Taylor, The Ethics of AuthenticityDrag Race Spain S2The BachelorPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Give us a listen, and we’ll give you the world! In Episode 86 of Overthink, Ellie and David ask: what does it mean to live in a world? From animal spirit masters in Labrador to the foundations of climate science, they discuss why the concept of "world" is so contentious, and even at the brink of collapse. They navigate our entangled concepts of nature, culture, and the idyllic nurturing earth through the work of Hannah Arendt and Arturo Escobar. Is the world of animals the same as our own? And, what could it mean to imagine a world where many worlds fit? In times of deep planetary transformation, philosophizing our place in this world has never been more important.
This episode was produced by Emilio Esquivel Marquez and Aaron Morgan as part of their Summer Undergraduate Research Program at Pomona College.Check out the episode's extended cut here!
Works Discussed
Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition and The Origins of TotalitarianismMario Blaser, “Doing and undoing Caribou/Atiku”Dipesh Chakrabarty, “Planetary Humanities”Déborah Danowski and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, The Ends of the WorldArturo Escobar, Pluriversal PoliticsMartin Heidegger, Fundamental Concepts of MetaphysicsTravis Holloway, How to Live at the End of the WorldBruno Latour, Facing GaiaTimothy Morton, HyperobjectsConservation International, Mother Nature (2015)
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
This episode gets an enthusiastic yes from us. In episode 85 of Overthink, Ellie and David dive into the crux of sexual consent. They work through some of the earliest attempts on the part of American universities at developing a sexual consent policy, before unpacking the fiery debates surrounding consent today — ranging from complex legal cases as well as instances of “gray rape.” They probe the limits of popular understandings of consent with cases involving intense physical pain, and cases which undo the very stability of our idea of consent. (Can one meaningfully consent to one’s own murder?) They explore Ellie’s own proposal for rethinking our idea of consent. Is consent contractual? Performative? Magic? And, should it really be the central tenet of our sexual ethics?Content warning: this episode contains graphic discussions of sexual violence and bodily harm.Check out the episode's extended cut here!Works DiscussedLinda Martín Alcoff, Rape and ResistanceEllie Anderson, “A Phenomenological Approach to Sexual Consent” and “The Limits of Consent in Sexual Ethics”Katherine Angel, Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good AgainAnn Cahill, Rethinking RapeHeidi Hurd, “The Moral Magic of Consent”Jonathan Ichikawa, “Presupposition and Consent”Joseph Fischer, Screw ConsentJoan McGregor, Is it Rape?Caleb Ward and Ellie Anderson, “The Ethical Significance of Being an Erotic Object”Bari Weiss, “Aziz Ansari Is Guilty. Of Not Being a Mind Reader”Is It Date Rape? (1991 SNL Skit)Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink
What does it mean to be marginalized? Does marginalization give some people more epistemic authority than others? And, if so, what should we all do with this information? In episode 84 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about standpoint theory, its complex intellectual history, and its relationship to W. E. B. DuBois’ concept of double consciousness. They welcome an expert on the subject: Dr. Briana Toole, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College. In their conversation, they chat about how standpoint theory makes sense of electoral politics, educational policy, bizarre reality TV, and much more. They also discuss Corrupt the Youth, a philosophy outreach program founded by Dr. Toole that brings philosophy to high schools in the U.S.Check out this episode's extended cut here!Works DiscussedBriana Toole, “On Standpoint Epistemology and Epistemic Peerhood” and “Demarginalizing Standpoint Epistemology”Kate Chopin, The AwakeningW. E. B. DuBois, The Souls of Black FolkJennifer Nash, Black Feminism ReimaginedOlúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Elite CaptureDavid Foster Wallace, This Is WaterBlack. White. (2006)Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink
Western philosophy started… at the gym. In episode 83 of Overthink, Ellie and David tackle the philosophy of workouts, from Plato’s days as a wrestler to the modern loneliness of a solitary bench press. As they discuss the role of exercise — which the Greeks called gymnastics — in building bodies and training souls, they consider the ancient Olympics, the cravings for health and beauty that guide us through what David calls the "Protestant work-out ethic," and Jean Baudrillard's thoughts about Americans' passion for jogging.Works DiscussedJean Baudrillard, AmericaMark Greif, “Against Exercise”Drew Hyland, Philosophy of SportPlato, The Republic, The Laws, and EuthyphroHeather Reid, Introduction to the Philosophy of SportJean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, and “The Government of Poland”Sabrina Strings, Fearing the Black BodyMax Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Coulda, woulda, shoulda… In Overthink’s long-awaited epsiode 82, David and Ellie fret over the meaning of regret, in everything from life-altering career decisions to sloppy teenage breakups. They consider the usefulness of regret — if it has one at all — and explore its relation to a life well lived, investigating its philosophical lineage from Confucius and Aristotle to today. Can 20-year-olds regret? Can dogs? Is regret ever rational? And, when does remorse turn into existential despair?
Works DiscussedAristotle, Nichomachean EthicsJohn Danaher, “The Wisdom of Regret and the Fallacy of Regret Minimization”Shai Davidai and Thomas Giolvich, “The Ideal Road Not Taken”Michael Ing, The Vulnerability of Integrity in Early Confucian ThoughtPaddy McQueen, “When Should We Regret?”Michel de Montaigne, “On Repentance”Carolyn Price, “The Many Flavors of Regret”Justin White, “Revelatory Regret and the Standpoint of the Agent”Russian Doll (2019)Sliding Doors (1998)Magnolia (1999)Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Tweed suits, penny loafers: who said philosophers were out of touch? In episode 81 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk everything from Shein to Ferragamo, from high school lunchbox trends to Machiavelli’s nightgowns. As they chart the history of clothing, and the shift from functional Egyptian togas to extravagant medieval breeches, they investigate the refrain that clothes reveal the wearer’s personality. They ask, where does being timely turn into being classist? What does our sense for what’s hip tell us about perception? And, how do we square our drive for style with the injustices of consumption?Works DiscussedThomas Carlyle, Sartor ResartusGwenda-lin Grewal, Fashion | Sense: On Philosophy and FashionTansy E. Hoskins, The Anti-Capitalist Book of FashionGilles Lipovetsky, The Empire of FashionGeorg Simmel, “Fashion”Iris Marion Young, Responsibility and Global Labor JusticeAmie Zimmer, Mere Appearance: Redressing the History of PhilosophyFunny Face (1957) with Audrey HepburnThe White Lotus, Season 2Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Machine minds can work a paintbrush, but are they really making art? In episode 80 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk with guest Raphaël Millière, scholar and philosophy lecturer at Columbia University, on the aesthetic merits of computer-generated art. They discuss the thorny marriage of art and technology in everything from the early days of photography to YACHT’s AI-assisted pop songs. Why do we expect art to express human emotions? Is prompt-engineering for AI models an art in itself? And, if ‘great artists steal,’ is DALL·E the greatest artist of us all?Works discussedAARONDALL·EDavid Bowie, OutsideR.G. Collingwood, The Principles of ArtRaphaël Millière, AI Art is Challenging the Boundaries of CurationObvious, The Portrait of Edmond de BelamyYACHT, Chain TrippingPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
From Émile Zola to Edward Said, from Antonio Gramsci to… Joe Rogan? In episode 79 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the figure of the high-minded ‘intellectual’ and their role in today’s mass-media landscape. Who are intellectuals, what do they do, and what are they for? Ellie and David ask whether intellectuals have a duty to participate in public debate, and whether they can truly partake in liberatory action in such a capacity.
Works DiscussedJulien Benda, The Treason of IntellectualsChristoph Charles, Birth of the Intellectuals: 1880-1900Didier Eribon, Returning to ReimsAntonio Gramsci, The IntellectualsImmanuel Kant, What is Enlightenment?Mary McCarthy, The Groves of AcademiaEdward Said, Representations of the IntellectualÉmile Zola, J’accuse...!Armchair Expert PodcastBinchtopia PodcastSmartLess Podcast
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
One must imagine Sisyphus…bored. Take a break from boredom and listen to episode 78 of Overthink as David and Ellie guide you through the fabulously idle realm of this “bestial, indefinable affliction.” They discuss the peaceful highs and painful lows of their middle school summer slumps, the endless days of pandemic panic, and the sluggish mornings of monks during the Medieval period. What can boredom teach us about existence? Is Kierkegaard right that the masses are boring while the nobles bore themselves? Can 9-year-olds be existentially bored? Maybe all we need to overcome boredom is a little bit of fun, perhaps a holiday. Or is it?Works Discussed
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from UndergroundAndreas Elpidorou, The Feeling of Boredom, Boredom and PovertyEvagrius, Of the Eight Capital SinsGustave Flaubert, Madame BovaryImmanuel Kant, Lectures on EthicsSøren Kierkegaard, Either/OrPascal, PenséesLars Svendsen, A Philosophy of BoredomMichel de Montaigne, Of SorrowThe Twilight ZonePatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
* In the episode, we misattributed the quote “The cure for boredom is curiosity” to Dorothy Parker. The quote belongs to Ellen Parr.
Fireworks, a gushing waterfall, little death. The orgasm. In episode 77 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss how phenomenology and psychoanalysis interpret the experience of orgasm. They talk about evolutionary theories of the orgasm, including the theory that the body can suck up...“higher quality sperm.” They tackle what the orgasm gap says about the state of gender and sex in our society.
Works Discussed
George Bataille, Erotism
Sigmund Freud, “Instincts and Their Vicissitudes”
Sigmund Freud, “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality”
Sara Heinämaa, “The Phenomenology of Desire and Orgasm”
Jacques Lacan, Jouissance
Elisabeth Lloyd, The Case of the Female Orgasm Bias in the Science of Evolution
Emily Nagoski, Come As You Are
Thomas Percy, “Walking in a Meadow Green”
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Guilty pleasures or cult classics, at the end of the day they’re just bad movies. In episode 76 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk with Matthew Strohl about bad movies and why it’s okay to love them. Strohl is a professor of philosophy at the University of Montana who specializes in aesthetics and ancient philosophy. He is the author of Why It’s Okay to Love Bad Movies. Here, he talks with Ellie and David about what makes certain movies “bad” yet also somehow “good,” and introduces us to two ways of relating to bad movies: bad movie ridicule vs bad movie love. What value do bad movies add to our lives and how can we develop community around the practice of watching bad movies?
Works DiscussedDancin’: It’s On! (2015)Looking Glass (2018)Showgirls (1995)Matthew Strohl, Why It's Okay to Love Bad MoviesPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
*cricket noises* In episode 75 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss silence and its connection with awe, ecstasy, and the experience of the divine. They talk about David’s experience staying silent during a collegiate debate and Ellie’s practice of meditation as it relates to silence. How does being silent reveal the inner and outer noise that so often surrounds us? They talk about Christian mysticism, Dauenhauer's deep silence, and Heidegger’s call of conscience and explore the various forms of silence that shape our everyday lives.
Works Discussed
St. Thomas Aquinas, The Summa Theologica
John Cage, 4’33”
Bernard Dauenhauer, Silence: The Phenomenon and its Ontological Significance
Rupert Gethin, The Foundations of Buddhism
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time
Richard Kostelanetz, Conversing with John Cage
Louis Pelletier, “Silence please! A brief history of silence at the theater”
Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Dōgen Zenji, ShōbōgenzōPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
What kind of authority do we appeal to when we invoke lived experience? Isn't all experience "lived"? Why does the *discourse* today so frequently refer to this concept, and what are its philosophical origins? In episode 74 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the phenomenology of lived experience, including its roots in Dilthey, who considered lived experience to be historical. They incorporate Fanon’s work into the conversation to answer the question of if our lived experience of the world is something that varies along identity lines such as race.
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcastWorks Discussed
Wilhelm Dilthey, Poetry and Experience
Franz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
Martin Jay, Songs of Experience
Becca Longtin, “From Factical Life to Art: Reconsidering Heidegger's Appropriation of Dilthey”
Pamela Paul, “The Limits of ‘Lived Experience’”
What do Gwen Stefani, Iggy Azalea, and Camille Monet have in common? They are all blonde women who are probably guilty of cultural appropriation. In episode 73 of Overthink, Ellie and David tackle cultural appropriation, starting with the kerfuffle over Claude Monet’s painting La Japonaise at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Pulling from their own experiences of cultural appropriation and from academic explorations of the topic, they consider whether individuals should even be called out for cultural appropriation. They talk about Nguyen and Strohl’s concept of “group intimacy” and debate whether we can ever draw a clear line between insiders and outsiders in a particular cultural group.
Works Discussed
Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture
Jesa Marie Calaor, “Gwen Stefani: “I Said, ‘My God, I’m Japanese’”
Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures
Erich Hatala Matthes, “Cultural Appropriation Without Cultural Essentialism?”
C. Thi Nguyen and Matthew Strohl, “Cultural Appropriation and the Intimacy of Groups”
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
To be or not to be? That is the question. At the center of Hamlet’s soliloquy is the issue of whether life is worth living. In episode 72 of Overthink, Ellie and David consider this issue with philosopher and existentialism expert Céline Leboeuf. How can we find meaning in our lives when the world seems random and indifferent to our interests? Leboeuf talks about how her personal experience with an existential crisis and her philosophical search for a way out of it led her to consider religious, atheist, and spiritual answers to the question "Why Live?" Ellie and David also consider Camus’ notion of the absurd, and whether life is just a series of blips of suffering with no higher purpose.Works Discussed Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus William James, “Is Life Worth Living”Céline Leboeuf, "Why Live? The Three Authors Who Saved Me During an Existential Crisis"John Jay McDermott “Why Bother: Is Life Worth Living?”Samuel Scheffer, Death and the AfterlifeLeo Tolstoy, A Confession
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Is the emotional opacity of men a social justice issue? In episode 71, Ellie and David break down the concepts of emotional and hermeneutic labor. The notion of emotional labor was originally created to shed light on gendered workplace interactions, but it has since been applied to romantic and other kinds of relationships. Is this expanded use of the term justified? Ellie’s research suggests that the concept of hermeneutic labor may better explain asymmetries of power in romantic relationships between men and women. Hermeneutic labor imbalances are produced by men’s inability to name and interpret their feelings and by the societal expectation that women manage their own emotions and those of their male partners simultaneously. How does Ellie’s research on hermeneutic labor shift our perspective on the issue of gender in emotional work?Works DiscussedEllie Anderson, “Hermeneutic Labor: The Gendered Burden of Interpretation in Intimate Relationships Between Women and Men”Arlie Russell Hochschild, The Managed Heartbell hooks, The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and LoveJudith Farr Tormey, "Exploitation, Oppression and Self-Sacrifice"Ronald Levant, “Desperately seeking language: Understanding, assessing, and treating normative male alexithymia”Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, “Stoicism (as Emotional Compression) Is Emotional Labor”Kathi Weeks, "Hours for What We Will: Work, Family, and the Movement for Shorter Hours”
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
In the next hour, I might miss out on the greatest thing that could happen to me. Or maybe that’s just the FOMO talking. FOMO, the fear of missing out, has infiltrated the zeitgeist in the past decade. What does the obsession with FOMO tell us about our desire to connect with others in an age of consumer capitalism and social media? In episode 70, Ellie and David consider the fear of missing out in light of Nietzsche’s ressentiment, Freud’s psychoanalysis of Little Hans, and how FOMO has changed due to COVID. They consider whether the movement toward JOMO, or the joy of missing out, provides a viable solution to the fear.
Svend Brinkmann, The Joy of Missing Out: The Art of Self-Restraint in an Age of Excess PaperbackSigmund Freud, Obsessions and PhobiasSigmund Freud, “Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-Year-Old Boy”Mayank Gupta and Aditya Sharma, “Fear of missing out: A brief overview of origin, theoretical underpinnings and relationship with mental health”Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street”Mark Morford, “Oh My God You are So Missing Out”Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of MoralsJenny Odell, How to Do NothingJames A. Roberts and Meredith E. David, “The Social Media Party: Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), Social Media Intensity, Connection, and Well-Being”
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Wild animals who build communities, domestic companions who love, and captive creatures who suffer. In episode 69 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk with renowned philosopher Martha Nussbaum about her capabilities approach to animal justice. They touch on topics as varied as animal sentience, factory farming, habitat destruction, and the ethics of predation. Together, they discuss the failure of established ethical frameworks to fully incorporate the more-than-human world, explore our ethical responsibilities to other animals, and consider how our legal system might need to change in order to facilitate the flourishing of all life on earth.Works DiscussedRachel Aviv, The Philosopher of FeelingsMartha Nussbaum, Justice for Animals: Our Collective ResponsibilityPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
I’m holding out for a hero. From Achilles to Odysseus and modern day heroes, what does it mean to be a hero, and why are we obsessed with hero worship? In episode 68 of Overthink, Ellie and David dissect the figure of the hero, from its masculinist overtones to how it differs from other morally praiseworthy figures, such as the saint. They discuss how the concept of heroism has changed over time from the time of Homer to the age of CNN.
Works DiscussedAri Kohen, Untangling Heroism Marina McCoy, Wounded HeroesFriedrich Nietzche, “On the Uses and Liabilities of History for Life”J.O. Urmson, “Of Saints and Heroes”Philip Zimbardo and Zeno Franco, “The Banality of Heroism”Zeno Franco, Scott T. Allison, et. al, "Heroism Research: A Review of Theories, Methods, Challenges, and Trends"
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
It’s corn! A big lump with knobs, it has the juice, I can’t imagine a more beautiful thing. Wise words about corn that relate to the sense of taste. In episode 67 of Overthink, Ellie and David finish their series on the five senses talking about the gustatory experience. They consider if taste is merely a subjective experience or are there some things that objectively taste good? Ellie and David discuss how having good taste relates to the perceptual experience of taste and why taste is such a big part of community.Works DiscussedJean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste, Or, Meditations on Transcendental GastronomyA. S. Barwich, Smellosophy: What the Nose Tells the MindDavid Hume, Of the Standard of TasteCarolyn Korsmeyer, Making Sense of TasteMengzi, MengziPassport to Paris (1999)Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Have you ever experienced the headache-inducing odor of Axe body spray? Smell has immense power, but why has it been undervalued in philosophy? In episode 66, Ellie and David are joined by philosophy professor Dr. Benjamin Young to discuss the sense and how we perceive smell. They talk about everything from Anosmia, the loss of smell, to the smellscape of middle school. Works Discussed Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the SensesImmanuel Kant, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of ViewBill Lichen, “The Sliding of Smell”James McHugh, Sandalwood and Carrion: Smell In Indian Religion And CultureLarry Shiner, Art Scents: Exploring the Aesthetics of Smell and the Olfactory Arts Marta Tafalla, “A World Without the Olfactory Dimension”Benjamin Young, “Stinking Consciousness” Benjamin Young, Theoretical Perspectives on SmellPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Have you heard? In episode 65 of Overthink, Ellie and David continue the series on the five senses as they discuss hearing. From wanting to close your ears to stop overhearing a conversation to the noise pollution outside your bedroom window, how does the sense of hearing make its way into our everyday lives? They also discuss how Deaf culture calls upon us to retool our understanding of the importance of hearing for human life. Works CitedJacques Derrida and Bernard Stiegler, Echographies of Television: Filmed InterviewsChristopher Frith, “Disorders of self-monitoring and the symptoms of schizophrenia"Karen Hanson, “The Self Imagined: Philosophical Reflections on the Social Character of Psyche”Edmund Husserl, The Phenomenology of Internal Time-ConsciousnessHans Jonas, “The Nobility of Sight”Simon McCarthy-Jones, “Stop, Look, and Listen”George Herbert Mead, Selected WritingsAlva Noë, Out of Our Heads: Why You are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons From the Biology of ConsciousnessMichel Serres, The Five SensesRobert Sparrow “Defending Deaf Culture”Ludwig Wittgenstein, Logical Investigations Defu Yap, Laura Staum Casasanto, and Daniel Casasanto, “Metaphoric Iconicity in Signed and Spoken Languages”Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
And at last I see the light. In episode 64 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss vision in the second installment of their ongoing series on the five senses. They discuss the prevalence of visual metaphors for knowledge, and why sight has historically been the most privileged of the senses. Ellie and David talk about the difference between Greek and Vedic approaches to vision and how culture and language can impact important aspects of the visual experience such as the ability to perceive the color blue. Works DiscussedHans Blumenberg, The Legitimacy of the Modern WorldGuy Deutscher, Through the Language GlassWilliam Gladstone, Studies on Homer and the Homeric AgeLuce Irigaray, Elemental PassionsMartin Jay, Downcast Eyes, the Denigration of Vision in 20th Century French ThoughtHans Jonas, "The Nobility of Sight"Hans Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life Toward a Philosophical BiologyPlato, The Theaetetus Plato, The RepublicThe Upanishads Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
Touch, texture, and tickling. From touch working as a form of recognition to the sensation of shapes, touch is a part of our everyday lives. In episode 63 of Overthink, Ellie and David begin their series on the five senses with touch. They discuss the significance of Cinderella’s original fur slipper and why Lucretius believed that milk and honey particles have a smooth, round shape. They also consider why some ancient philosophers consider touch the primary sense and what we learn about the nature of the self from the phenomenology of touching and being touched.Works Discussed Matthew Fulkerson, The First Sense: A Philosophical Study of Human Touch Galen, Complete WorksG. Stanley Hall, "The Psychology of Tickling, Laughing and the Comic" William Harvey, The Circulation of the Blood and Other WritingsEdmund Husserl, Cartesian MeditationsDanijela Kambaskovic-Sawers and Charles T. Wolfe,“The senses in philosophy and science: from the nobility of sight to the materialism of touch”Lucretius, On the Nature of ThingsMaurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and the InvisibleDaniel Heller-Roazen, The Inner Touch: Archaeology of a SensationMichel Serres, The Five SensesPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Curiosity led Pandora to open a box, but what does being curious look like in our everyday lives? In episode 62, Ellie and David discuss the vilification of curiosity and the role of curiosity in the modern education system. To help, they talk with philosophy professor Perry Zurn and bioengineering professor Dani S. Bassett, twins who co-authored the book Curious Minds: The Power of Connection. Together, they consider how we can understand and cultivate different types of curiosity. Works Discussed Saint Augustine, The Confessions Francis Bacon, "Of Tribute" Barbara Benedict, Curiosity: A Cultural History of Early Modern Inquiry Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan Richard Phillips, “Curiosity: Care, Virtue and Pleasure in Uncovering the New” Alastair Reed, “Curiosity” Joelle Thomas and David M. Peña-Guzmán, “Review of Vinciane Despret’s What Would Animals Say If We Asked the Right Questions?” Perry Zurn, Curiosity and Power: The Politics of Inquiry Perry Zurn & Dani S. Bassett, Curious Minds: The Power of Connection Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Know thyself, the inscription at the shrine of Delphi reads. But can we truly know ourselves, like the Ancient Greeks believed? In episode 61 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore the concept of self-knowledge from looking inside ourselves to the reflection we put out into the world. Do we gain self knowledge through introspection, or are there better ways of finding out who we are? They discuss everything from imagination to doubting as a way to get a sense of ourselves.Works DiscussedCatriona MacKenzie, Relational Autonomy: Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Social SelfHenri Bergson, Creative EvolutionHenri Bergson, The Creative Mind: An Introduction to MetaphysicsJimena Canales, The Physicist and the Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson, and the Debate That Changed Our Understanding of Time Krista Lawlor, “Knowing What One Wants”Montaigne, Essays of MontaignePlato, DialoguesRené Descartes, Discourse on MethodRené Descartes, Meditations on First PhilosophyRichard Moran, Authority and EstrangementWilliam James, The Principles of PsychologyPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Likes, lighting, and Lil Miquela. Influencers have taken over the online world, promoting everything from brands to lifestyle changes. But, what does it mean to exert influence over somebody and how has the rise of social media created a whole new category of the influencer? In episode 60 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the job and person we now know as the influencer and how objectification and relationships play into this role. Works CitedSimone de Beauvoir, The Second SexTalcott Parsons, “On the Concept of Influence”Time Magazine, “The 25 Most Influential People on the Internet”
Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Since the invention of film, we’ve seen an unimaginable shift in the nature of human perception — but what is film, really? In episode 59 of Overthink, Ellie and David dive into the nature of film. What distinguishes film from other art forms, like photography and theater? Do films depict reality as it is, or are films separate worlds in themselves? They dissect the ideology of the movie theater, human perceptions of montage over time and across cultures, the condition of the film spectator, and more!Works DiscussedBéla Balázs, “Theory of the Film”Jean-Louis Baudry, “Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus”Stanley Cavell, The World ViewedBernd Elzer & Martin Loiperdinger, “Lumiere’s Arrival of the Train: Cinema’s Founding Myth”Jean Epstein, “The Intelligence of a Machine”Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg GalaxySusan Sontag, “The Decay of Cinema”Susan Sontag, “Film and Theater”Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
In the wake of #MeToo, the controversial Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, where does feminism stand today? In episode 58 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore feminist philosophy to diagnose the status and future of the feminist movement. To help think about these issues, they bring on Dr. Carol Hay, feminist philosopher and author of the book Think Like a Feminist: The Philosophy Behind the Revolution. The trio talk theories of oppression, recent anti-feminist backlash, capitalist appropriation of feminism (see: #girlboss), and more!Works DiscussedCarol Hay, Think Like a Feminist: The Philosophy Behind the RevolutionSusan Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American WomenClotilde de Maricourt and Stephen R. Burrell, "#MeToo or #MenToo? Expressions of backlash and masculinity Politics in the #MeToo era."Simone de Beauvoir, The Second SexPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
What do garden gnomes, the #BlackLivesMatter black squares of June 2020 Instagram, and formulaic pop songs all have in common? They’re kitsch. In episode 56 of Overthink, Ellie and David investigate the history of kitsch as an aesthetic category distinct from art. How does the superficiality and mass-reproducibility of kitsch explain its uses as a tool of fascist propaganda? They discuss the American cultural instinct to deploy inspirational quotes in response to national trauma, kitsch as an antidote to working class alienation, the decline of emotionally significant, critical art, and more.Works DiscussedClement Greenberg, “Avant-Garde and Kitsch”Tomáš Kulka, Kitsch and ArtCatherine A. Lugg, KitschZach Brown Band, “Chicken Fried”Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, Dogs Playing PokerPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Feeling watched? Suspicious your Google Home is a front for Big Brother? From period tracking apps to police body cams, surveillance has immense social-political implications for our everyday lives. In episode 55 of Overthink, Ellie and David draw on social philosophy to understand our experiences of mass surveillance. How do technologies of surveillance that promise convenience and freedom lead us to welcome new forms of control into our lives? They also consider how these technologies have empowered people to take up new methods of resisting state violence. Works DiscussedAnders Albrechtslund, “Online social networking as participatory surveillance”Roger Clark, “Information technology and dataveillance”Gilles Deleuze, “Postscript on the Societies of Control”Michel Foucault, Discipline and PunishKevin Haggerty and Richard Ericson, “The surveillant assemblage” Steve Mann, “’Sousveillance’: inverse surveillance in multimedia imaging’”Support Overthink on Patreon here: patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
Are humans the only animals with culture? In episode 54 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore the social and cultural bonds that animals develop with one another. For instance, what can elephant mourning rituals tell us about elephant society and whether these creatures have a concept of death? Then, they sit down with philosopher Cynthia Willett to discuss her work on animal sociality. According to Willett, intra- and trans-species sociality challenges modern conceptions of ethical life as a matter of individual choices and abstract laws.Works DiscussedDavid Peña-Guzmán, When Animals DreamHal Whitehead and Luke Rendell, The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins Cynthia Willett, Interspecies EthicsSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
A court case over an elephant’s right to liberation from the Bronx Zoo shows that we’ve come a long way from Descartes’ concept of animal-as-machine. In episode 53, Ellie and David break down an emerging question in animal rights activism: animal personhood and moral status. What does it mean to be a person? And, what are the implications of legally recognizing animals’ right to life and bodily freedom?Works DiscussedDavid Peña-Guzmán, et al., Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief Nicolas Malebranche, The Search after TruthLucius Annaeus Seneca, On Instinct in AnimalsPeter Singer, Animal LiberationSteven Wise, Unlocking the CageSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram, Twitter & TikTok | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink Podcast
From snoozing puppies kicking their legs to controversial octopi who change colors while asleep, nonhuman dreaming fascinates us. Science says that sleeping animals experience “reality simulations,” rich dreamscapes which they navigate as conscious agents. Inspired by David’s book When Animals Dream (fresh off the press!), this episode kicks off a 3-part series tracing his thrilling investigation into the nature and philosophical implications of animal dreaming. Episode 52 introduces David’s argument that animals’ capacity to dream reveals the need to radically rethink animals as conscious beings with complex inner lives.Works Discussed:David Peña-Guzmán, When Animals DreamNature (S38 E1), PBS TVElizabeth Preston, "Was Heidi the Octopus Really Dreaming?"William Lauder Lindsay, Mind in the Lower Animals in Health and DiseaseSigmund Freud, The Interpretation of DreamsEvan Thompson, Waking, Dreaming, BeingMaurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of PerceptionCharles Darwin, The Descent of ManPeter Godfrey-Smith, Other MindsRatatouille (2007)Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram, Twitter & TikTok | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
Generational differences emerge in subtle ways, but how do we identify these? And how does the new generation of youth culture Gen Z is defining differ from Ellie and David’s generation of millennials? Feeling a bit out of touch, Ellie and David interview Overthink production assistants Anna Solomon and Sam Hernandez to tell them all about Gen Z values.Works DiscussedJose Ortega y Gasset, El tema de nuestro tiempoWilliam Strauss and Neil Howe, GenerationsWilliam Strauss and Neil Howe, The Fourth TurningBobby Duffy, The Generation MythMark Bauerlein, The Dumbest GenerationSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
What do Freudian slips, Josie and the Pussycats, and solving math problems have in common? Psychoanalysis claims to have some answers! Sigmund Freud suggests that unconscious desires, fears, and trauma influence us without us being conscious of them. In pop culture, the unconscious is often depicted as the realm of dirty thoughts and subliminal messages, but does the unconscious actually even exist? In episode 50 (!), Ellie and David explore the unconscious and the existentialist challenge to it from Jean-Paul Sartre.Works DiscussedSigmund Freud, “The Unconscious”Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and NothingnessJosie and the Pussycats (2001)The Exorcist (1973)Karl Popper, Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific KnowledgeStanislas Dehaene, The Code of Consciousness Jacques Hadamard, An Essay on the Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical FieldJacques Derrida, “Freud and the Scene of Writing”Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
Why do humans in every known culture love juicy gossip? Some theorists say gossip evolved as the modern version of picking fleas off our friends, reassuring those around us of our shared social bonds. Others argue that it reinforces social norms by outlining what behaviors are bad, or even scandalous. In episode 49, Ellie and David gossip about gossip — when is it wrong to gossip, and when might it be the ethical choice? Many scholars throughout history have condemned gossip as idle chitchat that slanders others, but some feminist and decolonial thinkers have reclaimed its utility for fighting against systems of oppression that exclude them from formal modes of communication. Episode 49 spills the tea on gossip. Works DiscussedSipping with Socrates, “Socrates’ view of gossip”Immanuel Kant, AnthropologyThomas Aquinas, Summa TheologicaSoren Kierkegaard, The Present Age: On the Death of RebellionThe Bible, 1 Timothy 5:13Megan L. Robbins and Alexander Karan, “Who Gossips and How in Everyday Life?”Robin Dunbar, Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of LanguageGiambattista Vico, The New ScienceBaumeister, Roy F., Liqing Zhang, and Kathleen D. Vohs, “Gossip as Cultural Learning”SurvivorRanajit Guha, Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial IndiaSissela Bok, Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and RevelationSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
We’re always worried about being productive enough with our time, but where does this compulsion come from? In episode 48, Ellie and David examine productivity culture and the drive to produce. Although research says longer hours don’t equal more productivity, capitalism encourages us to always be working, even at the cost of our mental and physical health. How does this inefficient approach to work (and our lives outside of it) stifle our growth and creativity? According to Twitter memes and Bifo, refusing productivity for lazy relaxation on the beach may be a revolutionary rejection of productivity culture, but Adorno contends that laziness recycles us into merely consuming commodities for capitalism instead of producing them. What can a creative, process-based approach offer us that a productivist one cannot, and what value might there be in just producing less?Works CitedAmelia Horgan, “The ‘Dark Academia’ Subculture Offers a Fantasy Alternative to the Neoliberal University”John Pencavel, “The Productivity of Working Hours”Shainaz Firfiray, “Long hours at the office could be killing you – the case for a shorter working week”Economic Policy Institute, “The Productivity-Pay Gap”Foucault, History of MadnessFranco Berardi, FuturabilityHerbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional ManTheodor Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged LifeMihály Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal ExperienceCal Newport, “It’s Time to Embrace Slow Productivity”Mark Fisher, Capitalist RealismSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Is rage a bad thing? Philosophers usually frame anger as an unhealthy or even immoral emotion that leads us away from compassion and towards violence, but episode 47 guest Myisha Cherry's new book makes The Case for Rage as a powerful tool for anti-racist work. Before their discussion with Dr. Cherry, Ellie and David discuss contrasting theories of anger from Martha Nussbaum and Buddhism. Can rage be rooted in love rather than hate, and drive us towards a more just world?Works DiscussedMyisha Cherry, The Case for Rage: Why Anger is Essential to Anti-Racist StrugglePeter Sloterdijk, Rage and TimeMartha Nussbaum, Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, JusticeAeschylus, The OresteiaShantideva, BodhicaryāvatāraEmily McRae, "Metabolizing Anger: A Tantric Buddhist Solution to theProblem of Moral Anger"Silvan Tomkins, Exploring AffectAudre Lorde, “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism”Myisha Cherry and Owen Flanagan, The Moral Psychology of AngerMartin Luther King Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”Amia Srinivasan, “The Aptness of Anger”Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Is it really better to exist than not exist? With rampant climate destruction, income inequality, and suffering in the world, some have begun to question whether it is ethical to create new life, knowing it will suffer. In episode 46 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore the intellectual tradition of anti-natalism. Why did Schopenhauer think that life was ultimately dominated by suffering, and why did Nietzsche think he was so wrong? How has anti-natalism emerged out of the trend of pessimism, and how can we be optimistic about generating new life in what can at times be such a hard world?Works DiscussedSoul (2020)Capernaum (2018)David Benatar, Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into ExistenceArthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and RepresentationElizabeth Harman, “Critical Study of David Benatar. Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006)Thaddeus Metz, “Are Lives Worth Creating?”Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of TragedyThéophile de Giraud, The Art of Guillotining the Procreators: Anti-Natalist ManifestoPlato, The LawsSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Have you ever hugged a tree? In episode 45 of Overthink, Ellie and David head into nature to explore the philosophical side of trees. Often, trees have been ignored, even as they populate so much of the space around us. Why did Socrates say he could learn nothing from trees, and why did Nietzsche write so romantically about them? Deleuze and Guattari criticize trees for being too vertically organized, but Michael Marder argues that they're far more cooperative than we ever imagined. In that spirit, trees are clearly alive, but Peter Wohlleben goes as far as to say they could possibly be intelligent, and even have language of their own. Does that mean that trees deserve rights? Ellie and David get into the root of it in episode 45!Works DiscussedRichard Powers, The OverstoryPlato, PhaedrusMartin Buber, I and ThouAristotle, De Anima Plotinus, EnneadsHans Jonas, The Phenomenon of LifePeter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They CommunicateMassimo E. Maffei and Wilhelm Boland, “The Silent Scream of the Lima Bean”Monica Gagliano et al., “Learning by association in plants”Monica Gagliano et al., “Plants learn and remember: let’s get used to it”Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka, The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul: Learning and the Origins of ConsciousnessChristopher Stone, “Should Trees Have Standing?”Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A Thousand PlateausFriedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of TragedyMichael Marder, “In (Philosophical) Defense of Trees”
Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Are the straights okay? In episode 44 of Overthink, Ellie and David dive into “heteropessimism,” the sense of disillusionment or even shame associated with heterosexuality. From viral TikTok videos to studies showing that women are less dissatisfied than men in heterosexual relationships, post #metoo society is reckoning with the everyday sexism of many relationships. Ellie and David explore the reasons for heteropessimism, consider alternatives such as political lesbianism and boys' education, and ask: how can we be attracted to things that are bad for us, and how can we break out of a heteropessimistic approach to love?Works DiscussedAsa Seresin, “On Heteropessimism”Lena Gunnarsson, The Contradictions of LoveMari Ruti, Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings: The Emotional Costs of Everyday LifeLauren Berlant, Cruel OptimismSandra Bartky, Femininity and DominationLauren Berlant and Lee Edelman, Sex, Or the UnbearableAndrea Long Chu, “The Impossibility of Feminism”Pauline Harmange, Moi les hommes, je les détesteJack Halberstam, In A Queer Time and PlaceRonald F. Levant, Philip A. Allen, and Mei-Ching Lien, “Alexithymia in Men: How and when do emotional processing deficiencies occur?”Ronald Levant, “Desperately Seeking Language: Understanding, Assessing, and Treating Normative Male Alexithymia”Lauren Papp, Chrystyna D. Kouros, and E. Mark Cummings, “Demand-Withdraw patterns in marital conflict in the home”D.L. Vogel, S.R. Wester, M. Heesacker, and S. Madon, “Dating relationships and the demand/withdraw pattern of communication”Stephanie Coontz, housework-gender-happiness.html">“How to Make Your Marriage Gayer”Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Some podcasts only talk the talk, but David and Ellie walk the walk (or talk the walk?) in episode 43 by diving into the philosophy of walking. Walking is a complex sociocultural practice that raises fascinating questions about history, power, and freedom. Why did our ancestors transition from walking on all fours to walking on two legs, and how did this shape our evolution as a species? Why have so many philosophers throughout history (from Aristotle to Rousseau) insisted on incorporating walks into their daily routines? And how do systems of oppression—such as classism, racism, sexism, transphobia, and ableism—mold our experience of walking, determining where and even how we can walk?*correction: when Ellie says "James DeSilva," she meant "Jeremy DeSilva"! Our apologies to the author of First Steps. Works Discussed Charles Baudelaire, “The Painter of Modern Life” Frédéric Gros, A Philosophy of Walking Gayle Salamon, The Life and Death of Latisha King: A Critical Phenomenology of TransphobiaJane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American CitiesJennifer McDuff and Alison Phinney, "Walking With Meaning: Subjective Experiences of Physical Activity in Dementia"Jeremy DeSilva, First Steps: How Upright Walking Made us Human Jo Livingstone and Lovia Gyarkye, "Death to the Flâneur"Lauren Elkin, Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London Marily Oppezzo and Daniel L. Schwartz, "Give Your Ideas Some Legs: The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking"Michel de Certeau, "Walking in the City" Quill R. Kukla, "City Spaces, Pace Bias, and the Production of Disability"Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Would you willingly plug yourself into an experience-simulating machine such as The Matrix? What would happen to society if robots suddenly became conscious? What would you do if, for some reason, you encountered an utterly alien life form? Many of us first ponder big philosophical questions such as these through exposure to science fiction stories in books or movies. In episode 42, Ellie and David explore the power of sci-fi. After considering the origins of this genre, they interview Dr. Helen De Cruz, an expert on the philosophy of science fiction, about how our brains process sci-fi stories differently than other speculative narratives, including philosophical thought experiments!Works DiscussedHelen De Cruz, Johan De Smedt, and Eric Schwitzgebel, Philosophy Through Science Fiction Stories: Exploring the Boundaries of the PossibleJohan De Smedt and Helen De Cruz. "The Epistemic Value of Speculative Fiction"Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and SimulationThe Matrix Decoded: Le Nouvel Observateur Interview With Jean Baudrillard, 2004Ted Chiang, "Story of Your Life"Ursula K. Le Guin, The DispossessedUrsula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of DarknessZhuangzi, The Inner ChaptersMary Shelley, FrankensteinPhilip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?The Matrix (film)Zenon, Girl of the Twenty-First Century (film) Arrival (film)Dune (film)I, Robot (film)Robert Nozick, “The Experience Machine"Ruth Garrett Millikan, “On Swampkinds"Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Drunks, like children, always tell the truth. And after a night (or day) of drinking, everyone turns into a professional philosopher! What is it about intoxication that incites us to philosophize, to “wax poetic”? In episode 41, David and Ellie explore the theme of intoxication all the way from the wine-filled feasts of the ancient Greeks to contemporary debates about psychedelic drugs. They look at the fascinating “ergot hypothesis,” which holds that famous philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle came up with their most important metaphysical insights while tripping on an ancient psychedelic called “ergot.” And they consider what experiences of intoxication can teach us about power, privilege, and freedom.Works DiscussedCarl Hart, Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of FearPlato, The SymposiumR. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, and Carl A. P. Ruck, The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the MysteriesMichael Pollan, How to Change Your MindEvgenia Fotiou "The globalization of ayahuasca shamanism and the erasure of indigenous shamanism" Marty Roth, Drunk the Night Before: An Anatomy of Intoxication Jean-Luc Nancy, IntoxicationImmanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of MoralsMaggie Nelson, On FreedomJacques Derrida, Plato’s PharmacySupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Happy holidays! As Christmas approaches, the average American prepares to spend nearly $1,000 on presents, decorations, and family feasting. How did an originally religious festival become so caught up in capitalist consumption? What really defines Christmas in an increasingly secular America? This holiday season, David and Ellie try not to be scrooges as they explore the Christmas Industrial Complex. From Hallmark movies to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the stories we tell around Christmas can be incredibly varied. In looking at these narratives and more, Ellie and David discuss whether Christmas can be separated from the often heavily capitalist rituals around it. Episode 40.Works DiscussedNewSong, “The Christmas Shoes” Megan Garber, “The Cheesy Endurance of the Made-for-TV Holiday Movie”A New York Christmas WeddingDaniel J. Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in AmericaCharles Dickens, A Christmas CarolHistory.com, “Saturnalia”Mari Ruti, Penis Envy and Other Bad FeelingsJim Probasco, “Average Cost of American Holiday Spending”Jonathan Berr, “Hallmark’s Christmas Movies Are Predictably Popular With Viewers”
Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
What’s this episode about? Shh, it’s a secret. Just kidding! In episode 39, Ellie and David take a deep dive into the concepts of secrets and secrecy. Some thinkers have argued that keeping secrets is destructive for the self, while others say that keeping secrets lets us feel like we have something (alt: a space?) for ourselves, that isn’t shared with other people. Moreover, the telling of secrets is often a key to creating a sense of trust and intimacy between BFFs or romantic partners. However, keeping secrets also often raises an ethical question — is it ever morally right to disclose another person’s secret, and if so, when? Ellie and David conclude with a discussion of government secrecy and its implications for public trust; how much transparency is too much?
Works DiscussedKwame Anthony Appiah, “Should I Tell My Friend’s Husband She’s Having an Affair?”Sissela Bok, SecretsJames Edwin Mahon, “Secrets vs. Lies: Is There a Moral Asymmetry?”Anne Dufourmontelle, In Defense of SecretsGilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A Thousand PlateausJacques Derrida, “Répondre — du secret, 1991-2 seminar”Georg Simmel, “The Sociology of Secrecy and Secret Societies”Giovanna Borradori, “Between transparency and surveillance: Politics of the secret"C. Thi Nguyễn, “Transparency is Surveillance”Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Disgust is often assumed to be biological, but in what ways do cultural norms and personal preferences influence what disgusts us? Can we shape what we’re disgusted by over time? Ellie and David explore how disgust colors our interactions with food, art, and even sex, in episode 38. Given how disgust has helped enforce racism and homophobia, does it have any place in morality? And how does modern art's use of excrement, vomit, and blood change how we think about aesthetics?Works Discussed
- Sianne Ngai, Ugly Feelings
- Charles Darwin, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals
- John Garcia, Donald J. Kimeldorf, and Robert A. Koelling, "Conditioned aversion to saccharin resulting from exposure to gamma radiation"
- Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
- Georges Bataille, Documents
- Georges Bataille, L’érotisme
- Downton Abbey, S3 E7
- Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgement
- Christopher Ofili, The Holy Virgin Mary
- Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection
Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Are you #LivingYourTruth? This buzzy catchphrase is all over Instagram, but might it actually justify selfish or irresponsible behavior? Alternatively, can it be a way of affirming marginalized identities--and perhaps even reveal the extent to which our lives are ultimately of our own making? Ellie and David speak with Dr. Tamsin Kimoto in episode 37 about how "living your truth" relates to transgender identity formation, "born this way" narratives of sexuality, and the idea of an authentic self. After the interview, David and Ellie suggest that existential authenticity is a way of "living your truth" without buying into the metaphysical idea of an inner self.
Works DiscussedTamsin Kimoto, "Merleau-Ponty, Fanon, and Phenomenological Forays in Trans Life"Michel Foucault, The History of SexualityTalia Mae Bettcher, “Trapped in the Wrong Theory: Rethinking Trans Oppression and Resistance”Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Phenomenology of PerceptionGayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Elizabeth Grosz, “Criticism, feminism and the institution: An interview with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak”Friedrich Nietzsche, “Schopenhauer as Educator”Martin Heidegger, Being and TimeTheodor Adorno, The Jargon of AuthenticitySupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Today's art world is driven by multimillion-dollar auctions and fancy art fairs inaccessible to most Americans — Art Basel Miami, anyone? Those who do view art spend an average of just eight seconds per work, so it's not clear that we're even meaningfully experiencing those Monet water lilies. In episode 36, Ellie and David explore the way capitalism has turned art into a commodity. From Basquiat to Banksy, even street art seems to have been devoured by capitalism’s endless hunger for monetary exchange, selling aesthetics of revolution for millions of dollars at auction. How might intricate Tibetan sand paintings and even macaroni necklaces help us envision a future for art outside of commodification?
Works DiscussedJohn Dewey, Art as ExperienceWalter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”Hito Steyerl, Duty Free ArtTheodor Adorno, The Culture IndustryMichael Baxandall, Painting and ExperienceDiana Crane, “Reflections on the Global Art Market”Cynthia Freeland, What is Art?McKenzie Wark, “Digital Provenance and the Artwork as Derivative”Sianne Ngai, Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, InterestingBanksy, Love is in the BinKarl Marx, 1844 ManuscriptsChristo and Jeanne-Claude, The Pont Neuf WrappedSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Hooking up: sexual liberation or unethical exploitation? With the rise of dating apps, sexual gratification seems like a few taps (or swipes) away at any given moment. What implications does this have for sexual ethics around consent, fantasy, and using other people merely for pleasure? In episode 35, Ellie and David dive into the history, theory, and criticisms of hookup culture. Is there a way to hook up ethically? Some argue that the power imbalances fundamental to hooking up prevent it from ever being on equal grounds, yet others claim that the shift to hooking up generates potential for queer exploration and for sexual discretion in ways that were previously unavailable. Let’s find out!Works DiscussedF Boy Island (TV Show)James Rocha, The Ethics of Hooking UpDanielle M. Currier, “Strategic Ambiguity: Protecting Emphasized Femininity and Hegemonic Masculinity in the Hookup Culture”Lisa Wade, American HookupLisa Wade and Joseph Padgett, “Hookup Culture and Higher Education”Lisa Rudd, “Beyond the Closet”Lee Edelman, No FutureSlavoj Žižek, A&F Quarterly, Back to School Issue 2003Leo Bersani, Is the Rectum a Grave?Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Ever want to have your cake and eat it too? Maybe you can! In episode 34, join Ellie and David (and the Olsen twins) in an investigation into paradox. Paradox refers to a self-contradictory statement that nonetheless rests on seemingly logically sound premises. From Meno to Zeno and his tortoises and arrows, from Christian theologians trying to uncover the nature of God and faith to Zen Buddhists exploring the origins of consciousness, paradox has a long history of keeping people stumped, but also of driving human innovation and creativity to new heights. However, we often still wonder: can paradoxes ever truly be solved, or are they just doomed as contradictions? Let’s find out!Works DiscussedZeno, FragmentsDavid M. Peña-Guzman, “Bergson’s philosophical method: At the edge of phenomenology and mathematics”Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript; Philosophical Fragments; Fear and TremblingSartre, Being and NothingnessJacques Derrida, Of Hospitality and “Faith and Knowledge”Plato, MenoDavid Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingMarcel Mauss, “The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies”Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Holiday in the SunAristotle, MetaphysicsDiamond SutraSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Have you ever tasted music or experienced numbers as having genders? If so, you might be a synesthete! Synesthesia refers to subjective experiences in which a stimulus associated with one sensory modality (e.g., vision) is experienced as having properties associated with an entirely different modality (e.g. sound, texture, or smell). This “mixing” of the senses raises fascinating questions about human experience and the life of the mind. In episode 33, Ellie and David discuss the science and philosophy of synesthesia while poking fun at people who brag about being synesthetes at parties. Are synesthetes born or made? What forms of synesthesia exist? And how might one go about cultivating synesthetic perception?Works DiscussedDonielle Johnson, Carrie Allison, and Simon Baron-Cohen, “The Prevalence of Synesthesia: The Consistency Revolution”Simon Baron-Cohen, “Is There a Normal Phase of Synaesthesia in Development?”David Abram, The Spell of the SensuousKenneth Peacock, “Instruments to Perform Color-Music: Two Centuries of Technological Experimentation” Anina Rich, interview in "Synesthesia" episode of All in the Mind podcastJamie Ward and Peter Meijer. “Visual Experiences in the Blind Induced by an Auditory Sensory Substitution Device”Jerry Fodor, The Modularity of MindAdam Wager, “The Extra Qualia Problem: Synaesthesia and Representationism”John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human UnderstandingSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Astrology. Dangerous pseudoscience? Comforting salve in a cold capitalist world? Subjugated knowledge? It's all fun and games when you're looking up your Co-Star horoscope, but according to philosopher Theodor Adorno, even a playful belief in astrology encourages submission to the status quo--and promotes fascist thinking. In this can't-miss episode 32, Ellie and David discuss the psychological appeal of astrology, which is experiencing a huge resurgence today. They also dive deep into the history and science behind the practice. Did you know Johannes Kepler was an astrologer? Or that your star sign is...probably not actually your sign? The episode also gets into the Barnum Effect, and some surprising similarities between astrology, weather forecasts, and personality tests. Works discussed:Theodor Adorno, The Stars Down to EarthNicholas Campion, History of Western AstrologyRoger Beck, A Brief History of Ancient AstrologyThomas Kuhn, The Copernican RevolutionAlexander Boxer, A Scheme of Heaven: The History of Astrology and the Search for our Destiny in DataSilvia Federici, Caliban and the WitchColin Koopman, How We Became Our DataBertram Forer, "The fallacy of personal validation: A classroom demonstration of gullibility"Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
From 23andMe to prenatal testing, genetic testing is everywhere these days! The use of these tests raises important concerns about "velvet eugenics" and the value of human life. In episode 31, Ellie and David address the ethics and politics of genomics. They talk with ethicist Dr. Joel Michael Reynolds, an expert on disability studies and genomics, about why your zip code is a much better indicator of health outcomes than your genome. Plus, Joel unpacks why genetic sequencing can cause anxiety for new parents and further social inequities.Works discussed:Joel Michael Reynolds, "Health for Whom? Bioethics and the Challenge of Justice for Genomic Medicine"Joel Michael Reynolds, "Genopower: On Genomics, Disability, and Impairment"Sivan Tamir, "Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing: Ethical-Legal Perspectives and Practical Considerations"Jenny Reardon, The Postgenomic ConditionRosemarie Garland Thomson, "Welcoming The Unexpected," in Human Flourishing in an Age of Gene Editing, ed. Erik Parens and Josephine JohnsonNational Human Genome Research Institute, "Human Genome Project FAQ"Guy Standing, The Precariat: The New Dangerous ClassSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | Dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast
Have you considered that you might be a brain in a vat of liquid floating in a laboratory somewhere? How can you know that the world around you is real, not just a simulation being piped directly to your brain? In episode 30, Ellie and David unpack one of philosophy's favorite thought experiments: the brain in a vat. They also analyze our cultural obsession with the brain, common criticisms of this thought experiment from consciousness studies, and precursors in Descartes and science fiction. Also--what's with the Italian neuroscientist who keeps trying to do head transplants?Works discussed:Daniel Dennett, "Where Am I?"Gilbert Harman, ThoughtAlva Noë, Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your BrainEvan Thompson and Diego Cosmelli, "Brain in a Vat or Body in a World? Brainbound Versus Enactive Views of Experience"Shaun Gallagher and Dan Zahavi, The Phenomenological MindBronwyn Parry, "Technologies of Immortality: The Brain on Ice"John Desmond Bernal, The World, the Flesh and the DevilRaymond Roussel, Locus SolusJohn Tresch, "In a solitary place: Raymond Roussel’s brain and the French cult of unreason"Harry Smit and Peter M. S. Hacker, "Seven Misconceptions About the Mereological Fallacy: A Compilation for the Perplexed"Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the ScoreSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
Do you fear the Sunday Scaries and Thank God It's Friday? You might be suffering from a case of what Karl Marx called "alienation." In episode 29 of Overthink, David and Ellie break down this key but often misunderstood concept for the modern workplace. After explaining Marx's four forms of alienation using the example of making Teva sandals, they discuss the gig economy and "bullshit jobs." Plus: in today's society, are even poets and Netflix viewers alienated? Or does Marx's concept only apply to an outdated model of industrial work under capitalism?Works discussed:Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844Rahel Jaeggi, AlienationDavid Graeber, Bullshit JobsByung-Chul Han, In the swarm: Digital prospectsHerbert Marcuse, One Dimensional ManGuy Debord, Society of the SpectacleEmmanuel Renault, From Fordism to Post-Fordism: Beyond or Back to AlienationLouis Althusser, Reading CapitalSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 28 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore cancel culture. Is it a thing--and if so, what are its merits and dangers? They unpack the origins of cancel culture in Black Twitter and debate whether "canceling" people is a tactic of neoliberalism. Should we be canceling Chrissy Teigen, J.K. Rowling, Nick Cannon, and Matt and Rachel from The Bachelor? Also discussed: carceral logic, restorative justice, and forgiveness.Works discussed:Meredith D. Clark, "DRAG THEM: A brief etymology of so-called 'cancel culture'"Kimberly Foster of For Harriett, "We Can't Cancel Everyone" (YouTube)Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth RevolutionZygmunt Bauman, Liquid LifeEllie Anderson, Cynthia Willett, and Diana Meyers, "Feminist Perspectives on the Self" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyPatricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist ThoughtSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 27 of Overthink, Ellie and David speak with feminist philosopher and author Dr. Amelia Hruby about fat feminism, intersectionality, alternatives to the male gaze, and her project #selfiesforselflove. Before the interview, Ellie and David discuss their issues with the "body positivity" movement using phenomenology, and suggest why Sonya Renee Taylor's account of radical self-love is a better alternative. The episode closes with a deep dive into the racist history of the thin ideal using the work of Sabrina Strings.Works discussed:Sabrina Strings, Fearing the Black BodyVirgie Tovar, You Have the Right to Remain FatSonya Renee Taylor, The Body is Not an ApologyAlexandra Sastre, "Towards a radical body positive: Reading the online 'body positive movement'"Amelia Hruby, Fifty Feminist MantrasMaurice Merleau-Ponty, The Phenomenology of PerceptionKimberlé Crenshaw, "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color"Patricia Hill Collins, "Controlling Images"John Berger, Ways of SeeingSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 26 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore cohabitation during Covid. They use philosopher Henri Bergson's theory of rhythm and the Africana philosophy concept of Ubuntu to better understand how we have had to re-negotiate and re-engage with space this year. Also discussed: Ellie's early Covid board games, David's living room, moving during covid, and lots more!Works Discussed:Taylor Trudon, Teenage Angst, Revisited in IsolationJulius Gathogo, African Philosophy as Expressed in the Concepts of Hospitality and UbuntuBhekizizwe Peterson, The Art of Personhood: Kinship and Its Social ChallengesKai Kresse, Philosophizing in MombasaHannah Arendt, Origins of TotalitarianismHenri Bergson, Matter and MemoryImmanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure ReasonFriedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke ZarathustraSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 25 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss dating during Covid--including their own experiences! With so many Americans getting vaccinated, the dating scene may be heating up again--but what philosophical lessons can we learn from the past year of pandemic dating? Ellie gives a sociological history of dating, and David wonders about how socially distant dating changes class dynamics. Then the two talk about how pandemic dating involves a "phenomenology of acceleration" and a "phenomenology of failure," as well as what attachment theory shows about dating in social isolation. Also discussed: going on a "first date" many months into dating, mental health, and David's support of "impurity culture."Works Discussed:Eva Illouz, Consuming the Romantic UtopiaJean-Paul Sartre, No ExitLawrence L. Levine, Highbrow/LowbrowBeth L. Bailey, From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century AmericaMoira Weigel, Labor of LoveJohn Bowlby, The Making and Breaking of Affectional BondsAmir Levine and Rachel S.F. Heller, AttachedSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
On episode 24 of Overthink, Ellie and David tackle friendship during Covid. They begin by discussing their dream day with friends, which includes: brunch, thrift store shopping, and team sports, all of which have been impossible to do during the pandemic. What has social distancing meant for friendship? They bring on special guest, undergraduate Anna Koppelman (Overthink's production assistant and social media coordinator!), to discuss how Covid has impacted college students' social lives. The three talk Heidegger, Aristotle, and how sad it is to have no fun gossip anymore! Finally, David and Ellie analyze how gender has affected Covid friendships, Epicurus supporting "pods" before it was cool, and more!Works Discussed:Lydia Denworth, Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental BondBeverley Fehr, Friendship ProcessesAristotle, Nicomachean EthicsImmanuel Kant, Metaphysical Principles of VirtueOctavio Paz, The Labyrinth of SolitudeSamantha Schmidt, The Washington Post, Men find new ways to Bond During the PandemicJeffrey A. Hall, How many hours does it take to make a friend?Martin Heidegger, What Is Metaphysics?Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 23 of Overthink, Ellie, and David sit down with philosopher Dr. C. Thi Nguyen to discuss his work on games and gamification. They begin by their love for The Sims and the out-of-body experiences video games can trigger. From there, they get into the works of thinkers including Ortega y Gasset, Nietzsche, Mill, Gadamer, discussing their theories on games and motivation. The trio also jumps into the function of games in community, how British and American drinking games differ, motivational states, Thi’s epic game nights, and more.Works Discussed:C. Thi Nguyen, Games: Agency as ArtRoger Callois, Man, Play and GamesHans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and MethodFriedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of TragedyJosé Ortega y Gasset, Meditations on HuntingGordon Burghardt, The Genesis of Animal PlayMatthew Broersma, “US Military Recruits Gamers To Fly Killer Drones”Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 22 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the new Britney Spears documentary exposing her legal conservatorship. After bonding over their tween obsession with Britney, they dive into the laws around conservatorship and cultural narratives around mental health. The two argue that disability has been largely ignored in the conversation around Britney Spears, even though people with disabilities and the elderly are most affected by conservatorships. They show how disability studies and feminist theories of care illuminate the conversation. Also mentioned: translating toxic to Spanish, early 2000's choreographed dances, Grace and Frankie, and more.Works Discussed: Aristotle, PoliticsErica F. Wood, State Level Adult Guardianship Data: An Exploratory SurveyGiorgio Agamben, State of ExceptionGrace and Frankie (TV series)Jan Baars, Aging and the Art of LivingJoe Coscarelli, What is a Conservatorship?John Locke, Two Treatises of Government Jonathan Blakeson, I Care a Lot (Film)Sara Luterman, The Darker Story Just Outside the Lens of “Framing Britney Spears”Seneca, On Old AgeSimone de Beauvoir, The Coming of AgeThe New York Times, Framing Britney Spears (Documentary)Thomas Hobbes, LeviathanSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
Ellie and David discuss the term "gaslighting" in episode 21. They begin by jumping into the origin of the term in the 1940s and its entrance into mainstream discourse today. Then the two go onto explore how gaslighting works, and whether it needs to be deliberate (spoiler alert: no!). Finally, David and Ellie think about structural and cultural gaslighting in systems of oppression. Also discussed in the episode: The Chicks, epistemic injustice, the medical establishment, and...is Socrates a gaslighter? Gaslit? Neither?Works discussed: George Cukor, Gaslight (film) Veronica Ivy, “Allies Behaving Badly: Gaslighting as Epistemic Injustice” Cynthia A. Stark, “Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Psychological Oppression” Nora Berenstain, “White Feminist Gaslighting” Elena Ruíz, “Cultural Gaslighting” Shelley Tremain, “Structural Gaslighting, Epistemic Injustice, and Ableism in Philosophy” Lauren Duca, “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America” Karen C. Adkins, “Gaslighting by Crowd” Elinor Greenberg, “Are You Being "Gaslighted" By the Narcissist in Your Life?” Diane E. Hoffmann and Anita J. Tarzian, “The Girl Who Cried Pain: A Bias Against Women in the Treatment of Pain" Ashley Fetters, “The Doctor Doesn’t Listen to Her. But the Media Is Starting To” Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 20 of Overthink, Ellie and David sit down with philosopher Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò to discuss climate reparations and why they are needed as part of a broader discussion about reparations for racial injustice. Before that conversation, Ellie and David open the episode by addressing the history of reparations and the need for them both monetarily and as a signifier of justice. This episode looks at eco-fascism, whether direct payments via Cash App are viable reparations, and the need for reparations in the fight for justice.Works Discussed:Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877John Torpey, Making Whole What Has Been SmashedCedric J. Robinson, On Racial Capitalism, Black Internationalism, and Cultures of ResistanceOlúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, "What’s New About Woke Racial Capitalism (and What Isn’t)"Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, "An African case for carbon removal"Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò and Beba Cibralic, "The Case for Climate Reparations"John Mbaria and Mordecai Ogada, The Big Conservation LieAdom Getachew, Worldmaking After EmpireLisa J. Laplante, "The Plural Justice Aims of Reparations"Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In Episode 19 of Overthink, Ellie and David debate the idea of genius. They begin by explaining Kant and Schopenhauer's theories of genius before diving into feminist critiques of the very idea that geniuses exist. They talk about why women were traditionally excluded from being geniuses, how male professors are called "genius" on Ratemyprofessor more than their female counterparts, and how sociological conditions determine who is considered a genius. Also discussed: Ellie's childhood belief that she was, in fact, a genius, David's competitive standardized test-taking, whether genius is innate, if a scientist can count as genius, the Hollywood "it factor," and more!Works Discussed: Immanuel Kant, The Critique of JudgmentArthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and RepresentationTom Leddy, "Kant on How to be a Genius"Linda Nochlin, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?"Cynthia Freeland, "Gender, Genius, and Guerilla Girls"Fran Lebowitz, "Pretend It’s a City" (Netflix TV show)Storage et al., "The Frequency of “Brilliant” and “Genius” in Teaching Evaluations Predicts the Representation of Women and African Americans across Fields"Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 18 of Overthink, Ellie and David conclude their four-part series on intimate relationships with a discussion of polyamory. Many argue that polyamory has liberatory potential as a radical form of relating to others. Some say that polyamory is natural for humans--is this story from evolutionary biology true, and does it matter? Ellie and David discuss these issues and also explain how polyamory encourages us to rethink jealousy through the concept of compersion. The two also touch on the relation between polyamory and colonialism, and gender and racial dynamics in understanding poly identities!Works Discussed:Cacilda Jethá and Christopher Ryan, Sex at DawnKim TallBear, The Critical Polyamorist blogHerbert Marcuse, Eros and CivilizationCarrie Jenkins, What Love Is and What It Could BeSlavoj Žižek, "The Need to Traverse the Fantasy"Justin Leonard Clardy, "‘I Don’t Want To be a Playa No More’: An Exploration of the Denigrating Effects of ‘Player’ as a Stereotype Against African American Polyamorous Men."Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 17 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about open relationships. 50% of millennials are not interested in having purely monogamous relationships. With many still wanting a primary partner, some are turning towards open relationships. What do open relationships have to offer? Ellie and David start off by talking about their own experience with open relationships and its ties to their philosophical and feminist beliefs. Then the two dive into the open relationships of famous existentialist thinkers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. It’s juicy! By the end of the episode they also discuss the romantic mystique, the triangulation of desire, our ability to understand desire, and more!Works DiscussedCarrie Jenkins, What Love Is Simone de Beauvoir, She Came to Stay Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of AmbiguityTony Coelho, “Hearts, groins and the intricacies of gay male open relationships”Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
On episode 16 of Overthink, Ellie and David dive into monogamy. Ellie jumps into her obsession with reality shows centered around monogamy that are actually examples of polyamory, aka the entire Bachelor franchise. Then they discuss the appeal to nature that is often made when talking about monogamy as well as Aristophanes’ story of the one, the potential negatives of all-consuming love, cheating, and more!
Works Discussed:Plato, SymposiumAngela Willey, Undoing MonogamyHarry Chalmers, "Is Monogamy Morally Permissible?"Kyle York, "Why Monogamy is Morally Permissible"Vinciane Despret, What Would Animals Say If We Asked the Right Questions?Tristan and IseultLouise Crane, "The Truth About Swans"Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 15 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the history and philosophy of marriage. Why do married people in the U.S. receive over 1,000 legal benefits that single people do not? Ellie and David dive into Foucault's analysis of ancient Roman marriage and Hegel's idea that marriage unites the subjective and objective spheres. Then the two discuss the way it’s been used bio-politically, as well as queer critiques of marriage. They also discuss minimal marriage as a solution, how the average wedding in America costs thirty thousand dollars, their own experience with the idea of marriage, and much more!Interested in works discussed? Bertrand Russell, Marriage and MoralsMichel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume 3Elizabeth Brake, Minimizing MarriageG.W.F. Hegel, Outlines of the Philosophy of RightCarrie Jenkins, What Love IsAnthony Giddens, The Transformation of IntimacySupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
On episode 14 of Overthink, Ellie and David sit down with Dr. Jessica Locke, an expert in Buddhist philosophy, to discuss mindfulness as a tool for anti-racist education and social justice work. After investigating the ways that Western science and capitalism have watered down Buddhist mindfulness, they explore with Dr. Locke how Buddhist practices can be an important part of a social justice toolbox. Together, they explore how mindfulness practice changes one’s relationship to suffering, alters our view of the world, and can be especially important for white people unlearning habits of white privilege.Works Discussed:Jessica Locke, "Living Our Histories, Shaping Our Futures: Buddhist Practice and Anti-Racist Education for White People"Joseph Goldstein, MindfulnessRonald Purser, McMindfulnessBessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the ScoreEssential Mind Training, ed. Thupten JinpaInterconnected, the Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley DorjeSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
On episode 13 of Overthink, Ellie and David explain what performativity is. They explain why the phrase "performative ally" is not philosophically accurate, and how performativity is rooted in theories about language and identity. They talk about First Amendment laws, the ball culture of Paris is Burning, Legally Blonde, pornography, and more! Works Discussed: Judith Butler, Gender TroubleJennie Livingston, Paris is Burning J.L. Austin, How to Do Things with WordsJeremy Waldron, The Harm in Hate SpeechRae Langton "Subordination, Silence, and Pornography’s Authority" & "Beyond Belief: Pragmatics in Hate Speech and Pornography"Rebecca Kukla, "Performative Force, Convention, and Discursive Injustice"Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
On episode 12 of Overthink, Ellie and David sit down with philosopher Brian Keeley to discuss conspiracy theories. The three examine both the appeal of conspiracy theories and the dire need for public trust in institutions to combat such beliefs. Following last week’s far-right attack on the Capitol, Ellie and David consider the particularly American nature of conspiracy theories that has existed since the nation's founding. Finally, they discuss the way conspiracy theories root within families and communities and pull people apart.
Works Discussed Brian Keeley, "Of Conspiracy Theories"Anne Applebaum, "Trump and His Heirs Dream of Endless Victory"Jared Millson, "Conspiracy Theories"Stephan Lewandowsky and John Cook, "The Conspiracy Theory Handbook"Charles Pigden, "Before Conspiracy Theories and the Conventional Wisdom"Mack Lamoureux, “People Tell Us How QAnon Destroyed Their Relationships” J. Eric Oliver and Thomas J. Wood, "Conspiracy Theories and the Paranoid Style(s) of Mass Opinion"Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
On episode 11 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the ways in which Zoom has impacted our perception of the self and others. They begin by exploring the blurred lines of privacy that Zoom offers (who among us hasn’t cut their video feed to do a load of laundry?). Next, the two jump into the impact self-view has had on all of us now that we are able to see ourselves conduct our normal lives, tying it to Lacan’s mirror stage. Plus, they discuss disability theorists and the potential benefits that Zoom has for inclusion and accessibility.
Interested In the works discussed?
Paul Virilio, Open Sky Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness Simone de Beauvoir, The Second SexEllie Anderson, “You’re Not Staring at Yourself on Zoom, You’re Judging Yourself”Jacques Lacan, "The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function"Céline LeBoeuf, "Anatomy of the Thigh Gap"Iris Marion Young, "Throwing Like a Girl"Zoe Beery “When the World Shut Down, They Saw it Open”danah boyd, "Profiles as Conversation: Networked Identity Performance on Friendster"
Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
On episode 10 of Overthink, Ellie and David debate the merit of New Year’s Resolutions. Only 8% of people keep the resolutions they set – so why do we continue to make resolutions? The duo discusses the importance of questioning the resolutions we make and desire. To understand the January 1st phenomena, they dive into Stoicism and Nietzsche.
Interested in works discussed?
William B. Irvine, A Guide to the Good LifeEpictetus and Sharon Lobell, The Art of LivingMarcus Aurelius, MeditationsNietzsche, On the Genealogy of MoralsHannah Arendt, The Human ConditionSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
On episode 9 of Overthink, Ellie and David dive into the concept of parrhesia (speaking truth to those in power). They discuss its origin in Ancient Greece with Socrates and Diogenes, as well as its resurgence in Foucault. The two get into modern day truth tellers such as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Tristan Harris, Emma Sulkowicz, and more.
Interested in the works discussed? Look no further:
Andreas Huyssen, “Foreword: The return of Diogenes as Postmodern Intellectual”Michel Foucault, Fearless SpeechGordon Hull, “The Banality of Cynicism: Foucault and the Limits of Authentic Parrhēsia”Mary Anne Franks, “Fearless Speech”“The Social Dilemma,” dir. Jeff OrlowskiKurt Borg, “Foucault on Drugs: The Personal, the Ethical and the Political in Foucault in California”Emma Sulkowicz, "Carry That Weight"Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
Have you ever been ghosted? In episode 8 of Overthink, Ellie and David deconstruct this dating dilemma. The duo discuss what ghosting does to our emotions; how the Greek notion of akrasia can help us understand why people ghost; how ghosting leaves us feeling, well, haunted; and more!
Interested in the works discussed? Here you go!Jacques Derrida, Specters of Marx Julia Kristeva, Strangers to Ourselves“Derrida,” dir. Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering KofmanCarl du Prel, The Philosophy of Mysticism
Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 7 of Overthink, Ellie and David dive into the sensation of empathy! The dynamic duo discuss mirror neurons, whether animals can feel empathy, nice boy syndrome, why the phrase “I feel your pain” is so annoying, and more!
Interested in the works discussed? You can find them here:Frans De Waal, The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder SocietyHal Herzog and Mel Foster, Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat Edith Stein, On the Problem of EmpathyAmy Coplan and Peter Goldie, eds. Empathy: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives, ed.Marco Iacoboni, Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect with Others Paul Bloom, Against Empathy
Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 6 of Overthink, Ellie and David look at millennials' obsession with homemaking through the lens of Epicurus and Mariana Ortega. The duo talk about the Danish word “hygge,” alloparenting plants, IKEA, how 10-step skincare regimens are definitely the reason why millennials don’t own homes, and so much more!
Interested in the works discussed? You can find them here! Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday LifeMariana Ortega, In-Between: Latina Feminist Phenomenology, Multiplicity, and the SelfMalcolm Harris, Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of MillennialsEpicurus, The Art of HappinessSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcastWebsite | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In episode 5 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about the taste, smell, and function of nostalgia. They dive into al pastor tacos, cottagecore, teenage diary entries, old shampoo bottles, M.A.G.A and more!
Interested in the works discussed? You can find them here! Svetlana Boym, The Future of NostalgiaCathy Park Hong, Minor Feelings: An Asian-American ReckoningLauren Berlant, "Big Man" (https://socialtextjournal.org/big-man/)Sigmund Freud, Mourning and Melancholia Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time, volume 1: Swann's WayDerek Walcott, OmerosH.A. Kaplan, "The Psychopathology of Nostalgia"Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
On episode 3 of Overthink, Ellie and David delve into the rise of Anti-Mask protests across the country. The two discuss American individualism in our conception of freedom, the role of breath in the Judeo-Christian tradition, how much freedom we actually have when choosing lunch, and so much more!
Interested in the works discussed? You can find them here:
G.W.F. Hegel, The Philosophy of RightJohn Locke, Second Treatise of GovernmentSimone de Beauvoir, America Day By Day and The Ethics of Ambiguity Nietzsche, The Genealogy of MoralsThe BibleKate Manne, Down GirlDeep Throat (adult film)Support Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
On episode 4 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about existential anxiety, FOMO, Netflix’s Emily in Paris, The Good Place, and the difference between the medical and existential model of anxiety. Then the dynamic duo discusses how to deal with existential angst through resoluteness, mindfulness, and faith--or what David likes to call “embracing your ugliness!”
Interested in the works discussed? You can find them here: Søren Kierkegaard, The Concept of AnxietyMartin Heidegger, Being and Time Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and NothingnessGordon Marino, The Existentialist’s Survival GuideAmerican Psychiatric Association website, “What are Anxiety Disorders?” https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/anxiety-disorders/what-are-anxiety-disorders Albert Camus, The Myth of SisyphusSimone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity Franz Kafka, MetamorphosisThe Good Place (TV show)Jenny Odell, How To Do NothingMichel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday LifeSupport Overthink on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
This podcast could use a review! Have anything to say about it? Share your thoughts using the button below.
Submit Review
