Podcast
Overthink
Hosted by Ellie Anderson, Ph.D. and David Peña-Guzmán, Ph.D. · EN
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).
38episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Spontaneity
Feb 1700:55:05Tap to summarizeWhat does it mean to be spontaneous? In episode 161 of Overthink, Ellie and David get spontaneous. They look at Aristotle’s theory of spontaneous generation, at spontaneity’s role in politics, and at the dark side of spontaneity. How do different cultures and physical spaces enable or inhibit spontaneity? What is the relationship between spontaneity and human freedom? And is Lenin correct in arguing that leftists need to resist spontaneity in political organizing? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts think through the relationship between spontaneity and habit, how spontaneity plays into the recording of Overthink episodes, and the habitual spontaneity of those with Tourette’s Syndrome. Works Discussed:Aristotle, PhysicsLucy Cooke, The Truth About AnimalsJonathan Gingerich, “Spontaneous Freedom”Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure ReasonVladimir Lenin, What is to Be Done?Enjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3vJoin our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcribe →Closer Look: Epicurus Reader
Feb 1000:58:04Tap to summarizeWhat does it mean to say that the good life is a life of pleasure? Although you might think of champagne and caviar, Hellenistic philosopher Epicurus actually considered the good life to be more about appreciating the simple things in life and letting go of the things that bring us only temporary pleasure but lead to pain in the long run. Why has Epicureanism so often been misrepresented, and what did Epicurus really say? In episode 160 of Overthink, Ellie and David investigate the teachings of Epicurus in The Epicurus Reader. They explain his four-part cure on how to life a better life, including why we shouldn't be worried about death. They also offer critiques on his view of justice and its lack of application to political life. How can attaining ataraxia lead us to achieving eudaimonia and living the good life? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts elaborate on whether or not Epicurus’s argument that we should not fear death is convincing.Works Discussed:Brad Inwood and Lloyd P. Gerson, The Epicurus Reader: Selected Writings and TestimoniaEnjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3vJoin our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcribe →Illness
Feb 300:56:57Tap to summarizeWhat does it mean to be ill? In episode 159 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss illness. They explore how illness has been mythologized, how it may alienate us from our bodies, and how it impacts social relationships. Is science the solution to the mythologization of illness, or is the scientific model of illness its own form of mythology? How should we conceptualize illness? Is it as a “deviation” from a norm? And if so, what norm? Finally, what can we learn about illness from a phenomenological approach that centers the patient’s first-person experience? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts think about the distinction between the mental and the physical in connection to illness and the intersection between mind and body in illness. Works Discussed:Georges Canguilhem, The Normal and the PathologicalHavi Carel, Illness: The Cry of the Flesh,Susan Sontag, Illness as MetaphorSK Toombs, The Meaning of Illness: A Phenomenological Account of the Different Perspectives of Physician and PatientEnjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3vJoin our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcribe →Talking Politics with Sarah Stein Lubrano
Jan 2700:54:16Tap to summarizeWhy does talking about politics so often feel useless? In episode 158 of Overthink, Ellie and David speak with Sarah Stein Lubrano, author of Don’t Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds, about why discourse is not the solution to political polarization. They discuss the problems with thinking about political opinions as a "marketplace of ideas," why public debates don't change our political views as much as personal relationships, and how social atrophy weakens citizenship. What is the value of political protests? How does the ideal of debate perpetuate politics as war? And should we re-imagine social media platforms like X to encourage productive dialogue, or log off of them completely? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts dive deeper into the politics of digital spaces and question where podcasting fits into Lubrano’s critique of how we discuss politics. Works Discussed:Sarah Stein Lubrano, Don't Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century MindsEnjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3vJoin our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcribe →Manipulation
Jan 2000:57:41Tap to summarizeShould we be sympathetic towards manipulators? In episode 157 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about manipulation. They discuss what makes up a manipulative personality, why manipulators see social interaction as inherently combative, and what you can do when you find yourself entangled with a manipulator. They also explore what Niccolo Machiavelli tell us about the role of manipulation in politics. Should political leaders always be kind? Or, as Machiavelli says, do they need to learn to “be bad”? And what can we say about manipulation outside of politics? Does manipulative behavior require awareness and intention? Are all forms of manipulation inherently bad? And where do we draw the line between manipulation and other types of social influence? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss how manipulators perform on the ultimatum game and whether philosophy is the only form of non-manipulative discourse.Works discussed:Anne Barnhill, “How philosophy might contribute to the practical ethics of online manipulation”Robert Greene, 48 Laws of PowerNiccolo Machiavelli, The PrinceGeorge Simon, In Sheep’s Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative PeopleEnjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3vJoin our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcribe →Closer Look: Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man
Jan 1300:58:33Tap to summarizeHow do new forms of social control under capitalism foreclose the possibility of social critique? In episode 156 of Overthink, Ellie and David take a deep dive into Herbert Marcuse’s 1964 classic, One-Dimensional Man. Marcuse analyzes how 1950s conformism narrows the private space of human thinking, turning us into one-dimensional beings. Your hosts talk about Marcuse’s diagnosis of life under capitalism, and his assessment of how analytic philosophy’s obsession with formal logic encourages conservatism and prevents us from subversive thought. In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss what freedom looks like for Marcuse and how critical Marcuse would be of Overthink.Works Discussed:Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional ManStephen Whitfield, “Refusing Marcuse: 50 Years After One-Dimensional Man”Paul Mattick, "One Dimensional Man In Class Society"Enjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3vJoin our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcribe →Treason
Jan 600:59:16Tap to summarizeDo we ever have a duty to commit treason? In episode 155 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about “the crime of crimes.” They look at the emergence of this legal concept and its evolution over time, and discuss some of the most important historical cases involving treason: Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, and John Brown. Can we say that treason is always bad when America's founding itself depended on an act of treason? Who is capable of committing a treasonous act? And is treason ever morally permissible? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss how treason is seen in Hobbes’ political philosophy and whether we need to recover insurrection as a political possibility.Works Discussed:Neil Cartlidge, “Treason,” The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Law and LiteratureCécile Fabre, “The Morality of Treason”George P. Fletcher, “The Case for Treason”Michel Foucault, Discipline and PunishPhyllis Greenacre, “Treason and the Traitor”Leonard Harris, “Honor and Insurrection or A Short Story about why John Brown (with David Walker’s Spirit) was Right and Frederick Douglass (with Benjamin Banneker’s Spirit) was Wrong”Lee McBride, “Insurrectionary Ethics and Racism”Enjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3vJoin our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcribe →Burnout
Aug 12, 202500:59:38Tap to summarizeWhat makes burnout different from exhaustion or fatigue? In episode 136 of Overthink, Ellie and David look at the history of the term burnout and its surprising connection to social justice. They also explore Byung-Chul Han’s reading of burnout as a natural consequence of “achievement culture.” How does our mindless scrolling on TikTok and Instagram reveal our inability to be bored and meditate? And how does this contribute to our personal and collective run-ins with burnout? Why do so many people, academics included, fail to recognize their own burnout? And is it even possible to escape burnout in a capitalist society? In the bonus, your hosts talk about the shame surrounding burnout, errand paralysis, and the relationship between burnout and compulsive buying.Works Discussed:Herbert J. Freudenberger, “Staff Burn-Out”Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society Emily and Amelia Nagoski, Burnout, the Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle David M. Peña-Guzmán and Rebekah Spera, Professional Philosophy and Its MythsAnne Helen Peterson, Can’t Even: How Millennials became the Burnout GenerationHannah Proctor, BurnoutSupport the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
Transcribe →Travel
Jul 29, 202500:58:50Tap to summarizeAperol spritzes, ‘Euro summers’, and aesthetic beach pics. In episode 135 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss all things travel. They discuss the differences how travel changes our relationship to the place where we're from, the difference between travel and tourism, and the place of travel in the history of philosophy. They go from Plato’s views that young people shouldn’t travel to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief that travel is essential for turning boys into men. They also explore the question, why do humans love to travel so much? In the bonus, your hosts debate over their relationships to phones and taking photos while travelling and dive deeper into what it’s like to experience culture shock. Works Discussed: Francis Bacon, “On Travel”Agnes Callard, “Against Travel”Paul Fussell, AbroadMichel de Montaigne, “On Cannibals”Plato, The RepublicJean-Jacques Rousseau, EmileGeorge Santayana, “The Philosophy of Travel”Joseph Shaules, The Intercultural Mind: Connecting Culture, Cognition, and Global LivingEmily Thomas, The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers AbroadSupport the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
Transcribe →Weirdness with Eric Schwitzgebel
Jul 15, 202500:56:57Tap to summarizeAll metaphysical theories are…really weird. In episode 134 of Overthink, Ellie and David chat with Eric Schwitzgebel about his book Weirdness of the World. They think through the difference between weirdness and bizarreness, the nonsensical nature of philosophical theories, and whether we should all just agree with Occam’s razor that the simplest explanation is always best.Is the recent theory that we’re all living in a simulation really that strange? Is it stranger than the idealist metaphysics of Plato or the atomism of Lucretius? And why are philosophical theories doomed to weirdness? Are we the weird ones, or do we just live in a weird world? In the bonus your hosts talk about the butterfly effect and the infinitude of the universe, and how neurodivergent traits can be rewarded in philosophy.Works Discussed:Graham Harman, Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy Eric Schwitzgebel, Weirdness of the WorldSupport the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
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