PhilosophyPodcasts.Org

Mark Solms

The only cure: Freud and the neuroscience of mental healing

This webpage contains the backup for our conversation: here>

Publisher's site for Dr. Solms's book: here>

Peter Carruthers

Innateness in Mind

Publisher's site for this book: here>

Stephen Darwall

Modern moral philosophy in the 19th century.

Webpage accompanying this podcast: click here>

Publisher's site for Modern Moral Philosophy in the 19th century: click here>

Backup podcast webpage is: click here> https://richardmoranreport.com

Swann's Medical Philosophy Richard Moran https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190921576.003.0006

Exorbitance A Grammar of Overdoing Steven Connor

https://www.sup.org/books/literary-studies-and-literature/exorbitance

Captive Minds

A Study of Manipulation

Avishai Margalit, Assaf Sharon

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674303102

The Splendid things we planned: A family portrait

Canceled lives: My father, my scandal, and me

Blake Bailey

https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510771215/the-splendid-things-we-planned/

https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510783317/canceled-lives/

The Melville Effect: A Literary Afterlife across the Arts.

Joseph Allen Boone

Columbia University Press 2026

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-melville-effect/9780231222198/

Prof. John Lurz (Tufts University)

The Barthes Fantastic: Literature, Criticism, and the Practice of Language

University of Chicago Press

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo246540373.html

Peter E. Gordon

Walter Benjamin: The Pearl Diver.

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300289459/walter-benjamin/

Roderick Frazier Nash

Wilderness and the American Mind

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300190380/wilderness-and-the-american-mind/

Katie Ebner-Landy

The Character Sketch as Philosophy: Manners, Mores, Types

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674294127

Susan Stewart

Poetry's Nature

Joshua Landy (Stanford University)

Proust: A very short introduction

Caleb Smith

Thoreau's axe: Distraction and discipline in American culture

Today, we're driven to distraction, our attention overwhelmed by the many demands upon it—most of which emanate from our beeping and blinking digital devices. This may seem like a decidedly twenty-first-century problem, but, as Caleb Smith shows in this elegantly written, meditative work, distraction was also a serious concern in American culture two centuries ago. In Thoreau's Axe, Smith explores the strange, beautiful archives of the nineteenth-century attention revival—from a Protestant minister's warning against frivolous thoughts to Thoreau's reflections on wakefulness at Walden Pond. Smith examines how Americans came to embrace attention, mindfulness, and other ways of being "spiritual but not religious," and how older Christian ideas about temptation and spiritual devotion endure in our modern ideas about distraction and attention.

Smith explains that nineteenth-century worries over attention developed in response to what were seen as the damaging mental effects of new technologies and economic systems. A "wandering mind," once diagnosed, was in need of therapy or rehabilitation. Modeling his text after nineteenth-century books of devotion, Smith offers close readings of twenty-eight short passages about attention. Considering social reformers who designed moral training for the masses, religious leaders who organized Christian revivals, and spiritual seekers like Thoreau who experimented with regimens of simplified living and transcendental mysticism, Smith shows how disciplines of attention became the spiritual exercises of a distracted age.

Henry David Thoreau A Very Short Introduction Lawrence Buell

The first concise account of Thoreau's life, thought, work, and impact in more than half a century Builds upon the explosion of new scholarship on Thoreau during the decade of the bicentennial of his birth

Treats Thoreau's two most famous and influential works - Walden and "Civil Disobedience" - both as an interdependent pair and as a window into the evolution of his thought and writing as a whole

Man-Devil: The Mind and Times of Bernard Mandeville, the Wickedest Man in Europe

John J. Callanan

A lively and provocative account of Bernard Mandeville and the work that scandalized and appalled his contemporaries—and made him one of the most influential thinkers of the eighteenth century

In 1714, doctor, philosopher and writer Bernard Mandeville published The Fable of the Bees, a humorous tale in which a prosperous hive full of greedy and licentious bees trade their vices for virtues and immediately fall into economic and societal collapse. Outrage among the reading public followed; philosophers took up their pens to refute what they saw as the fable's central assertion. How could it be that an immoral community thrived but the introduction of morality caused it to crash and burn? In Man-Devil, John Callanan examines Mandeville and his famous fable, showing how its contentious claim—that vice was essential to the economic flourishing of any society—formed part of Mandeville's overall theory of human nature. Mandeville, Callanan argues, was perfectly suited to analyze and satirize the emerging phenomenon of modern society—and reveal the gap between its self-image and its reality.

Callanan shows that Mandeville's thinking was informed by his medical training and his innovative approach to the treatment of illness with both physiological and psychological components. Through incisive and controversial analyses of sexual mores, gender inequality, economic structures, and political ideology, Mandeville sought to provide a naturalistic account of human behavior—one that put humans in close continuity with animals. Aware that his fellow human beings might find this offensive, he cloaked his theories in fables, poems, anecdotes, and humorous stories. Mandeville mastered irony precisely for the purpose of making us aware of uncomfortable aspects of our deepest natures—aspects that we still struggle to acknowledge today.

"Entertaining. . . .[Callanan] has convinced me that exposing Mandeville and his writings to a new generation of readers is indeed worthwhile."---Howard Davies, Literary Review

"John Callanan's Man-Devil: The Mind and Times of Bernard Mandeville, the Wickedest Man in Europe (Princeton University Press) is by far the best discussion we have of this paradoxical, and immensely influential thinker, and everyone interested in the history of moral, social, or economic theorising should read it."---David Wootton, Engelsberg Ideas

"[A] superb book."---Joseph Hone, History Today

"Callanan, a philosopher at King's College, London, has produced an engaging, expansive and effortlessly erudite study of a man who today too few people know. Man-Devil is a fascinating and welcome corrective, not least because Bernard Mandeville was amongst the first to argue that we don't really know ourselves."---Peter West, The Critic

"Bernard Mandeville was one of the most controversial writers of early eighteenth-century England, famed for coining the paradox 'private vices, publick benefits' as the subtitle to his major work, The Fable of the Bees. While John Callanan never loses sight of this satirical, even mischievous, bent, he convincingly shows the reader why Mandeville became such an influential figure in eighteenth-century thought, taken up by David Hume and Adam Smith among others. Well-researched and original in its approach, his book is highly recommended."—Malcolm Jack, historian and Mandeville scholar

"Mandeville is the first great social theorist, and everyone who comes after him—Rousseau, Smith, Marx, Hayek—is deeply in his debt. But he is slippery and paradoxical. John Callanan at last makes Mandeville's core doctrine clear and brings out his continuing importance for understanding human beings as sociable animals. This is an important, long-needed book."—David Wootton, author of Power, Pleasure, and Profit: Insatiable Appetites from Machiavelli to Madison

"Callanan sensibly and sensitively places the infamous Fable of the Bees in the wider context of Mandeville's other writings and intellectual context and, thereby, illuminates him as a diagnostician of human self-concealment and satirist of human pride. He reveals the Dutch physician with a successful London medical practice as an original pilferer of other people's useful ideas and with a relish for the urbane. And for those who recognize a good bargain when they are offered one, this book also instructs in the art of living, even points the way to the path of wisdom."—Eric Schliesser, author of Adam Smith: Systematic Philosopher and Public Thinker

"John Callanan's enjoyable account of Mandeville explains clearly both why the author of The Fable of the Bees was notorious in his own day and why major figures such as Hume, Rousseau, and Smith felt the need to engage with him so closely. It tells the reader what we know about Mandeville's life, and explores the full range of Mandeville's writings. Mandeville's ideas are put in context, but are also brought to philosophical life. This is the best account in English of Mandeville's thought as a whole."—James Harris, University of St Andrews

"This is the book on Mandeville I've long hoped for, and it is even better than I could have hoped. It is beautifully and engagingly written, as befitting a book on a great, extremely funny—not a common virtue of philosophers—and often scurrilous prose stylist. The Mandeville which emerges in Callanan's book is provocative and subtle, a humane exponent of Terence's dictum "nothing human is alien to me" but also a sharp-witted critic of hypocrisy possessing a medical remove from which to examine our paradoxical species."—Aaron Garrett, Boston University

"John Callanan's Man-Devil strikes a balance between a 'forensic' investigation of Mandeville's engagement with reactions to his ideas in his own time and an examination of the Mandevillean tendency to cross disciplinary boundaries and enrich contemporary controversies in human and social sciences. 'Nothing human is alien' to Mandeville, including the human animal's wondrous potential of being in denial about its own bottomless self-deception."—Spyridon Tegos, University of Crete

John Callanan is reader in the history of philosophy, Department of Philosophy, at King's College London. He is the author of Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and the coeditor of Kant and Animals.

Dan Zahavi

Phenomenology: The basics, 2nd Edition

Two footnotes to the podcast.

1. Walter Hopp's beloved Boston University course is distilled in his Phenomenology: A Contemporary Introduction (2020), an excellent companion to Zahavi's text that focuses on philosophical phenomenology.

2. Paul Møller's Psychosis risk and experience of the self (2023) is the text mentioned in the podcast that uses phenomenological experience to predict psychosis risk.

Description of Phenomenology: The basics, 2nd edition.

Phenomenology: The Basics is a concise and engaging introduction to one of the important philosophical movements of the twentieth century and to a subject that continues to grow and diversify. Yet it is also a challenging subject, the elements of which can be hard to grasp.

This lucid book provides an introduction to the core ideas of phenomenology and to the arguments of its principal thinkers, including Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. Written by a leading expert in the field, Dan Zahavi examines and explains key questions such as:

What is a phenomenological analysis? What are the methodological foundations of phenomenology? What does phenomenology have to say about intentionality, embodiment, intersubjectivity, and the lifeworld? How do ideas from classic phenomenology relate to ongoing debates in qualitative research and the cognitive sciences?

This second edition has been thoroughly revised and expanded. It contains a new chapter on critical phenomenology and updated discussions of the application of phenomenology in psychiatry, psychology, and qualitative research.

Including a glossary of key terms and suggestions for further reading, Phenomenology: The Basics is a superb starting point for anyone seeking a concise and accessible introduction to this rich and fascinating subject.

Table of Contents

Preface to the second edition

Introduction

Part I: Foundational issues

1. The phenomena

2. Intentionality

3. Methodological considerations

4. Science and the lifeworld

5. Digging deeper: From surface to depth phenomenology

6. Merleau-Ponty's preface to Phenomenology of Perception

Part II: Concrete analyses

7. Spatiality and embodiment

8. Intersubjectivity and sociality

9. Critical and political phenomenology

Part III: Applied phenomenology

10. Classical applications: Psychology, psychiatry, sociology

11. Current debates in qualitative research and the cognitive sciences

12. A method, an attitude, a theoretical framework

Conclusion

Glossary

References

Index

Author(s) Biography

Dan Zahavi is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Director of the Center for Subjectivity Research in Copenhagen. His book The Phenomenological Mind (third edition, 2021), coauthored with Shaun Gallagher, is also available from Routledge.

Critics' Reviews

"Clear, engaging and insightful, there is no better introduction to the past, present and future of phenomenological philosophy than this new edition of Zahavi's book." - Dave Ward, University of Edinburgh, UK

"Nuanced, problem-driven, and accessible, this is simply the best introduction to phenomenology. Lucidly written, it presents clear explanations of key concepts and theories while covering the breadth of the phenomenological tradition. The revised edition now also provides an introduction to Critical Phenomenology, likely the most-discussed trend in phenomenology today." - Tobias Keiling, University of Warwick, UK

Praise for the previous edition:

"For the one seeking a way into phenomenological thinking today, or a way to help others find one, it has not been obvious, in the English context, what resource should serve as the best point of entry. The first great merit of Dan Zahavi's book, Phenomenology: The Basics, is to change this calculus for good. Offering English readers an entry point into phenomenology that is accessible, lucid, and engaging, presents key concepts and insights faithfully (but not ploddingly), along with their pertinence in multiple fields of contemporary research, and doing this without obvious error or negligence, is no small achievement." - Karl Hefty, Reading Religion

"A lucid and authoritative introduction to phenomenology including its practical applications in sociology and psychology from one of the world's leading phenomenologists." - Dermot Moran, Boston College, USA

"Zahavi's Phenomenology: The Basics will guide several generations of philosophers and scientists in the study of consciousness, embodiment, communality and normality." - Sara Heinämaa, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

"Dan Zahavi, one of the most prolific and insightful phenomenologists of his generation, has provided a concise, clear and intellectually stimulating introduction to the study of phenomenology."- Alessandro Duranti, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

"This lucid book gets to the core of what phenomenology is all about, and is essential reading for any students of that tradition." - Piet Hut, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA

https://www.routledge.com/Phenomenology-The-Basics/Zahavi/p/book/9781032396378?

Owen Flanagan

James B. Duke University Professor Emeritus of Philosophy & Professor of Neurobiology Emeritus

What Is It Like to Be an Addict?: Understanding Substance Abuse

"A brilliant and unparalleled synthesis of the science, philosophy, and first-person phenomenology of addiction. Owen Flanagan is a distinguished philosopher who ... is also an ex-addict. This book is beyond excellent. It is wise. Everyone who wants to understand addiction must read it." -- Hanna Pickard, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University "This elegant and clear book ... deserves to be a landmark in the study of addiction." -- Carl Erik Fisher, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University, author of The Urge: Our History of Addiction

Owen Flanagan is an internationally acclaimed philosopher of mind, consciousness, ethics, and comparative philosophy and author of 12 books translated into many languages.

A powerful and important exploration of how addiction functions on social, psychological and biological levels, integrated with the experience of being an addict, from an acclaimed philosopher and former addict.

What is addiction? Theories about what kind of thing addiction is are sharply divided between those who see it purely as a brain disorder, and those who conceive of it in psychological and social terms. Owen Flanagan, an acclaimed philosopher of mind and ethics, offers a state-of-the-art assessment of addiction science and proposes a new ecumenical model for understanding and explaining substance addiction.

Flanagan has first-hand knowledge of what it is like to be an addict. That experience, along with his wide-ranging knowledge of the philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, and the ethics and politics of addiction, informs this important and novel work. He pairs the sciences that study addiction with a sophisticated view of the consciousness-brain/body relation to make his core argument: that substance addictions comprise a heterogeneous set of "psychobiosocial" behavioral disorders. He explains that substance addictions do not have one set of causes, such as self-medication or social dislocation, and they do not have one neural profile, such as a dysfunction in dopamine system. Some addictions are fun and experimentation gone awry. Flanagan reveals addiction to be a heterogeneous set of disorders, which are picked out by multifarious cultural, social, psychological, and neural features.

Flanagan explores the ways addicts sensibly insist on their own responsibility to undo addiction, as well as ways in which shame for addiction can be leveraged into healing. He insists on the collective shame we all bear for our indifference to many of the psychological and social causes of addiction and explores the implications of this new integrated paradigm for practices of harm reduction and treatment. Flanagan's powerful new book upends longstanding conventional thinking and points the way to new ways of understanding and treating addiction.

Agnes Callard

Open Socrates

"[C]harming, intelligent…Open Socrates encourages us to recognize how little we know, and to start thinking." —Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

An iconoclastic philosopher revives Socrates for our time, showing how we can answer—and, in the first place, ask—life's most important questions.

Socrates has been hiding in plain sight. We call him the father of Western philosophy, but what exactly are his philosophical views? He is famous for his humility, but readers often find him arrogant and condescending. We parrot his claim that "the unexamined life is not worth living," yet take no steps to live examined ones. We know that he was tried, convicted, and executed for "corrupting the youth," but freely assign Socratic dialogues to today's youths, to introduce them to philosophy. We've lost sight of what made him so dangerous. In Open Socrates, acclaimed philosopher Agnes Callard recovers the radical move at the center of Socrates' thought, and shows why it is still the way to a good life.

Callard draws our attention to Socrates' startling discovery that we don't know how to ask ourselves the most important questions—about how we should live, and how we might change. Before a person even has a chance to reflect, their bodily desires or the forces of social conformity have already answered on their behalf. To ask the most important questions, we need help. Callard argues that the true ambition of the famous "Socratic method" is to reveal what one human being can be to another. You can use another person in many ways—for survival, for pleasure, for comfort—but you are engaging them to the fullest when you call on them to help answer your questions and challenge your answers.

Callard shows that Socrates' method allows us to make progress in thinking about how to manage romantic love, how to confront one's own death, and how to approach politics. In the process, she gives us nothing less than a new ethics to live by.