Overthink

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 ResponsibilitySupport the showSubstack | overthinkpod.substack.com Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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"Support the showSubstack | overthinkpod.substack.com Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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)Support the showSubstack | overthinkpod.substack.com Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 SmellSupport the showSubstack | overthinkpod.substack.com Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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”Support the showSubstack | overthinkpod.substack.com Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 Support the showSubstack | overthinkpod.substack.com Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 SensesSupport the showSubstack | overthinkpod.substack.com Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 ConnectionSupport the showSubstack | overthinkpod.substack.com Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 PsychologySupport the showSubstack | overthinkpod.substack.com Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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”Support the showSubstack | overthinkpod.substack.com Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.