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Category Archives: philosophy

15: The Republic (1of2), Partners, and Writing

After a long hiatus, Tones and Mike are finally back with a 2-part episode on Plato’s Republic.  In this Part 1 episode, we discuss the Ring of Gyges and The Cave, respectively linking them to conversations on Ethics and Epistemology.  Mike and Tones also discuss the importance of working with a partner and revisit the link between philosophy and writing.

Click here to stream the podcast: 


Or here if you prefer iTunes:

Music by Buskerdroid (free music archive) and Tones dinking around with his new guitar.

 

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14: ThoughtExperiments, Election Day, and Writing

Mike and Tones focus on a theme of balancing the narrow scope of the concrete vs. the wide scope of fundamentals by talking about the 2012 Presidential election and Thought Experiments. While the election showed the dire need of philosophic thought in political campaigns, Thought Experiments show the value in bringing ideas down to the concrete level for better understanding. We also discuss if philosophy has a role in writing.

Click here to stream the Episode: ep14thoughtexper

Or here if you prefer iTunes:

Tones gives a plug for a great “armchair philosopher” book: The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten by Julian Baggini. You can find it here on AMAZON

Music by Buskerdroid (free music archive) and NIGHTOSAUR (because they said I could).

 

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Upcoming: thought experiments

Thought experiments are invaluable tools for philosophers and philosophy students to concretize complex, abstract theories and to take the theory for a test drive. They’re also a good tool for philosophic hopefuls to hone their chops. In math classes we use story problems to drive home the lesson; we can learn long division all day, but the story problems asking how many apples Mary had on a train heading to Vermont clarifies the usage and shows the student his the theory is applicable to real life.

Our next podcast will pick a few of our favorite thought experiments, choosing some from ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. We’ll describe the scenario, dissect the different angles, and see what light this may show on the abstract theory as well as its applicability to real life.

It should be a fun one!

We need suggestions, though. If you have a favorite scenario: The Inhospitable Hospital, The Pig Who Wanted To Be Eaten, etc. let us know and we’ll consider it for Episode 14.

Email: philosurvival@gmail.com or leave a comment!

 
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Posted by on September 15, 2012 in philosophy

 

Ep.12: Marx, Communism, and Political Philosophy

Mike and Tones discuss Marx’s Communist Manifesto.  Are his views “good on paper, bad in practice,” a blueprint for tyranny, or a noble system?  Were the events in Cambodia the bastardization of Marxist ideals or the logical path set out by his Manifesto?  What role does philosophy have in judging political theory?

Please note that Mike and Tones both give rather strong judgements on Marx and his political theory, which may drift a bit from our Prime Directive/Mission Statement.  As always, we do invite you to read the discussed work for yourself, think critically, and to make your own judgements.  As always, we also invite you to add to the discussion via email or the “comments” portion of this page.

Click here to Stream: ep12marx

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Bumper Music by Tones.

 
 

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Ep11: Socrates II: Apology, Crito, Democracy and Principles.

Mike and Tones continue their discussion on Socrates in the Apology and the Crito, focusing on what philosophic ideas we can pull from these stories and why they are essential to even those who don’t study philosophy.  What does the tragic story of Socrates say about living according to principles?  What does it say about Democracy?

Click here to Stream: ep11socratesII

Click here if you prefer iTunes

Bumper Music by Nightosaur off of their NEW album, SpaceAxers.  Check them out here: NIGHTOSAUR 

 
 

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Upcoming: Socrates pt. ii

Leaving off with Theaetetus in Ep 10, Socrates was on his way to a trial. Mike and I plan on continuing this story by discussing The Apology and Crito in Ep 11. While these early works of Plato are more literary works than philosophical dissertations, we’ll discuss what philosophic ideas can be extracted from these two short stories and wrap up any leftover thoughts on our overview of the (character?) Socrates.

We’re hoping to record soon and have the installment up within a week or so.

Thanks for your continued interest! See you next week!

 
 

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www.philosophysurvivalguide.com

To celebrate our 10th episode, we finally purchased the domain: philosophysurvivalguide.com

Your old WordPress link will still work, but the shortened, simpler new link is now available.

 
 

Ep.10: Socrates in THEAETETUS

Mike and Tones begin their discussion on Socrates (to be continued) by concentrating on Plato’s Theaetetus.  They don’t get in too deep in regards to the epistemological content of the book but rather use it to examine the character of Socrates and to discuss his role as one of the most important philosophers… EVER.  Tones also discusses a rare trip to the movie theater and compares/contrasts The Avengers to Titanic and other disaster films as it ties in well to Episode 9′s Aesthetics discussion.

Click here to Stream: ep10socrates

Click here if you prefer iTunes

Bumper Music by Nightosaur off of their NEW album, SpaceAxers.  Check them out here: NIGHTOSAUR 

 
 

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Ep9: Aesthetics

Mike and Tones discuss philosophy’s role in Aesthetics and why anyone should care enough to think about art.  We also argue if Aesthetics should cover non-art within its definition.  This finally leads us to emphasize the role ideas and values play in artists’ creations and our subsequent appreciation of their works.

Click here to Stream: philosurvivalguideep9

Click here if you prefer iTunes

Bumper Music by Nightosaur off of their NEW album, SpaceAxers.  Check them out here: NIGHTOSAUR 

 
 

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Philosophy in Software Testing? (Mike’s Other Gig)

As noted in the “about us” section of this site, Philosophy: A Survival Guide co-host Michael Raveling also hosts a podcast directly related to his career: softwaretestpodcast.com .  Every once in a while, Michael sneaks in some philosophic theory into these podcasts, but he and his co-host struck the jackpot in this episode with special guest, James Bach.  Bach was more than willing to entertain Michael’s philosophic discussion; he offered a fairly lengthy discussion on how studying philosophy was essential to his career as a software tester.  Even if you have zero interest in software testing, this particular episode offers a lot to anyone with an independent, critical mind.

Our mission with this podcast is to break down the barrier between philosophy and the so-called “real world” by not only demonstrating its worth in every-day living, but to also call out philosophic BS when we see it.  Bach seems to share this mentality. It’s not often that the study of philosophy gets much cred in discussions outside of philosophy itself, so we highly recommend that you check it out: HERE

–Tones

 

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Ep8: FreeWill, B.F. Skinner, and Aesthetics

A discussion of B.F. Skinner and Tones’s recent findings on Twitter take us deeper into the discussion of Freewill.  We also begin our discussion of Aesthetics, but merely as a teaser for Episode 9.

Click here to Stream: Episode8

Click here if you prefer iTunes

Bumper Music by Nightosaur off of their NEW album, SpaceAxers.  Check them out here: NIGHTOSAUR  or click here for a free download: THERE MAY BE DRAGONS

 
 

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Ep7: The Presocratics and “Bull Crap”

Are the PreSocratics a bunch of goof balls with crazy ideas or are they worth studying?  Also, we discuss an article: “Philosophy: A Bunch of Bull Crap.”  Well, Is it?

Click here to Stream: Ep7: Presocratics and “Bull Crap”

Click here if you prefer iTunes

Click here  to access the referenced Philosophy: A Bunch Of Bull Crap article by Jordan Roston

Bumper music by Tones

 
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Posted by on March 29, 2012 in philosophy

 

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Ep6: Nietzsche, Love, and Dichotomies!

We offer our take on Nietzsche, we discuss LOVE (happy Valentines Day), and the importance of recognizing false dichotomies.

Click here to Stream: philosurvivalguideep6

Click here if you prefer iTunes

Bumper Music by MPLS ‘s own, Small White: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Small-White/123935553680  (thanks, guys!)

 
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Posted by on February 28, 2012 in philosophy

 

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Ep5: Egalitarianism, Nietzsche, and SOP’s

Moving on to Politics, we discuss Egalitarianism.  We also discuss a few reading tips for the philosophy student, Tones gives an analogy that shows the need to avoid Pragmatism and to define your principles, and we close with our initial thoughts on Nietzsche (before discussing him further in Episode VI).

Click here to Stream: philosurvivalguideep5

Click here if you prefer iTunes

Bumper Music by Nightosaur (intro) and Hump! (outro)

 
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Posted by on February 5, 2012 in philosophy

 

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Ep4: Kierkegaard, Ethics, Reason, and Free Will

We discuss a USA Today OpEd on Free Will, cleanup EpIII’s discussion on Epistemology, set up shop for future discussion on Ethics, and discuss Kierkegaard.

Click here to Stream: philosurvivalguideep4

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Posted by on January 20, 2012 in philosophy

 

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Ep3: Epistemology, More Metaphysics, and Merry New Year!

We discuss New Years, continue our discussion on Metaphysics, and begin our Introduction To Epistemology.

Click here to Stream: philosurvivalguideep3

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Posted by on January 1, 2012 in philosophy

 

Welcome to Philosophy: A Survival Guide!

Hello, All!

Thanks for checking out Philosophy: A Survival Guide, a podcast and blog (heavier on the podcast) dedicated to promote the study of philosophy through casual conversations and anecdotes that show that, like it or not, philosophy is everywhere.

If you decide to study philosophy, we hope to throw you a lifeline to bring you back to the “real world.”  We want to remind you that yes, those abstractions and generalities that you’re studying do have their proper context in your life.  We’ll help you stay grounded.  We hope to be your survival guide.

If you are doubtful that studying philosophy is necessary for everyday living, we hope to show you how studying and defining your personal philosophy will enhance your day-to-day life.  Trying to live without a defined philosophy is like trying write an essay without an outline; you may get the final paper done regardless, but a paper written with a properly outlined guide will be clearer, more efficient, and prevent the writer from wandering off course.  Philsophy is a survival guide.

See what we did there?

Anyway, we hope you have fun listening to our podcasts.  We’ll try to present a mixture of philosophic theory, fun stories, and we’ll try to keep it as far away from the guru’s mountain as possible.  We welcome you to send topic ideas, questions, or comments to: philosurvivalguide@gmail.com and/or follow us on Twitter: @philopodcast

Here’s who we are:

Michael Raveling  is a 12-year Software Test professional and Quality Assurance analyst. He’s a University of Minnesota graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in computer science. He also hosts a wildly popular podcast about software testing ( http://www.softwaretestpodcast.com )

Anthony Selbitschka has been working in the photographic/printing industry for all of his professional life, specializing in facilities/equipment management.  Anthony is also a University of Minnesota grad with a BA in Philosophy.
Anthony and Michael have been close friends for nearly 20 years.  They enjoy arguing, Timberwolves games, and most currently, Podcasting.
 
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Posted by on December 5, 2011 in philosophy

 

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