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Overthink podcast

Hosted by your new favorite professors, Ellie Anderson and David Peńa-Guzmán, Overthink offers fresh takes on perennial questions.
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Come to us for deep dives on challenging concepts and unexpected connections to everyday life and pop culture.

10/09/2024

Welcome to the desert of the real! 👾 The latest Overthink episode, 112. HYPERREALITY, really is out everywhere. 🦠

👾 Why is there a Parthenon… in Nashville? Jean Baudrillard might have answers. In Episode 112 of Overthink, Ellie and David pick apart hyperreality: the provocative suggestion that our reality today is so inundated by signs that the gap between reality and simulation has all but broken down. Your hosts talk through the history and experience of hyperreality, from its presence in Superman and Bridgerton to its uncanny role in legitimizing presidential power. And they wonder: does the idea of hyperreality motivate political action, or does it slide into complacent provincialism?

👾 Works Discussed
Jean Baudrillard, America
Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation
Daniel Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America
Don DeLillo, White Noise
Umberto Eco, Travels in Hyperreality
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others
Sadie Plant, The Most Radical Gesture
Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle
An American Family (1973)
Superman (1978)
Love Island (2023)
Bridgerton (2005)

👾 What did you think of the episode? And where will hyperreality take you next?

05/09/2024

Do you have the iconic overthink dad hat yet? 🧢
🧠⚡️ Go to our links to view the full collection!

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04/09/2024

Have you listened to Envy yet?

28/08/2024

we’re all Kierkegaard, really

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27/08/2024

😈🎀 The latest Overthink episode, 111. ENVY, is out now everywhere. Don’t be jealous! 🫨

Why are you so obsessed with me!? In episode 111 of Overthink, Ellie and David untangle envy, jealousy, and admiration, in everything from Sigmund Freud to Regina George. They think through the role of envy in social media and status regulation alongside Sara Protasi’s The Philosophy of Envy, and investigate the philosophical lineage of this maligned emotion. Does the barrage of others’ achievements on social media lead to ill-will or competitive self-improvement? Why do we seek to deny our own envies? And how might Freud’s questionable theory of ‚pen*s envy‘ betray the politics of how we assign and deflect desire?
Works Discussed Aristotle, Rhetoric Basil of Caesarea, On Envy Christine de Pizan, City of Ladies Justin D’arms, Envy in the Philosophical Tradition Sigmund Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of S*xuality, “Analysis Terminable and Interminable” Luce Irigaray, This S*x Which is Not One Plato, Philebus Plutarch, Moralia, “Of Envy and Hatred” Sara Protasi, The Philosophy of Envy Max Scheler, Ressentiment Genesis 4, Exodus 20

Snow White (1937) Mean Girls (2004)

Overthink epiosdes 60. Influencers 82. Regret 98. Reputation

26/08/2024

👑🍐 The iconic caricature of Louis-Philippe as a pear put its cartoonist in jail.

🍐 And it is also the perfect representation of the mellowness of the bourgeoise:

“What does it really mean to be called bourgeois? It means: ‘You have no intensity.’ As in the well-known caricature of Louis-Philippe in the shape of a pear, the bourgeois has a kind of softness to it.

The bourgeois person is settled, sedentary, married, and holds tight to a cookie cutter plan that guides her life. Security is the primary bourgeois concern. Her mind, which is always strictly delimited and properly formatted, loves to love with moderation, and knows just enough about science to get by. Bourgeois people such as merchants or accountants serve as the point atop which society finds its balance. But they are also the final point of resistance against the ethics of intensity.

Paradoxically, the bourgeois resistance to the ethics of intensity is precisely what makes it possible for that ethics to be maintained. In the face of bourgeois adversity, the idea of living intensely regains its transgressive and electrifying meaning.” 🍐⚡️

— Tristan Garcia, THE LIFE INTENSE

Listen to the latest ep of Overthink podcast, 110. INTENSITY, to hear more about theories of intensity from Aristotle to Garcia. And the role of the peary monarch in resisting its influence. ✨

19/08/2024

What books did you discuss with friends this weekend?

15/08/2024

Ellie and David discuss the multiplicity of consciousness, or what Bergson might have said about Pixar’s Inside Out and Inside Out 2. Check out the full episode on Intensity, out now!

13/08/2024

🤯💥🙀 Intense announcement: the new Overthink episode is out now!

🔋What do skydiving, guitar-playing teenagers, and deep-seated psychic states have in common? They’re all intense! In episode 110 of Overthink, Ellie and David untangle the role of intensity in shaping our aspirations, cultural tropes, and political goals. They trace the concept’s history from its tricky roots in Aristotle’s theory of change, passing through medieval science and princely romanticism, to the thrills of skydiving and breathwork today.

🔋They turn to Henri Bergson and Gilles Deleuze’s accounts of consciousness and emotion to explore how intensity looks beyond the scientistic impulse to categorize and quantify, and question if intensity is of any help in addressing capitalist acceleration today.

Find it anywhere you get podcasts 🧠🦕

Works Discussed
Aristotle, Categories
Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Life
Henri Bergson, Time and Free Will
Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition
Gustav Theodor Fechner, Elements of Psychophysics
Tristan Garcia, The Life Intense: A Modern Obsession
Mary Beth Mader, “Whence Intensity? Deleuze and the Revival of a Concept”
Benjamin Noys, The Persistence of the Negative
Nick Srnicek & Alex Williams, “ : Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics”
The Bachelorette
Inside Out 2 (2024)

Mentioned Overthink episodes
61 - Self Knowledge
32 - Paradox
107 - Organisms

08/08/2024

What philosopher would you get broken up over?

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07/08/2024

📖 Here’s a little behind the scenes of our latest episode, 109. Predictive Brain, where we interviewed philosopher Andy Clark on his latest book - The Experience Machine. It’s a wide-ranging piece touching on all aspects of psychology, the body, the nature of mind, and our relationship to health and illness.

🔹Here’s what Ellie had to say:

‘One of the things that I really valued about this book is your move away from moralizing language around what are sometimes known as psychosomatic disorders, following a really rigorous scientific approach. For one, you suggest, not using the term psychosomatic. I think coming from a background in phenomenology, I’ve always had major issues with that term psychosomatic. It presumes a mind body dualism that doesn’t really make any sense.

‘And so instead you talk about functional versus structural disorders. You point out they are not different in kind, but rather in degree: they exist on a spectrum. So you say that there’s no such thing as a raw or correct experience of a medical symptom anyway. And so the idea that if you have a pain in your stomach, “is it all in your head or is it actually real?” It’s just the wrong way to frame it.’

Check out the book! What aspect of the discussion did you find most interesting? 💊

06/08/2024

Don’t forget that you too could be repping Overthink at picnics with your friends with our MERCH!! 👕🧢👜

Go to shop.overthinkpodcast.com to order :)

04/08/2024

How can predictive processing explain how we construct our experience, from functional neurological disorders to phantom phone vibrations? Check our recent episode to hear Ellie and David interview Andy Clark on this and more!

27/07/2024

And two more due by Monday 😥

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26/07/2024

What’s success look like to you? ✨

Ralph Waldo Emerson had this to say. But is it still relevant today?

🧠 From the latest Overthink episode, 108. Success:

Ellie: The poem has become a little bit cliche. It might have some live, laugh, love vibes today. But I think it has a good message because it encourages us to think about success in a more personal and affective way than in a social or external one, right? It’s not about your accolades or your achievements. It’s about what you actually did, how you actually spent your time. And then also in terms of your achievements, it’s to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, rather than to have made the Fortune 500 list.

David: I love that one of the conditions of success here is being backstabbed by haters and fake friends. It’s if somebody has backstabbed you, who was a sh*tty person, you know you have succeeded as a human being.

Ellie: Yeah, you’ve endured the betrayal of false friends.

David: I’m trying really hard to do that.

23/07/2024

We’re so excited to share that Overthink is now accepting tax-deductible donations to support our show! Link in our bio ✨

We are an independent podcast that depends on the generosity of our audience. Your donations help up provide work opportunities for talented students studying philosophy.

Your gift goes directly to the Pomona College
Philosophy Department, which puts it into the funds for Overthink student workers at the Claremont Colleges. Upon making a donation, you get an email certifying that the donation is tax-deductible thanks to being a donation to a college.

While we have an active Patreon membership program, many of you have requested that we set up an option for one-time donations. We’re grateful that Pomona has set us up with this! All funds will support student assistants who contribute to the podcast in key tasks such as audio editing, research assistance, and social media production.

If you have the means, and wish to support Overthink in our mission to bring big ideas into dialogue with everyday life, this is the perfect avenue to give. You can donate at the link in bio.

Additionally, if you’re interested in a recurring
membership with additional benefits, consider subscribing to our Patreon.

Thank you for your support!

17/07/2024

Ellie and David discuss this selection of The Zhuangzi in their recent episode, Success. It will also be the text of our monthly Patreon zoom tomorrow! Check out the episode now and, if you’d be interested in seminar-style discussions on texts brought up in our episodes, check out our Patreon (link in bio) 📚📚

14/07/2024

🎨 Hilma af Klint’s majestic painting series, “The Ten Largest (1907),” portrays the stages in the lifecycle of an organism. 🦠

These enormous pieces were the centerpiece of the 2019 Guggenheim exhibit of her work which was the most visited show in the museum’s history!

Af Klint’s enduring concern for life and vitality make her work the perfect artistic companion to behold while you listen to Overthink’s latest episode: 107. ORGANISMS! 🪲

12/07/2024

Discussing our upcoming episodes 🤫🤫 What topics do you want to hear us cover?

10/07/2024

Life forms structures, including organisms like ourselves—but it also deviates from those very structures. David and Ellie discuss Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the body without organs (and more!) in our recent episode, Organisms.

05/07/2024

What book would NYPD confiscate from your bookshelf

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02/07/2024

It’s alive!! 🦠

Catch the latest Overthink ep, 107. ORGANISMS, wherever you get your podcasts!

David and Ellie take up a philosophical perspective on biology’s squirmiest concept: the organism. From Kant’s distinction between organisms and mechanisms, to Deleuze and Guattari’s infamous call for ‘bodies without organs,’ they uncover and question the ontological and metaphorical baggage behind the concept. Their exploration takes them from the bottom of Sea of Naples to the heights of Romantic Idealism, passing through the tensions of contemporary genetics. Plus, in the Patreon bonus, they discuss the unexpected relations between organisms, politics, and reason through the thought of Lukács and Canguilhem.

Works Discussed
Georges Canguillhem, Knowledge of Life
Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition
Deleuze & Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus
Immanuel Kant, Critique of the Power of Judgment
Georg Lukács, The Destruction of Reason
Jennifer Mensch, Kant’s Organicism: Epigenesis and the Development of Critical Philosophy
Friedrich Schelling, First Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature
Lewis Thomas, The Medusa and the Snail
D. M. Walsh, Organisms, Agency, and Evolution

29/06/2024

Your favorite philosophers who still have fun

26/06/2024

Why do philosophers hate fun? Ellie and David discuss the class position of philosophy and the vilification of fun by the Frankfurt School and more in our recent episode, Fun.

23/06/2024

🃏Pictured: Adorno (not) having fun.

🕹️What’s the role of fun and entertainment in society today?

👾 David: “We know that fun is valuable, but I also want to ask now, is it useful? And if it is not useful, in what senses is its uselessness part of what makes it valuable?

“It arguably can end up being that sort of o***m of the masses that philosophers have worried about since Marx. And so I do share the fear that the Frankfurt school has articulated about fun becoming a pacifier.

“Especially when that fun becomes the end all be all of social life, and it becomes the only outlet that we have available to us for the pursuit of the good life. So I think fun can be a great component of the good life—

“But if your social order makes it such that only the consumption of culture through the culture industry and through the entertainment industry is your only avenue for enjoying your time off of work, then I think that’s a problem.

Overthink episode 106, FUN, is out now everywhere! 🃏

21/06/2024

What are you planning on overthinking this weekend?

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15/06/2024

☕️☕️

14/06/2024

“The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?”

Martin Luther King, Jr. saw civil disobedience as an integral part of his political activism. This mugshot is from April 1963, following his arrest in Birmingham. Theoughout his career he was arrested 29 times.

The latest Overthink ep is all about civil disobedience past and present. Listen now wherever you get our podcasts! 🎙️

13/06/2024

Ellie reflects on student and faculty protest for divestment at her institution, Pomona College, and remarks made by the Board of Trustees. For more on the politics of protest and the student movement for Palestine, check out our recent episode Civil Disobedience.

08/06/2024

Drop the philosophers you have taken on (and won of course) in an essay🤺⤵️

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Videos

A tour of Ellie’s bookshelf! 📖 #overthinkpodcast #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #philosophy

What are you reading? 📚 Pascale Roze’s Le Chasseur Zero, André Gide’s L’immoraliste, and Joseph Kessel’s Belle de Jour. #philosophy #overthinkpodcast #ethics #books #bookstagram

Ellie and David discuss Han Jonas’ article “The Nobility of Sight” in the most recent episode of Overthink👂 #philosophy #thefivesenses #overthinkpodcast #hearing

Jules Davidoff’s test of perception! 🟩🟩🟩🟦🟩 #philosophy #color #perception

Heidegger on Anxiety and Dasein. Check out our YT for more! 👞 #anxiety #philosophy

Schopenhauer, so cheery! #philosophy #schopenhauer #pessimism

Want to think more about the role of a content creator or an influencer? Check out Episode 60, Influence(rs)! #overthinkpodcast #philosophy #influencer #contentcreator

Sneak peek at our latest YT video ft. *unlocked* Patreon-exclusive clips of Ellie & David’s additional reflections + research on Kitsch, Waiting, and Feminism ft. @carolhayfeministphilosopher For more bonus philosophy content, check out our Patreon! Link in bio 😉

One of many highlights from our most recent episode on feminism with @carolhayfeministphilosopher! Have you listened yet? 🌿

Period Tracking Apps: We Live in a (Control) Society

(Control) society has progressed past the need for the panopticon. More on this topic in our latest episode about surveillance!

Friends! We've officially launched our Patreon where you can find bonus content created by your favorite philosophy professors & podcast co-hosts, Ellie and David :) We're a 100% self-supporting podcast passionate about making philosophy accessible to all, so your help sustaining our project and community — whether by joining our Patreon or just sharing this post! — would meant a lot to us. https://www.patreon.com/overthinkpodcast?fan_landing=true As a sneak-peek of the content you'll gain access to as a Patron, check out this behind the scenes clip from our latest episode on surveillance! 👇 Along with bonus extended cut episodes, we'll host monthly Q&As with Ellie and David, share research that goes into episodes, books recs, and more 🥳

Did Plato come up with the idea of Forms while high on hallucinogens? Do ayahuasca rituals allow humans to experience reality as it truly is? Episode 41 is live now, wherever you get your podcasts! #philosophy #philosophypodcast #ergot #psychedelic #plato #overthink

Can’t get enough of Episode 40? Hop over to our Tik Tok to watch Ellie’s analysis of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol!” How does this classic novel perpetuate capitalist ideology? 🎄🎁❄️ #philosophypodcast #christmascarol #marx #bookstagram

🎨How does Kristeva’s concept of abjection help us understand disgust and art?🎨 Ellie and David discuss this theme at the end of episode 38! Check out the full episode for an more in-depth take on disgust. #kristeva #arttheory #philosophypodcast

Introducing Ellie’s “Shrek theory of selfhood” 🙃 Between this and David’s Lady Gaga Social Theory (featured in our last post), how could you NOT listen to Episode 37?? #nietzsche #existentialism #shrek #liveyourtruth #philosophy #podcastersofinstagram

Have you checked us out on @tiktok yet? #paradox #philosophy #derrida #zenbuddhism #zenosparadox

Have you checked our latest episode yet? Ellie and David discuss German philosopher Theodor Adorno’s work The Stars Down to Earth. Check out what it’s about! 💫 #philosophy #podcast #astrology #philosopher

Hey Overthinkers!⁣ Do you want a personalized book recommendation from Ellie and David? ⁣ ⁣ All you have to do is write us a review on Apple Podcasts. If you don’t know what to write, you could also simply rate us. ⁣ Screenshot your rating or review and DM it to us. And in one sentence, tell us what philosophy books you’re looking for. ⁣ Let us know how you enjoy the show!🔥

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