Philosophy vs. Improv – Details, episodes & analysis

Our long lost episode. Consider it a mystery box.

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com. 

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions, a video version of the podcast, and other bonus stuff.

Internationally best-selling author David wrote a book (and made a film) called How We Got Here, which traces the gradual path in the history of ideas from the ancients through various forms of perspectivism, relativism, and post-modernism to the post-truth discourse that authoritarians and wanna-be authoritarians engage in. Some improv scenes are inserted awkwardly into the discussion.

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com. See us live Wed. 8/21, 6pm at iO Theater, Chicago.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions, a video version of the podcast, and other bonus stuff.

Sponsor: Try online therapy at betterhelp.com/improv.

If people would be uniquely healed by your blood, how much would you charge for it? Would it make a difference if they were wealthy vampires? Bill entices Mark to join a cult.

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions, a video version of the podcast, and other bonus stuff. You can watch video for this episode and hear the post-game talking gratis just by visiting our Patreon page.

Jonny taught philosophy at Oxford, wrote the international bestseller Mini Philosophy, and now writes for Big Think.

We talk Kierkegaard and act out some scenes about scouting and military recruitment. Do we have to live within labels? Does one have to leap to a label, without justification?

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. You'll see there the link to the video version of this. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions, a video version of the podcast, and other bonus stuff.

Sponsor: If you enjoy our podcast, check out Historical Blindness.

Katie is the co-artistic director of Chicago's IO theater and used to do Comedy Sports improv with Bill. She also took a lot of classes in philosophy and religion, so we talk some about cults, Kierkegaard, tolerance, and more. In our scenes, a family contemplates celebrating Christmas differently this year, and people debate the appropriate gift for a newborn king. 

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. You'll see there the link to the video version of this. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions and other bonus stuff.

Sponsors: Get a meal for $1.49 plus $1 steaks at EveryPlate.com/podcast, code 49improv. Get a weekly dose of Internet comedy at CanYouDontPodcast.com.

It's our office holiday party, where we engage in chit-chat then enter into a few holiday scenes. Is there any philosophy content in this one at all? We do talk a bit about status and authority. Was there any particular improv lesson? We forgot to actually lay out our lessons at the end, and (SPOILER) declined to name a winner.

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. You'll see there the link to the video version of this. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions and other bonus stuff.

Sukaina teaches philosophy at U. of Pennsylvania, combining work from ancient Greek, contemporary moral, and feminist philosophy. She lets Mark and Bill know about critiques by feminist philosophers of the idea of consent. We talk a bit about moral agency, teaching dynamics given these kids today, Aristotelian virtue, and testing personality types by turning them up to 11.

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. You'll see there the link to the video version of this. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions and other bonus stuff, including a special holiday video (which is free to all viewers)

Kevin is the creator and host of the storytelling podcast RISK! and is the alphabetically foremost member of the MTV-televised, newly reformed, celebrity-infested sketch comedy troupe The State. But can he improvise? Mark and Bill surprise Kevin into a scene about a suspicious hotel.

How does one engineer one's legacy? Will history inevitably either reduce your greatest contributions to mere noise or reinterpret them in light of your final, embarrassing moments? Perhaps the legendary comedy team of Ricky and Lester can serve as a scenic example; let's let them say a little about who they are and how their career reached its current nadir.

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. You'll see there the link to the video version of this. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions and other bonus stuff.

Recorded on 9/11 (a date not known primarily for its improv activities), only now making its way to you, this discussion between Mark and Bill talk child deification, pop philosophy vs. pop improv, foreign accents, and guns in schools in the hands of improvisers.

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions and other bonus stuff.

Returning freedom fighters Andrew and Linda and join Bill and Mark to talk about philosophical liberalism: Its rationales and varieties. Plus, preschool orientation, and Greek gods creating a new world.

Mark philosophizes at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Bill improvises (and teaches) at chicagoimprovstudio.com.

Hear more at philosophyimprov.com. Support the podcast to get all our post-game discussions and other bonus stuff. This episode includes the post-game to give you a sample.

Sponsor: Visit FactorMeals.com/improv50 (code improv50) to get 50% off America's #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Kit.