Possessed: the historical ideas that haunt us – Details, episodes & analysis

An introduction to Possessed

This episode explores the history of the idea that without being watched by other people, we are more likely to behave badly. We start with Plato's myth of Gyges' ring, but also explore online surveillance, secret ballots, and more.

Many psychologists today propose that scientific research can help us learn how to become happy. This proposal rests on the provocative assumption that happiness is the sort of thing that you can measure scientifically, an idea that would have been rejected throughout most of western history. This episode examines the origin of the idea that happiness is measurable. We are joined by Leah McClimans, who has authored a new book on measuring wellbeing and using measurements to improve medical outcomes.

Guest: Leah McClimans, of USC's Philosophy Department

As David Brooks has written, the nuclear family was a blip in human history, not a regulating norm. Yet many of us continue to think that the nuclear family is the way that family ought to be—and, importantly, that care ought to be provided for children and others. Why do we think this way? And what other ways might we provide care for the young and others in need of care?

Guests: Jennifer Augustine + Allison Dunatchik

Cited in the show:

David Brooks' Atlantic article: "The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake"

This episode delves into the metaphor of the body as a machine, a concept deeply shaped by René Descartes in the 17th century. His comparison of the body to a mechanical system, like a clock, reflected the era's medical advancements, and helped establish a mechanistic view of human anatomy. Yet this metaphor carries profound implications. As later critics like Wendell Berry argue, it reduces the body to a mere object, stripping away its connection to nature and the land. The episode explores how this shift in thinking continues to influence modern medicine and our relationship with our own bodies.

Guest: Michael Burkett of USC Athletics

What makes a body ideal? Is it how it looks, what it does, or what it signifies? In this episode, we explore the ever-shifting idea of the ideal, or idealized body, with two professional dancers and professors of dance, whose work grapples daily with bodies in motion, under scrutiny, and in transformation. What kinds of ideals continue to regulate, elevate, or distort our sense of what a body should be? How are we today still possessed by these ideas?

Guests: Jennifer Deckert and André Megerdichian of USC's Blackmon Dance Program

Civil disobedience is taught widely in American schools as an integral part of the American story. Henry David Thoreau is honored as a civil hero. Susan B. Anthony earned placement on American coinage, and Martin Luther King received a holiday in his honor. But what counts as civil disobedience? What makes it civil, and what makes it disobedient? For this episode, we explore the the concept of civil disobedience in the United States, with a special attention to the religious and philosophical contexts in which it emerged.

Guests: Alexander Livingston, associate professor at Cornell University