Welcome to Within Reason. My name is Alex O'Connor. Ben Thomas is best known online as Cissophus 55.

He runs a philosophy YouTube channel with nearly a million subscribers whose most popular videos cover themes including suicide, depression and nihilism, but he also gives

overviews of famous philosophers and thinkers including Nietzsche, Slavo Jijek, Jordan Peterson, and

the Unabomber. In this episode we talk about the Manosphere and masculinity and its relationship to philosophy.

We also take a strange detour into the philosophy of sport and cover something which I'm labelling, the football team of Theseus. We then talk about

nihilism. What is it? Is it a philosophy or is it the rejection of philosophy? And what does it really

look like to live like a nihilist? Is nihilism just a euphemism for depression?

And does a nihilistic worldview cause depression? Or does depression cause a nihilistic worldview?

I've enjoyed Ben's videos for a long time now and it was a

pleasure to sit down with him. I hope you enjoy the following conversation

with Ben Thomas or Sissophus 55. What are you doing with your YouTube channel,

Cissophus 55?

And by the way, Cissophus, I get where that part came from,

but what's the 55?

I've, you know, I get that get I get asked that question a lot and I think in just

keeping with continuity I'll just never I'll never disclose it that's just a that's a secret

oh is that right?

Okay, yeah.

You know, I should have thought that you get asked that all the time.

I think the one rule of good podcast interviewing

is don't ask a question that can be Googled

and don't ask a question that somebody's been

...