Ep. 330: Kierkegaard's "Either/Or": The Aesthetic Life (Part One)
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
Mark Linsenmayer
4.6 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 November 2023
⏱️ 49 minutes
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Summary
On the aphorisms ("Diapsalmata") that begin Soren Kierkegaard's Either/Or (1843), plus the essay also in the first volume, "Rotation of Crops." What is it to live your life as if it were a work of art? K thinks such a life is unserious and unsatisfying.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of the partial examined life is sponsored by Masterclass. |
| 0:03.3 | Get two memberships for the price of one at Masterclass.com slash P.E.L. |
| 0:07.9 | Maximize the power of your charitable contributions at givewell.org. You're listening to the partially examined life, a podcast by some guys who at one point set on doing philosophy for a living, but then thought better of it. |
| 0:27.0 | Our question for episode 330 is something like, what is it to live the artistic life? We read selections from the |
| 0:34.1 | first half of Surin Kirkregards either or from 1843. More information about |
| 0:39.5 | this book in the podcast please see partially examined life.com. My name is Mark Linton Meyer practicing the art of arbitrariness in Madison |
| 0:46.0 | Wisconsin or let's say the Hoover Dam what I was being arbitrary about my |
| 0:51.7 | location oh this is Seth Pass I was being arbitrary about my location. |
| 0:53.0 | Oh, this is Seth Paskin being immediately what I am in Austin, Texas. |
| 1:00.0 | This is Wes Allen playing Shuttlecock with existence in Cambridge, Massachusetts. |
| 1:05.0 | And what are you immediately, Seth? |
| 1:07.0 | Are you the romantic hero? |
| 1:09.0 | Romantic? No. |
| 1:11.0 | Hero. |
| 1:12.0 | Eh, maybe. I have to take issue with the title of the episode, but I think that's also just a good segue for getting us into. |
| 1:20.0 | What issue would you take with it? |
| 1:22.0 | Meaning of, well, because living an artistic life, |
| 1:26.0 | is a question of what that means. |
| 1:28.0 | So am I being an artist? |
| 1:30.0 | Am I turning my life into art? Should they have said living an aesthetic life? |
| 1:35.0 | Sure, but I understand why Mark didn't want to do that. |
| 1:38.0 | He's trying not to get to... |
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