Ellie and David chat with philosopher Lewis Gordon about his book, Fear of Black Consciousness. They talk through the history of anti-Black racism, the existential concept of bad faith, why Rachel Dolezal might have Black consciousness. From the American Blues to the Caribbean movement of Negritude, this episode is full of insight into Black liberation and White centeredness.

Ellie and David talk about extinction, from Christian eschatology, to the perils of Anthropocene, to cutting-edge de-extinction technology. They turn to animal ethics and scientific dilemmas in search of the ethical approaches that might equip us to think extinction.

In episode 115 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the meaning of hope, from casual travel plans, to electoral optimism, to theological liberation. They explore Kant’s ambitions for perpetual peace, and discuss the Marxian imperative to transform the world. Should we hope for what seems realistic, or reach for impossible utopias?

Ellie and David reflect on the highs and lows of friendship, from their own bond to Montaigne’s intimate connection to Étienne de La Boétie. From Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics to today’s loneliness epidemic, they question what friends do, how they hold each other accountable, and the deep ways in which our vices and virtues are shaped by our friends.

Awkward moments are everywhere you look. In episode 113 of Overthink, Ellie and David invite philosopher Alexandra Plakias to talk through her research on awkwardness. They discuss from oversharing online to uncomfortable silences, power, morality, and the core scripts of our social expectations.

In Episode 112 of Overthink, Ellie and David pick apart hyperreality: our reality today is so inundated by signs that the gap between reality and simulation has all but broken down. From its presence in Superman and Bridgerton to its uncanny role in legitimizing presidential power.

In episode 111, 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.

In episode 110 of Overthink, Ellie and David untangle the role of intensity in shaping our aspirations, cultural tropes, and political goals. They trace its roots in Aristotle's theory of change, medieval science and princely romanticism. 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 think about its role in capitalist acceleration.

Ellie and David interview cognitive philosopher Andy Clark, whose cutting edge work on perception offers an intriguing computational model of mind and experience. The predictive processing model promises a healthier relation to neurodiversity, and helps us understand placebos, road safety, chronic pain, anxiety, and even the accidental success of ‘positive thinking.’

Ellie and David analyze success in everything from Zhuangzi’s tales to the corporate world of buzzwords. They discuss party planning, tenure tracks, inspirational quotes, haters, why science seems so successful, and the pitfalls of thinking we’ve got it all figured out.

From Kant’s distinction between organisms and mechanisms, to Deleuze and Guattari’s infamous call for ‘bodies without organs,’ Ellie and David uncover and question the ontological and metaphorical baggage behind organisms. In the bonus, they discuss relations between organisms, politics, and reason through the thought of Lukács and Canguilhem.

Ellie and David discuss fun, from its aesthetic opposition to the highbrow realm of beauty, to questions like: what role does fun play in the good life? How does fun relate to art, play, and ritual? Can you really have fun by yourself? And what happens when the lines blur between the fun and the political?

Ellie and David discuss civil disobedience in the present context of university activism for divestment from genocide in Gaza. They chart the concept in political theory, from Thoreau and MLK through to today. Together with guest Noëlle McAfee, Chair of the Philosophy Department at Emory University, they reflect on the relationship between legal protest, civil disobedience, and political dialogue, and think about why activism must be part of any healthy democracy.

This is one for the books. In episode 104 of Overthink, Ellie and David consider what makes reading so rewarding, and, for many people today, so challenging! How did society shift toward inward silent reading and away from reading aloud in the Middle Ages? How have changes in teaching phonics and factors of classism, accessibility, and educational justice made it harder for the young to read? Why is reading philosophy so hard, and how can we increase our reading stamina?

In episode 103 of Overthink, Ellie and David take a leisurely dive into laziness, discussing everything from couchrotting to the biology of energy conservation. They explore Devon Price’s idea of the ‘laziness lie’ in today’s hyperproductive society and look into the racialization of laziness in Ibn Khaldun and Montesquieu’s ideas on the idle tropics, thinking through how the Protestant work ethic punishes laziness, even when technology could take care of the work.

In episode 102 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss racial mixedness, from family-oriented models of mixed race to José Vasconcelos’ and Gloria Anzaldua’s idea of the ‘mestizo’ heritage of Mexican people. They work through phenomenological accounts of cultural hybridity and selfhood, wondering how being multiracial pushes beyond the traditional Cartesian philosophical subject.

In episode 101 of Overthink, Ellie and David speak with Dr. Shazeda Ahmed, specialist in AI Safety, to dive into the philosophy guiding artificial intelligence. With the rise of LLMs like ChatGPT, the lofty utilitarian principles of Effective Altruism have taken the tech-world spotlight by storm. Who is right about AI: the doomers or the utopians? And whose voices are part of the conversation in the first place?

Overthink goes meta! In the 100th episode Ellie and David reflect on the podcast’s journey and use psychology to understand overthinking as the distracting voice inside your head and a welcome relief from traumatic memories. With John Dewey and the Frankfurt School, they look at different ways to understand the role of overthinking in philosophy and the humanities.

In episode 99, Ellie and David talk all about zombies and their unfortunate legacy in the thought experiments of academic philosophy. Their portrait as brain-eating and consciousness-lacking mobs is a far cry from their origins in the syncretic sorcery at the margins of Haitian Voodoo. Your hosts probe beyond limits of the tradition when they explore zombification in animals, in reading, in Derrida, and beyond.

In Episode 98, Ellie and David untangle the philosophy behind reputations. From Machiavelli’s advice to despots looking to stay popular, to disgruntled students venting on their professors online, they explore concepts like the Matthew effect, the homo comparativus, and informational asymmetry.