In episode 142 of Overthink, Ellie and David chat with Jennifer Banks about her book Natality: Toward a Philosophy of Birth. They think through the debate between pronatalism and antinatalism, and consider alternatives to these positions. They also discuss Hannah Arendt’s account of natality and what Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein tells us about the relationship between birth and monstrosity. What is birth, and why does it seem to defy so many of our concepts and categories? What’s the difference between being-born and giving-birth? And how would our view of ourselves change if we saw ourselves through the lens of a “philosophy of birth” (as opposed to, say, “a philosophy of death”)?

In episode 141 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss femininity. They look to Simone de Beauvoir’s famous claim that one is not born but rather becomes a woman, and discuss how the process of feminization is crucial to this becoming. They explore the association between femininity, mystery, and docility. Is the return to traditional gender roles an attempt to move away from capitalism? How do contemporary beauty standards shape women’s self-understanding. And is there such thing as “feminine writing”?

In episode 140 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss masculinity. What does it mean to be a man, and how has the concept of masculinity changed over time? They look at the connection between the male loneliness epidemic and the crisis of masculinity, the current influx of male influencers spreading right-wing rhetoric, and some of the features of masculinity. Is masculinity rooted in violence and homophobia? Is it possible to have a healthy model of masculinity?

In episode 139 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk about neighbors. They think through the parasocial relationships that exist between neighbors, how the values of our neighbors affect us, and how neighborly relations blur the public/private distinction. They look to Levinas’s understanding of the neighbor as the other and think about how this understanding can help us in day-to-day interactions. How do our relationships with neighbors differ from our other kinds of relationships? To what extent do we choose our neighbors, and how does this change according to people’s amount of wealth? And what actually makes a neighbor a neighbor?

In episode 138, Ellie and David talk to Lindsey Stewart about her book, The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic. They talk about how the concept of ‘conjure’ shifted from its origin in the West African tradition to how it manifests in African American communities today. They discuss the history of the Yoruba religion and how it travelled to the US with slavery and they explore the impact of historical images like the Mammy and the Voodoo Queen. What are the dangers of rhetoric of Black women being magical? How has Christianity influenced the ignorance that many Americans have around conjure?

In episode 137 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the meaning of truth in our contemporary political and social landscape and how post-truth has increased in the recent years. They explore the different types of truth and the differences between misinformation vs disinformation and lying vs bullshitting. How do phenomenons like opinion overload, news fatigue, and information overload contribute to the spread of post truth? Is there a connection between post truth and postmodernism? And if so, how has academic postmodernism, or so called ‘pomo professors’, contributed to the rise of dishonesty and deception?

In episode 136 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk through all things burnout. They look at the history of the term burnout and its connection to social justice, the correlation between achievement culture and burnout, and what Christina Maslach’s Burnout inventory tells us about the different axes of burnout. How does our mindless scrolling and inability to be bored contribute to burnout? Why do academics struggle to recognize their burnout? And is it even possible to escape burnout in a capitalist society?

In episode 134 of Overthink, Ellie and David have a conversation with Eric Schwitzgebel about his book Weirdness of the World. They think through the difference between weirdness and bizarreness, the nonsensical nature of all philosophical theories, and whether we should all just agree with Occam’s razor, that simplest is always best. From the weirdness of humans and common sense to the weirdness of the world, this episode dives into several areas of weirdness

In episode 134 of Overthink, Ellie and David have a conversation with Eric Schwitzgebel about his book Weirdness of the World. They think through the difference between weirdness and bizarreness, the nonsensical nature of all philosophical theories, and whether we should all just agree with Occam’s razor, that simplest is always best. From the weirdness of humans and common sense to the weirdness of the world, this episode dives into several areas of weirdness

In episode 133 of Overthink, Ellie and David close out their four-part series on the elements with air. They consider Anaximenes of Miletus’s belief that all things are made of air, Luce Irigaray’s belief that air is feminine, and the modern use of air as a weapon of battle. What can the TV series The Last of Us tell us about the inescapability of air Why have some philosophers thought the soul is made of air? And how does air allow itself to be forgotten?

In episode 132 of Overthink, Ellie and David dig into the topic of earth for the third part of their four-part series on the elements. They discuss everything from earthworms and carbon dating to the earth as a living being. They look to Foucault, Freud, and Husserl for their ideas on how the earth can act as a metaphor for the past. Are there limitations to thinking about the Earth as a solid substance? What are the similarities between humans and earth? And what is it that we actually mean when we talk about earth as an element?  

In episode 131 of Overthink, David and Ellie take a deep dive into the topic of water as part of their four-part series on the elements. They discuss how all life begins in water, and the conceptual features of water, such as its fluidity and shapelessness. What did Thales of Miletus mean by ‘all is water’? How is water used as a metaphor for the Dao? And at what point does being in water go from feeling like Moana to feeling like Jaws?

In episode 130 of Overthink, David and Ellie launch a four-part series on the elements, starting off hot with fire. They look at the role of fire in Greek mythology (focusing on the myth of Prometheus), the evolution of humans’ relationship with fire, and fire’s role as the universal metaphor. Why did Prometheus steal fire from the Olympians and give it  to humans? Why does Bachelard believe that fire is “the” philosophical element par excellence? How did Western culture turn fire from friend to foe? And what would a non-antagonistic relationship to fire look like?

In episode 129 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk to philosopher and host of Hi-Phi Nation Barry Lam about his book, Fewer Rules, Better People: The Case for Discretion. They discuss the problems with legalism and bureaucracy and the importance of discretion, as well as how the emergence of AI affects decision-making, and the negative impact of too many rules on our criminal justice system. Are we obliged to follow government rulings? Why is the ‘by the book bureaucrat’ the biggest villain of all? And how can we train people to make better discretionary decisions?

In episode 128 of Overthink, Ellie and David take a look at cleanliness. They get into how humans have turned cleanliness into art, the double standard of cleanliness for humans vs pets, and the historical weaponisation of cleanliness against marginalised groups, such as queer people and people of color. Why are we so focused on dirt when it is nothing more than matter out of place? And what is up with TikTok’s obsession with the Clean Girl Aesthetic?

In episode 127 of Overthink, David and Ellie dive into what an oligarchy looks like, the dangers of a country’s power being in the hands of the wealthy few, and whether or not oligarchic rule is new for the US. They look to the ancient Greeks for ideas on which form of government is conducive to the good life and explore how Aristotle’s notion of pleonexia relates to the current state of the US. Your hosts investigate how oligarchy morphs into tyranny, and try to answer the question, “How can we resist an oligarchy?”

In episode 126 of Overthink, Ellie and David dive into the experience of ecstasy. They look at interpretations of ecstasy in the tradition of mysticism, where ecstasy has been figured as a loss of self. How common are experiences of ecstasy? Are they limited to religious contexts, or are there alternate avenues for entering ecstatic states? And what about MDMA and its relation to rave culture?

In episode 125 of Overthink, Ellie and David talk to philosopher Talia Mae Bettcher about her new book Beyond Personhood: An Essay in Trans Philosophy, where she discusses everything from “genderphoria” to her notion of “reality enforcement” (a mechanism of transphobic oppression). In the interview, Dr. Bettcher expresses concerns about certain received views about trans identity, such as the “the wrong body” and “beyond the binary” views, which don’t capture the complexity of trans experiences. How can we move toward a more inclusive culture when it comes to trans identity? And, do we need to reject fundamental philosophical notions such as “person,” “self,” and “subject” in order to combat transphoria?

In episode 124 of Overthink, Ellie and David wonder what intuition actually is. Is it a gut feeling, a rational insight, or just a generalization from past experience? They talk about the role intuition has played in early modern philosophy (in the works of Descartes, Hume, and Mill), in phenomenology (in the philosophies of Husserl and Nishida), and in the philosophy of science (in the writings of Bachelard). They also call into question the use of intuitions in contemporary analytic philosophy while also highlighting analytic critiques of the use of intuition in philosophical discourse. So, the question is: Can we trust our intuitions or not? Are they reliable sources of knowledge, or do they just reveal our implicit biases and cultural stereotypes?

In episode 123 of Overthink, Ellie and David get into the highs and lows of breakups. What, if anything, is valuable about breakups? Does society’s emphasis on monogamy affect how we conceptualize the end of relationships? And what do you do if your ex still has your Netflix password? Your hosts discuss everything from breakups in the age of social media and chemical solutions to heartache to what the laws against domestic abuse and stalking can tell us about how society views breakups.