In episode 94 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss everything debt, from student loans and bank bailouts to the importance of honoring one’s intellectual forebears. Your hosts explore how debt has structured social, family, and religious bonds across history, from Vedic India, to Plato’s Athens, and how the notion of being “indebted” to one’s cultural past conditions the experience of immigrants in America today.

From Émile Zola to Edward Said, from Antonio Gramsci to… Joe Rogan? In episode 79 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the figure of the high-minded ‘intellectual’ and their role in today’s mass-media landscape. Who are intellectuals, what do they do, and what are they for? Can they, and ought they, participate in public debate?

Lived experience is a common term today, indicated through such claims as “As a queer Mexican immigrant” (we’re looking at you, David!). We get into the roots of the term in phenomenology —Erlebnis in German— and talk about how lived experience gets used in social sciences and humanities.

Cultural appropriation is a common charge today, but what does it mean? How do we determine in-group out-group identity, and who decides what the line is between appreciation and cultural appropriation? Two philosophy professors discuss.

Fear of missing out - FOMO - the condition of the self that desires social connection to the point of a phobia of being left out. Why isn’t JOMO - the joy of missing out- a viable alternative?

Influencers have taken over the online world, promoting everything from brands to lifestyle changes. But, what does it mean to exert influence over somebody and how has the rise of social media created a whole new category of the influencer?

What’s the status of feminism today in the wake of #metoo, Dobbs, and more? How does feminist philosophy shed light on the nature of sexism and patriarchy? We interview Carol Hay, author of Think Like a Feminist.

What does it feel like to wait? David and Ellie explore the phenomenology and politics of waiting with the philosophy of Walter Benjamin and more.

Ellie and David investigate the history of kitsch as an aesthetic category distinct from art. How does the superficiality and mass-reproducibility of kitsch explain its uses as a tool of propaganda?

Deleuze suggests we’ve moved from a society characterized by Foucault’s panopticon to a society of control. Ellie and David talk TSA, smartphones listening to you, and more.

What values and habits make Gen Z tick? Ellie and David talk about the philosophy of generations, and speak with Gen Z student assistants Anna Solomon and Sam Hernandez.

Overthink spills the tea on why gossip is a crucial form of social bonding, especially for the oppressed.

David and Ellie unpack why capitalist culture is so obsessed with productivity, and how the supposed self-care of leaning into laziness is actually the dark side of this same culture.

Are straight people OK? Why are women so rampantly dissatisfied in heterosexual relationships with men, and so often expressing feelings of regret about being straight? Feminist philosophy has some clues.

Why was Rousseau so obsessed with walking while thinking? What can we learn from evolutionary theories about walking? And is the wandering flâneur a symbol of modern life?

From Hallmark movies to Scrooge, David and Ellie apply a critical theory lens to the American obsession with Christmas and its rituals of consumption.

Just a hashtag, or so much more? Ellie and David discuss the promises and perils of “living your truth” and authenticity, speaking with Dr. Tamsin Kimoto.