On "What Is Man" (1905). Twain describes a person as a machine. We have no free will and always act to win our own self-approval. This was a bleak enough picture that the essay was not printed until after Twain's death. Part two of this episode is only going to be available to you if you sign up at  or via . Sponsors: Find a doctor fast with the free Zocdoc app at . Get 20% off your first box off cool stuff from Bespoke Post at  (code pel). Have a donation to charity of up to $250 matched through . Learn about St. John's College at .

Ep. 284: Mark Twain’s Philosophy of Human Nature (Part One)

The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don't have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we're talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion.