We could all stand to be alone... for a scientifically-determined optimal time interval.

Mark and Bill introduce a new potential setting and some characters for ongoing use in future improvisations. We talk about techniques for doing that and wrap up by getting an update from Bill on his substitute teaching and talking about what makes for a good teacher. . . .

Philosophy vs. Improv #90: Empty Street

Continuing on The Nature of Sympathy (1913/1922), Part I: "Fellow Feeling," Ch. 1-4. We look more closely at the text, getting further into how fellow feeling relates to ethics, and why the moral sentimentalists (like Hume) were wrong about this. Get more at . Visit  to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Ep. 364: Max Scheler on Sympathy (Part Two)

Empty And Silent

Empty And Silent (Live in Heidelberg)

Mark and Bill are joined by  who directs  and is involved in managing improv spaces such as Denver's . We talk about the notion of community, with a scene about the neighborhood watch and a return to Empty Street to deal seriously in a public-service-announcement/after-school special sort of way with the issue of buying liquor underage. . . .

Philosophy vs. Improv #91: Community Breakdown (or Breakdance?) w/ Nick Armstrong

Mark, Wes, and Dylan reconvened for one more hour on Part I, "Fellow Feeling" (ch. 3-4) in The Nature of Sympathy (1913/1922). We continue to try to figure out the razor's edge of "fellow feeling proper" that does not rely on the sympathizer identifying in any way and look into psychological and metaphysical ways that people can identify with others. Get more at . Visit  to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion, including more part 3 discussions like this one, which aren't normally made available on this public feed. Sponsor:&nbsp;Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at

Ep. 364: Max Scheler on Sympathy (Part Three)

On The Nature of Sympathy (1922), Part II: "Love and Hatred." What is love, and how does it relate to ethics and to sympathy? For Scheler, love is a primitive, spontaneous movement from lower to higher values: We see the best in the love one and thereby help enable them to attain that excellence. So is love foundational for value, or is value foundational for love? The two seem to arise together. Get more at . Visit  to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at

Ep. 365: Scheler on Love (Part One)

We conclude our treatment of Max Scheler's The Nature of Sympathy (1922), getting further into the Part II of the book about love and hatred and grappling with the puzzles about what exactly it is we love about someone (the "personality"). Get more at . Visit  to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. If you enjoy our podcast, check out Working Class History at .

Ep. 365: Scheler on Love (Part Two)

We discuss the HBO dramedy about rich people having existential crises at a luxury resort in light of its third season. What exactly made this latest season less satisfying than the others? Does the show have a sustainable formula? What is the show saying about enlightenment? Travel? Sexuality? For more, visit . Hear this ad-free with bonus content at  or by subscribing via Apple Podcasts to the .

Pretty Much Pop #195: Mike White's Lotus

On The Problem of Empathy (1917). What is empathy, and what is its significance? Stein pictures empathy as a dynamic process that involves what Scheler called sympathy but goes beyond this. Your don't just take the other person's feeling as our object of contemplation, but in doing so, your enter into it (while still not confusing it with YOUR feeling), this relating to it "non-primordially." So how does this work, exactly? Get more at . Visit  to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Ep. 366: Edith Stein in Empathy (Part One)

Continuing on The Problem of Empathy. What does it mean to say that we know other people's mental states "non-primordially"? We talk about Stein's project of explaining how empathy is possible, what it gets us, and how her answers differ from Scheler's. Get more at . Visit  to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion. Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at

We could all stand to be alone... for a scientifically-determined optimal time interval.

ScientistsForLove

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