Sound Philosophy

Eric Taxier and I discuss chapters 3-4 for Book 4 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, which focus on the proper relationship to ambition.

Eric Taxier and I discuss Book 4, Chapter 2 in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, his treatment of the virtue of magnificence (grand spending).

Eric Taxier and I discuss chapter 1 of Book 4 of the Nicomachean Ethics, a chapter on the virtue of generosity.

This episode briefly examines two tracks produced by J Dilla: "Runnin'" by the Pharcyde and "Show Me What You Got" by Busta Rhymes. I discuss the stratification in Dilla's beats, their stuttering quality, their use and avoidance of quantization, and the response of the rappers to those beats.

This episode explores the relationship among flow, content, and rhyme by looking at some excerpts from Eminem and Mac Miller.

This episode looks at "Sober" and "Vicarious" by Tool and discusses the release and impact of Fear Inoculum.

A brief look at Math Rock from a guitarist's point of view.

A look at the shift from funky R&B to Funk as a standalone genre. I discuss the various elements of Funk, particularly what I'm calling "Funk Counterpoint" by examining The Meters' "Cissy Strut," and James Brown's "Cold Sweat."

This episode discusses the role of the bass in popular music, specifically in funk, and more specifically in the work of the bass player for Sly and the Family Stone (and later for his own group, Graham Central Station), Larry Graham--renowned for inventing the slap bass technique.

Eric Taxier and I finish our discussion of Book 3 of the Nicomachean Ethics by examining Aristotle's analysis of temperance.

Eric Taxier and I continue to discuss Aristotle's take on courage.

This episode discusses claims that Minimalism (and minimal music more widely understood) boils down to advertising and propaganda (riffing on interviews by Elliott Carter and Philip Glass). I look at some pop songs that were clearly influenced by Minimalism, some that are parallel to it, and some that are simply minimalist in some manner.

This episode uses Minimalism (and specifically Terry Riley's In C) to examine the issues of temporality and repetition in music.

This episode briefly introduces flamenco music and then touches on the compas--the approach to meter within this music--by specifically looking at the genre of the siguiriyas.

This episode looks at the rhythmic juxtaposition or superimposition of groupings of twos and threes. I discuss hemiola, odd meters, and various figures related to the tresillo (3+3+2).

An introduction to the Piedmont style with an emphasis on the influence of ragtime.

A discussion of the nature of meter deriving from thoughts about time and its qualitative nature. I draw on the work of Aristotle, Bergson, and Viktor Zuckerkandl.

This episode explores the nature of the backbeat,

Eric Taxier and I discuss Aristotle's take on courage by investigating chapters 6-7 of Book 3 of the Nicomachean Ethics.

This episode concludes Aristotle's discussion of the voluntary and issues related to that concept.

This is a special short episode for my wife's third grade class. It addresses "Cross Domain Application" (taking something you learned in one area and applying it to another). That may sound heady for the third grade, but it is all about learning to appreciate learning.

Eric Taxier and I continue our discussion of the Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle by interpreting Book 3, Chapters 2-3. This portion of the treatise (Book 3, Chapters 1-5) is a fascinating investigation of human choice and the voluntary. These two chapters deal with choice and deliberation, respectively.

This is a very special short episode designed for a third grade class my wife teaches. It features a short exploration of what it takes to be kind to and care for others by examining the differences between sympathy and empathy. Listen for the shoutouts to the various members of the class!!

Eric Taxier and I explore Chapter 1 of Book 3 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Forrest Gump comes in for some rough treatment--in service of the greater cause of understanding moral agency.

Eric Taxier and I finish discussing Book 2 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. We revisit the "key passage" concerning the Doctrine of the Mean (from chapter 6) then discuss the arrangement and choice of virtues and Aristotle's advice for self-improvement.

Eric Taxier and I discuss chapters 5 and 6 of Book 2 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. These books truly introduce and start to define the Doctrine of the Mean but immediately demonstrate that the concept is much more complex than summaries of Aristotle often allow.

Eric Taxier and I discuss Book 2, Chapters 3-4 of Aristotle's celebrated Nicomachean Ethics. We explore how one enters the circle of learning, the monkeys typing Shakespeare thought experiment, consequentialism, and more.

Eric Taxier and I explore the opening two chapters to Book 2 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. We discuss the two types of virtue (virtues of character and virtues of mind) and spend some real time on the learning paradox--if you learn to build by building, how do you get started if you don't know already how to build?

Eric Taxier and I conclude our discussion of Book 1 of Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics.

Eric Taxier and I discuss Chapters 10-11 of Book 1 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. These chapters ask the rather odd question of whether we can truly say someone is happy before they are dead.

I'm joined by Eric Taxier to continue our discussion of Book 1 of Aristotle's celebrated Nicomachean Ethics. This episode covers chapters 8-9 of Book 1.

Eric Taxier and I discuss chapter 7 of Book 1 of Aristotle's celebrated Nicomachean Ethics. This is arguably the central chapter to the first book and provides the initial "outline" of Aristotle's take on happiness and the human good.

Eric Taxier and I discuss Chapters 5-6 of Book I of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. We discuss various candidates for happiness and what they are lacking and then examine Aristotle's critique of Plato's Form of the Good.

Eric Taxier and I discuss chapters 3 and 4 of Book 1 of Aristotle's celebrated treatise, Nicomachean Ethics. We discuss the differences between two forms of attaining or justifying knowledge (demonstration and dialectic), the nature of proof and whether ethical thought can be proven or demonstrated (and to what extent), and many other things.

I'm joined by Eric Taxier in the first of several episodes exploring Aristotle's celebrated treatise, the Nicomachean Ethics. This episode carefully examines chapters 1 and 2 of Book 1.

This episode examines the relationship between ambiguity and ambivalence and looks at two indie rock songs: "Oh Comely" by Neutral Milk Hotel and "Mississippi Swells" by Nana Grizol.

This episode looks at the issue of ambiguity in art and then examines "William, It Was Really Nothing," by the Smiths, looking at the ambiguous nature of the lyrics and the music.

This episode looks at the materiality of language, particularly in the use of rhyme and examines MF DOOM's idiosyncratic approach to rhyme and what is sometimes termed holorime.

This episode continues to explore the narcocorrido, now focusing on Chalino Sanchez and the theme of agency striving against fate.

This episode looks at the border genre of the narcocorrido (a Mexican folk music genre based on drug trafficking) in relation to the rhetorical nature of borders, the law, and the self.

This episode explores the role of suffering and self-developed narrative in the forming of a self in the music of Edith Piaf.

This episode explores the nature of the subject position in popular music (the implicit or explicit "I" in a song). It posits that most songs ask us to identify (or disidentify) with the subject but that some songs, including Björk's "Bachelorette" question the very notion of what it means to be a subject in the world.

This episode examines Tom Waits's debts to Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, and the notion of melancholy. It examines "The Piano Has Been Drinking" and "Invitation to the Blues."

This episode looks at Randy Newman's vision of the American as essentially out of balance. I examine songs including "I Think It's Going to Rain Today," "Sail Away," and "Rednecks."

This episode looks at Cole Porter and the comic list song as exemplified by "Let's Do It."

This episode uses Aristotle's Rhetoric to examine the use of wit in the music and lyrics of Cole Porter. I begin by considering general characteristics and functions of wit. Then I turn to Aristotle's three elements of rhetoric and his notion that rhetoric is central to human experience. Finally, I analyze the verse of Porter's "Just One of Those Things" in light of my discussion of Aristotle and wit.

This episode continues my discussion of lyrics, now by paying attention to the lyrics in their materiality (rather than semantics), focusing on rhyme, repetition, and the notion of the lyrics as museme (that is, as a musical element--not a linguistic center of gravity).

This episode begins to explore how we might think about lyrics beyond considering them as a "key" to the meaning of a song.

A continuation of my conversation with Eric Taxier on Seneca's On the Shortness of Life. 

This is the first of two episodes in which I'm joined by Eric Taxier to discuss the Stoic philosopher Seneca's letter On the Shortness of Life. In this episode, Eric and I discuss some themes of the letter and introduce the larger context of Stoic philosophy and Seneca's place within that tradition.