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Jean-Paul Sartre Breaks Down the Bad Faith of Intellectuals

Mark Linsenmayer — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:39:15 +0000

How many of the great philosophers have you actually heard speak? This clip comes from the 1976 documentary Sartre by Himself, which features discussions with Jean-Paul Sartre and his near-equally famous wife Simone de Beauvoir, among others. The film was released with English subtitles in 1979, a year before Sartre died.

In this clip, Sartre criticizes modern intellectuals as “specialist workers in practical knowledge,” who apply “universal notions and practices” to particular purposes determined by a political establishment. This can cause a conflict of conscience: Sartre gives the example of scientists working on the atomic bomb, but also professors whose efforts solely benefit a small group of prosperous students. Sartre thinks intellectuals use this kind of conflict to feel better about themselves–they may sign petitions, side with the working class, etc.–while still not seriously questioning themselves. Intellectuals rage against the machine but are still playing their assigned role in it. “[They are] very pleased to have an unhappy conscience, because that is what allows [them] to denounce.”

This is an example of his famous notion of “bad faith,” where we disassociate ourselves from our actions, or more commonly where we claim to have more limited choices than we actually do. Bad faith is possible because of the nature of the self, according to Sartre: there is no predetermined “human nature” or “true you,” but instead you are something built over time, by your own freely chosen actions, too often using the roles and characteristics others assign to you.

Early in his career, he constructed a theory of consciousness and the self that makes this plausible. The work in which he did this, “The Transcendence of the Ego,” is the subject of the most recent episode of The Partially Examined Life philosophy podcast, profiled in this earlier Open Culture post. The podcast has since taken off: it’s currently featured on the main podcast page in the iTunes store and has broken the top 40 in “top audio podcasts,” reaching #1 in the philosophy category.

Visit the Partially Examined Life web page, get the episodes on iTunes, and subscribe to the PEL blog feed.

Mark Linsenmayer hosts The Partially Examined Life and fronts a band called New People.

Jean-Paul Sartre Breaks Down the Bad Faith of Intellectuals is a post from: Open Culture

Reader Podcast Picks

Dan Colman — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:47:39 +0000

Earlier this week, one of our readers, Scott Dumont, offered up some excellent thoughts on a few podcasts that we’ve previously overlooked. Since he put things so well, I figured why not pass along his thoughts directly to you. Here they go, and thanks Scott …

I’d like to make three suggestions for additions to your library. Two political podcasts and one historical one. For the political ones, you’re lacking in the more independent department; you’ve got Democracy Now, which is good enough but I’d suggest adding Common Sense with Dan Carlin (iTunes – Feed – Web Site) and My History Can Beat Up Your Politics (iTunes – Feed – Web Site). Common Sense with Dan Carlin is a true independent news show, putting the current politics in perspective and analyzing the disconnect between what is propaganda and what is truth. His description is:

Common Sense with Dan Carlin is a blend of audio commentary and news analysis by one of the leading thinkers among today’s politically independent crowd. Author, reporter and talk show host Dan Carlin takes a look at the issues in the news through the prism of his traditional American “forward-thinking pragmatism” while pushing a fiscally conservative, socially liberal approach to solving problems. Whether he’s railing against the “Fat Police”, explaining the existence of “The Chicken Little Gene” or continually bringing up historical events no one has ever heard of, Carlin manages to be entertaining and informative in a uniquely non-partisan way. His style has been compared to Seinfeld’s George Costanza on steroids. Whether that’s true or not, he does often talk really fast. You’ll have to keep up.

If I had to recommend a few from the ones currently in his feed, I’d say take a listen to the following shows before you decide: “137- A Vote For None”, “143- The Black Dog”, “146- The Continuity Of Errors”"154- A Conflict of Interest”, “157- Read It and Weep”, “161- Shhh!”. I know it’s a lot, feel free to pick any of those, but those are probably varied enough for you to get a taste of what he means.

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics is exactly what it sounds like; it puts current political events in a historical perspective and analyzes the history to allow us to understand our politics. For a good sampling, just take a look at this most recent stuff. He’s not schizophrenic like Dan Carlin and his show is fairly formulaic, but that’s not to say it’s not informative.

The history show I want to recommend is from Dan Carlin’s website as well; Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History 9.(iTunes – Feed – Web Site) To quote:

In “Hardcore History” the very unconventional Dan Carlin takes his “Martian”, outside-the-box way of thinking and applies it to the past. Was Alexander the Great as bad a person as Adolf Hitler? What would Apaches with modern weapons be like? Will our modern civilization ever fall like civilizations from past eras? This is a difficult-to-classify show that has a rather sharp edge. It’s not for everyone. But the innovative style and approach has made “Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History” a New Media hit.

If you want to take a sample of this one, just listen to the “Ghosts of the Ostfront” series he just completed from beginning to end. It’ll take approximately six hours, but it’s an excellent, chilling overview of the forgotten battles between the Soviets and Nazis on the Eastern Front of the Second World War.

I want to reiterate that I absolutely love your website and have just started binging on your archives. I’m a knowledge junkie, and I suppose there are worse things to be a junkie of. You might have close to a lifetime’s worth of content up already, and I better get started.

As a quick postscript, these podcasts can be found in our Ideas & Culture Podcast Collection.

Reader Podcast Picks is a post from: Open Culture

The Future of Content Delivery

Seth Harwood — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:16:19 +0000

This podcast (get it here) presents the thoughts of Scott Sigler–media maven, NY Times Bestselling Author of INFECTED and CONTAGIOUS (both available free as podcasts), podiobook dynamo, and social networking mastermind–on none other than ”how will people read books in the near future?”

In this repodcast of his keynote speech at this year’s Balticon conference, Scott talks about how he built a HUGE online fan base for his fiction, landed a major publishing deal with Crown Books, reached NY Times bestseller status, and why he insists that giving his fiction away for free is the best marketing around.

He presents his thoughts on Big Publishing, small publishing, smart-phones vs. the Kindle, and perhaps most importantly, lays out the methods by which he pre-sold 1,500 copies of his new, self-published novel THE ROOKIE this April via his own website, scottsigler.com. That’s right: Forget print-on-demand and its higher cost-per-book. Scott breaks down how he pre-sold enough books to pay for an entire print run before THE ROOKIE ever went to press! It’s a model so far ahead of everyone else that we’ve got to take notes!

If you’re a writer or aspiring author, you need to listen to this. And don’t let the intro scare you off.

To download this file and listen to it on your own time, on your iPod or similar device, simple right click this link: DOWNLOAD and choose “Save Link as…” on a Mac, or “Save File” on a PC.

Or listen to it right here:

Seth Harwood, the author of JACK WAKES UP, will be teaching an online course (The Gripping Read) with Stanford Continuing Studies. And he’ll also be teaching an Author Bootcamp with Scott Sigler on Stanford’s campus on November 7 and 14. Each course only has a few slots still open.

The Future of Content Delivery is a post from: Open Culture

Podcast Lectures: Better Than the Real Deal?

Dan Colman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:48:28 +0000

Here’s an interesting factoid reported by The New Scientist… A study coming out of The State University of New York ”measured the performance of 64 students, half of whom watched a lecture via podcast and the other half who attended the live lecture. Students who used the podcast averaged a 71 out of 100 on the follow-up test whereas those who actually went to the lecture averaged a 62.” What explains the difference? According to the head researcher, Dani McKinney, it comes down to this: ”If the [students] listened to the podcast just one time, they didn’t do any better than the people who came to the lecture. However, the people who treated it like a live lecture, and took notes or replayed certain sections… they did significantly better.” Or, to put things a little differently, “It’s no different than when students used to tape record lectures…. If something was presented too fast for them to take down, they could replay that section and complete their notes.” The bottom line: students who use the right tools to absorb classroom lectures end up doing better. But how much better? In this case, the students using podcasts got a C on the follow-up test. The students who didn’t got a D. I guess that says something for the podcast lecture, but don’t bank on them alone.

Thanks to @Cinetuyoymio for the lead here. Always feel free to send us tips at mail@oculture.com, or @openculture on Twitter. The more tips you send, the better Open Culture becomes for all.

You can access the aforementioned study for a fee here: iTunes University and the classroom: Can podcasts replace Professors?

Podcast Lectures: Better Than the Real Deal? is a post from: Open Culture

The Oxford-Cambridge Podcasts

Dan Colman — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:26:32 +0000

Two of England’s oldest universities, Oxford and Cambridge, have taken the leap into the digital age, recently launching their own podcast channels. Now, no matter where you live, you can experience the intellectual world that has given us William Gladstone, Oscar Wilde, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking (Oxford alums) and also John Milton, Charles Darwin, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Salman Rushdie (Cambridge alums).

When I first started this blog, Oxford offered up only one podcast, which was really a mini-course by Stuart Lee called Old English in Context (iTunes – RSS). Fast forward a couple of years and you find a much more robust general collection (iTunes – RSS – Web Site). Here’s a quick sampling of the audio & video available to you here:

Joseph Stiglitz explaining the Global Credit Crunch (iTunes – Rss Feed)
Talks about JRR Tolkein (iTunes – Rss Feed)
Timothy Garton Ash on Isaiah Berlin (iTunes)
Readings from John Milton’s Works (iTunes- Rss Feed)
The World War I Poetry Digital Archive (iTunes – Rss Feed)

Cambridge’s collection (iTunes – RSS – Web Site) perhaps doesn’t have the same breadth. But it has more focus, and more video podcasts. The collection notably features The Naked Scientists (iTunes - RSS- Web Site), a well established podcast by Dr. Chris Smith, which “takes an interactive look at different aspects of science, medicine and technology.” You’ll also find here another science podcast called “In a Blink of an Eye” (iTunes). Recorded in video, this program takes things that we see in everyday life, and then shows us what’s really happening on the atomic and molecular level. And, for the past several weeks, it has remained one of the most downloaded podcasts on iTunesU. It currently ranks fifth. Other notable podcasts include God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible, The Language of Law: Why Poetry Matters, Cambridge Codebreakers and British Intelligence, and A Future Beyond Oil.

For more free university content, check out our two collections: University Podcast Collections and Free University Courses.

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The Oxford-Cambridge Podcasts is a post from: Open Culture

Online Courses in the Age of High Gas Prices

Dan Colman — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:48:08 +0000

Gas prices are up. Most sectors of the economy are down (see this WSJ bit) as a consequence. The exceptions? Apparently hybrid cars and online courses, according to this piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Feeling the pinch, students are skipping the drive to campus and taking courses online. The net result: many schools are seeing enrollments in online courses increasing 25% over last year.

And, yes, we feel your pain. So feel free to fill your iPod (or other MP3 players) with our collection of free educational resources. Lots of value here:

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Online Courses in the Age of High Gas Prices is a post from: Open Culture

iTunesU Goes Beyond The Campus: Spotlight on the ResearchChannel

Dan Colman — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:40:02 +0000

In case you haven’t been watching … Apple’s iTunesU has started striking out in new directions. When it launched a little more than a year ago, iTunesU served up free educational content exclusively from universities. Now, it has gone “beyond the campus.”

With this move, Apple is now featuring edifying material from such institutions as The New York Public Library (see our related piece), the 92nd Street Y (nice looking collection here), the National Science Digital Library, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Also in the mix, you’ll find podcasts from the ResearchChannel. Based out of the University of Washington, the ResearchChannel brings together content from leading research and academic institutions (see member list here), and then distributes it to consumers mostly through satellite and cable, but also via the web. iTunesU is a fairly new distribution channel. And even newer is YouTube. (See their channel here.)

What kind of content does the ResearchChannel serve up? Here’s a sampling of the programs you’ll find: Dark Energy, or Worse: Was Einstein Wrong?; Bioenergy and Biofuels: An Overview; The Psychology of Blink: Understanding How the Mind Works Unconsciously; The Teen Brain; and Mesopotamia to Iraq: Perspectives on the Middle East.

The ResearchChannel, I should mention, is not the only venture in this line of business. The UChannel (formerly the University Channel), coming out of Princeton University, offers a rather similar product: Web site – iTunes – Rss feed – YouTube . Likewise, FORA.TV does a good job of aggregating smart video: Web site – iTunes – Rss feeds – YouTube.

For more smart audio content, check our Ideas & Culture Podcast Collection.

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iTunesU Goes Beyond The Campus: Spotlight on the ResearchChannel is a post from: Open Culture

How to Turn Your iPod Into Anything (75+ Tutorials)

Dan Colman — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:05:41 +0000

Earlier this week, Travel Hacker posted this collection of tutorials explaining how to maximize the use of your iPod. And it happens to include one of our earlier posts: Turn Your iPod into a Travel Guide: 20 Travel Podcasts.

Travel Hacker could have just as easily included some of our other popular pieces. Take for example:

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How to Turn Your iPod Into Anything (75+ Tutorials) is a post from: Open Culture

New York Public Library Now Live on iTunes

Dan Colman — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 04:39:57 +0000

The New York Public Library doesn’t need any introduction. But it’s new page on iTunes perhaps does. It went live yesterday (access it here), and it gives you access (all of it free, of course) to many great cultural productions staged by NYC’s foremost library. You’ll find an extensive collection of “conversations” with some of today’s leading authors — John Updike (transcript), Umberto Eco (video), Paul Auster (video), to name a few. (You can get the full author list here.) You’ll also get to rummage around in the library’s large Jazz Oral History Project, which features interviews with an impressive number of important jazz figures. And then lastly — and for better or for worse — you can listen to what is currently the library’s most heavily downloaded podcast — Christopher Hitchen’s now well known debate with Al Sharpton.

As a last aside, it’s worth mentioning that you don’t need an iPod to access many of NYPL’s offerings. You can find many of the same materials on the library’s web site. (See here.) And, for more cultural podcasts, please be sure to check out our Ideas & Culture Podcast Collection. You’ll find a lot of good content along the same lines as what the NYPL has to offer.

via TUAW.com

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New York Public Library Now Live on iTunes is a post from: Open Culture

80+ Free Courses from UCSD

Dan Colman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:16:58 +0000

Here’s a quick note for anyone looking for free online courses: The University of California – San Diego now gives you free access to more than 80 courses. (Access the full list here.) The courses, mostly rooted in the sciences, can be accessed via iTunes or rss feed. We’ve integrated some of these courses into our own meta list of Free Online Courses from Great Universities. It now includes about 215 courses, and we’d encourage you to bookmark the page and use it often.

80+ Free Courses from UCSD is a post from: Open Culture