The Examined Life with Phil Kallberg

In this episode, Phil Kallberg explains what Deconstructionism and Postmodernism are as they relate to stories. He also draws a distinction between the soft applications of these ideas and hardDeconstructionism and Postmodernism. While the soft variants of these ideas can at times be useful the hard variants are incoherent. (July 25, 2021)

In this episode of The Examined Life, Phil Kallberg speaks in light of the US government's report on UFOs/UAPs, explaining why it's highly likely that many of the reported encounters with aliens are just encounters with demonic entities. If you already have a worldview that allows for belief in the demonic, then demons make more sense of these phenomena than extraterrestrial beings

In this episode of The Examined Life, Phil Kallberg explains why you should take the COVID vaccine. He gives a practical and a moral argument for taking the vaccine and explains where some of the common objections people give to getting vaccinated go wrong. (May 28, 2021)

In this episode of The Examined Life, Phil Kallberg gives a very brief overview of thought experiments and explains how they demonstrate that one of the purposes of good stories is to train us to be better people. He also gives out a face palm and sigh award for cherry picking from the Bible. (April 30, 2021)

In this episode of The Examined Life, Phil Kallberg explains the general ideas behind the types of criticism that are used in literature, film, and other types of media. When criticism is done well, it illuminates aspects of stories and media that we will otherwise not see. Also he recommends the book "The Genealogical Adam and Eve" by S. Joshua Swamidass. (April 19, 2021)

In this episode of The Examined Life, Phil Kallberg continues discussing the philosophy andtheory behind stories with the theory of archetypes. He explains the theory of archetypes, goes over some criticism of the theory, and discusses if the theory can apply to the real world as well as to stories. (April 5, 2021)

In this episode of The Examined Life, Phil Kallberg devotes a whole episode to exploring the many errors in reasoning and argumentation that both George Stephanopoulos and Rand Paul committed during a recent interview. While they both lowered the bar of discourse, dissecting and analyzing their exchange can help us learn how to reason and engage with people in more constructive way

In this episode of The Examined Life, Phil Kallberg talks about the monomyth, the idea that all stories follow the same universal pattern. He further argues the reason this pattern is universal is that it is a reflection of the story of Christ's saving of humanity and other stories cannot help but use that pattern. I conclude by covering some criticism of the monomyth. (January 18,

In this episode of The Examined Life, Phil Kallberg introduces the topic of engaging with stories philosophically. He explains what he thinks makes a good story, four of the different ways of looking at stories, and how some stories work well in some media and not in others. (December 11, 2020)

In this episode, Phil Kallberg catches up on some segments he has been putting off for the last few months. He gives out a face palm and sigh award, explain why the claim "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" is wrong, and go through a listener's feedback. (November 27, 2020)