We take the throwaway phrase, “It Is What It Is” and apply it to METAPHYSICS, which then takes us to practical applications in Business, Management, Banking at BB&T with John Allison’s 10 Values, Alcoholic’s Anonymous’s Serenity Prayer, and Ste

16: The Republic (2 of 2). The City, Its Influence.

Jun 1st, 2013

Tones and Mike continue their discussion on the Republic, focusing on the city that Plato conceptualizes and how it has influenced Western Thought. This is the continuation of the 2-part REPUBLIC episode, partnered with Episode 15. Click here t

15: The Republic (1of2), Partners, and Writing

Apr 12th, 2013

After a long hiatus, Tones and Mike are finally back with a 2-part episode on Plato’s Republic. In this Part 1 episode, we discuss the Ring of Gyges and The Cave, respectively linking them to conversations on Ethics and Epistemology. Mike and

14: ThoughtExperiments, Election Day, and Writing

Nov 16th, 2012

Mike and Tones focus on a theme of balancing the narrow scope of the concrete vs. the wide scope of fundamentals by talking about the 2012 Presidential election and Thought Experiments. While the election showed the dire need of philosophic tho

Upcoming: thought experiments

Sep 15th, 2012

Thought experiments are invaluable tools for philosophers and philosophy students to concretize complex, abstract theories and to take the theory for a test drive. They’re also a good tool for philosophic hopefuls to hone their chops. In math

13: Breaking Bad, Pragmatism, Principles, and Business

Sep 5th, 2012

Mike and Tones discuss the philosophic ideas within the Breaking Bad TV series, Mike’s new business classes, and the situations where one must choose one value over another. All of this links our ongoing theme of principles. Plato gets some mor

Ep.12: Marx, Communism, and Political Philosophy

Jul 25th, 2012

Mike and Tones discuss Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Are his views “good on paper, bad in practice,” a blueprint for tyranny, or a noble system? Were the events in Cambodia the bastardization of Marxist ideals or the logical path set out by his

Ep11: Socrates II: Apology, Crito, Democracy and Principles.

Jun 21st, 2012

Mike and Tones continue their discussion on Socrates in the Apology and the Crito, focusing on what philosophic ideas we can pull from these stories and why they are essential to even those who don’t study philosophy. What does the tragic stor

Upcoming: Socrates pt. ii

Jun 7th, 2012

Leaving off with Theaetetus in Ep 10, Socrates was on his way to a trial. Mike and I plan on continuing this story by discussing The Apology and Crito in Ep 11. While these early works of Plato are more literary works than philosophical disse

www.philosophysurvivalguide.com

Jun 2nd, 2012

To celebrate our 10th episode, we finally purchased the domain: philosophysurvivalguide.com Your old WordPress link will still work, but the shortened, simpler new link is now available.

Ep.10: Socrates in THEAETETUS

Jun 1st, 2012

Mike and Tones begin their discussion on Socrates (to be continued) by concentrating on Plato’s Theaetetus. They don’t get in too deep in regards to the epistemological content of the book but rather use it to examine the character of Socrates

Ep9: Aesthetics

May 14th, 2012

Mike and Tones discuss philosophy’s role in Aesthetics and why anyone should care enough to think about art. We also argue if Aesthetics should cover non-art within its definition. This finally leads us to emphasize the role ideas and values

Philosophy in Software Testing? (Mike’s Other Gig)

May 7th, 2012

As noted in the “about us” section of this site, Philosophy: A Survival Guide co-host Michael Raveling also hosts a podcast directly related to his career: softwaretestpodcast.com . Every once in a while, Michael sneaks in some philosophic the

Dada… (teaser for our upcoming Aesthetics discussion)

Apr 27th, 2012

I found an old blog post from 2004 when Duchamp’s Fountain was named the most influential piece of modern art. Here’s what I wrote:Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” (1917) was recently declared the most influential work of modern art according to

FreeWill poll… if you want to.

Apr 22nd, 2012

Take Our Poll(function(d,c,j){if(!d.getElementById(j)){var pd=d.createElement(c),s;pd.id=j;pd.src='https://s1.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/shortcodes/js/polldaddy-shortcode.js';s=d.getElementsByTagName(c)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(pd,s);

Ep8: FreeWill, B.F. Skinner, and Aesthetics

Apr 22nd, 2012

A discussion of B.F. Skinner and Tones’s recent findings on Twitter take us deeper into the discussion of Freewill. We also begin our discussion of Aesthetics, but merely as a teaser for Episode 9. Click here to Stream: Episode8 Click here if

Upcoming: Aesthetics, Skinner, and a little more on Free Will

Apr 14th, 2012

We’re close to recording our next podcast as soon as the stars align and allow Mike and Tones to meet up for a few hours. Our goal will be to have it in the can by mid-week next week.Here’s what is on the docket (subject to change): a brief i

Ep7: The Presocratics and “Bull Crap”

Mar 29th, 2012

Are the PreSocratics a bunch of goof balls with crazy ideas or are they worth studying? Also, we discuss an article: “Philosophy: A Bunch of Bull Crap.” Well, Is it? Click here to Stream: Ep7: Presocratics and “Bull Crap” Click here if you pr

Episode VII: IN THE CAN!!

Mar 27th, 2012

FINALLY, Mike and Tones found a way to get this Episode done despite our busy March schedules and the both of us traveling around the country. Thanks to the magic of Skype, we have Episode VII in the can. Tones has some editing to do, but we

Upcoming: The PreSocratics

Mar 13th, 2012

Can a person step in the same river twice? Do asses truly prefer chaff to gold? Will Zeno ever really get anywhere? Mike and Tones are studied up on the PreSocratics and ready to record another riveting episode next week. Why bother with th

Ep6: Nietzsche, Love, and Dichotomies!

Feb 28th, 2012

We offer our take on Nietzsche, we discuss LOVE (happy Valentines Day), and the importance of recognizing false dichotomies. Click here to Stream: philosurvivalguideep6 Click here if you prefer iTunes Bumper Music by MPLS ‘s own, Small White: h

Upcoming: More Nietzsche, Love (for Valentine’s Day), and MORE!

Feb 16th, 2012

We have a lot of good ideas for Episode VI, but it’s going to have to wait one more week. Mike and Tones are still studying our Nietzsche and will need an extended break to finish up our prep work. We will always shoot for a podcast every oth

Ep5: Egalitarianism, Nietzsche, and SOP’s

Feb 5th, 2012

Moving on to Politics, we discuss Egalitarianism. We also discuss a few reading tips for the philosophy student, Tones gives an analogy that shows the need to avoid Pragmatism and to define your principles, and we close with our initial though

Bumper Music Update!

Feb 4th, 2012

1) Tones figured we’d have about 6 listeners for the first few months with the hope that someday we’d peak at 20. We’ve already surpassed any expectations as far as content downloads go (250 in 2 months?! what!?) and we’ve been hovering aroun

Sketch of Episode IV (Link to Podcast is below):

Jan 20th, 2012

In this Episode, Tony and Mike discuss a USA Today OpEd claiming that we don’t have FreeWill. We then remember that we forgot to talk about REASON in EpIII’s Intro To Epistemology, so we briefly touch upon that. Moving on to ETHICS, Mike and