In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life and mind of Hannah Arendt, one of the most influential political theorists of the twentieth century. Born to a Jewish family in Germany and educated by philosophers like Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, Arendt was forced to flee the Nazi regime, surviving internment in France before escaping to the United States as a stateless refugee.

We discuss her groundbreaking—and often controversial—ideas, including:

• The Origins of Totalitarianism: How she analyzed Nazism and Stalinism as novel forms of government that used terror to subjugate populations.

• The Banality of Evil: Her report on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, where she argued that great evil can arise not from malice, but from a "thoughtless" bureaucratic inability to question orders.

• The Human Condition: Her distinction between labor, work, and action, and her championing of "natality"—the miracle of new beginnings.

• The Right to Have Rights: Her critique of human rights and the plight of refugees who lose their political community.

Join us as we examine Arendt’s complex legacy, from her "quasi-romance" with Heidegger to her warnings about the destruction of truth and lying in politics. Discover why her work remains essential for understanding freedom and responsibility in what she famously called "dark times".

In this episode of pplpod, we dive into the life and complex philosophy of Theodor W. Adorno, a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. We trace Adorno’s journey from his early years as a musical prodigy and student of Alban Berg in Vienna to his flight from Nazi Germany, which led to a fifteen-year exile in Oxford, New York, and Los Angeles,,.

Join us as we explore Adorno’s most significant intellectual contributions and controversies, including:

• The Dialectic of Enlightenment: How Adorno collaborated with Max Horkheimer in California to write a critique of rationality and the "destructive aspect of progress," including their famous analysis of the "culture industry".

• The Culture Industry & Standardization: Adorno’s argument that mass media and popular culture manipulate the population into passivity, using "standardization" and "pseudo-individualization" to maintain capitalist power,.

• The Authoritarian Personality: His pioneering psychological study on the traits that make individuals susceptible to fascist propaganda and anti-Semitism,.

• Musical Controversies: Adorno's championing of the avant-garde twelve-tone technique and his infamous, scathing critiques of jazz and Stravinsky, which he viewed as part of the commodified culture industry,.

• Return to Germany & Student Protests: His influential role in post-war German culture, his famous dictum regarding poetry after Auschwitz, and the dramatic clashes with student protesters in 1969 that marred his final months,,,.

From Minima Moralia to Negative Dialectics, discover how Adorno sought to understand how life could be more than just a "struggle for self-preservation",.

Join us on this episode of pplpod as we examine the life of Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), the eccentric child prodigy and philosopher regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism,. We explore his "fundamental axiom"—that the "greatest happiness of the greatest number" is the ultimate measure of right and wrong—and his famous rejection of natural rights as "nonsense upon stilts".

In this episode, we cover:

• The Felicific Calculus: How Bentham proposed measuring the intensity and duration of pleasure and pain to guide moral and legal decision-making.

• Radical Social Reform: His forward-thinking advocacy for women’s suffrage, the right to divorce, and—in essays unpublished during his lifetime—the decriminalization of homosexuality,,.

• Animal Rights: Why Bentham argued that the insuperable line for legal protection should not be the ability to reason, but the question: "Can they suffer?".

• The Panopticon: Bentham's decades-long obsession with a circular prison model designed to allow a single watchman to observe all inmates without being seen,,.

• The Auto-Icon: His bizarre final request to be dissected and permanently preserved as a "self-image" (auto-icon), which remains on public display at University College London to this day,,.