Overthink

• Burnout

  What makes burnout different from exhaustion or fatigue? In episode 136 of Overthink, Ellie and David look at the history of the term burnout and its surprising connection to social justice. They also explore Byung-Chul Han’s reading of burnout as a natural consequence of “achievement culture.”  How does our mindless scrolling on TikTok and Instagram reveal our inability to be bored and meditate? And how does this  contribute to our personal and collective run-ins with burnout? Why do so many people, academics included, fail to recognize their own burnout? And is it even possible to escape burnout in a capitalist society? In the bonus, your hosts talk about the shame surrounding burnout, errand paralysis, and the relationship between burnout and compulsive buying.Works Discussed:Herbert J. Freudenberger, “Staff Burn-Out”Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society Emily and Amelia Nagoski, Burnout, the Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle David M. Peña-Guzmán and Rebekah Spera, Professional Philosophy and Its MythsAnne Helen Peterson, Can’t Even: How Millennials became the Burnout GenerationHannah Proctor, BurnoutSupport the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | [email protected] | Overthink podcast

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• Travel

  Aperol spritzes, ‘Euro summers’, and aesthetic beach pics. In episode 135 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss all things travel. They discuss the differences how travel changes our relationship to the place where we're from, the difference between travel and tourism, and the place of travel in the history of philosophy. They go from Plato’s views that young people shouldn’t travel to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief that travel is essential for turning boys into men. They also explore the question, why do humans love to travel so much? In the bonus, your hosts debate over their relationships to phones and taking photos while travelling and dive deeper into what it’s like to experience culture shock. Works Discussed: Francis Bacon, “On Travel”Agnes Callard, “Against Travel”Paul Fussell, AbroadMichel de Montaigne, “On Cannibals”Plato, The RepublicJean-Jacques Rousseau, EmileGeorge Santayana, “The Philosophy of Travel”Joseph Shaules, The Intercultural Mind: Connecting Culture, Cognition, and Global LivingEmily Thomas, The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers AbroadSupport the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | [email protected] | Overthink podcast

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• Weirdness with Eric Schwitzgebel

  All metaphysical theories are…really weird. In episode 134 of Overthink, Ellie and David chat with Eric Schwitzgebel about his book Weirdness of the World. They think through the difference between weirdness and bizarreness, the nonsensical nature of philosophical theories, and whether we should all just agree with Occam’s razor that the simplest explanation is always best.Is the recent theory that we’re all living in a simulation really that strange? Is it stranger than the idealist metaphysics of Plato or the atomism of Lucretius? And why are philosophical theories doomed to weirdness? Are we the weird ones, or do we just live in a weird world? In the bonus your hosts talk about the butterfly effect and the infinitude of the universe, and how neurodivergent traits can be rewarded in philosophy.Works Discussed:Graham Harman, Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy Eric Schwitzgebel, Weirdness of the WorldSupport the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | [email protected] | Overthink podcast

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• Air

  Time to take in a breath of fresh air. In episode 133 of Overthink, Ellie and David close out their four-part series on the elements with air. They consider Anaximenes of Miletus’s belief that all things are made of air, Luce Irigaray’s belief that air is feminine, and the modern use of air as a weapon of battle. What can the TV series The Last of Us tell us about the inescapability of air Why have some philosophers thought the soul is made of air? And how does air allow itself to be forgotten? In the bonus, your hosts dive deeper into Irigaray, the plurality of air, and the idea of the ether.Works Discussed:Gaston Bachelard, Air in Dreams Steven Connor, The Matter of AirLuce Irigaray, The Forgetting of Air in Martin HeideggerElizabeth Povinelli, GeontologiesPeter Sloterdijk, Terror from the AirMax Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, Dialectic of EnlightenmentThe Last of Us (2025)Support the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | [email protected] | Overthink podcast

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• Earth

  This one’s going to rock your world. In episode 132 of Overthink, Ellie and David dig into the earth for the third part of their four-part series on the elements. They discuss everything from earthworms and carbon dating to the “solidity” of the earth. They look to Foucault, Freud, and Husserl for insights about how the earth can act as a metaphor for the mind and for the past. They also wonder: Is the earth inert matter or a living being? And why do so many creation myths present humans as “made” of earth/clay/mud? So, what is it that we actually mean when we talk about earth as an element? In the bonus, your hosts talk think through Heidegger’s notion of ground and horizon, and the Western association of land with earth.Works Discussed: Michel Foucault, The Archeology of KnowledgeMartin Heidegger, “ The Origin of the Work of Art”Edmund Husserl, Crisis of the European SciencesDavid Macauley, Elemental Philosophy: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water as Environmental Ideas Thomas Nail, Theory of the EarthJames Lovelock, Gaia hypothesisDorian Sagan and Lynn Margulis, “God, Gaia, and Biophilia”Support the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | [email protected] | Overthink podcast

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