{"podcast":{"title":"Philosophize This!","slug":"philosophize-this-757675","podcast_index_feed_id":757675,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/QCD6036500916","website_url":"http://www.philosophizethis.org","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/24779146-88be-11ee-95a6-7b19628c6840/image/e231c2472d3da5c7bb06ad6651cdf3ea.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Stephen West","episode_count":249,"summary":"Beginner friendly if listened to in order! For anyone interested in an educational podcast about philosophy where you don't need to be a graduate-level philosopher to understand it. In chronological order, the thinkers and ideas that forged the world we live in are broken down and explained.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-28T18:19:17.509737+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/philosophize-this-757675"},"episode":{"title":"Episode #233 ... A philosophy of self-destruction. (Dostoevsky, Bataille)","slug":"episode-233-a-philosophy-of-self-destruction-dostoevsky-bataille","published_at":"2025-08-04T16:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/philosophize-this-757675/episode-233-a-philosophy-of-self-destruction-dostoevsky-bataille","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/philosophize-this-757675","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/433/claritaspod.com/measure/traffic.megaphone.fm/QCD5177535878.mp3?updated=1769468534","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/433/claritaspod.com/measure/traffic.megaphone.fm/QCD5177535878.mp3?updated=1769468534","summary":"Today we talk about two different theories for why we ritualize self-destructive behavior. We check out a lesser-known work from Dostoevsky called The Gambler. We consider how much we can hold people morally accountable for this kind of stuff. Then we look at the work of Georges Bataille, his book The Accursed Share, and how a hidden underlying economics may be a way we can understand self-destructive behavior from a new angle. Hope you love it and have a great week. :) Sponsors: Greenlight: https://www.greenlight.com/PT Nord VPN: https://nordvpn.com/philothis Better Help: https://www.BetterHelp.com/PHILTHIS Thank you so much for listening! Could never do this without your help. Website: https://www.philosophizethis.org/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/philosophizethis Social: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philosophizethispodcast X: https://twitter.com/iamstephenwest Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philosophizethisshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices","meta_description":"Today we talk about two different theories for why we ritualize self-destructive behavior. We check out a lesser-known work from Dostoevsky called The Gam…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1841,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/philosophize-this-757675/episodes/episode-233-a-philosophy-of-self-destruction-dostoevsky-bataille/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/philosophize-this-757675/episode-233-a-philosophy-of-self-destruction-dostoevsky-bataille.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}