Overthink cover art

Overthink

Overthink

By: Ellie Anderson Ph.D. and David Peña-Guzmán Ph.D.
Listen for free

About this listen

The best of all possible podcasts, Leibniz would say. Putting big ideas in dialogue with the everyday, Overthink offers accessible and fresh takes on philosophy from enthusiastic experts. Hosted by professors Ellie Anderson (Pomona College) and David M. Peña-Guzmán (San Francisco State University).

© 2025 Overthink
Education Philosophy Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Air
    Jul 1 2025

    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 Air
    Luce Irigaray, The Forgetting of Air in Martin Heidegger
    Elizabeth Povinelli, Geontologies
    Peter Sloterdijk, Terror from the Air
    Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment
    The Last of Us (2025)

    Support the show

    Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
    Website | overthinkpodcast.com
    Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
    Email | dearoverthink@gmail.com
    YouTube | Overthink podcast

    Show More Show Less
    54 mins
  • Earth
    Jun 17 2025

    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 Knowledge
    Martin Heidegger, “ The Origin of the Work of Art”
    Edmund Husserl, Crisis of the European Sciences
    David Macauley, Elemental Philosophy: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water as Environmental Ideas
    Thomas Nail, Theory of the Earth
    James Lovelock, Gaia hypothesis
    Dorian Sagan and Lynn Margulis, “God, Gaia, and Biophilia”

    Support the show

    Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
    Website | overthinkpodcast.com
    Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
    Email | dearoverthink@gmail.com
    YouTube | Overthink podcast

    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
  • Water
    Jun 3 2025

    Oceans, baths, ponds, and amniotic sacs? In episode 131 of Overthink, David and Ellie take a deep dive into the topic of water as part of their four-part series on the elements. They discuss how all life begins in water, and the conceptual features of water, such as its fluidity and shapelessness. What did Thales of Miletus mean by ‘all is water’? How is water used as a metaphor for the Dao? And at what point does being in water go from feeling like Moana to feeling like Jaws? In the Patreon bonus segment, they talk about water as a symbol of purification, the significance of plate tectonics, and the relationship between AI and water usage.

    Works Discussed:

    Aristotle, On the Heavens

    Francis Bacon, Novum Organum

    Jamie Linton, What Is Water? The History of a Modern Abstraction

    David Macauley, Elemental Philosophy: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water as Environmental Ideas

    Anna Secor, “Spacetimeunconscious”

    Neil Shubin, Your Inner Fish

    Lao Tzu, Dao De Jing

    Peter Godfrey Smith, Metazoa

    Support the show

    Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
    Website | overthinkpodcast.com
    Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
    Email | dearoverthink@gmail.com
    YouTube | Overthink podcast

    Show More Show Less
    54 mins

What listeners say about Overthink

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.