The Gray Area with Sean Illing

The Gray Area with Sean Illing takes a philosophy-minded look at culture, technology, politics, and the world of ideas. Each week, we invite a guest to explore a question or topic that matters. From the the state of democracy, to the struggle with depression and anxiety, to the nature of identity in the digital age, each episode looks for nuance and honesty in the most important conversations of our time. New episodes drop every Monday.

Philosophy
Politics
News Commentary
226
The stories soul food tells
45 min
227
The paradox of American freedom
51 min
228
Nonbinary parenthood
55 min
229
John McWhorter, the anti-antiracist
61 min
230
The overwhelming, invisible work of elder care
57 min
231
How Big Tech benefits from the disinformation p...
52 min
232
Fannie Lou Hamer and the meaning of freedom
How a former sharecropper disrupted American politics
54 min
233
What the internet took from us
53 min
234
Trapped inside with Susanna Clarke's Piranesi
43 min
235
Bryan Stevenson on the legacy of enslavement
57 min
236
What's your status?
51 min
237
Is there a hack for enlightenment?
59 min
238
Fighting a world on fire with fire
56 min
239
Revolutionary Love
51 min
240
How to make meaning out of suffering
52 min
241
Ken Burns's latest on The Greatest
62 min
242
The road from 9/11 to Donald Trump
62 min
243
Rep. Pramila Jayapal on immigrants and America ...
45 min
244
Why America's obsession with rights is wrong
52 min
245
The news is by — and for — rich, white liberals
57 min
246
Clint Smith III on confronting the legacy of sl...
55 min
247
Was the cruelty the point?
55 min
248
How seashells shaped the world — and predict ou...
52 min
249
Bill Maher on free speech, comedy, and his haters
45 min
250
Robert Reich wants you to take on the system
48 min