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. From the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Philosophy
Politics
News Commentary
251
The Philosophers: America's philosophy, with Co...
55 min
252
Why accidents aren't accidental
47 min
253
Rethinking the "end of history"
56 min
254
Anita Hill finally gets even
55 min
255
Elites have captured identity politics
52 min
256
The moral dangers of dirty work
54 min
257
Did the sexual revolution go wrong?
53 min
258
Who decides how to conserve nature?
55 min
259
The Philosophers: Loneliness and totalitarianism
58 min
260
The War in Ukraine, Explained — Part 4: The fut...
59 min
261
Michael Lewis on why Americans distrust experts
52 min
262
The War in Ukraine, Explained — Part 3: The nuc...
51 min
263
The case for regret
45 min
264
The War in Ukraine, Explained — Part 2: Sanctions
56 min
265
The spirituality of parenting
43 min
266
The War in Ukraine, Explained — Part 1: Why did...
55 min
267
The Philosophers: Resisting despair
How can Albert Camus help us understand the war in Ukraine, post-pandemic life, and the absurdity of our modern world?
51 min
268
What happened to American conservatism?
55 min
269
The limits of forgiveness
46 min
270
The madness behind The Method
62 min
271
David Cross is disappointed in you guys
44 min
272
Author Kiley Reid on why we read novels
42 min
273
The conversation about guns we're not having
59 min
274
Why does middle school suck?
60 min
275
Russia's war with Ukraine — and reality
33 min