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
276
The price of keeping secrets
47 min
277
Does China control Hollywood?
58 min
278
Steve Bannon is still at war
45 min
279
The Fortress of Solitude saw it all coming
Constance Grady talks with author Jonathan Lethem about his prescient 2003 novel
34 min
280
The Philosophers: Stoic revival
59 min
281
Station Eleven's creator on the end of the world
Showrunner Patrick Somerville on why hope is necessary for survival
47 min
282
The racist origins of fat phobia
49 min
283
The fight for Ukraine — and democracy
49 min
284
The war on trans people
49 min
285
Michael Ian Black on being a better man
50 min
286
Carmen Maria Machado's haunted feminine
36 min
287
The rise and fall of America's monuments
45 min
288
The Philosophers: America's philosophy, with Co...
55 min
289
Why accidents aren't accidental
47 min
290
Rethinking the "end of history"
56 min
291
Anita Hill finally gets even
55 min
292
Elites have captured identity politics
52 min
293
The moral dangers of dirty work
54 min
294
Did the sexual revolution go wrong?
53 min
295
Who decides how to conserve nature?
55 min
296
The Philosophers: Loneliness and totalitarianism
58 min
297
The War in Ukraine, Explained — Part 4: The fut...
59 min
298
Michael Lewis on why Americans distrust experts
52 min
299
The War in Ukraine, Explained — Part 3: The nuc...
51 min
300
The case for regret
45 min