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
401
The conservative mind of Yuval Levin
The AEI scholar discusses human nature, the conservative movement, and the case against socialism
75 min
402
How an epidemic begins and ends
A preview of season 3 of Vox's The Impact
37 min
403
Nathan Robinson’s case for socialism
The editor of Current Affairs discusses Bernie Sanders, libertarian socialism, utopian thinking and more
97 min
404
How to topple dictators and transform society (...
Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth on why nonviolent resistance succeeds -- and fails
47 min
405
Ask Ezra Anything
Ezra answers listener questions about free will, polarization, capitalism, Twitter and more
88 min
406
Best of: Work as identity, burnout as lifestyle
Anne Helen Petersen and Derek Thompson on what happens when work becomes an identity, and capitalism becomes a religion.
77 min
407
Republicans vs. the planet
Vox's Dave Roberts on the politics of climate change
97 min
408
The geoengineering question
Jane Flegal on the idea that could shatter the link between emissions and global warming
71 min
409
How to solve climate change and make life more ...
Entrepreneur Saul Griffith on why we have all the tools we need to fix climate change
91 min
410
Paul Krugman on climate, robots, single-payer, ...
The Nobel-prize winning economist explains it all
84 min
411
The moral philosophy of The Good Place (with Mi...
The geniuses behind TV's most philosophically-inclined sitcom discuss what it means to be a good person
99 min
412
When doing the right thing makes you a criminal
Direct Action Everywhere co-founder Wayne Hsiung explains why he decided to risk his freedom to expose extreme injustice.
99 min
413
Peter Singer on the lives you can save
Ezra chats with Peter Singer about the re-release of his book "The Life You Can Save".
73 min
414
Best of: The age of "mega-identity" politics
A conversation with Lilliana Mason about identity politics
75 min
415
Because podcast
Gretchen McCulloch on how the internet revolutionized language
77 min
416
There’s more to life than profit
Yancey Strickler on climate change, founding Kickstarter and the perils of profit
89 min
417
Having a bad day? Dave Eggers can help.
Dave Eggers and I discuss satire, the Trump presidency and the importance of disconnecting.
80 min
418
How Whole Foods, yoga, and NPR became the hallm...
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett and Ezra Klein discuss why today’s rich are far less materialistic, but a far greater threat to equality
68 min
419
How social media makes us antisocial
Andrew Marantz explains the symbiotic relationship between social media platforms and the alt-right
89 min
420
ICYMI: Edward Norton’s theory of mind, movies, ...
107 min
421
Introducing Reset
Arielle Duhaime-Ross hosts Reset - the new tech podcast from Recode.
42 min
422
What a smarter Trumpism would sound like
Michael Lind discusses the new class war, China, and his theory of political settlement
82 min
423
The climate crisis is an oceans crisis
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson explains why oceans are essential to human life and how we are killing them.
69 min
424
We live in The Good Place. And we’re screwing i...
How bad is climate change? Scientist Kate Marvel explains.
81 min
425
Neoliberalism and its discontents
Wendy Brown and Noah Smith try to define one of the most confusing concepts in modern political discourse
89 min