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
426
The cognitive cost of poverty (with Sendhil Mul...
93 min
427
Failing towards Utopia
20 min
428
Why liberals and conservatives create such diff...
90 min
429
Stacey Abrams and Lauren Groh-Wargo (Live!)
59 min
430
This changed how I think about love (with Aliso...
93 min
431
The plan behind Elizabeth Warren’s plans
49 min
432
Michael Lewis reads my mind
101 min
433
How Mitch McConnell convinced Michael Bennet to...
73 min
434
How the brains of master meditators change
68 min
435
Why good people are easily corrupted (with Lawr...
79 min
436
The art of attention (with Jenny Odell)
85 min
437
Matt Yglesias and Jenny Schuetz solve the housi...
Matt Yglesias and Jenny Schuetz solve the housing crisis
59 min
438
What kind of news is cable news? (With Brian St...
82 min
439
Contrapoints on taking the trolls seriously
75 min
440
The purpose of political violence
75 min
441
Ask Ezra Anything 3: Endgame
Ezra answers listener questions
90 min
442
The disillusionment of David Brooks
93 min
443
Emily Oster schools me on parenthood
51 min
444
Lessons from Vox’s first 5 years
90 min
445
Work as identity, burnout as lifestyle
79 min
446
How social democrats won Europe — then lost it
64 min
447
In defense of white-backlash politics
96 min
448
Identity, nationalism, and fatherhood
103 min
449
An ex-libertarian’s quest to rebuild the center...
81 min
450
How whiteness distorts our democracy, with Eddi...
86 min