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
451
This changed how I think about love (with Aliso...
93 min
452
The plan behind Elizabeth Warren’s plans
49 min
453
Michael Lewis reads my mind
101 min
454
How Mitch McConnell convinced Michael Bennet to...
73 min
455
How the brains of master meditators change
68 min
456
Why good people are easily corrupted (with Lawr...
79 min
457
The art of attention (with Jenny Odell)
85 min
458
Matt Yglesias and Jenny Schuetz solve the housi...
Matt Yglesias and Jenny Schuetz solve the housing crisis
59 min
459
What kind of news is cable news? (With Brian St...
82 min
460
Contrapoints on taking the trolls seriously
75 min
461
The purpose of political violence
75 min
462
Ask Ezra Anything 3: Endgame
Ezra answers listener questions
90 min
463
The disillusionment of David Brooks
93 min
464
Emily Oster schools me on parenthood
51 min
465
Lessons from Vox’s first 5 years
90 min
466
Work as identity, burnout as lifestyle
79 min
467
How social democrats won Europe — then lost it
64 min
468
In defense of white-backlash politics
96 min
469
Identity, nationalism, and fatherhood
103 min
470
An ex-libertarian’s quest to rebuild the center...
81 min
471
How whiteness distorts our democracy, with Eddi...
86 min
472
Pete Buttigieg’s theory of political change
56 min
473
Meet the policy architect behind the Green New ...
79 min
474
The somewhat fractured state of American conser...
58 min
475
American politics after Christianity, with Ross...
74 min