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
476
White threat in a browning America (Jennifer Ri...
73 min
477
Behind the panic in white, Christian America
91 min
478
An enlightening, frustrating conversation on li...
105 min
479
The cognitive cost of poverty (with Sendhil Mul...
93 min
480
Failing towards Utopia
20 min
481
Why liberals and conservatives create such diff...
90 min
482
Stacey Abrams and Lauren Groh-Wargo (Live!)
59 min
483
This changed how I think about love (with Aliso...
93 min
484
The plan behind Elizabeth Warren’s plans
49 min
485
Michael Lewis reads my mind
101 min
486
How Mitch McConnell convinced Michael Bennet to...
73 min
487
How the brains of master meditators change
68 min
488
Why good people are easily corrupted (with Lawr...
79 min
489
The art of attention (with Jenny Odell)
85 min
490
Matt Yglesias and Jenny Schuetz solve the housi...
Matt Yglesias and Jenny Schuetz solve the housing crisis
59 min
491
What kind of news is cable news? (With Brian St...
82 min
492
Contrapoints on taking the trolls seriously
75 min
493
The purpose of political violence
75 min
494
Ask Ezra Anything 3: Endgame
Ezra answers listener questions
90 min
495
The disillusionment of David Brooks
93 min
496
Emily Oster schools me on parenthood
51 min
497
Lessons from Vox’s first 5 years
90 min
498
Work as identity, burnout as lifestyle
79 min
499
How social democrats won Europe — then lost it
64 min
500
In defense of white-backlash politics
96 min