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
526
I build a world with fantasy master N.K. Jemisin
79 min
527
Reup: Zephyr Teachout vs. Corruption
89 min
528
Is our economy totally screwed? Andrew Yang and...
68 min
529
Chef Marcus Samuelsson on immigration, creativi...
69 min
530
Why online politics gets so extreme so fast
62 min
531
Taking Trump’s corruption seriously
62 min
532
The surprising story of how American politics p...
62 min
533
The most important idea for understanding Ameri...
73 min
534
What economists and politicians get wrong about...
54 min
535
How to disagree better
94 min
536
Jaron Lanier’s case for deleting social media r...
77 min
537
The most clarifying conversation I’ve had about...
65 min
538
The Supreme Court vs. Democracy
64 min
539
Eric Garcetti on the lessons of Los Angeles
60 min
540
What Ellen Pao saw coming
51 min
541
The Green Pill
57 min
542
How Jane Mayer exposed Eric Schneiderman, Bush’...
71 min
543
Political power and the racial wealth gap
77 min
544
Tyler Cowen on the painful end of American comp...
84 min
545
A mind-expanding conversation with Michael Pollan
79 min
546
Optimism about America
78 min
547
The New York Times’s lead Clinton reporter refl...
55 min
548
The age of "mega-identity" politics
74 min
549
Is American democracy really in decline? A debate.
110 min
550
Special episode: The Syrian conflict, explained...
57 min