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
176
What Clarence Thomas really thinks
And why he's the most misunderstood Supreme Court Justice, according to the author of The Enigma of Clarence Thomas
59 min
177
Even Better: Don't call it a budget
45 min
178
The quest for authenticity
Better living through the existentialism of Simone de Beauvoir
46 min
179
Even Better: Setting your boundaries
43 min
180
Your gut instinct is usually wrong
A data scientist on how to make decisions
49 min
181
Even Better: Workplace equality 2.0
51 min
182
Why we're still postmodern (whatever that means)
53 min
183
Even Better: Activism when you don't know where...
47 min
184
The Supreme Court's power grab
60 min
185
How middlemen took over the economy
60 min
186
The necessity — and danger — of free speech
Free speech is essential for democracy. It may also be democracy's downfall.
50 min
187
Hacking coral sex to save the reefs
49 min
188
The price of keeping secrets
47 min
189
Does China control Hollywood?
58 min
190
Steve Bannon is still at war
45 min
191
The Fortress of Solitude saw it all coming
Constance Grady talks with author Jonathan Lethem about his prescient 2003 novel
34 min
192
The Philosophers: Stoic revival
59 min
193
Station Eleven's creator on the end of the world
Showrunner Patrick Somerville on why hope is necessary for survival
47 min
194
The racist origins of fat phobia
49 min
195
The fight for Ukraine — and democracy
49 min
196
The war on trans people
49 min
197
Michael Ian Black on being a better man
50 min
198
Carmen Maria Machado's haunted feminine
36 min
199
The rise and fall of America's monuments
45 min
200
The Philosophers: America's philosophy, with Co...
55 min