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
Even Better: Workplace equality 2.0
51 min
177
Why we're still postmodern (whatever that means)
53 min
178
Even Better: Activism when you don't know where...
47 min
179
The Supreme Court's power grab
60 min
180
How middlemen took over the economy
60 min
181
The necessity — and danger — of free speech
Free speech is essential for democracy. It may also be democracy's downfall.
50 min
182
Hacking coral sex to save the reefs
49 min
183
The price of keeping secrets
47 min
184
Does China control Hollywood?
58 min
185
Steve Bannon is still at war
45 min
186
The Fortress of Solitude saw it all coming
Constance Grady talks with author Jonathan Lethem about his prescient 2003 novel
34 min
187
The Philosophers: Stoic revival
59 min
188
Station Eleven's creator on the end of the world
Showrunner Patrick Somerville on why hope is necessary for survival
47 min
189
The racist origins of fat phobia
49 min
190
The fight for Ukraine — and democracy
49 min
191
The war on trans people
49 min
192
Michael Ian Black on being a better man
50 min
193
Carmen Maria Machado's haunted feminine
36 min
194
The rise and fall of America's monuments
45 min
195
The Philosophers: America's philosophy, with Co...
55 min
196
Why accidents aren't accidental
47 min
197
Rethinking the "end of history"
56 min
198
Anita Hill finally gets even
55 min
199
Elites have captured identity politics
52 min
200
The moral dangers of dirty work
54 min