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
201
The Philosophers: America's philosophy, with Co...
55 min
202
Why accidents aren't accidental
47 min
203
Rethinking the "end of history"
56 min
204
Anita Hill finally gets even
55 min
205
Elites have captured identity politics
52 min
206
The moral dangers of dirty work
54 min
207
Did the sexual revolution go wrong?
53 min
208
Who decides how to conserve nature?
55 min
209
The Philosophers: Loneliness and totalitarianism
58 min
210
The War in Ukraine, Explained — Part 4: The fut...
59 min
211
Michael Lewis on why Americans distrust experts
52 min
212
The War in Ukraine, Explained — Part 3: The nuc...
51 min
213
The case for regret
45 min
214
The War in Ukraine, Explained — Part 2: Sanctions
56 min
215
The spirituality of parenting
43 min
216
The War in Ukraine, Explained — Part 1: Why did...
55 min
217
The Philosophers: Resisting despair
How can Albert Camus help us understand the war in Ukraine, post-pandemic life, and the absurdity of our modern world?
51 min
218
What happened to American conservatism?
55 min
219
The limits of forgiveness
46 min
220
The madness behind The Method
62 min
221
David Cross is disappointed in you guys
44 min
222
Author Kiley Reid on why we read novels
42 min
223
The conversation about guns we're not having
59 min
224
Why does middle school suck?
60 min
225
Russia's war with Ukraine — and reality
33 min