The Gray Area with Sean Illing
The Gray Area with host Sean Illing is a philosophical take on culture, politics, and everything in between. We don’t pretend to have the answers, but we do offer a space for real dialogue. Resist certainty, embrace ambiguity, and get some cool takes on a very hot world. Formerly the Vox Conversations podcast. New episodes drop every Monday.
1
3,000 years of The Iliad
Emily Wilson on why the poem persists and what it teaches us about death
33 min
2
Late-stage liberalism
A discussion with political philosopher John Gray about his new book, The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism.
50 min
3
The case against free will
A discussion about whether or not free will exists and what it means for our society.
55 min
4
A Jew and a Muslim get honest about Israel and ...
How to think humanely about the Israel-Gaza horror.
56 min
5
How to keep panic from attacking
A discussion about panic and anxiety with Matt Gutman, the chief national correspondent for ABC News and the author of No Time to Panic: How I Curbed My Anxiety and Conquered a Lifetime of Panic Attacks.
46 min
6
We Are What We Watch
A conversation about how entertainment affects us mentally and physically, and why that’s okay.
53 min
7
Werner Herzog’s ecstatic truth
A conversation with Werner Herzog about the difference between facts and truth, and why he believes his writing will outlive his films.
53 min
8
The lessons of Sam Bankman-Fried
A discussion of why the world fell for a crypto billionaire.
52 min
9
Is America getting meaner?
A discussion with David Brooks about his essay, “How America Got Mean.”
51 min
10
Naomi Klein on her doppelganger (and yours)
What it’s like to journey into the “Mirror World.”
53 min
11
Should we press pause on AI?
A discussion about AI and the issue of control.
53 min
12
Democracy’s existential crisis
A case for connecting democracy and the human condition.
47 min
13
Conservative socialism?
A conservative makes the case for democratic socialism.
52 min
14
The benefits of utopian thinking
Why it’s not unreasonable to imagine a better future.
50 min
15
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.
60 min
16
The new crisis of masculinity
How to redefine what it means to be a man.
58 min
17
How we all became a brand
A brief history of how self-invention became personal branding.
49 min
18
The therapeutic potential of MDMA
How did MDMA go from club drug to breakthrough therapy?
44 min
19
Is the journey to self-discovery pointless?
What does it mean to know ourselves, and are modern methods like personality tests helping?
49 min
20
Parenting through the climate crisis
If we owe our children a safe and healthy future, what are parents supposed to do about our rapidly warming world?
43 min
21
Seeing ourselves through darkness
A philosopher's new book on dark moods aims to help us escape the damage of our culture's most pervasive metaphor
52 min
22
Best of: A new philosophy of love
55 min
23
The future of tribalism
An evolutionary anthropologist's new book aims to explore mankind's tribal past — and foresee our tribal future
49 min
24
When you can't separate art from artist
How to reckon with consuming the art of someone who’s done something terrible.
49 min
25
The case for not killing yourself
Clancy Martin's new book is a portrait of the suicidal mind — his own
54 min