Hell Is Other People

Listen nowDownload file
Embed player
Original Air Date: 
January 22, 2017

How do you cope with unpleasant people? Like the jerk in the next cubicle or your loud-mouth brother-in-law? When there’s no escape and you’re stuck with someone you can’t stand, what do you do? In this show, we consider the adage “hell is other people.” Plus a conversation with writer T.C. Boyle on the limits of his own tolerance for other humans.

Audio

You can interpret the line from Paul Sartre’s 1944 play “No Exit” in a lot of different ways. Philosopher Gregory Sadler has a fascinating take.

Donald Trump
Audio

People with a heightened sense of entitlement that they feel gives them a free pass. You and I have a word for these people. Philosopher Aaron James has an entire theory about them.

empathy
Audio

If people were more empathetic, the world would be a better place, don’t you think? Paul Bloom thinks perhaps not.

office
Audio

Do you dread going to work because your office is filled with people who are rude and treat you badly? Christine Porath is trying to do something about it with her book, “Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace.”

Under the dome
Articles

Imagine eight scientists, four men and four women, volunteer for a grand experiment focusing on the future of humanity: living for two years inside of a prototype of a possible off-earth colony. That’s the premise behind acclaimed novelist T.C. Boyle’s new book, "The Terranauts." 

Show Details 📻
Airdates
January 22, 2017
October 14, 2017
June 02, 2018
July 20, 2019
Guests: 
Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy
Associate Professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University
Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University
Categories: 
Last modified: 
July 26, 2019