Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In this famous, impossibly ancient (ca. 1900 BC!) Egyptian text, a man negotiations with the part of his soul that's supposed to help him in the afterlife. Can he kill himself now and still get all the benefits of an honorable death? His ba says no. Is this actually philosophy, or just a glimpse into the strangeness of a long-gone culture? You decide!
Read along with us: partiallyexaminedlife.com/wp-content/uploads/Lichtheim-Dispute_Between_Man_and_Ba.pdf
Subscribe to The Partially Examined Life to get our full, two-hour episode on ancient Egyptian Philosophy: partiallyexaminedlife.com.
Get more Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes at closereadsphilosophy.com. Get all of our discussions at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy. Note that any ads here are inserted by YouTube, with no money going to us. Everything on our Patreon page is ad free.
In this famous, impossibly ancient (ca. 1900 BC!) Egyptian text, a man negotiations with the part of his soul that's supposed to help him in the afterlife. Can he kill himself now and still get all the benefits of an honorable death? His ba says no. Is this actually philosophy, or just a glimpse into the strangeness of a long-gone culture? You decide!
Read along with us: partiallyexaminedlife.com/wp-content/uploads/Lichtheim-Dispute_Between_Man_and_Ba.pdf
Subscribe to The Partially Examined Life to get our full, two-hour episode on ancient Egyptian Philosophy: partiallyexaminedlife.com.
Get more Closereads: Philosophy with Mark and Wes at closereadsphilosophy.com. Get all of our discussions at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy. Note that any ads here are inserted by YouTube, with no money going to us. Everything on our Patreon page is ad free.
