New Podcast Release: Stephen West

Our guest in the latest episode of Lives Well Lived is Stephen West, creator of the acclaimed philosophy podcast Philosophize This!

Stephen’s path to philosophy was anything but typical. At sixteen he was a runaway, working long shifts in a warehouse after leaving foster care and high school behind. With no teachers, mentors, or peers to turn to, he typed one question into Google: Who is the wisest person in history? The search led him to Plato’s Gorgias — and to a lifelong fascination with ideas that could help make sense of his experience.

In our conversation, Stephen tells us how philosophy became both a refuge and a discipline. We talk about why people are drawn to philosophy in moments of suffering, and what it means to translate abstract ideas into a better life. Stephen reflects on how his reading of thinkers from Socrates to Nietzsche shaped his understanding of wisdom, justice, and meaning — and why, after years of therapy, meditation, and study, he believes that living itself teaches us more than any book.

He also turns the tables and asks us a few questions of his own — including what values make a relationship last, and whether wisdom comes more from reading or experience. Later, our discussion turns to AI and consciousness, amor fati, and the paradox of happiness: why it’s best found when we stop pursuing it directly.

Below are highlights from our conversation, edited for clarity. You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform.

From Foster Care to Philosophy

KASIA DE LAZARI RADEK: Stephen, you had a rough start to life. At the age of nine you were in foster care. Later you were homeless and you never completed high school, and just a dozen years ago, you were working in a warehouse doing physical labour. Now you have put out more than 500 episodes of your podcast, Philosophize This!, and you have a large audience that enables you to earn an income that is more than adequate to support yourself and your family. That’s an amazing story. How did it happen? [Note: the figure of 500 episodes was my mistake. It’s closer to 250.]

STEPHEN WEST: When I was nine, I got taken away from my parents. Me and my two sisters were taken by Child Protection Services and placed into different homes. I ran away when I was sixteen because of bad stuff happening there. I had to drop out of high school because I was working in a warehouse. I started bagging groceries, then worked two jobs, eight hours in the morning and eight hours in the afternoon. I knew that I was traumatised but I didn’t really know where to turn. I didn’t have a father figure, I didn’t have friends, I didn’t have any academic community… so I literally Googled, “Who’s the wisest person in the history of the world?” and one of Plato’s dialogues, Gorgias, came up. I read it at the time, thought I understood it, and it really stuck with me, so I started listening to more philosophy… and it turned out the warehouse was a perfect place to do this, because I could just listen to stuff all day long.

PETER SINGER: Do you think it was an alternative for getting wisdom from your parents?

STEPHEN WEST: Definitely. If we want to psychoanalyse it, Socrates is my father in some sense.

The Limits of Reading vs. Living

KASIA DE LAZARI RADEK: Do you believe that you get wiser through reading, or more through perhaps experiencing things yourself?

STEPHEN WEST: I think it’s a fantastic question and it encapsulates how I think I’ve wasted a lot of my life… I’ve meditated for over a thousand hours, done talk therapy, CBT, DBT, EMDR, SSRIs, gratitude affirmations. And it’s not that I think it’s all been a waste, but what has really made me less anxious is just living life and smacking up against reality… going on the date, being rejected, going to the farmer’s market and meeting someone who becomes a lifelong friend. Reality’s like that — not ideal, not horrible. I just think I’ve spent too many hours thinking about these things and not acting on them.

Knowing the Moral Answer vs. Living It

PETER SINGER: You’ve read an immense amount of philosophy. How does that fit into giving you a picture of how to live in the world?

STEPHEN WEST: I’ve wasted tons of time reading too much philosophy and not going out and acting on it. I know all the answers to the test — I’ve thought about morality — but when I’m actually in the moment, like standing in line behind an old woman talking to the cashier, I get frustrated. I know it may be the only interaction she has all month, and I know what the right response is, but I still stew in my head. I feel like I’ve wasted hours theorising about morality and not recognising how embodied it is in actually doing stuff in the world.

What Makes a Relationship Endure

STEPHEN WEST: What are the values that young people should build a relationship around if they want it to endure as long as it can?

PETER SINGER: I think there are some core values that are important. My wife and I are similar in some ways and have similar values. Neither of us is religious. I’m philosophically a secular utilitarian; she’s also secular and has broadly utilitarian tendencies. We value similar things and respect each other for pursuing our own visions, but we allow each other to go in different ways and do different things. I think with those core values, we’ve stayed together all these years.

From Anxiety to Meaning

KASIA DE LAZARI RADEK: And when do you enjoy life?

STEPHEN WEST: All the time. Enjoyment isn’t really what I’m aiming for. I have a lot of contentment and joy, but that’s not the point. I remember a time when I thought about happiness as the main thing. I realised I only think about happiness when I’m unhappy. Now I connect things to meaning more than enjoyment… I have deeply meaningful things to do with almost every second of my day — the podcast, my kids. It’s not about happiness or pleasure; it’s about meaning.

Amor Fati – Learning to Love Fate

KASIA DE LAZARI RADEK: You have talked a lot about amor fati, loving your fate. Do you really try to love it?

STEPHEN WEST: I try not to spend too much time ruminating and turning knobs, trying to change things too much. I just started living more. I live my life like my friend Dave does his finances — once a quarter, he checks in and then lets it ride. That’s how I do my moral approach: I periodically think what’s going well and what’s not, make a plan, and then stop overthinking. I just try to be immersed in whatever’s going on. In that sense, I am trying to love my fate, because I don’t want to question it too much. I want to be in it.

What Philosophy Gave Him

PETER SINGER: When you read these different philosophers, do you think some are closer to the truth than others?

STEPHEN WEST: The process of reading philosophy for me is like self-emptying. I try to remove my bias and take on a different way of viewing things. Philosophy has been a humbling exercise — like a spiritual practice without God. It holds me to an ideal greater than myself. It’s disruptive, but it makes me better.

Peter’s Final Challenge

STEPHEN WEST: What would you do if you were me — if you were 37 and in my position, writing as I am — what would you do differently?

PETER SINGER: I’m fundamentally involved in trying to change the world for the better. Getting people to think about philosophy is part of that, but I’d want to be more actively involved in bringing about change — thinking about how we can reduce the large-scale suffering of animals in factory farms or the 700 million people living in extreme poverty. I’d be asking: what are the best tools for actually making change?