Exploring Philosophy with Steven West: From Warehouse Worker to Podcast Host

Steven West, host of the popular Philosophize This! podcast, joins Tim Ferriss to discuss his fascinating journey from high school dropout and warehouse worker to acclaimed philosophy podcaster. West shares how he discovered philosophy as a teenager looking for wisdom and mentorship, and how it transformed his life and worldview.

From Troubled Teen to Philosophy Enthusiast

West had a difficult childhood, including being taken by Child Protective Services at age 9 and living in group homes and foster care. He dropped out of high school at 16 and had to work full-time to support himself, taking jobs as a grocery bagger and warehouse worker.

Despite the challenges, West was self-aware enough to recognize he needed guidance and mentorship. With no one to look up to in his immediate life, he turned to Google, searching for the "wisest person in the history of the world." This led him to discover Socrates and ancient Greek philosophy.

West explains: "I was a dumb 17, 16 year old kid right on that cusp. I knew that I needed mentors and I wasn't in school. I didn't have people to look up to really and I wasn't talking to my family. So I literally Googled wisest person in the history of the world. It was my best idea I could come up with at the time and one of Plato's dialogues gorgeous came up there and it talked about this guy Socrates. He's harassing people in the Athenian Agra. He's asking him questions trying to find a wise man and I just got hooked, man."

Finding Inspiration in Philosophy While Working in a Warehouse

While working long hours in a warehouse, West discovered he could listen to audiobooks and podcasts all day. This opened up a world of learning and inspiration:

"I got to listen to audiobooks all day long. I mean, what other job could I have gotten? I didn't even know I was stumbling into something that would open up so many possibilities for me at the time. It felt like I was just, you know, a day labor just like ruin like just horrible. But yeah, I got to listen to philosophy books all day long and talk radio. I got to listen to like love line with Adam Croll and Dr. and Howard Stern and just like listening to these people paint pictures with their words. It was beautiful."

West immersed himself in philosophy, finding particular inspiration in thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche and Søren Kierkegaard. He also discovered podcasts like Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, which showed him the potential of long-form audio content.

Launching the Philosophize This! Podcast

Inspired by what he was learning and the medium of podcasting, West decided to start his own philosophy podcast. He committed to working weekends at the warehouse so he could dedicate 5 days a week to developing the show.

West approached it chronologically, starting with the pre-Socratic philosophers and working his way through the history of Western philosophy. The early episodes were about 30 minutes long and focused on telling stories from philosophers' lives and explaining their key ideas.

While the first episodes were admittedly rough, West stuck with it, honing his craft over time. He focused on making the content as authentic and accessible as possible:

"I just made it as much me as I could. I leaned into that aspect of podcasting. What I loved about Dan Carlin is that it just felt like I was there and he was talking to me. I think a lot of people at the time saw podcasting as like an afterthought. It was just the free content so you could drive people to funnels to then sell them the premium content or something, right? I saw it as like a very open-ended medium that was beautiful and it could be a three-hour conversation with people smoking weed talking about nothing. It could be 10 minutes of highly focused."

The Philosophy and Approach Behind Philosophize This!

West's goal with the podcast is to make philosophy engaging and relevant to everyday life. He sees philosophy not as a set of rigid doctrines, but as a way of thinking and questioning assumptions:

"Philosophy is more a process. It's a verb. It's not a noun. It's like Simon Blackburn, famous philosopher, wrote a book called Think and he describes philosophy as conceptual engineering. It's a great metaphor. If an engineer looks at a bridge and they know about the raw materials of the bridge and they know how they connect to other parts of the bridge and everything, if you can show an engineer one bridge, a particular bridge, and he'd be like, 'Well, it holds weight over here, but if we put weight over on this side, it's going to all start crumbling down.' Philosophers do this with world views. The philosopher is the engineer, and the world view is the bridge."

West sees his role as helping listeners shake up rigid definitions and see the world in new ways. He often uses common concepts like love as a starting point to explore different philosophical perspectives:

"Take a concept that is seemingly well-known that everybody has thoughts on and just shake it up. Like love is one that I use on the show a lot because it's so common. Love, justice, freedom, these are things like concepts that basically everybody has thoughts on."

He'll then present different philosophical views on love - as something that happens to you, as a choice, as an unconditional commitment, etc. The goal is to get listeners to examine their own beliefs and consider new perspectives.

The Value of Studying Philosophy

West believes studying philosophy has tremendous value, even if it's not always immediately obvious or practical. Some key benefits he highlights:

1. It helps you examine why you believe what you believe
2. It exposes you to new ways of thinking about fundamental concepts
3. It trains you to think more critically and question assumptions
4. It can lead to profound personal growth and new perspectives on life
5. It provides tools for dealing with life's challenges and big questions

As West puts it: "People that send me emails will say they feel like they've lived 10 lifetimes in the amount of time they used to live one because, you know, with the love example, they might go through five relationships, get their heart broken five times before they think about love in this new way and and try to create a new tracing of it."

Evolving Views on Religion and Spirituality

West shares how his views on religion have evolved over time. As a young man, he was drawn to the "New Atheist" thinkers like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, and would argue aggressively against religion online.

However, as he's studied philosophy more deeply, he's developed a more nuanced view:

"The older that I get, the more I realize that most of the people that I respect talking about the most of the highly theologians and philosophers that talk about these issues don't believe in a god like that either. This is almost like a dramatized version of a god that speaks to people when, you know, they're they're just being people. They got kids. They got a job to go to. They don't got time to sit around and read philosophy and religion all day long. Like you you need a story that's going to relate to them. And it guides them to wisdom that's written into it."

West has become increasingly interested in religious phenomenology and mystical experiences. While he doesn't believe in a literal anthropomorphic God, he's fascinated by accounts of direct spiritual experiences and non-dual states of consciousness.

He cites mystics and spiritual thinkers like Simone Weil, Julian of Norwich, and Dogen as influential in expanding his understanding of spirituality beyond rigid theological doctrines.

Advice for Exploring Philosophy

For those interested in exploring philosophy, West offers some advice:

1. Start with topics you're genuinely interested in, rather than trying to follow a prescribed curriculum
2. Use secondary sources like the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy to get context before diving into primary texts
3. Look for ways philosophy connects to your everyday life and experiences
4. Be open to having your assumptions and beliefs challenged
5. Engage with the ideas actively, rather than just passively consuming information

West emphasizes that philosophy is not just an academic exercise, but a way of engaging with life's big questions and expanding your perspective.

The Future of Philosophize This!

After over 200 episodes, West remains passionate about continuing to explore philosophy through the podcast. He's excited to keep diving into new areas, like religious phenomenology, while staying true to his mission of making philosophy accessible and relevant.

West is also working on a book deal for 2026, which may allow him to explore philosophical ideas in new formats. He expresses interest in potentially writing philosophical fiction as a way to convey ideas in a different medium.

Ultimately, West sees philosophy as a lifelong journey of questioning, learning, and growth. Through Philosophize This!, he hopes to inspire others to embark on that journey and discover the transformative power of philosophical thinking.

As he puts it: "I just think to do it with these well-known concepts, to read the thinking of people that are trying to stir up these these like rigid definitions and get you to see the world in the new conceptual tracing, massively valuable."

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feOQjNfeol0