They say this one is the real deal. In Episode 98 of Overthink, Ellie and David untangle the philosophy behind the way we compare, judge, and defend our reputations. From Machiavelli’s advice to despots looking to stay popular, to disgruntled students venting on their professors online, reputation can glide you to victory or trigger your fall from grace. Exploring concepts like the Matthew effect, the homo comparativus, and informational asymmetry, your hosts ask: Why do both Joan Jett and Jean-Jacques Rousseau refuse reputation’s fickle pleasures? Does David actually have a good work-life balance, or is everyone else hoodwinked? And, what is the place of quantified reputation in an increasingly digital world?

Check out the episode's extended cut here!

Works Discussed

Kwame Anthony Appiah, The Honor Code

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Bad Reputation

Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Louise Matsakis, “How the West Got China’s Social Credit System Wrong,” Wired Magazine

Gloria Origgi, Reputation: What It Is and Why It Matters

Gloria Origgi, "Reputation in Moral Philosophy and Epistemology"

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Reveries of the Solitary Walker

Jean-Paul Sartre, The Transcendence of the Ego

Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Jordi Xifra, “Recognition, symbolic capital and reputation in the seventeenth century”

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Reputation