The Philosophy and Therapy Podcast · John T Maier

Episode #22: Céline Leboeuf

·34 min·2 clips

Body positivity is a movement of resistance against toxic messaging about our bodies.

John T. Meyer opens by introducing Celine Leboeuf as an associate professor of philosophy at Florida International University. He notes her PhD from Harvard in 2016 and her work on gender, race, embodiment, and the philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir. The interview begins with a question about philosophy as a way of life. Leboeuf says this idea was one of the ways she found her own path into philosophy. She points to Thierry Hadot and his interpretation of ancient philosophy. In that framing, philosophy is practice, not only theory. That sets up the episode’s central concern with how philosophical ideas shape ordinary life. The discussion then broadens into intersectional work in philosophy. Leboeuf describes growing attention to embodiment, gender, race, sexual orientation, and disability, and she notes that bringing these questions together can produce new results. Body positivity becomes the next major topic. Leboeuf describes it as a movement of resistance against toxic messaging about bodies, coming through peers, media, and family and largely driven by the media. She pushes back on the simplified idea that body positivity only means saying one’s body is beautiful. Her research looks at what is valuable in mainstream body positivity and what can be strengthened. The episode closes by turning to her current creative writing work and to a book-length project built from an earlier Medium essay called Why Live. The overall shape is steady and cumulative, moving from definition to implication and lived experience.

As heard by us

A patient interview on philosophy as practice, embodiment, and body positivity.

John T. Meyer's conversation with Celine Leboeuf keeps philosophy tied to lived practice, then opens into embodiment, race, gender, and body positivity.

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Why you'd press play

If body positivity sounds easy, this interview will make you listen twice.

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