What's Left of Philosophy
In What’s Left of Philosophy Gil Morejón (@gdmorejon), Lillian Cicerchia (@lilcicerch), Owen Glyn-Williams (@oglynwil), and William Paris (@williammparis) discuss philosophy’s radical histories and contemporary political theory. Philosophy isn't dead, but what's left? Support us at patreon.com/leftofphilosophy
Episodes
106 episodes
103 | Habermania w/ Dr. Steven Klein
Another week, another German philosopher. This time, Steven Klein joins us to discuss the ideas and legacy of one Jürgen Habermas. We talk about his evolution alongside and away from the Frankfurt School, the enlightenment project at the core o...
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Season 1
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Episode 103
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1:07:48
102 TRAILER | The Heidegger Episode
Here, we finally deliver on our longstanding threat to do an episode all about influential philosopher Martin Heidegger. We give him credit where it’s due: he has a compelling account of the conditions for meaningful existence along with a reso...
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6:08
101 | Free Time Under Capitalism
In this episode, we discuss Theodor Adorno’s essay “Free Time”, in which the critical theorist really lets his cantankerous old man flag fly. He argues that how our subjectivities are shaped by capitalist culture and work discipline makes it ve...
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Season 1
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Episode 101
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1:00:59
100 | Special Q+A Livestream!
For this very special 100th episode of the show, we set aside a few hours to answer questions submitted by listeners! We livestreamed the session on our YouTube channel, and this is the audio from that recording. Thanks so much to every...
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Season 1
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Episode 100
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1:57:21
100th Episode Livestream Announcement | Ask Us Anything!
Some news! We are going to livestream our 100th episode recording session at 1pm Eastern / 12 noon central standard time on our YouTube channel on Sunday October 27th.We will be answering questions! There's a form on our website's home ...
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1:20
99 | What is Dialectics? Part VI: From Explanation to Emancipation: Roy Bhaskar’s Critical Realism
In this episode, we discuss the philosopher of science Roy Bhaskar and his essays in Reclaiming Reality. We discuss whether it is possible for the human sciences to overcome the fact/value distinction, what role knowledge has in self-e...
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Season 1
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Episode 99
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1:01:35
98 TEASER | Reform or Revolution?
In this episode we take on a Marxist classic, Rosa Luxemburg’s “Reform or Revolution,” in which she skewers Eduard Bernstein for being a feckless opportunist and for relinquishing the goal of socialism. Luxemburg takes on his argument that it’s...
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Season 1
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Episode 98
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10:11
97 | Poulantzas, Marxism and the State
In this episode we take up the question: what is the State? With 1978’s State, Power, Socialism by Nicos Poulantzas as our guide, we talk about what it means to grasp the state as a historically specific form inseparable from the econo...
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Season 1
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Episode 97
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55:52
96 TEASER | What is Utopia? Part IV. Bacon's New Atlantis
In this episode we talk about the weird little unfinished utopian novel The New Atlantis, written by founding enlightenment figure Francis Bacon. We talk about his fetish for differential novelty, his understanding and valorization of ...
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Season 1
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Episode 96
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14:50
95 | John Dewey and the Education of Experience
In this episode, we discuss the educational philosophy of the American pragmatist John Dewey. Focusing on his 1938 treatise Experience & Education we explore questions concerning the ends of education, what it means to be an effect...
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Season 1
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Episode 95
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1:03:45
94 | Norman Geras' Ethics of Revolution
In this episode, we discuss the contributions of political theorist Norman Geras to socialist debates about revolutionary ethics, movement democracy, and justice. He argues for a right to revolution, but that there’s a difference between politi...
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Season 1
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Episode 94
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57:55
93 TEASER | Charles Mills and the Racial Contract
In this episode, we talk about the late, great Charles Mills and his landmark book The Racial Contract. Forcefully arguing that the modern discourse of egalitarianism and freedom is underwritten by a tacit commitment to global white su...
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Season 1
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Episode 93
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11:06
92 | What is Liberalism? Part V. Robert Nozick’s Libertarian Reveries
In this episode, we discuss Robert Nozick’s libertarian political philosophy as presented in his 1974 book Anarchy, State, and Utopia. We consider his challenges to leftist thought, especially the sort of left liberalism championed by ...
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Season 1
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Episode 92
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1:02:05
91 | Fanon’s Dialectic of Violence
In this episode, we tackle the concept of violence as it appears in the revolutionary and anticolonial work of Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. Throughout the episode we link together Fanon’s endorsement of revolutionary viole...
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Season 1
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Episode 91
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1:01:03
90 | Ecological Materialism and Logistical Strategy w/ Dr. Jeff Diamanti
In this episode, we are joined by Jeff Diamanti to discuss what it looks like to watch the climate change. Our conversation shifts from analytical, aesthetic, and political perspectives, as we turn our attention from critical raw materials to t...
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Season 1
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Episode 90
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1:20:04
89 TEASER | G.A. Cohen's Analytical Red Sublime
In this episode, we discuss essays from throughout G.A. Cohen’s philosophical career. Cohen is known as one of the founders of Analytical Marxism, so we talk about what this tradition in Marxist thinking is about and how it handles the problems...
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Season 1
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Episode 89
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12:12
88 | On Late Fascism w/ Alberto Toscano
In this episode, we are joined by Alberto Toscano to talk about his analysis of contemporary far-right movement and ideology. We discuss his new book Late Fascism and consider the strategic and rhetorical downsides of analogizing the pres...
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Season 1
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Episode 88
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1:07:55
87 | The Politics of Left-Wing Climate Realism w/ Dr. Ajay Singh Chaudhary
In this episode, we are joined by Ajay Chaudhary to discuss his book The Exhausted of the Earth: Politics in a Burning World and the political, economic, and affective sites of exhaustion reproduced through climate degradation. We exam...
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Season 1
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Episode 87
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1:14:44
86 | Right-Wing Political Thought w/ Dr. Matt McManus
In this episode, we are joined by Matt McManus to discuss his research into the history and philosophy of right-wing politics in his book The Political Right and Equality. We discuss the nature of conservatism as an irrationalist react...
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Season 1
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Episode 86
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59:00
85 TEASER | Giving an Account of Oneself: Judith Butler's Ethics of Opacity
In this episode we delve into Judith Butler’s Giving an Account of Oneself, an illuminating book from 2005 that examines subject-formation and the relationship between the self, other people, and the normative social order. We reconstr...
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Season 1
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Episode 85
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8:56
84 | Sex in Philosophy w/ Dr. Manon Garcia
In this episode, we talk with Manon Garcia about the problem of women’s submissiveness in feminist philosophy. Then we discuss longstanding feminist criticisms of the concept of consent, what we want from consent in the first place, and w...
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Season 1
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Episode 84
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1:06:41
83 | What is Aesthetics? Part III. Ernst Bloch: In Search of the Red Sublime
In this episode, we return to the work of Ernst Bloch and his theory concerning “aesthetic genius” and the possibility of the red sublime. Bloch attempts to construct a Marxist account of art that can explain how it is possible for aesthetic ob...
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Season 1
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Episode 83
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56:03
82 | The State and Right: Kant's Metaphysics of Morals
In this episode, we dig into the Doctrine of Right in Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals to see what he has to say about the state. Turns out he’s a fan, because the state is what guarantees the possibility of justice and perpetual peace. Nice! But h...
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Season 1
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Episode 82
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1:01:48
81 TEASER | David Harvey: Capitalist Urbanization and the Right to the City
In this episode, we talk about David Harvey’s analysis of the urbanization process as a form of accumulated surplus capital expenditure and consider the built environment as a crucial site of class struggle. The physical constitution of the bui...
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Season 1
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Episode 81
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11:05
80 | Grab Bag Special Episode with Michael Peterson! Utilitarian Harems, Nietzschean Ciphers, and Cowardly Chatbots
In this nonstandard episode, Gil and Owen are joined by Michael Peterson to talk about how dreadful utilitarianism is, consider some of the offers that folks have made to come guest on the show, and reflect on how deeply unimpressive LLMs are w...
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Season 1
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Episode 80
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1:22:31