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Why Theory

Why Theory brings continental philosophy and psychoanalytic theory together to examine cultural phenomena.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the effect artificial intelligence is having on higher education, primarily through commentary on ChatGPT. They first discuss how immediacy and the elimination of labor are key to ChatGPT's appeal before moving to discuss how it produces an idea of what Lacan would term the Big Other and how its ruling logic is one of emergent consensus. They end by arguing that ChatGPT inverts Rick Boothby's axiom that "the Big Other doesn't know" and how that introduces a damaging psychic dilemma.

A.I.

Discussed in this episode: Hegel, Marx, Fanon, Deleuze, Foucault

Recommended in this episode:

Hegel

Preface to Phenomenology of Spirit; Lesser Logic; Introduction to History of Philosophy

Marx

"The Commodity" from Capital vol. 1; Grundrisse; The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte 

Fanon

Black Skin, White Mask; The Wretched of the Earth

Deleuze

"The Death Instinct" from Coldness and Cruelty; Difference & Repetition; Spinoza: Practical Philosophy

Foucault

Discipline & Punish

Listen to hear what is NOT recommended!

Where to Start 2: Hegel, Marx, Fanon, Deleuze, Foucault

This episode provides an introduction to the preface to Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Ryan and Todd explore key issues from the notoriously difficult preface, including Hegel's own claim that one should not write prefaces to philosophical works. They argue that the preface provides the key to jumping in to all of Hegel's philosophy. The episode aims to lead listeners either to read the Phenomenology for themselves or to help them act as if they have read it at parties.

Preface to Hegel's Phenomenology

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the philosophical divide between Martin Heidegger and Hegel, taking as their starting point Heidegger's conception of Dasein. They explore the relationship between Dasein and subjectivity, as well as the differing relationships to modernity that each philosopher has. The episode also touches on the theoretical tendencies for Heidegger's embrace of Nazism.

Heidegger and Hegel

Ryan and Todd explore the possibilities for praxis in the vein of the notorious philosopher who expresses disdain for the possibilities of a philosophical praxis—Hegel. They look at instances of Hegelian praxis in action, including the church of contradiction developed by Peter Rollins. Hegelian praxis focuses on contradiction, failure, disappointment, and universality. Most importantly, it never operates through a preestablished road map.

Hegelian Praxis

In their annual Christmas special, Ryan and Todd explore the Lesbian Christmas film and the theoretical contribution that this specific type of film makes to the Christmas film genre. They discuss Carol, Happiest Season, and Let It Snow in terms of their depictions of desire and the importance of desire itself coming out.

Lesbian Christmas

Ryan and Todd work through Jacques Lacan’s Seminar X: Anxiety. Since this is the seminar that provides a great deal of Lacan’s initial theorizing of the objet a, they devote much of their time to this concept. Additionally, they discuss how Lacan responds in this seminar to existentialism, especially through his redefinition of anxiety. They conclude with an analysis of the role that sacrifice plays relative to anxiety.

Seminar X: Anxiety

Ryan and Todd pay tribute to David Lynch’s life and work by discussing each of his ten feature films in order of value as artworks (in the view of one of the cohosts). They explore the role of fantasy in Lynch’s works and how he implicates the desire of the spectator in the films.

David Lynch

Ryan and Todd discuss Lacan’s Seminar XVI: From an Other to the other. They focus on Lacan’s modification of Marx’s surplus value into surplus enjoyment and the implications of this discovery for the interpretation of capitalism. They frame this seminar as the end of the most fecund era of Lacan’s thought, a culmination that produces one of his greatest insights and the basis for a psychoanalytic theory of capitalism.

Seminar 16

On this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss Rick Boothby's terrific recent book, Embracing the Void: Rethinking the Origin of the Sacred. First they discuss how the book begins its argument by intervening in the gap between Freud's and Lacan's notion of religion (in both its social and psychical import). They then move to highlight Rick's original theorizing that links das ding to an encounter with the unknowability and indecipherability of the other. Finally, they conclude by discussing the relationship that Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker has to an extension of Rick's argument.

Also mentioned on this podcast:

Misconstruity, "Let Them Rot" (referenced as Russ Sbriglia's King Crimson power hour)

On Drugs, CBC Podcast (Special thanks to Hadeel and Geoff!)

Ryan's essay in World Picture

Embracing the Void

In this special requested episode, Ryan and Todd recount their experience of graduate school. They discuss the difficulties of engaging in theory and their attempts to carve out a theoretical path nonetheless. This is a singular episode where theory serves just as a content and not at all as a form.

Graduate School

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