Philosophy vs Work

Hey everyone, I found myself in the rare position of having a little extra time and some prior research that felt particularly relevant to the current moment. Wait, which current moment you ask? Good question! The firehose of crises vomiting from the White House and far right governments across the world have produced no shortage of current moments of concern. In this regard, I’d like to speak dir...

Hello again, been a minute. In this episode, following along with Weeks' argument in The Problem with Work, we take a look at Socialist Humanism, the ties to productivism Weeks (and I) have issues with, we get a bit into psychologist-philosopher Erich Fromm, the (old) New Left, and humanism in Marx' early works. Hope you're up for a long episode!  Join the conversation on Patreon !...

Yet another delay on getting to Week's "Refusal of Work," but I'm going to blame this one on current affairs and the drinking-from-the-fire-hose that is the Trump news cycle. Following the massive No Kings protests, I thought it best to address the outpouring of frustration, righteous indignation, anger, outrage, and fear (not to mention the stark juxtaposition sad-Trump's...

Okay, so this episode was initially going to cover an area Weeks identifies as failures of Productivist Marxism; Socialist Modernization and Socialist Humanism, but we're going to be addressing the latter in the next episode. This one ran long enough as is. We're also going to be taking a minute to address, and correct, a mistake I made in the last episode as regards the conservative, ca...

Hey all, welcome back. There's a ton to go over from what's been going on on my end lately, what's been happening with the economy, we talk a little about 'where have all the Leftists gone?' (queue Paula Cole), and, for the bulk of the episode, we return to Kathi Weeks' The Problem with Work . For part 3, we're focusing on Weber's primitive construction of s...

Okay, it feels a little strange to be getting here over 20 episodes in, but let’s talk about the work ethic. Now, I know I said this episode was going to be about my reading of Weeks and what I propose is this movement from subject to victim of work, but, surprise, we’re not there yet. Today we’re looking at the background theory and the move from the Traditionalist to Protestant work ethic.  I me...

And so it begins, the final arc in this section on Utopia: a short series on Kathi Weeks' 2011  The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries .  If you couldn’t guess it from the title, we’ve got a lot to unpack here, and there’s no way this is all going to fit in one episode. I’m going to be breaking this down into two sections, over several episodes....

Moving right along with No More Work; Why Full Employment is a Bad Idea by James Livingston, part two. Again, fair warning, there are going to be a lot of ‘f-bombs’ in this episode, we're really getting into Livingston's F! Work argument now. In this Episode? Neoliberalism, Keynesian economics, productivism, capital and labor inputs, Nixon, the FAP, and, well, Trump. Join the conversatio...

Aaaand… we’re back! Welcome to the first episode of 2025, a year that I’m sure will prove, um, noteworthy? Today we’re moving on to another, and even smaller book (literally, it’s like 5 by 7 inches and only a hundred and seven pages, including the acknowledgements), No More Work; Why Full Employment is a Bad Idea by James Livingston, University of North Carolina Press, 2016. And fair warning, the...

Well, we've made it to the end of 2024 and the end of our run on Mark Fisher's  Capitalist Realism . In this episode, we unpack these last two ideas, talk about Stalinist Bureaucracy and why it's relevant to talking about work today, some updates on this podcast, and some thoughts on the recent UHC CEO shooting. So, grab a holiday-themed emotional support beverage, enjoy, and have a...

In this episode, we're still on challenges to Utopia and getting back to Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternaitve?  We're also taking our first little foray in Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze as far as Sovereign, Disciplinary, and Control Socities; some contemporary economic-political issues; and a tiny digression into the auto industry, religion, and ancient Rom...

Well, we lost, and it sucks, but maybe this isn't the worst possible outcome. In the aftermath of the recent US general election, I take a bit to examine some of the details, fact and fiction, in the election results, and in regards to the parties and candidates. More importantly, on the philosophy side, we take a look at anger and outrage, in defense of anger and outrage, hope, and through S...

Welcome to the first Halloween Special! In this episode, we're discussing horror movies and capitalism; specifically, The Blob ('58, '72, and '88), Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56), and Mark Fisher's "Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?" We talk a little about horror and science fiction, gods and monsters, Red (and Pink) scare(s), the Blob as me...

Well, hope you're in for a long one. This episode: Lee Edleman's No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive , as well as connections to Barthes and Benjamin, the myth of the Child and reproductive futurism, some psychoanalytic theory, existentialism and uncertainty, an examination and rebuttal to the recent Vice-Presidential debate, Tim Walz as America's Dad and JD Vance's utt...

In this episode we start addressing some of the serious problems with utopian thinking and, especially, progressive narratives. We unpack a bit of Walter Benjamin's "Theses on the Philosophy of History," return to Barthes regarding myth, and bring a little Nietzsche and some Star Trek into the conversation as well. Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articles) you may also want t...

Today’s episode is a going to be little different from the usual style, a bit more blog and a bit less position paper, but don’t worry, we’re still going to get to some philosophy, specifically Nietzsche, in the latter half. We play catchup on what's been happening on my end as far as voiceover work and Dragoncon, then address the potential for Nietzsche to be read as a hopeful redemption nar...

In this episode: Kathi Week’s The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries . Now, to be fair, we’re not going to examine the whole book, not yet anyway. Today we’re going to be looking at utopianism as a philosophical and political project, teleology and nonteleological utopian thinking. We're also going to run a bit of a who's who and what's...

We're back to our regular format this week and continuing our unpacking of Roland Barthes'  Mythologies; specifically, signification, the mythologist, and the reader of myths, as well as laying the methodology for how we’re going to be looking at utopia as a philosophical or socio-political ‘strategy.’ We take a look at the signs "the Party of Lincoln" and "MAGA" and,...

Hey everyone, this week’s episode is going to be a bit different. Rather than the usual philosophical info-tainment, today we’re going to focus more on the work side of the equation. I recently had the opportunity to chat with an old friend, Amanda Cranford, the owner-operator of Dish, here in Charlotte, in the Plaza-Midwood neighborhood. We had a few drinks and discussed the restaurant industry,...

Welcome to the next arc (next chapter?) of Philosophy vs Work! From here, we start unpacking Semiotics, Myth, and Utopia - starting with an unpacking of what is semiotics? - and the role utopias and utopian thought play in thinking about work, in how these utopias and work have been mythologized, and how these mythologized words shape how we think and even what we’re potentially capable of thinkin...

At long last, the finale to my (5 part) 4 part series on Labor-Time, Turning Toward Death, and Meaningful Work. This week I return to Bataille and the Accursed Share, try to get to what Meaningful Work might be, and why it should be an ethical project. I also discuss Chairs. Grab a seat. Recommended links: https://umistapotlatch.ca/potlatch-eng.php https://voegelinview.com/the-gift-marcel-mauss-an...

Widgets are strange, when you're an estranger, people are stranger when you're alone. In this episode we start thinking about death and work a little differently, consider what what work is and why it's a problem under Capitalism, why widgets matter, and what appropriation is... in other words, please welcome Karl Marx and George Bataille to the conversation. Recommended links: Ask...

Interlude. This week, we take a detour off the road Toward Meaningful Work to examine what exactly Heidegger means by Dasein and Being-toward-death, and why these concepts are relevant to the "turning toward death" I believe is necessary to overcome the "Work Ethic." Obligatory bibliography, or books you may also want to check out. Heidegger, Martin, John Macquarrie, and Edward...

What is labor-time, and what the hell does turning towards death mean? These are the questions. Part 2. In this episode we start unpacking the strategy of making "work," strange. We start with the psychological weight carried by deeply held beliefs and why a sense of disruption may be necessary before any critical examination of concepts like work. We touch a bit on Freud, Heidegger, and...

What is labor-time, and what the hell does turning towards death mean? These are the questions. Part 1. In this episode we begin the project of "meaningful work" as an ethical demand. I begin to lay out my approach to the "problem of work," the questions, issues, and authors that shaped my MA research project, "Toward Meaningful Work; Labor-Time and the Turn Towards Death,...