Plasticpills

PlasticPills Critical Theory & Philosophy

Society EN ↓ 259 episodes

The Pill Pod is hosted by a group of PhDs offering their irreverent (and unsolicited) takes on critical theory, philosophy, culture, and politics.

Author

Plasticpills

Category

Society

Podcast website

www.spreaker.com

Latest episode

Jul 7, 2026

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Episodes

Jacques Lacan - Fantasy $♢a // 228 30.10.2025

Full Ad-free Lacan series: https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills We conclude our Lacan series with what Fink says is the desired end of Lacanian psychoanalysis. And, the ends of psychoanalysis coincide with some valuable insights for Lacan's theorizing beyond psychoanalysis.  Works cited are Fink's Lacanian Subject (ch. 5; https://amzn.to/4qz1Fgx) and A Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanaly...

Sigmund Freud in Film: An Interview with Richard Ledes 09.10.2025

Richard Ledes, director of the films Adieu Lacan and V13 , explains his process, namely, adapting French plays about psychoanalysis into English-language films. He connects the seduction of nascent fascism in 1913 Vienna to the present moment a century later. Find V13 on AppleTV, Prime Video Find Ledes' catalogue at https://www.richardledes.com/ Always more content at https://www.patreon.com/plast...

Jacques Lacan on the Pervert // 225 06.10.2025

The Pill Pod looks at the structure of the perverts in Episode 5 of our series on Lacan. Find the other episodes at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills Sources: Jacques Lacan - Seminar X , "The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire in the Freudian Unconscious", Ecrits Bruce Fink - Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis

ChatGPT Psychosis: A Lacanian Interpretation // 224 19.09.2025

The Pill Pod looks at the chatbot psychosis phenomenon and compares it to Lacan's clinical structure of psychosis. This is Episode 4 of our series on Lacan. Find the other episodes Ad-Free at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills Sources: Jacques Lacan - Seminar III Bruce Fink - Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis "People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies" Rolling...

Capitalist Realism // 221 12.09.2025

1Dime joins Erik and Victor to discuss Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism. We cover the popularity of the book, the term, and then wonder whether left-populist electoral campaigns perform the same cathartic function as anti-capitalist TV shows. See more from 1Dime: https://www.youtube.com/@1Dimee All our public episodes are ad-free: https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Jacques Lacan on the Big Other (preview) // 220 15.08.2025

We wanted to review some Lacan because everybody's still desiring, and Bruce Fink's Lacanian Subject (1995) is quite often touted as the best unofficial intro, and we can see why. Get this and all our eps at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills This is the book: https://amzn.to/4oubPxQ

Peter Thiel's Deranged Apocalypticism // 219 11.08.2025

In a recent interview with the New York Times Peter Thiel, one of the world's most powerful men, gave ample evidence that he should be institutionalized before he hurts anyone else. Link to the full interview https://youtu.be/vV7YgnPUxcU?si=qSLrUmKeEblb4jYS Find all our episodes ad-free at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Giorgio Agamben - Gaza as State of Exception // 217 01.08.2025

Pill pod discuss the public media representations of Epstein and Gaza before a seamless transition into a discussion of Giorgio Agamben's concepts of 1) Sovereignty 2) Bare Life and 3) States of Exception. The FULL OMNIBUS edition of homo sacer is here , but the sections are also available separately.

The Woke Right ft. 1Dime // 215 16.07.2025

Pills is away, so 1Dime Tony came present a thesis he's working at. Tony rejoins the pill pod to excavate the terms "woke right" and the semiotics of "woke" more broadly. We don't always agree, but we attempt to deduce which conservative faction is accusing which other of wokeness, although it is sometimes tough going figuring what they mean by the term. Articles: https://americanreformer.org/2024...

Derrida: White Mythology (preview) 25.06.2025

According to Derrida, metaphysicians have spent 2000 years conceptually boxing-in metaphor because they don't want to admit their dependence on figurative language. This has allowed them to trick themselves into believing that fiction and non-fiction are fundamentally different; that one can be true and the other cannot. In White Mythology , Derrida discovers the metaphors buried in philosophy fro...

Self-Help via Merleau-Ponty and the Flesh of the World (preview) 18.06.2025

We go deeper into Maurice Merleau-Ponty's insights in The Visible and The Invisible , e.g. The Flesh of the World, the Chiasm, and the Intertwining and what these mean for a meditative experience on the daily.  Get the full episode and tons of others at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Pill Pod 212 - The Mass Desire for Fascism 16.06.2025

This week we looked into OG critic of fascism Wilhelm Reich, who wrote The Mass Psychology of Fascism right after the Nazis were elected in 1933. Reich was among the first "neomarxists", and believed that Marxists need to understand psychoanalysis to understand Fascism. Link to text Find our full episodes on philosophy and theory at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Phenomenology via Buddhist Philosophy (preview) 13.06.2025

We compare Maurice Merleau-Ponty's insights in an unfinished work he wrote before his death to the meditations of Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna 18 centuries prior. This episode and all the rest can be found at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Pill Pod 210 - New York Times LIES about "Fascism Experts" fleeing Trump 31.05.2025

The New York Times has claimed that three "fascism experts" are fleeing Trump and "going abroad". In truth, these are not (all) fascism experts, and they did not flee, in fact they have been in Canada for almost a year because they got jobs at the University of Toronto. We looked into their research, which is the same tired, lib, horseshoe theory bullshit that Nazism and Communism are the same thi...

Mark Carney Who? // 208 16.05.2025

We catch you up on Canadian politics by introducing you to our new Prime Minister via his book VALUE(S): Building A Better World For All (https://amzn.to/4dj1oYJ).   Bono called it ‘A radical book that speaks out accessibly' (lol)

Pill Pod 206 - Trump Declares War on Education 08.05.2025

Yea we missed a lot of news, but we wanted to cover the Trump regime's war on higher education. As a group with a lot of university affiliations, we hate universities too, but here we try to diagnose the reasons for the recent clashes. Get all of the content at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Buddhism is good actually // 205 29.04.2025

After a long hiatus, Pills returns to the main show with some new musings over The Last Samurai, Buddhism and the phenomenology of religion. The Kyoto School and Nagarjuna were mentioned in the episode, but we didn't get into much depth this time round.  Find everything we make at the feed at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

True vs. False Prophets | Plastic Pills on Religion III 22.04.2025

This is Part 3. What makes a prophet a prophet? As we are on the civilization decline hill, we are going to experience a higher volume of prophets than usual. Don't miss an episode https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Pill Pod 202 - Paradise has been Lost ft. Victor Hainagiu 15.04.2025

The contemporary political situation has rendered Paradise Lost more relevant now than any time since it was penned by John Milton's daughters. It is an epic, revolutionary in both style and politics, and for this episode we have an expert, Victor Hainagiu, who is writing his dissertation on it.  Check out William Blake's illustrations of the text: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake%27s_i...

Cults of Cleansing | Plastic Pills on Religion II 11.04.2025

The cults of COVID may never go away, but this is why they are to be expected. This is part II of the plasticpills diatribe on religion focusing on metaphor as the original decision making process in a world and specifically the metaphors of religious laws that begin with keeping your hands clean but end with the mass extermination of people. Listen ad free at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

German Idealism can save us (ft. Christopher Satoor) // 201 05.04.2025

So, after decrying philosophy last episode, we are back on it hard again in 201. The Pill Pod interviews Christopher Satoor on Schelling and his conception of freedom from "the freedom essay", also known as THE PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE ESSENCE OF HUMAN FREEDOM.  Chris also does a bunch of interview and video content on YouTube, at https://www.youtube.com/@UCjybB5M-knVLAvrohRXtklQ get...

Death Cult Logic | Plastic Pills on Religion I 28.03.2025

Christo-techno-fascism? I'm hunting down the impulse producing the end of the world and how religion functions as a social technology. As it turns out, we're all still religious. All the full episodes are available at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills The videos are available at https://www.youtube.com/plasticpills

Pill Pod 200 - Why has America Gone Insane? 13.02.2025

A panel discussion on how a once great simulation become, almost overnight, the most schizophrenic spectacle in the history of human society. Is it mere distraction? Is it a war to control our extended nervous system. Should we be worried?  Find our hidden episodes at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Philosophy of Freedom // 198 05.02.2025

The Pill Pod debates the philosophy of freedom from Merleau Ponty, Sartre, Peirce, and Post-structuralism.  Listen ad-free on https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Pill Pod 197 - "Never were we freer than under Nazi Occupation..." (preview) 21.01.2025

This is a preview of an episode on Jean-Paul Sartre and existentialism. Find it at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills. Please join us to support the show and get all our episodes!

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