PlasticPills Critical Theory & Philosophy

This is a brief introduction to our defense of posthumanism. Find our extended deliberations about philosophy and whether or not it matters at  https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Socialism and Christianity have had a tenuous relationship. Our guest this week, Aaron Anderson, argues that Christianity and socialism not only have shared goals, but that uniting these goals serves as a basis for organizing in opposition to the unholy alliance of Christianity and right wing politics.   Aaron is co-founder of the Institute for Christian Socialism and editor of Bias Magazine. Find...

This week the pod hosts Matthew Flisfeder (@MattFlisfeder), the Zizek/Hegel/Lacan/Jameson scholar who organized the Peterson vs. Zizek debate. He's working on a book about renewing humanism in opposition to some recent trends in philosophy of the posthuman/anthropocenic variety: new materialisms and object oriented ontology.   The article discussed can be found at http://www.pomoculture.org/2021/1...

In lieu of a basket of hot takes on the Ukraine invasion, we take a look at the TRUE cause behind all the madness: the Eurasian nationalist-pagan occultist-Heideggerian fascist-Orthodox Christian traditionalist-illiberal philosophy of Aleksandr Dugin. It's... um... well have a listen, but I ain't posting the reference texts here.

We recorded this months ago but feels relevant enough for a public post. Regularly scheduled content will continue as usual! The video referenced is this one: https://youtu.be/JgJhmvzcb28 If you've missed anything you can more at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Victor (@victorbruzzone) interviews Professor Blake Wilson from California State University about the Rittenhouse trial, the legitimacy of law, and prison abolition.  Blake is a defense-attorney-turned-philosopher who writes and teaches on criminal justice and the philosophy of law. Visit his website here: https://www.mblakewilson.com All exclusive episodes can be found at https://www.patreon.com/...

Plato has had it too easy. We take an hour and a bit to divide the philosophers from the sophists.   This is what we do every week at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

This was one of the top topics from the previous patron vote--Fanon's postcolonialism.   Get all our exclusive eps on https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Joe Rogan hosted JBP to discuss fracking, Abraham, and Nietzsche, and we are here for those hot and not-so-hot takes on our first in-person, video podcast episode. Before we bid adieu to the University of Toronto's melodramatic guru, we cover the hits of his latest interview. Our co-authored, deep read of JBP: https://amzn.to/34yIQF1 Follows: @plasticpills @mattpolprof @victorbruzzone @HoratioVict...

This week's episode is going to be late, because we are planning something a little different. This episode is an unlock from a This episode features an exciting 1977 bout between the young iconoclast, Jean Baudrillard and the king of the French academy, Michel Foucault, as found in the provocatively titled: Forget Foucault. Can a well-timed tag team with Deleuze save Foucault? Or will Baudrillard...

Neil Vallelly (@NeilVallelly) joins Matt (@mattpolprof) for a cheery discussion of neoliberalism and futility, the central themes of Neil's new book, which can be found at https://amzn.to/32LjkLO or https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/futilitarianism .   Matt's full review is here: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/12/neoliberalism-powerless-review-neil-vallelly-futilitarianism Some perhaps unfamiliar na...

It's another literature corner episode, featuring The Purloined Letter and the interpretive stylings of the illustrious Lit Vic (find more of his utterances on Twitter @HoratioVictor). We discuss the short story as well as Lacan's psychoanalytic interpretation of it found in the seminar from Écrits.   Join us at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills if you like content.

This episode topic was chosen by our patrons. Get the episode and have your say on the next one over at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Is capitalism over? Whether or not it is, Friday is a good day to coin some new academic terms. We discuss making up words to advance your career and then a new term drop: techno-feudalism. Find the full interview with Zizek and Varoufakis here: https://youtu.be/XIgFnfHhcRc There are many vids and pods for you to consume at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills   Tell us what you think @podpill, @p...

Movie episode! This is more than a film, it's now a cultural event, and content is content and we are serious about that content. Please time your molly accordingly.  Get all our exclusive episodes, video lectures, and bonus CONTENT at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

The resurrection took longer than expected as the Pill Pod got COVID, but we're back with a sprawling 100 minutes of sex, drugs, and democracy: Chile elected a socialist (again); France failed to become a communist state in '68; and we ask whether an authoritarian turn the only way to prevent climate catastrophe, because we read an article which asks that. Find the article on our Patreon, even if...

Kids be getting Tourette's from TikToK? This episode features Pills, Victor, and Erik taking on mass sociogenic illnesses from the phenomenological perspective, then a dash of psychoanalysis for good measure.    Get this episode and all our exclusive content by supporting us over at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Pills and Matt interview he who was once known as Cuck Philosophy, and who is now known as Jonas Čeika, author of How to Philosophize with a Hammer and Sickle. Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3Im0uuy

Here's 10 minutes of a 100 minute episode on how Merleau-Ponty's analysis of the Schneider case forever changed the philosophy of mind. Get all our exclusive eps, including this one, at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Phenomenology is sometimes viewed apolitically, today we try to get a handle on Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological Marxism.   The sections of the text we read of this ep can be found on Patreon (even if you're not a patron). That's at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Here we go back a few pages to discuss the "prejudices" in philosophy of mind including empiricism, intellectualism, psychologism, and clinical physiology.  For 4 bucks you get immediate access to this and 40 more exclusive episodes, and maybe one day we can pay off our student loans: https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

No politics, no metaphysics, no grand narratives, as this week, and for the following weeks, the Pill Pod is going back to the things themselves. That's right—we are talking phenomenology. Our touchstone text will be Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, but we do not expect to stay within the lines. Today, we try to get a handle on "lifeworld", "horizon", and a few of MMP's partic...

The Pill Pod gets academic as our new volume is out, edited by Matt and featuring contributions Victor, Erik and our episode guest Ben (@benburgis) of Give Them an Argument. We argue that much of the antagonism between socialism and liberalism has been fabricated by internet creatures who want to piss off their dads. The exorbitantly expensive volume, meant to siphon money out of university librar...

We are name dropping that Baudrillard, Virilio and trying to remember what Emmanuel Levinas said, giving a biased review of the new Pills vid, and trying to figure out what's up with all the images. Get the full ep and hours more educational content by supporting our efforts over at www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Jordan DeJonge joins the pod to revisit the question "just how reactionary was Nietzsche?" as asked in Domenico Losurdo's newly translated intellectual biography: Nietzsche, The Aristocratic Rebel ( https://amzn.to/3mF15gS ). While most left-wing intellectuals read Nietzsche selectively, this 1000 page tome opts to take seriously the implications of Nietzsche's anti-democratic thinking.