Radical Thoughts Podcast

In this episode, we discuss Peter Dews's  Logics of Disintegration: Post-Structuralist Thought and the Claims of Critical Theory , an attempt to provide an immanent critique of Derrida, Lacan, Foucault, and Lyotard. Next month, we'll be discussing Political Descartes: Reason, Ideology, and the Bourgeois Project   by Antonio "Toni" Negri. Listen to our bonus interviews by subscr...

In this episode, our first of Season 2, we discuss Raymond Williams' posthumous work  Politics of Modernism , investigating the relationship between the cultural traditions and cultural foundations of modernism, as well as the current possibilities for new, confrontational ways of life. This episode has been produced with the support of the Raymond Williams Foundation as part of a series of r...

What is the difference between a serial object and a model object? What is a gizmo? What is consumption in the modern world? In this episode, our season one finale, we read Jean Baudrillard's exposé on the dizzying system of objects that makes up contemporary consumer society. We will be on break for a few months while we prepare for season 2, but we will continue making Patreon-exclusive bon...

In this special bonus episode, Patrick sits down with practicing psychoanalyst and author Patricia Gherovici to discuss her work on transgender issues in psychoanalysis, questions of embodiment and subjectivity, and the accessibility of psychoanalytic practice today. RESOURCES Patricia's Website: https://www.patriciagherovici.com/articles-and-book-chapters.html (Das) Unbehagen Collective: htt...

This episode, Patrick and Andrew sit down and discuss Franco Moretti's early collection of essays on everything from Frankenstein and Dracula to James Joyce and T.S. Eliot. Unfortunately, Donald was too unwell and overworked to join us on this episode, but we think it turned out as a pretty good discussion on the connection of literature to sociology. Support us on Patreon to listen to our bo...

In this episode, Patrick and Andrew discuss Sexuality in the Field of Vision by Jacqueline Rose. We go a little further into our impressions of Lacanian psychoanalysis, its interactions with feminism and film theory, and whether this is a good book to turn to for newcomers to psychoanalytic theory. You can support our podcast and listen to our bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon . Grab a...

We discuss Slavoj Žižek's book The Metastases of Enjoyment and discuss the merits of psychoanalysis, the concept of trauma and cause, and the perverse enjoyment of seeing others as victims. Support us on Patreon Our next read will be Jacqueline (not Gillian, like I say in the episode) Rose's Sexuality in the Field of Vision.

In this episode, Andrew and Patrick talk about French cultural theorist, architect, and philosopher Paul Virilio and his book The Information Bomb . We discuss speed, the 90s, information, and more. Our next episode will be on Slavoj Zizek's The Metastases of Enjoyment . Check it out if you want to read ahead. Support us on Patreon and get an extra bonus each month for just $3/month.

In this bonus episode, Patrick sits down with the author Peter Salmon to discuss the life of Jacques Derrida and contextualize his philosophical project (if there is such a thing). We go over Derrida's upbringing, his academic life, and his conception of friendship in and outside of his theoretical work. Salmon brings his viewpoint after researching and writing a new biography of Derrida, for...

We sit down to talk about the (in)famous French philosopher Jacques Derrida and his book The Politics of Friendship . Listen as we discuss the instrumentality of friendship, the role of friends and enemies to define politics, and whether we actually understand anything we read. Support us on Patreon and get an extra bonus episode featuring an interview every month: https://www.patreon.com/radicalt...

This is the second half of our conversation on Chantal Mouffe's The Return of The Political. We delve further into the trap of idealism, NGO-styled radicalism, and the influence of populism on real-life movements like Podemos and Britain's New Labour. Our next bonus episode will discuss Left Populism in theory and practice with special guest Anton Jäger. If you want to hear the discussio...

In this episode, we begin our discussion of Chantal Mouffe's book The Return of The Political. We discuss the concept of the friend/enemy distinction, debates between Liberalism and Civic Republicanism, and whether or not political struggles have to remain fragmentary and non-universal. We decided to divide our discussion of Mouffe into two episodes because 1) the discussion was pretty long a...

In this special bonus episode, Patrick talks with his friend Misha about current events. The discussion touches on everything from rural/urban divides, the complications of identity and community, the American conception of East Asia vs. its reality, and the implications of recent BLM struggles. This bonus episode is being made available to both the standard feed and the Patreon feed. A bonus epis...

In this episode, we discuss the Italian legal theorist and politician Norberto Bobbio and his text "Liberalism and Democracy." We talk about the history of Liberalism, the relationship of the individual to the State, and how radicals should conceive of democracy. Other texts mentioned in this discussion: - "The Affinities of Norberto Bobbio" by Perry Anderson - "Law and St...

Can one seek the good life when life has been irreparably damaged? In this episode, we sit down to discuss Theodore Adorno's Minima Moralia and talk a bit about psychoanalysis, pleasure, astrology, and automation in the contemporary world. Join our Patreon for $3 a month if you want access to our bonus episodes to hear guests interviewed about the authors we've discussed. If you're...

In this month's episode, we sit down to discuss the controversial French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser and his early book For Marx . We discuss the merits and problems with concepts such as overdetermination, problematics, epistemological break, and the Althusserian meaning of ideology. We'd also like to announce that we've just started a Patreon to help us make podcasting jus...

In our first bonus episode Patrick interviews the literary critic and social theorist Andrew Milner to talk a little bit more about Raymond Williams and the approach of cultural materialism. (If you missed it, make sure to check out our first episode on Williams' Culture and Materialism too!) Milner is a literary critic and a cultural theorist. He is a professor of English and Comparative Lit...

This time all four members of the podcast sit down to talk about Terry Eagleton's The Function of Criticism. We discuss the emergence of the "public sphere," the meaning of the intellectual, and the commodification of literature and knowledge. We had some technical issues this time around, but we hope you enjoy the conversation nonetheless. Radical Thoughts is an attempt to read thr...

In our debut episode of the Radical Thoughts Podcast, P.H. Higgins, Donald Parkinson, and Andrew Woods sit down to talk about Raymond Williams' book "Culture and Materialism." We discuss how it is best to think about culture as a part of societal relationships, communication in contemporary society, base and superstructure, utopia, and more. Radical Thoughts is an attempt to read th...