Ep. 60 – Eugene Thacker, In the Dust of This Planet: Horror of Philosophy

In what could be their first trio podcast, co-hosts James, Emily, and B tarry with the Preface and a Chapter titled “Occult Philosophy” from Eugene Thacker’s In the Dust of this Planet: Horror of Philosophy, vol. 1. Before launching in, James shares some good news, and B befriends a finger monster. The team was at first hesitant about the text. But why? Perhaps they were a bit bewildered by Thacker’s arguments concerning the history of the philosophical “in-itself”? Or the world-for-us? Or their overall relationship to the horror genre? Was this Thacker’s critique of the Western canon? Or is Thacker’s archive unknowingly neo-colonial?  Does the archive show us the limits of knowledge (as the promise of horror as the fear of the unknown forebodes) or does it reproduce “the ruse of [Western] reason” by another name and through another’s pen? But why the Hell is post-colonial and anti-racist critique the “easy” critique anyway? Join and listen as all three of our co-hosts discuss one of the many purposes and pitfalls of academic publishing, the perils of public anti-intellectualism, and the dynamism of genres.

Support us on Patreon to help us upgrade our recording equipment, potentially provide episode transcripts, and more – plus, you may have the chance to jump your request to the top of the request queue. Thanks to Bağlan for requesting Thacker. Requests for texts for us to discuss? Dreams for us to interpret? Advice questions for us to answer? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes. Follow us on Twitter. Like our Facebook page. RSS feed here. Thanks to Bad Infinity for the intro music, “Post Digital,” from their new album FutureCommons; always already thanks to B for the outro music. For the mp3 of the episode click here.

 

Links:

• In the Dust…, at Zero Books
• A video analysis of Twin Peaks from the perspective of Thacker’s work, produced by Zero Books
• Thacker on WNYC’s Radiolab podcast
• Thacker’s Horror of Philosophy series at Zero Books

 

Ep. 36 – Max Horkheimer, Eclipse of Reason

On this week’s episode Emily, Rachel, and B attempt to crack Max Horkheimer’s Eclipse of Reason, written in 1947 in the aftermath of World War II. We focus in particular on chapter 2, “Conflicting Panaceas,” and chapter 3, “The Revolt of Nature.” We begin by discussing his somewhat surprising Freudian turn in chapter 3, his critique of the scientific method, positivism and neo-Thomism, and his brilliant use of the term “philosophical technocracy” in critiquing the instrumental use of reason. Next, we attempt to unravel whether there is somewhat of a latent philosopher-king in his analysis of the cultural crisis of reason. In our segment on all dreams big and small, “One or Several Wolves,” we keep it brief and sweet–some dreams are just that transparent.

Requests for texts for us to discuss? Dreams for us to interpret? Advice questions for us to answer? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes. Follow us on Twitter. Like our Facebook page. Get the mp3 of the episode here. RSS feed here. Thanks to Leah Dion and to B for the music.

More links!

• The Frankfurt School
• Horkheimer on Critical Theory
• Horkheimer’s critique of instrumental reason

 

 

Ep. 16 – Luce Irigaray

Guest co-host Amy Schiller joins John (and B, kind of) to discuss essays from This Sex Which is Not one by Luce Irigaray, as well as a short passage from her Marine Lover of Friedrich Nietzsche. The conversations open with Amy’s ‘vagina park’ overview of Irigaray’s project, seamlessly segueing into discussing Irigaray’s feminist critique of phallogocentrism in Western reason, ontology, and epistemology and the status of the feminine in her writing. The dialogue moves on to explore her appropriation of Marx in the discussion of the exchange of women as well as the critique of her essentialism and the ethics of redeeming problematic feminist pasts. The discussion ends by juxtaposing Irigaray with Nietzsche and with Beauvoir.

Requests for texts for us to discuss? Advice questions for the show? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes. Like our Facebook page. Get the mp3 of the episode here. RSS feed here. This episode’s music by B.

Links!

• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Irigaray
• This Sex Which is Not One and Marine Lover of Friedrich Nietzsche on Google Books
• “Voices from the Depths: Reading ‘Love’ in Luce Irigaray’s ‘Marine Lover'” by Joanna Faulkner in diacritics
• Playlist of Irigaray videos on YouTube
• A.O. Movement Collective’s ETLE Universe project

Ep. 6 – Genevieve Lloyd’s Man of Reason; Carol Gould Interview on Interactive Democracy Part II

Join B, John, and guest-host Cody Campbell for an enlightening discussion of the gendered and sexed nature of reason in western philosophy. Dealing with such topics as rationality, the role of embodiment in scientific thought, the project of feminist epistemologists, and the canonicity of the western philosophy canon, this meager assemblage of cisgender white men hopes to reveal the ongoing depths of this classic of feminism, The Man of Reason: ‘Male’ and Female’ in Western Philosophy, by Genevieve Lloyd. Who is a knower? What is knowing? And who gets to decided what constitutes knowing? Is Lloyd reinscribing some of that which she critiques? These are only a few questions we attempt to answer.

We also bring you the second part of our interview with Carol Gould  (Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at The Graduate Center and Hunter College, CUNY) on her forthcoming book, Interactive Democracy: The Social Roots of Global Justice. This selection covers solidarity and empathy, the way Gould takes up feminist care ethics, social movements, and disciplinary boundaries between political theory and political philosophy.

Last but not least, we dispense advice on the social life of an academic and how to find the cool theory events in NYC.

Requests for texts for us to discuss? Advice questions to submit? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes. Like our Facebook page. Get the mp3 here. RSS feed here. This episode’s music by B and by Jordan Cass.

Links!

• Man of Reason on Google Books
• Lloyd’s homepage at University of New South Wales
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Entries on epistemology, feminist epistemology and philosophy of science, and scientific realism
• Edited collection of foundational readings on feminist epistemology, edited by Linda Martín Alcoff and Elizabeth Potter

Ep.2 B-Sides: Ahmed, continued

The B-Side to episode 2 brings you more of our discussion of The Cultural Politics of Emotion by Sara Ahmed. In this mini-episode we think about emotion and cognition, critique, movement, affective economies, and historicity in the text. B also uses Star Trek and The X-Files to illustrate some key concepts.

Requests for texts for us to discuss? Advice questions to submit? Email us at alwaysalreadypodcast AT gmail DOT com. Subscribe on iTunes. Like our Facebook page. Get the mp3 here.

Thanks to Ricky Perry of Go-getter for the music in the episode.