Why Theory

Ryan and Todd discuss the emergence of Slavoj Zizek's first book in English, The Sublime Object of Ideology. They work through its impact and historical significance. They then work through the ideas of the book as Zizek develops them--a new theory of ideology, fantasy, the quilting point, and the death drive.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd delve into the life and thought of relatively unknown theorist Alexandre Kojeve, who they claim may be the most influential thinker--for better or worse--of the 20th century. Kojeve basically directed the reading of Hegel for almost 75 years and shaped thinkers such as Jacques Lacan, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Georges Bataille. This episode tries to account for his incredible influence while doing just to his thought.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd conceptualize narrative structure in psychoanalytic terms, addressing how the master signifier, the subject supposed to know, the objet a, the object of desire, and the quilting point manifest themselves in the constitution of a narrative. They look at examples such as Hamlet, Memento, Star Wars, and Wandavision.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd trace the concept of alienation from its theorization by Hegel, through its development in Marx, to its elaboration in Sartre and Lacan. They focus on Hegel's positive twist to this typically negative concept, and then discuss how subsequent thinkers make use of this concept.

This episode is the fourth in a series of episodes that Ryan and Todd are devoting to Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Here, we go through what Hegel understands by the term "reason" and how it develops in this major section of the book.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd are joined by guest cohost Mari Ruti to discuss the relationship between feminism and psychoanalysis. Delving into the problems of desire and power, they question how psychoanalysis might contribute to the feminist project.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd analyze the theoretical riches of Freud's early text on "Screen Memories." They relate this work to the relationship between fantasy and truth, as well as considering its relevance for contemporary politics.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd go through Freud's rich late text Civilization and Its Discontents. They discuss the oceanic feeling, Freud's critique of religion, the relationship between death drive and aggression, and other subjects that Freud engages.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd chronicle the varied evolution of the concept of jouissance in the thought of Jacques Lacan and offer their idea of the best formulation of this concept. They touch on the key moments, from the association of jouissance with transgression in Seminar VII to the identification of jouissance with the failure of the sexual relationship in Seminar XX.

In their continuing series on Jacques Lacan's seminars, Ryan and Todd devote this episode to Seminar 2, which focuses on the relationship between the imaginary and symbolic registers. They discuss Lacan's early conception of death drive, his reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter," and the game of odds and evens, as well as other aspects of the seminar.