What's Left of Philosophy

In the second installment of our “What is Liberalism?” series we discuss the relationship between liberalism and the institution of the police. If a core principle of liberalism is the equal application of the law, then some enforcement mechanism is necessary to ensure the stability of the social order. The problem is that in liberal democracies the police are asked to equally apply the law while maintaining an unequal social order. These two tasks create legitimacy crises for the state.  We discuss how the liberal political economy of the United States explains the exceptional brutality of the police, why it is so difficult to think of a world beyond the police, and how redistribution would ameliorate crime and social disorder.leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphilReferences:Matias Dewey, Cornelia Woll, and Lucas Ronconi, “The Political Economy of Law Enforcement,” Maxpo Discussion Discussion no. 20/1 (2021): 1-28.Christopher Lewis and Adaner Usmani, “The Injustice of Under-Policing in America,” American Journal of Law and Equality 2 (2022): 85-106.David Garland, “Penal Controls and Social Controls: Toward a Theory of American Penal Exceptionalism,” Punishment & Society 22(3) (2021): 321-352.Geoffrey H. Hodgson, “What are Institutions?” Journal of Economic Issues 40(1) (2006): 1-25.Music:Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this special holiday episode we bring in the new year by being complete and total haters! We keep it real light and breezy for this short little convo. We drag Auld Lang Syne, the concept of New Years’ resolutions, the very notion of historical dates, and also for some reason the city of Boston. At one point the discussion turns into an unboxing video, which is great content for a podcast, famously a visual medium. Oh and we read Antonio Gramsci’s 1916 essay “I Hate New Year’s Day”. We’re just having some fun with it! Happy new year to you all!(Sorry about the spotty audio quality—we all called in to record from our various holiday locales and didn’t have our best hardware on us!)leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphilReferences:Antonio Gramsci, “I Hate New Year’s Day”, trans. Alberto Toscano, Viewpoint Magazine | https://viewpointmag.com/2015/01/01/i-hate-new-years-day/Music:Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.comAuld Lang Syne by Guy Lombardo (1947) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SID1FS7RclgAuld Lang Syne - Bad Recorder Cover by Brizzy Brit | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcrIvOmoxRc

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was many things, but chill was not one of them. In this patron-exclusive episode we have no chill either, getting into it about the renegade philosopher’s Discourse on Inequality, his totally bizarre fictional state of nature, and his stunningly prescient critique of modern society. You know, we aren’t primitivists at all, but sometimes it’s kinda hard to maintain that this whole civilization thing was worth it. We gave dogs anxiety disorders and spend our spare time licking the boots of our economic and political overlords! It sure seems like mistakes were made! Come, friends: take the Rousseau pill with us.This is just a short  clip from the full episode, which is available to our subscribers on Patreon:patreon.com/leftofphilosophy References:Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, in The Collected Writings of Rousseau, vol. 3, ed. Roger D. Masters and Chistopher Kelly, trans. Judith R. Bush, Roger D. Masters, Christopher Kelly, and Terence Marshall (Hanover: Dartmouth University Press, 1992).Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this episode we talk with Jacob Blumenfeld about the concept of property in German Idealism. As it turns out, Kant, Fichte, and Hegel each had a pretty different idea of property than their Anglo counterparts who were out there apologizing for private property as a natural right and capitalism as freedom. Some might even say that socialism is what completes the system of German Idealism. They might also say that Fichte is totally bonkers. In either case, the Germans are both way cooler and way weirder than you know.leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphilReferences:Jacob Blumenfeld, The Property Relation: Freedom, Right, and Recognition in Kant, Fichte, and Hegel (forthcoming)Jacob's Academia page: https://uni-oldenburg.academia.edu/JacobBlumenfeldMusic: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism is probably the most important foundational text for modern sociology, and we think that’s kind of a downer, actually. We talk about how we are thoroughly unconvinced about his central historical claim in the book, which seems to be that the Protestant reformation created the subjective conditions for the emergence of capitalism somehow. We also take him to task for his weak criticism of historical materialism and for his own sorely lacking methodology. The book’s definitely got some interesting stuff in it, but it’s mostly a swing and a miss for us! Sorry, Weberians!leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphil References:Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism, trans. Peter Baehr and Gordon C. Wells (New York: Penguin, 2002).Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

This is a tribute episode to the great Mike Davis, the visionary social theorist and comrade who recently passed away in October 2022. We discuss his pathbreaking social analysis of Los Angeles, his political economy of urban life, his fondness for and reactivation of Marx’s political writings, and his unique ability to locate concrete phenomena within a specific historical conjuncture. Despite his clairvoyance about our disastrous present trajectory, we show why he was not the ‘prophet of doom’ that some think he was, insisting on the renewal of his spirit of militancy and hope.RIP to a true giant of the Left and a fierce, loving comrade.leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphilReferences:Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (New York: Verso, 2006).Mike Davis, “Marx’s Lost Theory: The Politics of Nationalism in 1848”, New Left Review 93 (May/June 2015).Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In Part Two of our two-part mini-series we discuss the work of Ernst Bloch’s The Principle of Hope. We ask what difference there is between the thought of Bloch and Theodor Adorno, how hope and utopia enable political action, and why so many traditions seem to abhor the concept of utopia. Expand your horizons and come learn how to hope again in this episode!This is just a small clip from the full episode, which is available to patrons:patreon.com/leftofphilosophyReferences:Ernst Bloch, The Principle of Hope, vols. 1 &3, trans. Neville Plaice, Stephen Plaice & Paul Knight (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1986).Ernst Bloch and Theodor Adorno, “Something’s Missing: A Discussion between Ernst Bloch and Theodor W. Adorno on the Contradictions of Utopian Longing (1964)” in Ernst Bloch, The Utopian Function of Art and Literature, trans. Jack Zipes and Frank Mecklenburg (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1988).Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In part one of our two-part mini-series on hermeneutics and utopia we discuss the thought of Hans-Georg Gadamer in his 1983 text Praise of Theory. We talk about the importance of prejudice and tradition for self-understanding, ask whether the natural sciences or the human sciences have sole claim to truth, and praise the (qualified) freedom of theory from instrumental reason (continental philosophy even gets a positive shout-out!). The purpose of this mini-series is to assess the insights of hermeneutics for theory and social philosophy, so look forward to our Patron exclusive conclusion on Ernst Bloch!leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphilReferences:Hans-Georg Gadamer, Praise of Theory, trans. Chris Dawson (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998).Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method, trans. revised by Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013).Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this episode we are joined by Martin Hägglund to discuss the existentialist's argument for what makes human life meaningful—and why democratic socialism is the logical conclusion to reach after having considered the matter carefully. We also dig into the limits of social democracy, the need for the state, and the revaluation of value that is yet to come.leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphilFollow Martin: @martinhaegglund | http://martinhagglund.seReferences:Martin Hägglund, This Life: Secular Life and Spiritual Freedom (New York: Penguin Random House, 2020)What Is Democratic Socialism? Part I: Reclaiming Freedom - Los Angeles Review of Books (lareviewofbooks.org)What Is Democratic Socialism? Part II: The Immanent Critique of Capitalism - Los Angeles Review of Books (lareviewofbooks.org)What Is Democratic Socialism? Part III: Life After Capitalism - Los Angeles Review of Books (lareviewofbooks.org)Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this episode we are joined by James Callahan (aka Crane) to talk about Gillian Rose’s book Hegel Contra Sociology. We explore Rose’s critique of early twentieth-century sociology, which she argues was completely hampered by the limitations of its neo-Kantian framework. Looking to break out of this transcendental circle, Rose turns to Hegel and defends a highly original and sophisticated reading of his speculative political thinking, in order to develop a sociological analysis adequate for grasping and transforming our modern capitalist world. We also talk about why Hegel hated the starry skies above and thought slimes and rashes were way cooler.leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphilFollow James on twitter: @gruidae_james and check out his substack: https://jamescrane.substack.com/References:Gillian Rose, Hegel Contra Sociology (New York: Verso, 2009)Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com