What's Left of Philosophy

What do we mean when we call something a ‘structural injustice’? In this episode, we take up some of Iris Marion Young’s work and ask what makes the difference between interpersonal injustice and structural injustice. Along the way, we investigate concepts such as political responsibility, social connection, and the character of global injustice. As an extra special treat listeners will find out what is preventing Gil from being a revolutionary (the answer may surprise you)! The full episode is available on our patreon!patreon.com/leftofphilosophy | @leftofphil References: Iris Marion Young, Responsibility for Justice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) Iris Marion Young, “Responsibility and Global Labor Justice”, The Journal of Political Philosophy 12:4 (2004): 365-388 Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this episode, we talk with Owen Alldritt about justice. We come to Plato’s defense against the Western philosophical canon, mostly in spite of ourselves, and insist on the True coinciding with the Good. What does this all have to do with utopia, you ask? As it turns out, Plato is a realist and he thinks we can know the Good in itself, organize our cities accordingly, and realize justice…or at least philosophers can. Good luck to everyone else!  patreon to support | follow us @leftofphil  References: The Republic, by Plato  Owen Alldritt: moonbear.substack.com  | @AlldrittOwen Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com 

In this episode, we talk with Aaron Rabinowitz of Embrace the Void and Philosophers in Space about the paradoxes of moral luck, the problematic nature of our everyday notions of responsibility, and what good pedagogy looks like when you’ve agreed – as you must – that spontaneous, volitional free will is merely an illusion. We do some Kantian maneuvering, form provisional alliances, and all things considered have as good a time as is possible given our total lack of freedom.References:Thomas Nagel, “Moral Luck” <https://rintintin.colorado.edu/~vancecd/phil1100/Nagel1.pdf>Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this episode we talk about Adorno and Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment, focusing on their notion of reason as abstractive domination and their understanding of the culture industry as a means of producing mass complicity with the machinations of capital. The good news is that we've got a much better sense of humor than either of them, so it's not as miserable as all that might sound. The bad news is we're not sure if they're wrong to be so pessimistic. We also drag a fair bit of popular culture, admit we still love it, and call out the podcast form itself. But you don't need to worry: your media consumption habits are good. You're fine. You're one of the ones who gets it, definitely.This is just a small clip from the full episode, which is available to patrons: patreon.com/leftofphilosophyReferences:Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. Edmund Jephcott (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002).Theodor Adorno, "Free Time", in Critical Models (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005).Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this episode we discuss what distinguishes politics from other aspects of human existence by looking at Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition and “Reflections on Little Rock.” We question why Arendt is so concerned with defending the distinction between politics, the social, and the private realm and what useful insights can be drawn from these distinctions when analyzing real human history. In addition, we touch on Arendt’s controversial relationship to black politics around integration or as she thought of it black “social climbing.” This might be the one that gets us canceled! patreon.com/leftofphilosophy | @leftofphil References: Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, second edition, with an Introduction by Margaret Canovan (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998). Hannah Arendt, “Reflection on Little Rock” in The Portable Hannah Arendt, edited by Peter Baier, 231-247 (New York: Penguin Books, 2000). Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this episode we discuss the meaning of equality by delving into French political philosopher Jacques Rancière’s 1995 book, Disagreement. In a contentious conversation we unpack the core concepts of the book, including its expansive notion of the police and its highly restrictive definition of politics as foundationally egalitarian. Above all, we press Rancière (and each other!) on both the meaning and the political utility of equality as a presupposition or ‘axiom’ rather than a social goal. It’s a banger! patreon.com/leftofphilosophy | @leftofphil References: Jacques Rancière, Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy, trans. Julie Rose (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999). Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this episode we work through some of the ideas laid out in Part 1 of Raymond Geuss’ 2008 Philosophy and Real Politics. It’s a refreshingly clear-eyed argument for what he calls the realist approach in political philosophy, which tries to attend to the messiness of actually existing societies, the opaque and invested people who make them up, and the shifting, contradictory values they hold. We’re talking Hobbes meets Lenin meets Nietzsche here, folks. Leave your rational decision theory and normative idealism at the door. patreonn.com/leftofphilosophy | @leftofphil References: Raymond Geuss, Philosophy and Real Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008). Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this episode, we kick off a new series on the concept of utopia by taking a look at the guy who invented the word, Thomas More. We discuss how his wonderfully satirical 1516 book Utopia was written in response to the enclosures happening in England, which forced masses of peasants into unemployment and misery and created the conditions for early capitalist agriculture. His fictional island nation of Utopia thrives without private property, but More’s real trick is how he reveals the wildly utopian and fantastical nature of our own capitalist world order. Plus Owen invents the phrase ‘professional social improvement class’, which is just great. patreon.com/leftofphilosophy | @leftofphil References: Thomas More, Utopia, trans. Robert M. Adams, ed. George M. Logan (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014). Karl Kautsky, Thomas More and his Utopia, trans. Henry James Stenning, accessed at the Marxist Internet Archive: <https://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1888/more/index.htm>. Quentin Skinner, “Sir Thomas More’s Utopia and the language of Renaissance humanism,” in The Languages of Political Theory in Early Modern Europe, ed. Anthony Padgen (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987). Alexandre Matheron, “Spinozism and the Breakdown of Thomist Politics: Machiavellianism and Utopia,” in Politics, Ontology, and Knowledge in Spinoza, trans. and ed. Filippo Del Lucchese, David Maruzzella, and Gil Morejón (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020). Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

In this episode, we read Jean-Paul Sartre's Search for a Method. We begin by working through Sartre’s puzzling claim that Marxism is this era’s one true philosophy and then branch out into broader questions concerning what it is we are trying to do when we philosophize and whether Sartre was right not to give up on capital-T “Truth.” Other topics include Sartre’s conception of freedom, the relationship of the individual to history, and the problems of dogmatic Marxism up to the present day. This one is sure to delight, and it's just the start for us with old J-P!patreon.com/leftofphilosophy | @leftofphilReferences:Jean-Paul Sartre, Search for a Method, trans. Hazel E. Barnes (New York: Vintage Books, 1963)Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! In this surprise gift of an episode, we’re visited by the spectre of Jacques Derrida and his deconstruction of the gift. Like the Ghost of Christmas Past, he forces us to ask whether we have given enough, whether we know how to give without reciprocity, and why it is so hard to give in the first place. The gang reflects on the phenomenology of gift-giving and the insidious politics of philanthropy, and even takes shots at the big guy himself: Santa Claus. So sit back, grab your eggnog, and celebrate the holidays with your four favorite philosophers. ‘Tis the season!patreon.com/leftofphilosophy | @leftofphilReferences:Jacques Derrida, Given Time I. Counterfeit Money, trans. Peggy Kamuf (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992)Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com