
RSam Podcast
Philosophy & Theory | AI & CogSci
Latest episodes

Nov 8, 2024 • 1h 46min
Cadell Last: Systems, Subjects and a Hegelian Philosophy of Science
Dr Cadell Last is an anthropologist and Hegelian philosopher who is interested in biocultural evolution, mind-matter relations, and speculative futures. His PhD thesis, Global Brain Singularity, focuses on all three of these topics. He is the author of Systems and Subjects, Enter the Alien, and many other interdisciplinary books. Dr Last has taught multiple courses on Hegel's Science of Logic, Sigmund Freud's Unconscious, Alenka Zupančič's What IS Sex? and is also the founder of Philosophy Portal, an education platform focused on teaching the foundational philosophical discourses of the modern world. In this episode, we discuss systems theory, foundations of science and subjectivity through continental philosophy apropos Hegel, Heidegger, Lacan and Žižek.
You can find more of Dr Last's work at https://philosophyportal.online/ and https://www.youtube.com/@PhilosophyPortal.
Systems & Subjects: https://philosophyportal.online/systems-subjects
Global Brain Singularity: https://philosophyportal.online/global-brain-singularity
Logic for the Global Brain: https://philosophyportal.online/logic-for-the-global-brain
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #54
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Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means).
Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
SFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://substack.com/@trsam/
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00146-023-01688-z
https://youtu.be/aiBnR2gSik8?si=WiDngyy3Cy7B-OtN
{Music Used}
"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapao
Music powered by BreakingCopyright
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
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Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.
Thank you.

Nov 3, 2024 • 1h 52min
Katherine Everitt: Quantum Mechanics, Psychoanalytic AI, and a Hegelian Ontology of Space
Katherine Everitt is a Hegelian scholar, philosopher, writer, poet and artist. Katherine is a Research Fellow at the Global Center for Advanced Studies in Dublin and a Secondary Faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. Her PhD, 'Hegel in Vertigo: An Ontology of Space,' was supervised by Frank Ruda at the European Graduate School. Reading Hegel with Badiou and Zizek, she argues that space is the indifferent ground of logic, nature, and spirit in Hegel's Encyclopedia. In this episode, we discuss the philosophy of quantum mechanics, space and the void, subjectivity and the gap, psychoanalysis and AI, vertigo and Katherine's Hegelian ontology of space.
You can find more of Katherine's work at https://linktr.ee/katherineveritt and https://x.com/katherineveritt.
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #53
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Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means).
Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com
---------------------------------------
{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
SFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://substack.com/@trsam/
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
Email me if you want to read Katherine's thesis 'Hegel in Vertigo: An Ontology of Space'.
https://youtu.be/vSeug7ROyRQ?si=3WvQ8sV2-zGcLqSp
https://youtu.be/VhgIaTJ6kzM?si=uC9IY2kSA0PcADci
{Music Used}
"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapao
Music powered by BreakingCopyright
---------------------------------------
If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
---------------------------------------
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.
Thank you.

Oct 31, 2024 • 1h 37min
Does Capitalism Lead to Scientific Innovation? (w/ Vlasta Sikimić)
Dr. Vlasta Sikimić is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Science and a member of the Philosophy and Ethics group at Eindhoven University of Technology. Her research focus is on the Social Epistemology of Science, Metascience, Philosophy of AI & ML in Science and Philosophy of AI in Education. In this episode, we discuss the relationship between science and capitalism.
You can find more of Dr Sikimić's work at https://vlastasikimic.com/ and https://x.com/VlastaSikimic
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #52
---------------------------------------
Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means).
Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com
---------------------------------------
{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
SFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://substack.com/@trsam/
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://link.springer.com/collections/dbjicbfcda
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371982028_The_Immortal_Science_of_ML_Machine_Learning_the_Theory-Free_Ideal
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13194-022-00478-6?
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-knowledge-machine-9780141981260
{Music Used}
"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapao
Music powered by BreakingCopyright
---------------------------------------
If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
---------------------------------------
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.
Thank you.

Sep 25, 2024 • 2h 4min
Nikhil Venkatesh: Left-Utilitarianism and Socialism for Effective Altruists
Dr Nikhil Venkatesh is a fellow in the Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy and Law at King's College London. He specialises in moral, social, and political philosophy. His research focuses primarily on utilitarianism and socialism. His PhD thesis argues that recognising the social nature of persons makes utilitarianism more defensible. In this episode, we discuss the social nature of a person contra human nature, collective vs. individual actions, Marxism, socialism, utilitarianism, Effective Altruism, and Longtermism.
You can find more of Dr Venkatesh's work at https://nikhilvenkateshphilosophy.com/ and https://x.com/nikvenkatesh/.
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #51
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Available on other platforms at https://link.chtbl.com/PDBAf9Zd
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10164799/
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/may/25/american-pronatalists-malcolm-and-simone-collins
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
---------------------------------------
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing.
If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.
Thank you.

Sep 13, 2024 • 1h 39min
Daniel Lakens: Metascience, Open Science and a Philosophy of Statistics
Prof Daniel Lakens is an Associate Professor in the Human-Technology interaction group at Eindhoven University of Technology. His areas of expertise include meta-science, research methods and applied statistics. Prof Lakens' main lines of empirical research focus on conceptual thought, similarity, and meaning. He also focuses on how to design and interpret studies, applied (meta)-statistics, and reward structures in science. Outside academia, Prof Lakens has a podcast on science called Nullius in Verba with his cohost, Smriti Mehta, from UC Berkeley. In this episode, we discuss metascience, the openness initiative in science, incentive structures, scientific realism vs anti-realism, and the philosophy of applied (meta)-statistics.
You can find more of Prof Lakens's work at https://sites.google.com/site/lakens2/, https://www.tue.nl/en/research/researchers/daniel-lakens and https://x.com/lakens.
Nullius in Verba: https://nulliusinverba.podbean.com/
The 20% Statistician: https://daniellakens.blogspot.com/
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #50
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Available on other platforms at https://link.chtbl.com/PDBAf9Zd
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1745691614528520
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691612462586
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.150547?cpetoc=
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
---------------------------------------
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing.
If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.
Thank you.

Sep 6, 2024 • 1h 26min
Emily Qureshi Hurst: The Theology of Spacetime and Quantum Mechanics
Dr Emily Qureshi-Hurst is a Junior Research Fellow at Pembroke College and a College Lecturer in Philosophy at Oriel College in Oxford. Dr Qureshi-Hurst completed a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Oxford in Science and Religion (2021). Her thesis examined the theoretical support for a B-theory of time provided by special and general relativity, and re-interpreted Paul Tillich's doctrine of salvation in light of this metaphysical temporal model. In 2022, Cambridge University Press published her first book exploring these themes: 'God, Salvation, and the Problem of Spacetime'. Her second book on this topic, 'Salvation in the Block Universe: Time, Tillich, and Transformation', will be published in the second half of 2024. In this episode, we discuss the relationship between modern physics and religion, theories of time and the theology of Paul Tillich.
You can find more of Dr Qureshi-Hurst's work at https://www.emilyqureshihurst.com/ and https://x.com/equreshihurst.
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #49
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Available on other platforms at https://link.chtbl.com/PDBAf9Zd
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/god-salvation-and-the-problem-of-spacetime/3256416169B3737BF33DC3CA1BD3B046
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/salvation-in-the-block-universe/4A92AE269AA9585E211111CF8AE8F3A6
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
---------------------------------------
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing.
If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.
Thank you.

Sep 1, 2024 • 1h 45min
Eliot Rosenstock: Žižek in the Clinic, Dialectical Egoism and Self-Interest
Eliot Rosenstock is a psychotherapist. He is the senior editor of The Young Freudians magazine, an experimental philosophy and psychology journal that provides ideas on everything from new ideas in psychodynamic therapy to eco-theory. He is the author of Žižek in the Clinic and The Ego And Its Hyperstate. In this episode, we do a Žižekian ideology critique of mental health while discussing Freud through Hegel, hyperpsychology and where psychology went awry.
You can find more of Eliot's work at https://x.com/CtrlRetrnRpresd and https://21stcenturysynthesis.substack.com/
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #48
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Available on other platforms at https://link.chtbl.com/PDBAf9Zd
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56450822-the-ego-and-its-hyperstate
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40005814-i-ek-in-the-clinic (Message Eliot for a free copy.)
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
---------------------------------------
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing.
If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.
Thank you.

Aug 9, 2024 • 1h 37min
Todd McGowan: Hegel, Contradiction and Embracing Alienation
Prof. Todd McGowan is a professor of English at the University of Vermont and Professor and Director of Film and Television Studies. He’s authored numerous books on Hegelian philosophy, Lacanian psychoanalysis, existentialism and film studies, including Emancipation After Hegel, Capitalism and Desire, Enjoyment Right & Left and Embracing Alienation. He also hosts the superlative Why Theory podcast and co-organises the Lack conference. Prof. McGowan is in continuous dialogue with his fellow travellers Slavoj Žižek, Alenka Zupančič, Adrian Johnston and others in contemporary Hegelian-Lacanian theory. In this episode, we discuss the Hegel renaissance, Hegelian contradiction, Dialetheism and Paraconsistent logic, ontology from Kant to Hegel, coupling Lacanian psychoanalysis and existentialism, universalism, alienation and Peter Rollins' Church of the Contradiction.
You can find more of Prof. McGowan's work at https://www.uvm.edu/cas/english/profile/todd-mcgowan
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #47
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Available on other platforms at https://link.chtbl.com/PDBAf9Zd
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/740010/embracing-alienation-by-todd-mcgowan/
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/emancipation-after-hegel/9780231192705
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
---------------------------------------
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing.
If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.
Thank you.

Jul 17, 2024 • 1h 49min
Adrian Johnston: Žižek's Ontology and Transcendental Materialism
Prof. Adrian Johnston is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque and a faculty member at the Emory Psychoanalytic Institute in Atlanta. He is the author of numerous books, including Zizek's Ontology, A New German Idealism, the Prolegomena to Any Future Materialism trilogy and Infinite Greed. Prof. Johnston is in continuous dialogue with his fellow travellers Slavoj Žižek, Alenka Zupančič, Catherine Malabou, Todd McGowan and others in contemporary Hegelian-Lacanian theory while also bringing into the discourse the developments within analytic philosophy and the natural sciences. In this episode, we discuss ontological incompleteness, transcendental materialism, Hegel, Schelling, the Freudo-Lacanian death drive and their broader metapsychology, Žižek's engagement with quantum mechanics, Catherine Malabou's theorising on neuroplasticity vis-à-vis Hegelianism, object-oriented ontology, the violence of the subject, alienation, doughnut vs layer cake ontology, cognitivism, David Chalmers and panpsychism, philosophising on neuroscience and bridging the gap between analytic and continental philosophy.
You can find more of Prof. Adrian Johnston's work at https://philosophy.unm.edu/people/faculty/profile/adrian-johnston.html
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #46
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Available on other platforms at https://link.chtbl.com/PDBAf9Zd
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/145006032-freedom https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/538522.Adrian_Johnston
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
---------------------------------------
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing.
If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.
Thank you.

Jul 13, 2024 • 1h 55min
Helen Rollins: Cinema and Psychoanalysis
Helen Rollins is a writer and filmmaker from Northern Ireland, currently based between Belfast and London. She studied modern languages and literature at Cambridge and the ENS de Lyon. She lectures in philosophy, film and psychoanalysis and is the author of the forthcoming book Psychocinema. In this episode, we discuss film theory, lack, obect a, Lacan's gaze, the divided self, Hegelian contradiction, ideology, capitalism and its discontents.
You can find more of Helen's work at https://helenrollins.com/ and https://helenrollins.substack.com/
God Isn't Ready for Me Yet: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stevepieters/god-isnt-ready-for-me-yet
Helen's book: https://www.wiley.com/en-ie/Psychocinema-p-9781509561148
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #45
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Available on other platforms at https://link.chtbl.com/PDBAf9Zd
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
Psychoanalysis playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcJ6nqGscKrdfBwmut9q9US2HlDreOo0i&si=x3c-CbSSWTaY27nv
https://thedangerousmaybe.medium.com/lacans-concept-of-the-object-cause-of-desire-objet-petit-a-bd17b8f84e69
https://youtu.be/GXOcdFoQPXM?si=6DsavQ1ALxRMbjwP
https://youtu.be/vGQkqcJc7m8?si=S4vD1gXg50goos6B
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
---------------------------------------
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing.
If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out. Thank you.
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