Political Philosophy

Eugene McCarraher’s book, The Enchantments of Mammon, explains how the Romantic movement spawned an alternative critique of capitalism, one that can be compatible with conservative as well as certain Enlightenment tendencies even while envisioning a type of communism. John Ruskin is perhaps the greatest inspiration among the Romantic authors for McCarraher. While his love of British empire and embrace of hierarchy may not be desirable, other elements of Ruskin’s thought, and romantic thought generally, are worth considering. McCarraher’s article in Plough: https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/comrade-ruskin For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/ https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/ Here’s the URL to the Political Philosophy Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/608141959786172/about/

We begin to get into Eugene McCarraher’s book The Enchantments of Mammon with the first chapter, in which he surveys the development of two kinds of Christianity, the kind that’s comfortable alongside wealth and the kind that isn’t. Throughout Christian history, before and after the Protestant Reformation, both types are to be found struggling to define Christian faith and practice. With the Protestant Reformation we see an attempt to sacramentalize work and productivity, replacing older more obviously enchanted Catholic eucharistic sacramentality. For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/ https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/

Here I introduce Eugene McCarraher, author of The Enchantments of Mammon, and discuss the contents of the Prologue, which sets up the argument of the book. The DeMorgan Museum: https://www.demorgan.org.uk/discover/the-de-morgans/evelyn-de-morgan/ My book, which you can find for sale on multiple platforms in paperback, as an e book, and also by the chapter, is on Barnes and Noble here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ideological-possession-and-the-rise-of-the-new-right-laurie-johnson/1130304013 For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/ https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/

In this final podcast in the series on Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism, I deal with parts of Chapter 10, especially Lasch’s indictment of therapeutic bureaucratic authority and his explanation for the failure of US progressives to champion working people. For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/ https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/ Here’s the URL to the Political Philosophy Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/608141959786172/about/

Christopher Lasch’s 8th chapter in The Culture of Narcissism deals with changes in relationships, sex, marriage and family at the time he was living. Many of the points he makes are still worth considering.For more from me:https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/

A preview of what’s coming up in three weeks’ time–a new series on Eugene McCarraher’s The Enchantments of Mammon, a new book published by Harvard University Press.Here’s the URL to the Political Philosophy Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/60814…For more from me:https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/

This video deals with Chapters 6 and 7 in Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism. While Lasch is critical both of how Americans teach their youth and how they parent, he doesn’t place all the blame on schools, teachers and parents. Rather, it’s the overly specialized bureaucratic capitalist system that necessitates a particular kind of education, the kind that puts out docile worker bees, and an absentee and guilt-ridden parenting that gives authority over to the child raising expert apparatus of the state and the economy. Everyone involved gets paid, if badly, but no one does a particularly good job.

Christopher Lasch wrote a chapter in The Culture of Narcissism on the state of American sports. He thought that spectator sports like football and baseball served a special social/cultural function that was being undermined by two things: the tendency to turn sporting events into spectacles attracting fans with little interest in the actual sport, and the use of sporting events to promote nationalist political ideology more than appreciation for the game. He faced critics of sport who were arguing that spectator sports needed to be downplayed in favor of sporting events that involved more people at more levels of ability. Lasch’s reasons for defending a purer appreciation of professional sports is interesting–such events are an activity that should fall squarely in the realm of play, in a world in which too much of our time is managed and channeled into “safe and productive” activities, even when we are not at work. Lasch’s defense of the zone of play is an interesting takeaway from his chapter on sports in The Culture of Narcissism.Here are the articles mentioned in this video:https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1977/04/28/the-corruption-of-sports/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1977/09/29/corrupt-sports-an-exchange/

Our current situation demonstrates the extremes of what Christopher Lasch leaned into in his book The Culture of Narcissism. How did we get here? Lasch’s answers take us deeper than the typical observations of the day, which mainly dwell at the surface. In this video, which primarily deals with ideas from chapter 4 of Lasch’s book, we find an explanation for the loose hold many people have on the truth, the deep skepticism about facts, which leads to the childish acting out that we are seeing more and more of, as well as the more serious expression of discontent of protest and riot. Lasch’s views here are not all of even his answer, let along THE answer, as to how we got here, but they deal with one dimension of it that is often overlooked–our often meaningless and unthinking work and our highly “mediated” selves.DFW essay E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction: https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdfHere’s the URL to the Political Philosophy Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/60814…For more from me:https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/

This video covers chapters 2 and 3 of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism. We explore why the strong narcissist is likely to work their way up the bureaucratic ladder in corporations and government service, and why, since bureaucracy is clearly not efficient, we insist on bureaucratic “rationality.” I also discuss Lasch’s ideas regarding detachment from a sense of time and from immediate experience, which robs people of life, and I introduce Lasch’s views on the origins of all this in the twisted turns of Protestant Christian development in the United States.Here’s the URL to the Political Philosophy Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/60814…For more from me:https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/