

PlasticPills - Philosophy & Critical Theory Podcast
Plasticpills
The Pill Pod is hosted by a group of PhDs offering their irreverent (and unsolicited) takes on critical theory, philosophy, culture, and politics.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 14, 2022 • 1h 15min
The Deleuze Seminars ft. Professor Daniel W. Smith
Pills is graced by the presence of the eminent Deleuze scholar, editor, and translator, Daniel W. Smith. Dan explains how he came to Deleuzian philosophy, why it's important, and previews the exciting Deleuze Seminars project, which is almost finished translating 20 years of Deleuze's lectures into English. The Deleuze Seminars project can be explored here: https://deleuze.cla.purdue.edu/ Si vous pouvez comprendre le français, il y en a plus a la Bibliotheque Nationale de France https://gallica.bnf.fr/html///und/enregistrements-sonores/gilles-deleuze-cours-donnes-luniversite-paris-8-vincennes-saint-denis-1979-0?mode=desktop This interview was too good to keep to ourselves, but if you want to see more, including more exclusive Deleuze videos, you can support us at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Jun 10, 2022 • 1h 10min
Pill Pod 82 - 1980s Nostalgia
Reboots and renewals, bodies and images, city and pasture. The Pill Pod takes a crack at analyzing the desire structure of 80s nostalgia in popular media. New episodes and videos not found here are up at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills so check that out for more content.

Jun 7, 2022 • 4min
Pill Pod 81 - The Postmodern Condition *Preview*
Pills, Erik and Victor tackle the boogeyman: Lyotard's Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, with reference to Wittgenstein's language-game methodology. Is postmodernism when there are too many gay characters on TV? Or is it the legitimacy crisis of state knowledge precipitated by finance capital, the computerisation of information, and the subsumption of politics by public relations? Get the full episode and a ton more audio and video at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

May 27, 2022 • 1h 18min
Pill Pod 80 - Wittgenstein
The team reassembles to talk Wittgenstein, champion of "ideas-don't-matter" philosophy, and about why he matters—even if ideas don't. The primary sources referenced throughout this ep are the Tractatus (https://amzn.to/3t0wD56) for Mr. Early Wittgenstein, and Philosophical Investigations (https://amzn.to/3wVfUkC) for Mr. Late Wittgenstein.

May 14, 2022 • 17min
Kumbaya Posthumanism *Preview*
We venture into the weeds of ignorance, science, and anthropomorphism, and not even immuno-responses can stop us. We look at posthumanism a la Francesca Ferrando (Philosophical Posthumanism), Donna Haraway (Staying with the Trouble), and James Lovelock & Lynn Margulis (The Gaia Hypothesis). Get the full episode and many more at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

May 14, 2022 • 54min
Talking to America’s New Right (Interview)
Matt and Victor interview Nate Hochman on conservative college campuses and America's new right.

May 4, 2022 • 39min
America’s New Right Problem ft. WaPo’s Greg Sargent
Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) from the Washington Post joins Victor and Matt to discuss America's burgeoning illberal right wing. While often painted as reactionary and unintelligible, America's new right may have more coherent principles and goals than first meet the eye. If you're done with the feed and interested in what else we have on offer in theory and philosophy, check out https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills for weekly content.

Apr 29, 2022 • 1h 29min
Pill Pod 78 - The Posthumanism Manifesto
Erik and Pills do the thing, because everything needs to be manifestoed eventually and I needed a title. If you wonder whose name is being referenced throughout, it's the forgotten sociologist, Niklas Luhmann. You can follow us at @podpill and @plasticpills, but we don't go there much. Find anything you might've missed at www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Apr 22, 2022 • 12min
Pill Pod 77 -Trans/Post-Human Technics (Preview)
Pills and Erik talk about transhumanism as opposed to posthumanism, and compare their positions on human technology and technics. Heidegger, McLuhan, Latour and Stiegler are all noteworthy theorists of technological posthumanism, the foundation of which we try to lay out here. Get a lot of content for not a lot of money at https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Apr 16, 2022 • 1h 20min
Pill Pod 76 - Posthumanism is Good Actually Vol. 1
Erik and Pills cover posthumanism in the context of systems theory and what makes it a viable model as an alternative to humanist explanatory frameworks of how society functions. We reference Niklas Luhmann (https://amzn.to/3ObXyUq) quite a few times as well as Francesca Ferrando's "Philosophical Posthumanism" (https://amzn.to/3rtH8Nv). There are more episodes of systems theory to be observed at www.patreon.com/plasticpills