PlasticPills Critical Theory & Philosophy

In memoriam of the coalition state-building adventure in Afghanistan, we look to the inveterate morons who continue to ventriloquize the "humanitarian empire" of the United States, including Canada's own failed philosopher king: Michael Ignatieff. Way back in 2001, Ignatieff painted the picture of the Afghanistan project in the New York Times, which now deserves a second-look. Find the article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/28/magazine/nation-building-lite.html     As always, all exclusive episodes and other content are available on Patreon at www.patreon.com/plasticpills.

As a supplement to Plastic Pills' new documentary on Project Cybersyn, the Pill Pod is joined by Marion, who is usually our Foucault correspondent but here in her capacity as a Mexican political theorist. We get through a segment on some unanswered questions about the documentary, and then an brief overview of Latin American politics, as well as some correction on the misconceptions and stereotypes about the region propagated by anglophones.   As always, our bonus content is available through Patreon (www.patreon.com/plasticpills) where you can also see the pre-release of the doc.

Quarantine Agamben! He's at it again! This episode we getinto it the kindred bond between critical theory and conspiracy theory, how states do and do not dominate in response to pandemics, and how Deleuze dominates Agamben in response to Foucaults. Find Agamben's blog post here: https://www.quodlibet.it/giorgio-agamben-cittadini-di-seconda-classe  Get all episodes at https://patreon.com/plasticpills

Professor David Matijasevich, author of Radical Democracy and Its Limits, joins Matt and Victor to discuss the limits of radical democracy and the aesthetic ideal of protest politics, and how they are often the luxury of those who are already cozy in a political system wherein are not threatened by existing power structures. He contends that our understanding of political action should be broadened to include that which does not occur against the backdrop of liberal democracy, including his case studies in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Link to Radical Democracy and Its Limits https://amzn.to/3wNU1lg

Here's a preview of this week's episode featuring Uncle Bob, Baudrillard, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Lacan and the simple question: Dude, why not just bin "meaningfulness" as an evaluation of life? Full episode is a click away at www.patreon.com/plasticpills

In Round 4 of the Pill Pod's Fight Night, we feature a theoretical battle over the foundation of politics: is politics founded on the struggle for recognition? Or is it the aesthetic creation of a future? French Insurrectionist Jacques Ranciere pits himself against the chief of the Frankfurt School's third generation, Axel Honneth.   If you're partial to the format, you can find Round 1: (Baudrillard vs. Foucault) and Round 3: (Foucault vs. Derrida) over at www.patreon.com/plasticpills

This week we depart from the usual solemnities to diagnose the latest object of conservative hysteria: critical race theory. It's being banned from curricula, bounced around conservative media outlets, and kicking off the careers of some new fear-mongering pundits. But what actually is it? Find all our exclusive episodes over on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/plasticpills

Professor Ashley Frawley, author of The Semiotics of Happiness, joins us to discuss the cyclical history of some slippery signifiers: "self-esteem," "well-being," and "mental health," the only productive value of which is the generation of corporate consultants, conference panelists, and mind cops. In this interview, she explains how 'trauma discourse' reifies status quo politics.   Find Ashley on Twitter (@AshleyAFrawley) and her book here: https://amzn.to/3grRLex

The Pill Pod is off this week for an AFK project, so please enjoy this unlock from the exclusive patron vault, which sorta serves as an intro to Derrida, who's been hot on the pod lately. It's pretty old so our production requires some forgiveness. Cheers nerds!

Not to be called a n00b, Foucault slaps back at Derrida (eventually) with "My Body, This Paper, This Fire" defending his Madness and Civilization from Derrida's critique (see Pill Pod 42). Foucault claims Derrida can't read Latin properly, and more substantively, that Derrida includes subsumes madness under the dreaming philosopher, while Descartes juridically separates them so as to exclude madness from meditation.   Listen to this and all exclusive episodes over at www.patreon.com/plasticpills