What's Left of Philosophy
Episodes
38 | Liberal Democracy in Crisis: Carl Schmitt and the Present
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the infamous Nazi jurist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt, with particular focus on his 1923 book The Crisis of Parl...
37 Teaser | What’s the ‘Structural’ in ‘Structural Injustice’?: Iris Marion Young and Political Philosophy
02 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
36 | What is Utopia? Part II. Plato's Republic (with Owen Alldritt)
20 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ou...
35 | Moral Luck and Pedagogy (with Aaron Rabinowitz)
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
34 Teaser | What is Dialectics? Part IV: Dialectic of Enlightenment with Adorno and Horkheimer
22 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we talk about Adorno and Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment, focusing on their notion of reason as abstractive domination an...
33 | (Un)Learning How to Do Politics with Hannah Arendt
07 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we discuss what distinguishes politics from other aspects of human existence by looking at Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition and “...
32 | What is Equality? Disagreeing with Jacques Rancière
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we discuss the meaning of equality by delving into French political philosopher Jacques Rancière’s 1995 book, Disagreement. In a co...
31 | Raymond Geuss: Realism in Political Theory
07 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 clea...
30 | What is Utopia? Part I. Thomas More: Critical Realism in a Time of Enclosure
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
29 | Sartre and the Question of Philosophy
10 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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’...
28 | A Very Special Holiday Episode: Learning How to Give with Jacques Derrida
25 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
27 | Crisis and Utopian Consciousness
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we get together to discuss a new article by our very own Will Paris! We talk about Will’s critical and materialist conception of con...
26 | Wake Up and Choose Divine Violence: Walter Benjamin w/ Dr. Ashley Bohrer
04 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we welcome Dr. Ashley Bohrer to discuss Walter Benjamin’s 1921 essay “Critique of Violence”. We talk about the relationship betw...
25 | Reflections on Freedom and the Cold War w/ Dr. Lea Ypi
19 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode dives behind the Iron Curtain into socialist Albania in discussion with Lea Ypi on her new memoir “Free.” The crew explores what has ...
24 Teaser | What's Left of Foucault?
05 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the crew takes on a beloved figure of the academic ‘left’: Michel Foucault. The discussion gravitates around Foucault’s work in...
23 | How Does a Democracy Keep its Character? Lessons from the Black Radical Tradition w/ Prof. Melvin Rogers
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we welcome Professor Melvin Rogers of Brown University to discuss his forthcoming book The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, ...
22 | The Meaning of Disability (with Dr. Joel Michael Reynolds)
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we are joined by Joel Michael Reynolds for a wide-ranging discussion about disability theory. We dig into the relationship between dis...
21 | What is Critical Theory Doing? w/ Dr. Prof. Robin Celikates
28 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we are joined by Professor Robin Celikates to discuss the big “method” question in critical theory: What is it doing, and why? Sin...
20 | David Walker and the Politics of Judgment
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For this episode we discuss David Walker’s 1830 radical anti-slavery tract An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World and Melvin Rogers’s 2015...
19 | Machiavelli: Cunning, Fortune, and Republican Virtue
01 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we talk through the work of one of the most infamous figures in the history of political thought, Niccolò Machiavelli. Looking both a...
18 | Spinoza: Necessity, Ethics, Joy
16 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we finally get around to talking about Spinoza. It turns out normativity is kind of complicated when you think everything is strictly ...
17 Teaser | What is Dialectics? Part III: What's the Deal with Marx, Anyway?
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this Patron exclusive episode, we move to the third part of our mini-series “What is Dialectics?” and take on the works of Karl Marx. The WLOP ...
16 | Erik Olin Wright: Utopia and Social Science
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss Erik Olin Wright’s 2010 book Envisioning Real Utopias. We excavate the relationship between social scientific investigat...
15 | What is Dialectics? Part II: We Need to Talk about Hegel
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we continue our series on dialectics by completely losing our minds talking about Hegel. We break through Kant’s critical prohibiti...
14 | Thomas Hobbes Hates Your Book Club
22 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we go back to the seventeenth century to talk about Thomas Hobbes’ hugely influential political philosophy. Focusing mostly on De C...
13 | What is Dialectics? Part I. The Crew Gets Kant-Pilled
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we start our series on dialectics with a conversation about Kant. If you’ve ever wondered what the hell this term means, then the W...
12 Teaser | Gustav Landauer: Anarchism, Utopia, Community
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore the work of German anarchist Gustav Landauer. We work through the utility of utopia in political transformations and what ...
11 | Climate Politics and Global Justice (with Dr. Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò)
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we are joined by Professor Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò (@OlufemiOTaiwo) (Georgetown University) to discuss his work on the politics surroun...
10 | Donna Haraway: Socialist Cyborg Affinities
28 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss Donna Haraway’s distinctive socialist cyberfeminism. We talk through the virtues and vices of her version of postmodern ...
9 | C.L.R. James: Leadership, Organization, Mass Politics (with Dr. William Clare Roberts)
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 9 explores the antinomies of autonomy and self-emancipation in the thought of C.L.R. James. Dr. William Clare Roberts joins us to discuss Jame...
8 | (Neo)colonialism and Anticolonialism
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 8, we look to the writings of Aimé Césaire to guide a conversation about colonialism, neocolonialism, and anti-colonial thought and strug...
7 | Why Does Class Matter?
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 7 dives into class theory as we discuss why it’s important to make a normative case for class politics, misconceptions about who the working...
6 | What's Left of Positivism (with Dr. Liam Kofi Bright)
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we heal the divide between analytic and continental philosophy by finally giving logical positivism its due. Dr. Liam Kofi Bright (Lo...
5 Teaser | Beauvoir: Existentialism and Liberation
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Full episode on the Patreon: patreon.com/leftofphilosophyIn this episode, we talk about Simone de Beauvoir's masterful book The Ethics of Ambigui...
4 | Security, Supreme Concept of Bourgeois Society?
01 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In our fourth episode we talk about security, digging into Mark Neocleous' argument, following Marx, that security rather than liberty is 't...
3 | Laclau and Mouffe, or How we learned to hate class and love Derrida
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In our third episode, we talk about Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, the landmark text of post-Marxism. Both ser...
2 | Stuart Hall: What are the politics of culture?
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we discuss the work of cultural theorist Stuart Hall and his politics of culture. We focus on his relationship to Althusser and Gramsc...
1 | Althusser: Marxism and Philosophy
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In our inaugural episode, we talk about Louis Althusser’s pathbreaking work on philosophy and Marxism from the 1960s. Targets of reckless slander in...