Just Two Dudes Reading Theory
Two friends, Chris Newman and Preston Taylor, read and discuss classic and lesser-known works of theory. Each episode focuses on a different text from fields like psychoanalysis, phenomenology, post-humanism, feminism, and deconstruction. The podcast aims to make theoretical ideas accessible through casual conversation.
Episodes
Jaques Lacan - The Paradoxes of Ethis, or, Have You Acted In Conformity With Your Desire?
Join us as we read the last lecture from Lacan's Seminar VII — The Ethics of Psychoanalysis. Enjoy! (Or not! or else...)Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash
Dreaming and Narrative Theory - Richard Walsh
We're talking dreams and narratology. Enjoy!Photo by National Gallery of Art on Unsplash
Giorgio Agamben - What Is An Apparatus?
Join us as we read a classic!Photo by Homa Appliances on Unsplash
Ursula Le Guin - Is Gender Necessary? Redux
Join us as we read Ursula Le Guin's essay on sexuality and gender. Enjoy!Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
Byung-Chul Han - The Tonality of Thought
Join us as we talk about a lecture by Byung-Chul Han. Photo by Marcela Laskoski on Unsplash
Sigmund Freud - Compulsive Actions and Religious Exercises
Whoops! We uploaded the wrong file! This is now corrected — enjoy our discussion of Freud's essay, Compulsive Actions and Religious Exercises.Photo by Dmitry Dreyer on Unsplash
Roland Barthes - Musica Practica
We love reading Roland Barthes. To be fair, we don't always understand him, which is part of the fun. Enjoy!Photo by Sudhith Xavier on Unsplash
László Krasznahorkai - The Last Wolf & Herman
Join us as we discuss some work from last year's Nobel laureate in literature, László Krasznahorkai. Enjoy! Photo by Neil Rosenstech on Unsplash
The Ecstacy Of Communication - Jean Baudrillard
Join us as we read Baudrillard's essay, The Ecstasy of Communication. Enjoy!
What is Philosophy? (C0nclusion) Deleuze and Guattari
We're finishing it up! Enjoy,Photo by Aynaz shahtale on Unsplash
What is Philosophy? (Chapter 7: Percept, Affect, and Concept)
We're chugging along! enjoy! :)Photo by Jack Hamilton on Unsplash
Theodor Adorno — Resignation
We're reading Adorno's seminal late essay — enjoy!Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
What is Philosophy? (Chapter 6: Prospects and Concepts) Deleuze and Guattari
Moving forward! On to Chapter 6. Enjoy!Photo by Shapelined on Unsplash
The Universality of Non-Belonging - Todd McGowan
Join us as we read a nice piece from Todd McGowan. Enjoy!Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
What is Philosophy? (Chapter 5: Functives and Concepts) - Deleuze and Guattari
This week, we're discussing the 5th chapter from Deleuze and Guattari's What is Philosophy? Enjoy!Photo by Adil Janbyrbayev on Unsplash
Jennifer Todd - Georg Lukács, Walter Benjamin, and the Motivation to make Political Art
Join us this week as we take a break from Deleuze and Guattari. Enjoy!
Tyson Yunkaporta - Outside of the Land Looking in: Van Gogh's Seasons through Indigenous Eyes
Join us this week as we read Tyson Yunkaporta's views on Van Gogh. Enjoy!https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/outside-of-the-land-looking-in-van-goghs-seasons-through-indigeno/Photo by RhondaK Native Florida Folk Artist on Unsplash
What is Philosophy? (Chapter 4: Geophilosophy) - Deleuze and Guattari
We're talking Geophilosophy! EnjoyPhoto by Gert Boers on Unsplash
What is Philosophy? (Chapter 3: Conceptual Personae) - Deleuze and Guattari
We're continuing our read of Deleuze and Guattari's last book, What Is Philosophy? Enjoy!
What is Philosophy? (Chapter 2: The Plane of Immanence?) - Deleuze and Guattari
We're continuing on with Deleuze and Guattari's last book, What is Philosophy? This week we're reading Chapter 2: The Plane of Immanence
What is Philosophy? (Chapter 1: What is a Concept?) - Deleuze and Guattari
Welcome! Join us as we learn from Deleuze and Guattari what a concept is. Enjoy!Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash
What is Philosophy? (Introduction) - Deleuze and Guattari
Welcome everybody! We're delving into Deleuze and Guattari's last collaboration together. Enjoy!Photo by Shawn Day on Unsplash
Giorgio Agamben - What Is Fear?
Join us this week as we read Giorgio Agamben's little essay titled What Is Fear? Enjoy!Photo by Tonik on Unsplash
Mary Wild - Psychoanalyzing Horror Cinema
Join us this week as we read Mary Wild's new book Psychoanalyzing Horror Cinema. Enjoy!Photo by malmanew on Unsplash
Gilles Deleuze - Postscript On the Societies Of Control
Join us this week as we read Deleuze's most famous essay (we'd say), Postscript On the Societies Of Control. Enjoy!Photo by Vikram Singh on Unsplash
Michel Foucault - Of Other Spaces, Heterotopias
We got a good one! This week, we're reading Foucault's essay Of Other Spaces. Enjoy!Photo by Danist Soh on Unsplash
Étienne Balibar - Human Species As Biopolitical Concept
Join us this week as read Étienne Balibar's lecture Human Species As Biopolitical Concept. Enjoy!
Simon Critchley - Mysticism 2/2
Join us this week as we finish reading Simon Critchley's new book Mysticism. Enjoy!Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
Simon Critchley - On Mysticism 1/2
Join us this week as we read the first part of Simon Critchley's new book On Mysticism. Enjoy!Photo by blocks on Unsplash
More Is More - Becca Rothfeld
Join us this week as we read an excerpt from Becca Rothfeld's new book, All Things Are Too Small: Essays In Praise Of Excess. Enjoy!Photo by Sven Huls on Unsplash
Steven L Peck - My Madness
Join us this week as we read Steven L Peck's essay My Madness, about his episode of acute psychosis. Enjoy!
Alenka Zupančič - Welcome To The Riviera Of The Real
Join us this week as we read Alenka Zupančič's new essay, Welcome To The Riviera Of The Real
Roxane Gay - The Trouble With Prince Charming
Join us this week as we delve into Roxane Gay's essay The Trouble With Prince Charming. Enjoy!Photo by Lians Jadan on Unsplash
Yanis Varoufakis - Technofeudalism 2/2
Join us this week as we finish up Yanis Varoufakis' Technofeudalism. Enjoy!Photo by Traxer on Unsplash
Yanis Varoufakis - Technofeudalism
Join us as we read the first half of Yanis Varoufakis' Technofeudalism. Enjoy!Photo by srinivas bandari on Unsplash
Michel Foucault - History of Sexuality Vol. 1 2/2
Welcome everybody! This week we're finishing up Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality Volume 1. Enjoy!Photo by Edoardo Cuoghi on Unsplash
Michel Foucault - History of Sexuality Vol. 1 1/2
Join us this week as we read the first half of Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality Vol.1Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash
Alenka Zupančič - Disavowal
This week we're reading a great new book from Alenka Zupančič, Disavowal. All of her books are great. Enjoy! Photo by Jon Butterworth on Unsplash
Theodor Adorno - Theses Against Occultism
Join us as we delve into Adorno's essay "Theses Against Occultism". We're talking about crystals! We're talking about the death of God! Exciting stuff. Photo by PAN XIAOZHEN on Unsplash
Felix Guattari - The Three Ecologies
Welcome to our season three opener! This week we're reading Felix Guattari's work The Three Ecologies. Enjoy!Photo by Victor on Unsplash
Philosophy of Led Zeppelin
Join us this week for our season finale! We're discussing the philosophy of Led Zeppelin. Specifically, we're focusing on Zepellin IV, Presence, and Physical Graffiti. Enjoy!
Aleister Crowley - Little Essays Towards Truth II
This week, we're finishing up Aleister Crowley's Little Essays Towards Truth. Enjoy!
Aleister Crowley - Little Essays Towards Truth I
This week we're reading the first half of Little Essays Towards Truth. We're talking Thelema and the influence of The Tree of Life. Enjoy!
Alain Badiou - Handbook of Inaesthetics 2/2
This week, we're finishing Alain Badious' book Inaesthetics. We go through his viewpoints on dance, theatre, cinema, and, of course, poetry. Noteably missing is a chapter devoted to music...enjoy!
Alain Badiou - Handbook of Inaesthetics 1/2
Join us this week as we delve into Alain Badiou's Handbook of Inaesthetics. We'll discuss three primary ways philosophy has thought of art: didactic, romantic, and classical. Enjoy!
Cute Accelerationism - Amy Ireland and Maya B Kronic
Join us as we discuss all manner of cute culture this world over. Instead of Nietzsche, we're introduced to Freddo. Instead of Heidegger, we get kawaidegger. Enjoy!
Friedrich Nietzcshe - Anti-Education II
Welcome! This week we finished reading Nietzsche's Anti Education lectures. Enjoy!
Friedrich Nietzcshe - Anti-Education I
Wow what a ride! This week we're reading some early lectures from the young (28 year old) Nietzsche. He diagnoses many issues in the 19th-century German education system. We also debate the coherence of these early stabs at critique. Enjoy!
Sigmund Freud - Mourning And Melancholia
This week we're reading Freud's wild essay on mourning and melancholia. Freud's theory is that mourning results from a loss in the world, whereas melancholia results from a loss in the ego. We discuss what that means, as well as some of Freud's more dicey claims. Enjoy!Photo by Dana Bailey on Unsplash
Herbert Marcuse - The Problem of Violence And The Radical Opposition
This week we're delving into the current political situation in the U.S. We're discussing concepts such as repressive desublimation and class consciousness. Enjoy!Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Emil Cioran - Aphorisms
This week we each chose five of our favorite aphorisms from Romanian philosopher Eil Cioran. Most are only one sentence in length. Enjoy! Photo by Ross Sneddon on Unsplash
Walter Benjamin - Unpacking My Library
This week we read Walter Benjamin's essay on collecting. We differentiate between collecting proper, and the strange results of commodity fetishism. Enjoy!Photo by Will van Wingerden on Unsplash
Interpassivity: The Aesthetics of Delegated Enjoyment - Robert Pfaller
This week, we're discussing how many subjects it takes to enjoy a work of art. You have the spectator, sure, but you also have the author and the "main character." We'd also add that there's a more mysterious figure called "the muses" who experience the whole of the work, knowing that you, being tired and existing from a single vantage point, are incapable of seeing the whole. Enjoy!
Louis Althusser - Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses
Join us this week as we tackle Louis Althusser's seminal essay "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses". We discuss the difference between ISAs (Ideological State Apparatuses) and RSAs (Repressive State Apparatuses), interpellation, and Althusser's relevance today.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty - Phenomenology of Perception, The Body (2/2)
This week, we're finishing up Merleau-Ponty's famous section on The Body. We discuss sexuality, identity, and psychoanalysis, all through the lens of Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology
Maurice Merleau-Ponty - Phenomenology of Perception, The Body (1/2)
This week, we're discussing the first half of Maurice Merleau-Ponty's famous section on the Body from his Phenomenology of Perception. This is a wide-ranging text that outlines how the body fits into the phenomenology of the world. Enjoy!
Walter Terence Stace - Mysticism, Ethics, and Religion
Join us this week as we take a hard right turn on our subject matter with a chapter from Walter Terence Stace's Mysticism and Philosophy. Our main goal throughout the episode is to interrogate the term mysticism to come to an agreement on the concept's delineations. Enjoy!
George Bataille — Rotten Sun
This week we're delving into two short works by George Bataille— "Rotten Sun" and "The Sacred Conspiracy". We also discuss Max Weber's concept of Disenchantment and possible avenues to reenchant the world.
Felix Guattari — Everybody Wants to be a Fascist
It's a timely episode! We're talking about this week's election results through Guattari's eyes. Enjoy!
Jean-Paul Sartre - Being and Nothingness III: Temporality
We're talking time! You know, past, present, future...etc...Overall, we admit that discussing the phenomenology of time is complicated, thorny, and even (at times) ungraspable. That said, we hope listeners will come away with a solid understanding of Sartre's key ideas. Enjoy!
Felix Guattari — Becoming Woman
We love reading Guattari! This week, we examine two short essays: Becoming Woman and I Have Even Met Happy Drag Queens. We talk about Guattari's seminal concept of Becoming a Woman and trans liberation. Enjoy!
Jacques Lacan - Resistance is not Censorship
What is resistance? Well, it has something to do with the ego....whatever stops analysis! Yeah, that's it! Okay, then what's censorship? It's a blockage on the thingy! But the other thing? Yes? Don't worry! Hopefully, by the end of this episode, you will have a firm grasp on Lacan's eminently playful (and tragic) distinction.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty - Phenomenology of Perception, Part One
This week we continue our reading of Maurice Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception. We're talking about optical illusions and the place of phenomenological discourse. Enjoy!
Gaston Bachelard - Poetics of Space: The House. From Cellar to Garret. The Significance of the Hut
It's fall! And to kick-start fall we're looking at the coziest philosopher there is: Gaston Bachelard. We discuss topoanalysis, huts, and the oneiric house. Enjoy!Photo by Lena Polishko on Unsplash
Jean-Paul Sartre - Being and Nothingness II: Part One
Ever met a waiter who just seems oh-so-too happy being a waiter? Have you ever been on a date where you're just not sure if you're into the other person but don't want to show that you're not into the other person? This week we're discussing Bad Faith, one of Sartre's most famous concepts. We're also talking about anguish and addiction. Enjoy!Photo by Mulyadi on Unsplash
Maurice Merleau-Ponty - Phenomenology of Perception, Preface
Maurice Merleau-Ponty gives a fantastic introduction to phenomenology in the preface to his Phenomenology of Perception. Honestly, we had a great time this week and really look forward to reading his whole work.Photo by FlyD on Unsplash
Jean-Paul Sartre - Being and Nothingness 1: The Introduction
Whew! Buckle up because we're about to embark on a real adventure. This week we're beginning Sartre's masterpiece Being and Nothingness. We'll be interspersing our reading with other phenomenologists as we go (so we don't burn out). This week we're discussing the pre-reflective cogito, the in-itself, and the for-itself. Enjoy!Photo by NASA on Unsplash
Futa Helu - Towards a Theory of Awareness or Understanding
This week we're looking at Futa Helu's essay Towards a Theory of Awareness or Understanding. Our favorite sections relate to his idea of the rhythmic nature of the universe. Our least favorite spot regards (unfortunately) all of his thoughts on beauty. Enjoy!Photo by Roman on Unsplash
Lisa Guerrero - New Native Sons: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Kiese Laymonm and The Phenomenology of Blackness in the Post-Racial Age
This week we're looking at the American history of the black personal essay and how it relates to phenomenology. We also talk about the dubious concept of the "post-racial age". Enjoy!Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Susan Sontag - Against Interpretration
This week we read Susan Sontag's Against Interpretation, a phenomenal (and controversial) polemic against dogmatic ways of "interpreting" art. We also offer a (hopefully) nuanced defense of psychoanalysis.Photo by Ed Wingate on Unsplash
Jean-Paul Sartre - The Quest for the Absolute: On Giacometti's Sculpture
This week we did some "hardcore phenomenology" and read Sartre's essay on Giacometti. We also talked about Sartre's enthusiasm and how this enthusiasm risks losing the plot (so to speak). Enjoy!Photo by Katsiaryna Endruszkiewicz on Unsplash
Hannah Arendt - Love and Saint Augustine pt. II
This week we're finishing our reading of Hannah Arendt's Love and Saint Augustine. We're talking about the love of the world vs. the love of God, and what possible avenues exist towards an unconditional secular love.Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash
Hannah Arendt - Love and Saint Augustine pt. I
This week we're reading the first half of Hannah Arendt's dissertation, Love and Saint Augustine. With Karl Jasper's as her thesis advisor, and with an indirect engagement with Heidegger's work, this is a great starting point for fans of Arendt. Enjoy!Photo by JK Sloan on Unsplash
Judith Butler - What World is This? A Pandemic Phenomenology II
This week we finish Judith Butler's What World Is This? A Pandemic Phenomenology. We talk about those most affected by the virus and the day-to-day realities of the pandemic. Enjoy!Photo by DICSON on Unsplash
Judith Butler - What World is This? A Pandemic Phenomenology I
Join us as we delve into the opening of Judith Butler's recent book on the Pandemic. To us, doing a phenomenology of the pandemic seems to be an inherently triggering project, especially if the questions asked include: what was it like to watch mass death from an Iphone? Or, what was extreme boredom and futility like? However, thankfully, Butler chooses a very different route, focusing instead on
Edmund Husserl - The Vienna Lecture & Phenomenology
This week we read, or, as you will, suffered, through some Edmund Husserl! We talk about his importance to continental theory and his defense of the new field of phenomenology. Enjoy!Photo by Hans Reniers on Unsplash
Jean-Paul Sartre - A Fundemental Idea of Husserl's Phenomenology: Intentionality
Sartre's excited! And so are we! In our season two inaugural episode, we discuss Sartre's little essay on Husserl and his joy in discovering the phenomenological field. We also do some phenomenology ourselves talking about rivers and smiles.Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash
The Philosophy of Arcade Fire
To end our first season we're talking about Arcade Fire's first three albums: Funeral, Neon Bible, and The Suburbs. We cover American extremism, growing up, and, of course, life in suburbia. Enjoy!Photo by Gabe De La Rosa on Unsplash
Karl Jaspers - Philosophy of Existence II
This week we finish our discussion of Karl Jasper's Philosophy of Existence. This includes some core existential concepts such as authenticity and we also tackle his categories of truth. Enjoy!Photo by Pramod Tiwari on Unsplash
Karl Jaspers - Philosophy of Existence I
It's time for some existentialism! We discuss the first half of Jasper's lectures on The Philosophy of Existence, covering the difference between existence and his term existenz, and so much more. Enjoy!Photo by Kostiantyn Usatenko on Unsplash
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