Sep 23 2024 39 mins
In this episode we start addressing some of the serious problems with utopian thinking and, especially, progressive narratives. We unpack a bit of Walter Benjamin's "Theses on the Philosophy of History," return to Barthes regarding myth, and bring a little Nietzsche and some Star Trek into the conversation as well.
Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articles) you may also want to check out:
Benjamin, Walter, and Hannah Arendt. 1968. Illuminations. New York: Schocken Books.
Bergson, Henri. 1911. Matter and Memory. . Translated by Nancy Margaret Paul and William Scott Palmer. [New York]: Digireads.com.
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. 1910. The Gay Science. Dover ed. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications.
Overthink Podcast: Walter Benjamin on Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility: https://youtu.be/WqsyvK_2eYo?si=Mq4rJKmz0JhJjgKx
Theory and Philosophy: The Angel of History | Walter Benjamin:
https://youtu.be/7iYszscVduI?si=sPkYF0tiiNsacOR6
Neil deGrasse Tyson on rejection from Jury Duty (the third time), short remix clip from Joe Rogan: https://youtube.com/shorts/yrCTrB-HSfQ?si=PZsMJF_lJI7qh64p