Name: Poststructuralism by Why Theory
Duration: 1 h 17 min 59 s
Description: Ryan and Todd attempt to show why the term "poststructuralism" is inapt for describing any of the thinkers that it usually is thought to indicate. They go through the major theorists known under this moniker and reveal why poststructuralism doesn't exist.

So would these same arguments also apply against the term “postmodernism?” What is the distinction between the two? Could “postmodernist” be a valid term outside philosophy, such as when talking about aesthetics, art, literature, etc?

my hot take: now that the dust has settled and this wide swath of french thinkers have been freed from this label, we can maybe see the central antagonism that defines post-structuralism - deleuze against lacan.

Hey Todd and Ryan. You guys rock and I have been listening (and relistening) to you for years. I realise this my be off topic, but you can sort it under 'listener request': I just started my PhD, and my supervisor and committee are very skeptical of Lacan (a problem I don't know how to overcome, but that is beside the question). My supervisor does, however, love Jean Laplanche, who I am only indirectly familiar with. I am starting Gila Ashtor's Homo Psyche and Exigent Psychoanalysis over the remained of the summer in order to get a grip on his theory. My question is, how does he compare and contrast with the current Lacan-Hegel/Kant project? Does he fit in your worlds? Whether or not you can make room to answer, thank you very much for this whole Why Theory effort--it has been a major resource for me.

Ryan and Todd begin a series of discussions about the classical Hollywood genres with the screwball comedy, a genre that centers on the sexual antagonism. They look at the film that kicks off the genre, It Happened One Night, as well as the high point of the genre, Bringing Up Baby, in addition to others. 


Ryan was recently a guest discussing graduate student conferences, which one can listen to here: https://soundcloud.com/lclcoralhistory

Screwball Comedy

Ryan and Todd lay out the key points in Jean-Paul Sartre's vast attempt to marry existentialism and Marxism--The Critique of Dialectical Reason. They discuss the best moments of this work and then attempt to clarify how it goes awry. Its huge unspoken influence on more recent French thought is also a topic.

Critique of Dialectical Reason

Ryan and Todd discuss Todd's recent book The Racist Fantasy, which explores the psychic structure that underlies racism and that allows it to deliver enjoyment to those invested in it. They cover the role that fantasy plays in social life and the prospects for fighting racism.

https://forgeorganizing.org/article/building-resilient-organizations

https://www.baylorpress.com/9781602587359/trauma-and-race/

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lacan-noir-david-s-marriott/1139152118

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8-VIi7tb44

https://fielddaylab.wisc.edu/

The Racist Fantasy

Ryan and Todd explore the important ideas from Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, focusing especially on Nietzche's historical critique of morality, his perspectivalism, and his notion of the will to power. They situate Nietzsche's breakthrough in relation to Freud's.

Beyond Good and Evil

Ryan and Todd attempt to show why the term "poststructuralism" is inapt for describing any of the thinkers that it usually is thought to indicate. They go through the major theorists known under this moniker and reveal why poststructuralism doesn't exist.

Poststructuralism

Ryan and Todd interpret the film Barbie while responding to both leftist and rightist critiques of the film. They discuss the film's exploration of fantasy, its highlighting of contradiction, and its emphasis on the role of desire in politics.

Barbie

Ryan and Todd offer their interpretation of Christopher Nolan's most recent film Oppenheimer. They focus on the relationship between the form of the film and its content, while considering the political implications of its depiction of the hero. They think about the film in relationship to the rest of Nolan's filmography.

Oppenheimer

Ryan and Todd unpack Marx's concept of surplus value and explore its fundamental role in the interpretation of capitalist society. They discuss the relationship between surplus value and profit, while considering how we should think about the drive to amass surplus value.

Surplus Value

Ryan and Todd explore the idea of surplus enjoyment as the basis for a theory of capitalism. They consider the psychic hold that capitalism has in terms of the surplus enjoyment that it both promises and provides.

Surplus Enjoyment

Ryan and Todd present the philosophy of Leibniz as articulated in his late work the Monadology. They link this text to the breakthroughs of later thinkers such as Kant and Hegel, as well as discussing how Leibniz anticipates the contemporary situation.

Monadology

Ryan and Todd interpret David Lynch's Blue Velvet by paying special attention to the Kantian dimension of the film. They consider the film in terms of the thing-in-itself and the sublime.

Blue Velvet

Why Theory brings continental philosophy and psychoanalytic theory together to examine cultural phenomena.

Poststructuralism

Why Theory

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