Why Theory

In this episode, Todd and Ryan come to grips with another of Lacan's many aphorisms: "there is no sexual relationship." After first defining Lacan's idea against the dominant ideological notion of com...

4 Mar 20191h 10min

The first in what will be a series of podcasts on the key aphorisms of Jacques Lacan, this podcast addresses the dictum, "Don't give ground relative to your desire," which Lacan articulates in Seminar...

10 Feb 20191h 14min

Ryan and Todd discuss the encounter between psychoanalytic theory and the problem of racism. They focus on the role that enjoyment plays in racism and why racism is necessary for the survival of capit...

26 Jan 20191h 14min

This episode provides an introduction to the preface to Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Ryan and Todd explore key issues from the notoriously difficult preface, including Hegel's own claim that one s...

8 Jan 20191h 14min

Ryan and Todd address the peculiar rise of a new secular morality that they find much more exacting than contemporary religious morality. This secular morality manifests itself in a strict limitation ...

30 Des 20181h 11min

In this conclusion of their discussion of the Christmas film, Ryan and Todd begin with the film Die Hard and the problem of racism, move to an analysis of White Christmas as an anti-war film, and conc...

16 Des 20181h 14min

In this episode, Ryan and Todd explore the idea of the Christmas film through psychoanalysis and Hegel. They begin by theorizing the Christmas film as such and then focus on two (of five total that th...

12 Des 20181h 13min

In this episode, Ryan and Todd debate the political viability of the term "Neoliberalism." They explore what neoliberalism signifies and whether or not this signifier can function as a building block ...

21 Nov 20181h 17min