• Log In

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog

Subscribe on Android Spotify patreon
  • Home
  • Podcast
    • All PEL Episodes
    • Most Recent Episodes
    • Categorized by Topic
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • Phi Fic Podcast
    • Combat & Classics
    • Constellary Tales
    • Upcoming Episodes
  • Blog
  • About
    • PEL FAQ
    • Meet PEL
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • Meet Phi Fic
    • Listener Feedback
    • Links
  • Store
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • Members
    • Membership Options
    • PEL Not School Introduction
    • Log In
  • Support PEL
    • Patreon
  • Write for Us
  • Contact

Structuralism Summarized in 30 Minutes

March 7, 2012 by Daniel Horne 6 Comments

Watch on YouTube.

Here is a surprisingly edifying and entertaining synopsis of structuralism. I particularly like how Prof. Louis Markos connects Saussure's work to the "proto-structuralism" of Freud and Marx. Also enjoyable is Markos' mini-rant, in light of Wes's recent post:

Structures are found in all areas of thought and study, from history to linguistics, psychology to anthropology.

Structuralism as a method is interdisciplinary, and structuralism seeks to re-found even the humanities on a more objective, scientific base. Structuralism, again, crosses all...disciplinary boundaries.

Now, a lot of you may not realize this, but let me give you an example of how structuralism has impacted our academy. 100 years ago, history was considered one of the humanities, and I believe that's where it belongs. But today, what is it? A social science. Psychology, which I believe also should be a humanity, or at least, a social science, is often considered now to be a natural science.

What's happening? All of our disciplines, and I think this is bad, but...all of our disciplines are running to science. It's almost as if we want to take the human element out of the humanities. But, remember:  structuralism is deterministic, rather than humanistic. It wants to take all the disciplines, including the humanities...theology, literature...all the humanities, it wants to take them and re-found them...turn them into a structure that is mathematical, logical, and scientific.

-Daniel Horne

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Filed Under: Things to Watch Tagged With: Ferdinand de Saussure, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, structuralism

Comments

  1. dmf says

    March 7, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    couldn’t take more than the first 3min, why is ontology equated with platonic eternals and structuralism reduced to materialism?
    leaving this fellow aside the question of whether or not there is something to philosophy (maybe metaphysics?) that isn’t now perhaps understood in terms of “theory” is an interesting question.
    Heidegger was certainly exercised by the invention/pretensions of ‘scientific’ historiography and cybernetics.
    http://philosophysother.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  2. David Buchanan says

    March 7, 2012 at 7:03 pm

    Yes, the science envy of structuralism really comes out in this guy’s lecture. If his picture is accurate, then scientism in this movement is even worse than I suspected. And it ends with Derrida’s criticism of exactly that scientific certitude as just another Platonic “center”. It was a pretty good summary of all the readings for last episode. And it takes just over 30 minutes, so it’s free!

    Reply
  3. Seth Paskin says

    March 8, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    Man, that’s a lot of ground to cover in 30 minutes. Thanks Daniel!

    Reply
    • Daniel Horne says

      March 8, 2012 at 12:26 pm

      Yeah, I get the sense he was aided by 3 espressos before the lecture. Hope it was entertaining!

      Reply
  4. A Corresponder says

    May 14, 2013 at 5:54 am

    Stumbling on this page a year later, so not sure if this comment will even be seen, but the video’s been taken down from YouTube. I was looking for more information about it so I could maybe find it again.

    Reply
    • Mark Linsenmayer says

      May 14, 2013 at 2:00 pm

      Daniel looked around, and I’ve updated the post to point at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcR-4y3Npqc&feature=youtu.be&t=1m31s. Thanks.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Become a PEL Citizen


Recent Comments

  • Jennifer Tejada on Episode 209: Guest Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Citizen Edition)
  • Evan Hadkins on Episode 209: Guest Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Citizen Edition)
  • Evan Hadkins on Episode 209: Guest Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Citizen Edition)
  • Ernest Prabhakar on Saints & Simulators 3: #WhatIsSimulation
  • Luke T on Episode 209: Guest Francis Fukuyama on Identity Politics (Citizen Edition)

About The Partially Examined Life

The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don’t have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we’re talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion

Become a PEL Citizen!

As a PEL Citizen, you’ll have access to a private social community of philosophers, thinkers, and other partial examiners where you can join or initiate discussion groups dedicated to particular readings, participate in lively forums, arrange online meet-ups for impromptu seminars, and more. PEL Citizens also have free access to podcast transcripts, guided readings, episode guides, PEL music, and other citizen-exclusive material. Click here to join.

Blog Post Categories

  • (sub)Text
  • Aftershow
  • Audiobook
  • Book Excerpts
  • Citizen Content
  • Citizen Document
  • Citizen News
  • Close Reading
  • Combat and Classics
  • Constellary Tales
  • Featured Article
  • General Announcements
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Misc. Philosophical Musings
  • Nakedly Examined Music Podcast
  • Nakedly Self-Examined Music
  • NEM Bonus
  • Not School Recording
  • Not School Report
  • Other (i.e. Lesser) Podcasts
  • PEL Music
  • PEL's Notes
  • Personal Philosophies
  • Phi Fic Podcast
  • Podcast Episode (Citizen)
  • Podcast Episodes
  • Reviewage
  • Song Self-Exam
  • Things to Watch
  • Vintage Episode (Citizen)
  • Web Detritus

Follow:

Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | iTunes

Copyright © 2009 - 2019 · The Partially Examined Life, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Copyright Policy