• Log In

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog

Subscribe on Android Spotify Google Podcasts audible patreon
  • Home
  • Podcast
    • PEL Network Episodes
    • Publicly Available PEL Episodes
    • Paywalled and Ad-Free Episodes
    • PEL Episodes by Topic
    • Nightcap
    • Philosophy vs. Improv
    • Pretty Much Pop
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • (sub)Text
    • Phi Fic Podcast
    • Combat & Classics
    • Constellary Tales
  • Blog
  • About
    • PEL FAQ
    • Meet PEL
    • About Pretty Much Pop
    • Philosophy vs. Improv
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • Meet Phi Fic
    • Listener Feedback
    • Links
  • Join
    • Become a Citizen
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Log In
  • Donate
  • Store
    • Episodes
    • Swag
    • Everything Else
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • My Account
  • Contact
  • Mailing List

Not School Proposals for January

December 31, 2012 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

Merleau-Ponty! Buber! Lacan! Physics! Aesthetics! The Residents! Derrida! Deleuze! Searle! Pynchon! DeLillo!

Credit to you-stylish-barcelona-apartments.com

The holidays have definitely made it more difficult for me at least to be on top of my Not School activities, but nonetheless the new month is immanent, and I thought I should convey to those not currently monitoring the Citizens' Forum what new groups look to be on the horizon:

1. Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception. Intrigued yet unsatisfied by our treatment of M-P on the episode last year? Here's your chance to take a giant leap into his major work Phenomenology of Perception, and see if it fulfills the promise of its hype. The group promises to be a multi-month endeavor, but that doesn't mean you have to commit to more than the first month. Note that the group leader for this (Will Yate) has also proposed one on Husserl, though he hasn't yet gotten any takers.

2. Martin Buber's I and Thou (led by me). This will be PEL's episode #71 (which will be released in Feb.), so be prepared for once! This is a fine bit of existentialism which, unlike Sarte's and Camus's, supports a buxom ethics and is not hostile towards religion (even while it seems not Jedaism-centric in the way that Kierkegaard relies exclusively on Christianity).

3. The Lacanian Subject by Bruce Fink (led by Wes). For our Lacan episode (which MAY come out in March), we'll likely be reading this book along with a bit of actual Lacan, as the book is a very clear explication of this difficult thinker. It's about 150 pages long, to be read by the end of Jan. (with discussion as we go) and a Skype discussion to be recorded in early to mid-Feb.

4. Topics in the Philosophy of Physics, starting in January with a short reading: “Can We Dissolve Physical Entities into Mathematical Structures?” by Cambridge trained Chinese-American philosopher of physics Tian Yu Cao, from 2003. The arguments focus on the interpretation of and relationships between: physical entities, mathematical structures, and ontological primacy in physical theories. This will likely be part of an ongoing exploration in this area.

5. The Music of the Residents: OK, I've just proposed this as a lark. The Residents are an avante garde yet lowbrow group that I like that's been putting out weird music with often philosophical librettos since the early 70s. If you want a study group that doesn't require you to do any more than look at some YouTube videos over the next four weeks and spout off some theories of what art is, this is a good one for you... I'm hoping this will ramp up into a full philosophy of art group in the coming months. Here's a taste:

OK, beyond this point we're into speculation and into ongoing group activities:

-The Philosophy and Literature group will be starting another book soon; I believe it's between Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo right now, but you can join in and have your vote counted.
-The Deleuze group has assigned Ch. 3 of A Thousand Plateaus to be read by Jan. 1.
-The Philosophy of Mind group is continuing through Jan. to read John Searle's "Mind: A Brief Introduction."
-The Derrida group looks like it will be continuing on into chapter 2 of Writing and Difference.
-The "What Is Philosophy?" group focusing on friendly introductory readings has not that I've seen proposed no activity for January, but I'm betting someone will step up as the new group leader to make something happen, as there's always demand in this area.

No doubt we'll see some more activity and proposals over the coming week as people recover from the holidays. Members should keep an eye on the Citizens' Forum. Non-members should sign up now!

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Filed Under: Not School Report Tagged With: Jacques Lacan, Martin Buber, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, physics, The Residents

Comments

  1. Will Yate says

    January 1, 2013 at 5:01 am

    Sadly I can’t make the time for Buber, but I just wanted to commend you for introducing the phrase “buxom ethics” into the language. Like Shakespeare’s juiciest, it has that timeless quality that makes you wonder how the language ever got on without it. Hat’s off!

    Reply
  2. Glen says

    January 3, 2013 at 2:50 am

    Holy balls that’s a lot of continental-ish stuff. Good for you although Lacan is a nightmare from hell.
    Searle is fun to read if only because he writes like he talks (aka a bit of an arrogant prick that you respect anyways).

    Any chance you will ever read someone really fucked up like Luce Irigary? Had to to read her for my continental class. Lot’s of weird stuff about the phallus worship and how it pertains to female liberation. It’s actually quite torturous but fun to decode and the constant references to genitalia make it something of a classic, particularly if you try to slog through it with a bit of jack daniels and a coka cola chaser.

    Cheers

    Reply
    • Genevieve says

      January 8, 2013 at 3:49 pm

      Make the proposal, Glen. I would totally join an Irigaray drinking game group. Lets read and discuss some feminist theory and every time someone says phallus, mother, virgin, prostitute, or Patriarchy we will all take a shot!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

PEL Live Show 2023

Brothers K Live Show

Citizenship has its Benefits

Become a PEL Citizen
Become a PEL Citizen, and get access to all paywalled episodes, early and ad-free, including exclusive Part 2's for episodes starting September 2020; our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat more causally; a community of fellow learners, and more.

Rate and Review

Nightcap

Listen to Nightcap
On Nightcap, listen to the guys respond to listener email and chat more casually about their lives, the making of the show, current events and politics, and anything else that happens to come up.

Subscribe to Email Updates

Select list(s):

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Support PEL

Buy stuff through Amazon and send a few shekels our way at no extra cost to you.

Tweets by PartiallyExLife

Recent Comments

  • Seth Paskin on PEL Eulogies Nightcap Late March 2023
  • John Heath on PEL Eulogies Nightcap Late March 2023
  • Randy Strader on Ep. 309: Wittgenstein On Certainty (Part Two)
  • Wes Alwan on PEL Nightcap February 2023
  • Kunal on Why Don’t We Like Idealism?

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
  • Announcements
  • Audiobook
  • Book Excerpts
  • Citizen Content
  • Citizen Document
  • Citizen News
  • Close Reading
  • Combat and Classics
  • Constellary Tales
  • Exclude from Newsletter
  • Featured Ad-Free
  • Featured Article
  • General Announcements
  • Interview
  • 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 Nightcap
  • PEL's Notes
  • Personal Philosophies
  • Phi Fic Podcast
  • Philosophy vs. Improv
  • Podcast Episode (Citizen)
  • Podcast Episodes
  • Pretty Much Pop
  • Reviewage
  • Song Self-Exam
  • Supporter Exclusive
  • Things to Watch
  • Vintage Episode (Citizen)
  • Web Detritus

Follow:

Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | Apple Podcasts

Copyright © 2009 - 2023 · The Partially Examined Life, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Copyright Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in