Not School In May: Levinas, Zizek, Heidegger, Murakami, Auslander

It looks like May will be another active month in Not School. We already have groups set to read Levinas, Heidegger, Murakami, Auslander, and the ever popular Zizek. Remember, PEL Citizens can propose groups on whatever philosophical content they’re interested in, set their own schedules, and choose how to communicate. If you haven’t joined up yet, take a look at what you’re missing right here.

Our first new group plans to read as of yet unspecified selections from Totality and Infinity, a 1961 text by Emmanuel Levinas. Their preferred method for meeting up is still being established, so check their page out if you’d like to throw in with them.

If you’re interested in Heidegger, we have a new group who plan to read many of his later works, the next of which looks to be The Essence of Truth. This group holds weekly Google Hangouts, and there’s no shortage of good discussion: Not only do we have audio versions of several of their previous discussions on Being and Time on the Free Stuff page, but you can view the whole lot of them as video on Stevie LeValley’s YouTube channel.

Our Philosophical Fiction Group is busy reading/deciphering Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, and will cap the month off with Franz Kafka’s In The Penal Colony. Each reading will have its own live discussion during the second half of the month. Check the group’s page for further details.

The Philosophy and Theatre Group plans to read and discuss parts two and three of Philip Auslander’s From Acting to Performance: Essays in Modernism and Postmodernism. The topical range of these essays runs from body politics in performance to an analysis of feminist stand-up comedy by way of Roseanne Barr. We’ll be discussing the book via Skype in mid-to-late May, and new members are always welcome.

Our final group so far this month will be reading chapter one of The Sublime Object of Ideology by Slavoj Zizek. A live discussion via Google Hangout will follow at the end of the month. They are a private group, but anyone interested can request membership from their page.

We still have some proposals in the Citizens’ Forum that are in need of another member or two to reach their quorum, so don’t forget to give them a look.

Enjoy your reading.

– Daniel Cole

Daniel Cole helps the podcast fellows out with Not School, and otherwise lies dormant.