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Ep. 237: Walter Benjamin Analyzes Violence (Part Two)

March 9, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 8 Comments

Continuing on Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" (1921). Mark, Wes, and Seth keep trying to figure out this difficult essay. Is Benjamin really advocating a workers' revolution to end the state, or just reflecting on a hypothetical to explore the limits of the concept of violence? According to Judith Butler's interpretation of the essay, the takeaway is the alternative to  Continue Reading …

Ep. 237: Walter Benjamin Analyzes Violence (Part One)

March 2, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

On Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" (1921). What is violence? Walter Benjamin (pronounced "Ben-Ya-Meen") breaks down the phenomenon into four types and then shows why these are not really distinct after all. First, any state is always established, he says, through at least some violent acts, so this is law-making violence. Not only does one group subdue another, but then  Continue Reading …

Ep. 237: Walter Benjamin Analyzes Violence (Citizen Edition)

March 2, 2020 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

On Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" (1921). What is violence? Walter Benjamin (pronounced "Ben-Ya-Meen") breaks down the phenomenon into four types and then shows why these are not really distinct after all. First, any state is always established, he says, through at least some violent acts, so this is law-making violence. Not only does one group subdue another, but then  Continue Reading …

Ep. 189: Authorial Intent (Barthes, Foucault, Beardsley, et al) (Part One)

May 7, 2018 by Mark Linsenmayer 15 Comments

On four essays about how to interpret artworks: “The Intentional Fallacy” by W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley (1946), "The Death of the Author" by Roland Barthes (1967), "What Is an Author?" by Michel Foucault (1969), and “Against Theory” by Steven Knapp and Walter Benn Michaels (1982). When you're trying to figure out what, say, a poem means, isn't the best way to do that  Continue Reading …

Ep. 189: Authorial Intent (Barthes, Foucault, Beardsley, et al) (Citizen Edition)

May 7, 2018 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

On four essays about how to interpret artworks: “The Intentional Fallacy” by W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley (1946), "The Death of the Author" by Roland Barthes (1967), "What Is an Author?" by Michel Foucault (1969), and “Against Theory” by Steven Knapp and Walter Benn Michaels (1982). When you're trying to figure out what, say, a poem means, isn't the best way to do that  Continue Reading …

Episode 136: Adorno on the Culture Industry

March 28, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 22 Comments

On Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer's "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" from Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), plus Adorno's essay "Culture Industry Reconsidered" (1963). How does the entertainment industry affect us? Adorno and Horkheimer (who co-authored the book, but it looks like Adorno mainly wrote the essay we read) are founding figures of the  Continue Reading …

Ep. 136: Adorno on the Culture Industry (Citizen Edition)

March 28, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 9 Comments

On Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer's "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" from Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), plus Adorno's essay "Culture Industry Reconsidered" (1963). How does the entertainment industry affect us? Adorno and Horkheimer (who co-authored the book, but it looks like Adorno mainly wrote the essay we read) are founding figures of the  Continue Reading …

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