Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast While Our Students Are Sleeping: the Theory & Politics Podcast

My colleague, Prof. Reed van Schenk, and I have started a podcast! Our plan is to offer an in-depth exploration of various thinkers whose work we see as relevant to our current political climate.

This inaugural episode launches our exploration into Carl Schmitt (1888–1985), the notorious German jurist and political theorist whose unrepentant support of the Nazi regime casts a long shadow. Despite his pedigree, Schmitt’s work remains highly relevant as one of the most decisive intellectual challenges to the legitimacy of modern liberal democracies.

Join Reed and I as we explore Schmitt’s early, influential text, “Roman Catholicism and Political Form.” In this work, Schmitt sets out his case for the Catholic Church as the ideal template for political legitimacy. We consider his argument that the Church, due to its inherent capacity for definitive and authoritative form, provides the necessary structure and basis for a universal, stable, normative political order.

This third episode of our new podcast continues our exploration of the thought of Carl Schmitt (1888–1985), the notorious German jurist and political theorist of the Nazi regime.

We discuss Carl Schmitt’s 1932 treatise The Concept of the Political and suggest that his definition of politics – as the existential distinction between “Friend and Enemy” – is highly relevant to the volatile polarization of modern Western politics. We examine how Schmitt criticized liberal democracy for trying to replace decisive sovereign power with endless parliamentary debate and economic administration, a process he viewed as “depoliticizing” and ultimately weak because it ignores the reality of conflict. We also apply this lens to current events, including the rise of right-wing populism and the recent “healthcare assassin” case to explore whether liberal democratic societies are reverting to a “Schmittian” state where political groups are once again defining themselves by who they are willing to fight and negate rather than with who they can find political compromise.

You can get in touch with us at rolfandreed@proton.meº

This second episode of our new podcast continues our exploration of the thought of Carl Schmitt (1888–1985), the notorious German jurist and political theorist of the Nazi regime.

One of his most famous works, Political Theology lays out Schmitt’s argument for a clear expression of executive sovereignty, anchored by its famous opening declaration: “Sovereign is he who decides upon the exception.” We review the background to this work in the ideas of Max Weber, as well as Schmitt’s rejection of the neo-Kantian idea of constitutional authority, and consider why Schmitt saw the need for a clearly defined executive sovereignty as the political imperative of his time. Along the way, we note the similarities between Schmitt’s arguments and the emerging discourse in our current politics surrounding the need for strong executive leadership.

It’s our latest – and last! – episode on Curtis Yarvin, aka mencius moldbug, a key intellectual presence behind the Trump administration courtesy of his blog-slash-book, Unqualified Reservations. In previous episodes we snarked our way through some of Yarvin’s epistemological concerns around things like history, economics, and race. In this discussion, we turn to his prescriptive vision for the future state and how to get there, touching along the way his interdiction against lynchings, his call-out to Confucius, and why El Salvador may be the first state to align itself with Yarvin’s corporate model. Join us as we bid adieu to the powerhouse thinker who furnishes the rental unit inside J.D. Vance’s head.

Get in touch with us by email at rolfandreed@proton.me, or follow us on Rolf’s substack “Under the Aqueduct” or at Reed’s Bluesky.

Rolf and Reed are back with more on their ongoing exploration of the blog-turned-political-manifesto Unqualified Reservations by the self-proclaimed über-reactionary Curtis Yarvin. In this episode we consider Yarvin’s argument regarding climate change (a hoax), Keynesian economics (a form of theft) and “Human Neurological Uniformity” (don’t even ask). As we explore, many of Yarvin’s contrarian and reactionary postures around these core issues appear to be informing current US politics, making their consideration as timely as they are alarming.

Get in touch with us by email at rolfandreed@proton.me, or follow us on Rolf’s substack “Under the Aqueduct” or at Reed’s Bluesky.

In this episode of While our Students Are Sleeping, Rolf and Reed continue their exploration of the thought of Curtis Yarvin aka "moldbug," the political thinker for the modern techbrocracy. We look at his interpretation of several major historical events, as outlined in his blog-turned-book Unqualified Reservations: the American Revolution, the US Civil War, and World Wars I & II. If you think you know a thing or two about history, think again!

Get in touch with us! Email us (rolfandreed@proton.me) or check out Rolf's substack (https://rolfstromolsen.substack.com/) and Reed's Bluesky (@reedvanschenck.bsky.social)

Some works are notable for the power of their ideas; others for the power of those attracted to their ideas. Curtis Yarvin (aka “moldbug”) was for many years a contrarian, libertarian-adjacent blogger calling for a new world order, unknown to most, but curiously popular with the techbro and billionaire class – Peter Thiel was an early enthusiast. With the arrival of the second Trump administration and the ascendancy of the billionaire-techbrocrats, Yarvin’s ideas have been politically mainstreamed, providing a political-theoretical lens through which many in the MAGA sphere see the world, and helping to shape the future they wish to bring about. In this episode, the first of four on Yarvin, Rolf and Reed explore the strange intellectual world that he inhabits, diving into the first section of his blog-post collection-turned-book entitled Unqualified Reservations: A Gentle Introduction to Reactionary Enlightenment, in which Yarvin exhorts us to take a red pill and follow him into the world of the darkly enlightened.

You can get in touch with us at rolfandreed@proton.me

As the 24-hour operation to bring about regime change in Iran enters its second month, we take a look at the case for the war from the right-wing perspective, both in Israel and the United States. We consider what the desire to attack Iran tells us about the ideological standpoints within each country’s conservative thinking, to what degree the domestic priorities of the Trump administration to enact Project 2025 are helped or hurt by a prolonged military campaign, and what the longer-term fallout might be, especially for the continued importance of supporting Israel inside US Republican politics. We also celebrate a subscriber milestone for our podcast and offer shoutouts to Rolf’s sister and Reed’s mom, only one of whom is, in fact, a loyal listener.

You can listen via Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.

Get in touch with us by email at rolfandreed@proton.me, or follow us on Rolf’s substack “Under the Aqueduct” or at Reed’s Bluesky.