Deadbeat Philosophy – Details, episodes & analysis

Can philosophy produce unique insight into art and aesthetic experience? Dave takes up this question, and a number of others, in conversation with Russell Duvernoy, Associate Professor of Philosophy at King’s University College in London, Ontario. Russell and Dave discuss stuffed childhood companions, the great lakes region, their respective journeys in academic philosophy, prehistoric cave art, the relationship between philosophy and visual art, aesthetic feeling, Kantian universalism, trans-species sensation, Zen Buddhism, the art of dying well, and more.

Russell’s recommendations:

Tren Brothers, “Blue Trees”

Shinmon Aoki, “Coffinman: Journal of a Buddhist Mortician”

David Lynch, “Lost Highway”

Russell’s Profile

Are philosophy and literature really so different? Dave takes on this question, and a number of others, with the help of German literature scholar and visiting assistant professor of German studies at Whitman College, Rob Mottram. Rob and Dave cover the possibility of tossing out the philosophy/literature distinction altogether, the history and magical power of the novel, the relationship between philosophy and religion, the art of wearing the same clothing for many years, and Rob’s approach to reading as a way of thinking other people’s thoughts.

Rob’s recommendations:

Gustav Mahler’s 9th Symphony

Apocalypse Now

Adalbert Stifter’s Limestone

Dave sits down for an extended conversation with Berlin-based American-Hungarian filmmaker and critic Miranda Siegel. Miranda and Dave discuss Miranda’s autobiographical documentary film (“Ignore Your True Feelings at Your Own Peril”), their common experiences with bipolar disorder, and, among other topics, the psycho-sexual power of stockings, illustrated by a curious anecdote from Miranda’s life.

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Miranda’s recommandations:

Zack McDermott, Gorilla and the Bird

Todd Solondz, Palindromes

Doe Paoro, Divine Surrendering

Miranda’s Film

Dave sits down with Australian environmental activist and social organizer Andrew George. Andrew recounts his experience preparing for the cyclone then on his doorstep, and he and Dave use this as a jumping off point to examine questions about the human/nature relationship, the global climate and extinction crises, settler-colonialist land-use paradigms, the future of democratic organizing, and the masturbatory destructiveness of mother earth.

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Andrew’s recommandations:

Kneecap

New Experiences

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Become a deadbeat philosopher, and read Dave’s deadbeat philosophical scribblings, at https://deadbeatphilosophy.substack.com

Deadbeat philosophy = sideways investigations into philosophy, politics, and the contradictions of modern life—from a former professor, future skeleton.

Podcast. Books in progress. Weird stop-motion. Modern life dissected.

New podcast episodes drop every Thursday. New writing posted all the time.

Historical philosophers on the table include, among others: Lao Tzu, Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine, Boethius, Hildegard von Bingen, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Voltaire, Franklin, Rousseau, Kant, Jefferson, Wollstonecraft, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Darwin, Kierkegaard, Thoreau, Douglass, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Husserl, Kafka, Leopold, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Benjamin, Adorno, Sartre, Arendt, Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, Camus, Sellars, Fanon, Foucault, Derrida, Rorty, and many more.

Topics on the table include, among others: the meaning of life, ethical dilemmas, theoretical frameworks, domestic and international politics, institutional analysis, education, religion, mental health, arts and literature, environment, nature, animals, climate, and extinction, race, gender, and the politics of race and gender, racism, colonialism, sexism, fascism, capitalism, socialism, nationalism, stoicism, daoism, confucianism, buddhism, pragmatism, feminism, rationalism, German idealism, romanticism, transcendentalism, environmentalism, modernism, postmodernism, phenomenology, critical theory, deconstruction, German culture, history, and politics, expat life, and much more.

A co-production with the Museum Hegel-Haus, Stuttgart

Deadbeat headquarters

Dave sits down with mycologist, microbial biologist, and soil ecologist Dan Thomas. Dave and Dan chat about their experiences as expatriate Americans stranded in Germany, Dan’s research in the Fichtelgebirge woodlands outside of Bayreuth, the fungal microbiomes we live with and as everyday, Dan’s experiences working in and advocating for the Los Cedros Forest Reserve in Ecuador, the concept of non-human personhood, and, last but not least, the ecological importance of cycles of death and life.

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Dan’s recommandations:

The Dawn of Everything

Earl Scruggs

Entangled Life

Dan’s webpage

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Become a deadbeat philosopher, and read Dave’s deadbeat philosophical scribblings, at https://deadbeatphilosophy.substack.com

Deadbeat philosophy = sideways investigations into philosophy, politics, and the contradictions of modern life—from a former professor, future skeleton.

Podcast. Books in progress. Weird stop-motion. Modern life dissected.

New podcast episodes drop every Thursday. New writing posted all the time.

Historical philosophers on the table include, among others: Lao Tzu, Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine, Boethius, Hildegard von Bingen, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Voltaire, Franklin, Rousseau, Kant, Jefferson, Wollstonecraft, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Darwin, Kierkegaard, Thoreau, Douglass, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Husserl, Kafka, Leopold, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Benjamin, Adorno, Sartre, Arendt, Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, Camus, Sellars, Fanon, Foucault, Derrida, Rorty, and many more.

Topics on the table include, among others: the meaning of life, ethical dilemmas, theoretical frameworks, domestic and international politics, institutional analysis, education, religion, mental health, arts and literature, environment, nature, animals, climate, and extinction, race, gender, and the politics of race and gender, racism, colonialism, sexism, fascism, capitalism, socialism, nationalism, stoicism, daoism, confucianism, buddhism, pragmatism, feminism, rationalism, German idealism, romanticism, transcendentalism, environmentalism, modernism, postmodernism, phenomenology, critical theory, deconstruction, German culture, history, and politics, expat life, and much more.

A co-production with the Museum Hegel-Haus, Stuttgart

Deadbeat headquarters

Dave sits down with marketing writer, air force veteran, and medieval history aficionado Ross Heintzkill. Dave and Ross talk about institutions and bureaucracy—the good and the bad, in the US and in Germany. They chat about the US founding fathers (especially Hamilton), the value of reading primary historical texts, the 4th Crusade (1202–1204), and about Ross’s relationship to death, as a veteran, a partner, a dog-papa, and a human being.

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Ross’s recommendations:

Jonathan Phillips, The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople

Project Hail Mary

Severance

Terms of Enlistment

Ross’s webpage

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Become a deadbeat philosopher, and read Dave’s deadbeat philosophical scribblings, at https://deadbeatphilosophy.substack.com

Deadbeat philosophy = sideways investigations into philosophy, politics, and the contradictions of modern life—from a former professor, future skeleton.

Podcast. Books in progress. Weird stop-motion. Modern life dissected.

New podcast episodes drop every Thursday. New writing posted all the time.

Historical philosophers on the table include, among others: Lao Tzu, Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine, Boethius, Hildegard von Bingen, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Voltaire, Franklin, Rousseau, Kant, Jefferson, Wollstonecraft, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Darwin, Kierkegaard, Thoreau, Douglass, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Husserl, Kafka, Leopold, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Benjamin, Adorno, Sartre, Arendt, Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, Camus, Sellars, Fanon, Foucault, Derrida, Rorty, and many more.

Topics on the table include, among others: the meaning of life, ethical dilemmas, theoretical frameworks, domestic and international politics, institutional analysis, education, religion, mental health, arts and literature, environment, nature, animals, climate, and extinction, race, gender, and the politics of race and gender, racism, colonialism, sexism, fascism, capitalism, socialism, nationalism, stoicism, daoism, confucianism, buddhism, pragmatism, feminism, rationalism, German idealism, romanticism, transcendentalism, environmentalism, modernism, postmodernism, phenomenology, critical theory, deconstruction, German culture, history, and politics, expat life, and much more.

A co-production with the Museum Hegel-Haus, Stuttgart

Deadbeat headquarters

Dave sits down with fellow philosopher, academic adviser, and long-time friend and research-collaborator, Lauren Eichler. Dave and Lauren talk about their winding journeys majoring in philosophy and advising students potentially interested in doing the same. They also talk about Lauren’s body of research on and personal connection to genocide, dehumanization, and the holocaust. 

Lauren’s recommendations:

The Good Place

Maquia

Aniara

Lauren and Dave’s co-authored articles

Lauren’s webpage

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Become a deadbeat philosopher, and read Dave’s deadbeat philosophical scribblings, at https://deadbeatphilosophy.substack.com

Deadbeat philosophy = sideways investigations into philosophy, politics, and the contradictions of modern life—from a former professor, future skeleton.

Podcast. Books in progress. Weird stop-motion. Modern life dissected.

New podcast episodes drop every Thursday. New writing posted all the time.

Historical philosophers on the table include, among others: Lao Tzu, Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Augustine, Boethius, Hildegard von Bingen, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Voltaire, Franklin, Rousseau, Kant, Jefferson, Wollstonecraft, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Darwin, Kierkegaard, Thoreau, Douglass, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Husserl, Kafka, Leopold, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Benjamin, Adorno, Sartre, Arendt, Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, Camus, Sellars, Fanon, Foucault, Derrida, Rorty, and many more.

Topics on the table include, among others: the meaning of life, ethical dilemmas, theoretical frameworks, domestic and international politics, institutional analysis, education, religion, mental health, arts and literature, environment, nature, animals, climate, and extinction, race, gender, and the politics of race and gender, racism, colonialism, sexism, fascism, capitalism, socialism, nationalism, stoicism, daoism, confucianism, buddhism, pragmatism, feminism, rationalism, German idealism, romanticism, transcendentalism, environmentalism, modernism, postmodernism, phenomenology, critical theory, deconstruction, German culture, history, and politics, expat life, and much more.

A co-production with the Museum Hegel-Haus, Stuttgart

Deadbeat headquarters

Dave gives you a nutshell introduction to the Deadbeat Philosophy multi-verse, then has a chat about asteroid destruction and anthropocentrism with Montreal-based political scientist Thibaud Henin.

Thibaud's webpage: https://www.henin.net/thibaud-henin

Become a deadbeat, and read Dave’s deadbeat philosophical scribblings, at https://deadbeatphilosophy.substack.com

Deadbeat philosophy = sideways investigations into philosophy, politics, and the contradictions of modern life. 

Podcast. Books in progress. Weird stop-motion video. Modern life dissected.

New podcast episodes drop every Thursday. New writing posted all the time.

Historical philosophers on the table include, among others: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Montaigne, Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau, Franklin, Kant, Jefferson, Wollstonecraft, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Douglass, Marx, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud, Beauvoir, Fanon, and many more.

Topics on the table include, among others: the meaning of life, ethical dilemmas, theoretical frameworks, political critique, institutional analysis, education, politics, religion, mental health, arts and literature, environment, nature, animals, and climate, German culture, history, and politics, expat life, and much more.

A co-production with the Museum Hegel-Haus, Stuttgart: https://hegel-haus.de

Deadbeat headquarters: https://deadbeatphilosophy.substack.com

#PhilosophyPodcast #Ethics #PostAcademic #BooksAndMusic #Philosophy

Chris Anderson is a Roman Catholic theologian, high school theology and philosophy teacher, college instructor, and pastoral minister based in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Chris was a student of Dave’s during their overlapping time at Seton Hill University, and in this conversation the two revisit and expand upon themes they had first discussed years prior, including the relationship between philosophy and theology, the value of a liberal arts education, Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, the phenomenological and narrative richness of Augustine’s Confessions, and existentialism from Heidegger to Beauvoir.

Along the way, Chris shares his reactions to the selection of an American (and Augustinian) pope, his approach to the concept of kenosis, his relationship to mortality in light of his deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan in early adulthood, his view of the relationship between AI and human mortality, and much more.

Chris’ Recommendations:

“Black Mirror” (TV Show)

Martin Heidegger, “Poetry, Language, Thought” (Book)

Sarah Bakewell, “At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails” (Book)

David Baumeister, “Kant on the Human Animal: Anthropology, Ethics, Race” (Book)

Thibaud Henin is a Canadian political scientist based at Concordia University in Montreal.

Dave and Thibaud chat about artificial intelligence from a variety of angles. They focus on algorithms and their interface with patterns of human and non-human behavior, thought, history, life, and physiology. They discuss the concept of AI agency, and of the creation within AI systems of delegated management, agency, and meta-agency roles. They debate the question of whether AI could in fact produce “truly innovative” poetry, art, or literature, or whether it might be condemned to an eternal repetition of wholly non-innovative cultural mush.

They touch on examples such as AI art, AI poetry, AI philosophy, AI lawyers, AI in the justice system, AI music, AI film, AI YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok channels. They touch on the nature of innovation and creative novelty itself, and question whether even human innovation is not simply a matter of random mutations occurring within otherwise fully-patterned natural iterations. They share experiences encountering AI in academia (from the position of professor and researcher) and as parents. They end on a note of skepticism regarding whether it can be ruled out that this podcast is itself a product of generative AI.

Thibaud's webpage

Thibaud’s Recommendations:

Stephen Hawking, “The Illustrated A Brief History of Time” (Book)

Jennifer Clapp, “Toxic Exports: The Transfer of Hazardous Wastes from Rich to Poor Countries” (Book)

Classic Punk Albums by Ramones, Sex Pistols, and NOFX (Albums)