Ryan and Todd address the fundamental connections between Hegelian philosophy and feminism. They discuss the role of contradiction in both lines of thought and focus on some of the major feminist readers of Hegel’s philosophy, including Gillian Rose, Catherine Malabou, and Rebecca Comay.

Ryan and Todd work to explain Hegel's central idea of Aufhebung (translated as "sublation"). This unique German term, which means to cancel, to preserve, and to lift up, provides the key for understanding the movement of Hegel's philosophy, but it is also the site for misunderstanding Hegel's project, which the show discusses.

Ryan and Todd discuss the Jacques Lacan's neologism "extimacy," which first occurs in Seminar VII and then disappears. But they theorize that this concept offers an excellent starting point for grasping Lacan's entire project, despite his own sparse use of it.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd chronicle the varied evolution of the concept of jouissance in the thought of Jacques Lacan and offer their idea of the best formulation of this concept. They touch on the key moments, from the association of jouissance with transgression in Seminar VII to the identification of jouissance with the failure of the sexual relationship in Seminar XX.

In their continuing series on Jacques Lacan's seminars, Ryan and Todd devote this episode to Seminar 2, which focuses on the relationship between the imaginary and symbolic registers. They discuss Lacan's early conception of death drive, his reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter," and the game of odds and evens, as well as other aspects of the seminar.

In this special episode, Ryan and Todd comment on the recent attempted coup in the United States. They address the significance of this act of domestic terrorism for the actuality of Right and Left on the political scene.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd analyze the new Christopher Nolan film Tenet. They discuss the film in terms of the concept of Nachtraglickeit or retroactivity, as well as exploring the conflicted politics that Nolan proposes in the film.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd investigate the theoretical implications of popular music, focusing on groups such as the Replacements, the Talking Heads, and Roxy Music. They consider how the unconscious, drive, fantasy, and enjoyment manifest themselves in the works from these bands and others.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the phenomenon of German Idealism through its four primary figures--Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. Rather than focusing solely on these figures as thinkers, they delve into the gossip surrounding each of them as well. Focusing on a significant contribution of each, they look to each of them as theorists of the simple and everyday.

This episode is the third in a seven part series devoted to Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Ryan and Todd discuss the second major section, Self-Consciousness, with a special focus on the master/slave dialectic. They also explore the transition from Consciousness and then the transition to Reason.

In this special episode, Ryan and Todd analyze the recent US presidential election. They note that Joe Biden's victory covers over several problems inherent in the moderate politics of the Democratic Party. They also discuss the appeal of Donald Trump to those who do not benefit from his policies.

In the third and final episode devoted to the thought of Gilles Deleuze, Ryan and Todd discuss the Deleuze of the 1980s, the Deleuze after Guattari. Their primary focus in this episode is on the cinema books. They explore the relationship between the movement-image and the time-image, concluding with an assessment of the attempts to marry Deleuze with psychoanalysis. Other media mentioned in the show: Cooper Cherry’s Podcast https://soundcloud.com/podcast-co-coopercherry Ben Hagen’s Reading Difference and Repetition blog https://sketchingapresent.com/2013/06/22/slow-reading-1-1-gilles-deleuze-difference-and-repetition-pg-1/ Short introduction where Andrew Culp explains the aims of his book Dark Deleuze https://alienocene.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/dark-d-to-print.pdf

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss Gilles Deleuze's early thought, prior to his collaboration with Felix Guattari. They focus primarily on his major works from this period--Difference and Repetition and The Logic of Sense. Here is the podcast that Ryan mentions in the episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/488221f4

Ryan and Todd explore the prequel as a narrative form. They consider its radical potential and how it might function ideologically. They discuss prequels such as Fire Walk With Me and Better Call Saul.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd analyze the confrontation that Deleuze and Guattari enact with psychoanalytic theory. They think through conceiving desire as production vs. conceiving it as lack, focusing on the the multiple as opposed to the singular, and other issues.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the final of Jacques Lacan's three orders--the imaginary. They examine how the concept developed historically and the trajectory of its role within psychoanalytic theory.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd examine the conception of the symbolic order, as developed by Jacques Lacan and those who follow him. They discuss how the symbolic order is structured and look at it in terms of its relationship to the real. They think through the everyday events that reveal the omnipresence of the symbolic structure.

In this first of three episodes, Ryan and Todd discuss Jacques Lacan's register of the real. They detail the role that it plays within Lacan's theoretical system, as well as focusing on its importance for thinking about political change.

In this first episode in a series devoted to Lacan's seminars, Ryan and Todd lay out their reading of Seminar 1. They discuss Lacan's critique of alternative psychoanalytic practices and work through his initial understanding of the relationship between the imaginary and symbolic registers.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd analyze Walter Benjamin's famous essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." This dive into the concept of aura that Benjamin focuses on, and then they move to the relationship between fascism and art. They also explain the significance of the differences between the distinct versions of the essay.

In this special episode, Ryan and Todd debate two different conceptions of universality. Ryan locates universality in the quilting point, whereas Todd conceives of universality in terms of constitutive absence. They explore these different ideas alongside Slavoj Zizek's conception of universality as antagonism.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd define and explore the implications of interpassivity, a concept developed by Robert Pfaller and popularized by Slavoj Zizek. Through this discussion, they speculate on the possibility of interpassivity as a possible point of collectivization for the Left.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the Lacanian aphorism, "The big Other does not exist." They try to understand what Lacan means with the notion of big Other, contrasting it with symbolic order and ideology. Then they work out the relationship between time and the recognition of the big Other's nonexistence.

In this special episode, Ryan and Todd lay out the relationship between capitalism and racism. They argue for racism's link to capitalism and question the ability of capitalism to survive without it. They consider this relationship in light of the massive protest movement currently going on in the United States. References mentioned in the episode: National Bail Fund Network https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory National Lawyers Guild https://www.nlg.org Red Library Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/red-library-a-political-education-podcast-for-todays-left/id1449392577 InForm https://inform.transistor.fm/s2/23 Machinic Unconscious Happy Hour https://soundcloud.com/podcast-co-coopercherry Revolutionary Left Radio https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com

Ryan and Todd theorize the modernist novel as a specific literary form, defined not by its time period but by its structural exigencies. They relate this form to the importance of the ending that function as a cut in the narrative movement rather than as a summation of all that has happened, which contrasts it with previous iterations of the novel.

In this episode of a continuing series on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Ryan and Todd go over the three subsection of the Consciousness chapter: sense certainty, perception, and force and understanding. They move from a discussion of Hegel's clarity in sense certainty to his opacity in Force and Understanding. They contend that this last section of Consciousness represents one of the major moments in both Hegel's thought and in all of modern philosophy.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd trace the history and development of the Oedipus complex, as well as its relationship to the entirety of the psychoanalytic project. They question its centrality and discuss the merits of its continued importance.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd explore the concept of the missing signifier. Rooting this discussion in Alenka Zupancic's book What IS Sex?, they delve into the theoretical and political ramifications of the missing signifier. Following Zupancic, they argue that this signifier is the point of primary repression and marks where enjoyment forms in the social order.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd explore Ryan's concept of Zaddy fascism, a concept that focuses on the erotics of the fascist leader. They discuss the possibilities for conceiving of the difference between the fascist leader and the leftist alternative.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the implications of Mari Ruti's book Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings. Following Ruti, they explore the notion of penis envy from a feminist perspective. Then, they trace the book's other theoretical movements, including Ruti's take on pornography.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the political implications of the coronavirus pandemic. They lay out the differences between a natural disaster and an emergency that has a clear enemy. They explore the implications that the response to virus has for the concept of biopower and the idea that we have been reduced to bare life today. From listener and clinician Conor McCormack: Structures are key to Lacanian practice and the parameters of differential diagnoses and can currently be nicely discerned in reactions to Coronavirus. Melancholia: It doesn't matter, I'm already dead Schizophrenia: I hadn't noticed Paranoia: I knew this was going to happen Obsessional Neurosis: We'll all be ok if we follow the rules Hysteria: Who's in charge here anyway?

In this episode, Ryan and Todd explore Lacan's aphorism, "the unconscious is structured like a language." They discuss the misunderstandings that this aphorism has produced and debate whether or not it represents a good point of entry into Lacan's thought. They also consider various examples the illustrate the idea expressed in the aphorism.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd explore the radicality of Immanuel Kant's notion of freedom, which he ties to our ability to give the moral law to ourselves. This paradox that the law is the source of our freedom serves as the basis for a discussion that touches both Kant's place in the history of philosophy and his relationship to psychoanalysis.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd explore Lacan's famous concept of the mirror stage. They discuss the role that this concept has in the popular understanding of Lacan's thought in contrast with the part that it plays in the theory itself, while also working through a detailed reading of Lacan's essay on this topic.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss new materialisms, exploring their rejection of epistemology and their embrace of a flat ontology. After laying out the basic position of new materialism and its rejection of the priority of the subject, they attempt to prove that this is ultimately an untenable theoretical position to champion. They make reference to Todd's essay that critiques this position in light of Hegel: https://www.academia.edu/9832109/On_the_Necessity_of_Contradiction_Hegel_with_the_Speculative_Realists And to Joan Copjec's excellent essay on sexual difference for a similar line of thought: https://www.politicalconcepts.org/sexual-difference-joan-copjec/

Ryan and Todd explore the problem of the ending, focusing on when and why the ending becomes important in film and television. They discuss the relationship between the ending of life and the ending of a work of art, especially in terms of psychoanalytic thinking.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd work through the possibilities for a psychoanalytic theory of aesthetics. Starting with the concept of sublimation, they discuss how psychoanalytic ideas might give us the tools for understanding and judging aesthetic value.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd try to pin down Jacques Lacan's elusive and crucial concept of the objet a. They offer different ways of thinking about and give various examples before identifying the point at which it emerges in Lacan's trajectory.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the possibilities for the marriage of psychoanalysis and existentialism, including the ideas that might render this marriage ultimately untenable. They explore how psychoanalysis and existentialism each provides a critique of the other, touching on Jacques Lacan's critique of Jean-Paul Sartre and Sartre's version of existential psychoanalysis.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd examine Hegel's critique of racism and analyze the charge of racism leveled against him. They discuss his championing of the revolting slaves in Haiti, as well as his comments about Africa in the Philosophy of History.

In this continuation of the previous episode, Ryan and Todd spell out the common criticisms launched against Freud and psychoanalysis. In each case, they try to show how these critiques ultimately come up short and either secretly rely on Freud's own psychoanalytic method when criticizing him or miss the aim of the psychoanalytic project. In this part, they confront the charges of Freud's heteronormativity and his sexism, while also speculating about why critiques stick to Freud and not to other theorists.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd spell out the common criticisms launched against Freud and psychoanalysis. In each case, they try to show how these critiques ultimately come up short and either secretly rely on Freud's own psychoanalytic method when criticizing him or miss the aim of the psychoanalytic project. In this part, they address the image of Freud as a cocaine addict, as a pervert, and as a charlatan. In the next episode, they will confront the charges of Freud's heteronormativity and his sexism.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd argue for a psychoanalytic understanding of capitalism's appeal and staying power. They reflect on the possibilities for a psychoanalytic critique of capitalism and ponder its abilities to offer alternatives, rather than just serve as a source of critique.

In this episode, Ryan recounts his own disability as a way of framing the discussion that he and Todd have about the relationship between psychoanalysis and disability. They explore the implications of disability for the status of the Other and the role that it plays in fetishistic disavowal. They conclude with an investigation of how disability runs counter to the structural logic of capitalism.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd dissect the television series "Mad Men" in political and psychoanalytic terms. They look at the characters Don and Peggy as ethical figures, as well as discussing the critique of capitalism that the series levels. They explore in depth the episode entitled "The Suitcase" as an example of the theoretical concept of the bottle episode.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the Incel phenomenon and its relationship to the logic at work in misogyny. They frame the question in terms of how symbolic castration functions in contemporary society. The discussion turns to how the phenomenon of the Incel actually sheds light on many other aspects of today's capitalist universe.

Ryan and Todd analyze Slavoj Zizek's contribution in what may be his magnum opus--The Parallax View. They discuss how he builds on the concept of parallax as originally articulated by Kojin Karatani and its implication for Zizek's understanding of politics.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd unpack Jacques Lacan's famous aphorism about the signifier--"the signifier represents the subject to another signifier." This aphorism focuses on the role of the desiring subject in signification and highlights the contrast between meaning and signification. Ryan and Todd contrast this definition of the signifier with the sign and explore what's at stake in this distinction. They wrap up the podcast by interpreting some current cultural signifiers and explain why we need to see them as signifiers.

In this episode, Ryan and Todd explore the problem of contradiction, especially as it appears in Hegel's philosophy. In doing so, they work through the argument of Todd's new book on Hegel, "Emancipation After Hegel: Achieving a Contradictory Revolution." They debate the thesis of the book--that the end point of Hegel's philosophy is reconciliation with contradiction--while pondering the ramifications of contradiction for politics.

In the third of a series of three special episodes featuring Slavoj Zizek, Ryan and Todd respond to Todd's interview with Slavoj concerning his relationship to Hegel. Slavoj brings up questions about Todd's interpretation of Hegel in his new book, specifically the claim about the end of history and the idea that Hegel argues for political freedom. Building on the interview, Ryan and Todd ponder how we might think of progress in Hegelian terms.