Philosophy vs Work

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Philosophy vs Work

Michael Murray

26 episodes

2 months ago

Hey everyone, I found myself in the rare position of having a little extra time and some prior research that felt particularly relevant to the current moment. Wait, which current moment you ask? Good question! The firehose of crises vomiting from the White House and far right governments across the world have produced no shortage of current moments of concern. In this regard, I’d like to speak directly to the Trump admins’ latest Orwellian attempt to whitewash US history by imposing their ide...

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Society & Culture,

All content for Philosophy vs Work is the property of Michael Murray and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Hey everyone, I found myself in the rare position of having a little extra time and some prior research that felt particularly relevant to the current moment. Wait, which current moment you ask? Good question! The firehose of crises vomiting from the White House and far right governments across the world have produced no shortage of current moments of concern. In this regard, I’d like to speak directly to the Trump admins’ latest Orwellian attempt to whitewash US history by imposing their ide...

Show more...

Society & Culture,

Episodes (20/26)

Philosophy vs Work

Critical Historicity; an Alternative to Ideology?

Hey everyone, I found myself in the rare position of having a little extra time and some prior research that felt particularly relevant to the current moment. Wait, which current moment you ask? Good question! The firehose of crises vomiting from the White House and far right governments across the world have produced no shortage of current moments of concern. In this regard, I’d like to speak directly to the Trump admins’ latest Orwellian attempt to whitewash US history by imposing their ide...

2 months ago

27 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Socialist Humanism; the Humanist Side of Marx and the Old/New Left

Hello again, been a minute. In this episode, following along with Weeks' argument in The Problem with Work, we take a look at Socialist Humanism, the ties to productivism Weeks (and I) have issues with, we get a bit into psychologist-philosopher Erich Fromm, the (old) New Left, and humanism in Marx' early works. Hope you're up for a long episode! Join the conversation on Patreon! Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articles) you may also want to check out: Celikates, Robin and Jeffr...

2 months ago

56 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Art, Power, and Strange Economies

Yet another delay on getting to Week's "Refusal of Work," but I'm going to blame this one on current affairs and the drinking-from-the-fire-hose that is the Trump news cycle. Following the massive No Kings protests, I thought it best to address the outpouring of frustration, righteous indignation, anger, outrage, and fear (not to mention the stark juxtaposition sad-Trump's big boy parade), and talk about the stranger economics of affects. We’re going to be discussing some authors that h...

4 months ago

47 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Socialism's Failures: Modernization and Productivist Marxism

Okay, so this episode was initially going to cover an area Weeks identifies as failures of Productivist Marxism; Socialist Modernization and Socialist Humanism, but we're going to be addressing the latter in the next episode. This one ran long enough as is. We're also going to be taking a minute to address, and correct, a mistake I made in the last episode as regards the conservative, capitalist approach to the if, then clause regarding waged work and profit maximazation that has some surpris...

5 months ago

56 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Becoming Victim

Hey all, welcome back. There's a ton to go over from what's been going on on my end lately, what's been happening with the economy, we talk a little about 'where have all the Leftists gone?' (queue Paula Cole), and, for the bulk of the episode, we return to Kathi Weeks' The Problem with Work. For part 3, we're focusing on Weber's primitive construction of subjectivities, what the structures of Capitalism and the Work Ethic do, the antinomy of systems of inclusion and exclusion, and we start d...

6 months ago

1 hour 9 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

The Work Ethic: Archeology and Genealogy

Okay, it feels a little strange to be getting here over 20 episodes in, but let’s talk about the work ethic. Now, I know I said this episode was going to be about my reading of Weeks and what I propose is this movement from subject to victim of work, but, surprise, we’re not there yet. Today we’re looking at the background theory and the move from the Traditionalist to Protestant work ethic. I mentioned last episode that we need to perform a genealogy of the work ethic if we’re to under...

7 months ago

41 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Work; an Overview of The Problem

And so it begins, the final arc in this section on Utopia: a short series on Kathi Weeks' 2011 The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries. If you couldn’t guess it from the title, we’ve got a lot to unpack here, and there’s no way this is all going to fit in one episode. I’m going to be breaking this down into two sections, over several episodes. Following Weeks, I’m breaking these sections into what she calls the Refusal, the diagnostic an...

8 months ago

46 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

No More Work? Part Two: The Political Part

Moving right along with No More Work; Why Full Employment is a Bad Idea by James Livingston, part two. Again, fair warning, there are going to be a lot of ‘f-bombs’ in this episode, we're really getting into Livingston's F! Work argument now. In this Episode? Neoliberalism, Keynesian economics, productivism, capital and labor inputs, Nixon, the FAP, and, well, Trump. Join the conversation on Patreon! Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articles) you may also want to check out: Livings...

9 months ago

47 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

No More Work? Part One: The Philosophy Part

Aaaand… we’re back! Welcome to the first episode of 2025, a year that I’m sure will prove, um, noteworthy? Today we’re moving on to another, and even smaller book (literally, it’s like 5 by 7 inches and only a hundred and seven pages, including the acknowledgements), No More Work; Why Full Employment is a Bad Idea by James Livingston, University of North Carolina Press, 2016. And fair warning, there are going to be a lot of ‘f-bombs’ in this episode - and the next, to be honest.In this Episod...

9 months ago

50 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Market Stalinism and the Marxist Supernanny

Well, we've made it to the end of 2024 and the end of our run on Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism. In this episode, we unpack these last two ideas, talk about Stalinist Bureaucracy and why it's relevant to talking about work today, some updates on this podcast, and some thoughts on the recent UHC CEO shooting. So, grab a holiday-themed emotional support beverage, enjoy, and have a happy new year! Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articles) you may also want to check out: Fisher, M...

10 months ago

42 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Capitalist Realism: Discipline and Control

In this episode, we're still on challenges to Utopia and getting back to Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternaitve? We're also taking our first little foray in Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze as far as Sovereign, Disciplinary, and Control Socities; some contemporary economic-political issues; and a tiny digression into the auto industry, religion, and ancient Rome. Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articles) you may also want to check out: Deleuze, Gilles. "Pos...

11 months ago

50 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Philosophy versus Trump: Anger and Outrage

Well, we lost, and it sucks, but maybe this isn't the worst possible outcome. In the aftermath of the recent US general election, I take a bit to examine some of the details, fact and fiction, in the election results, and in regards to the parties and candidates. More importantly, on the philosophy side, we take a look at anger and outrage, in defense of anger and outrage, hope, and through Stephane Hessel's Time for Outrage (2010) and and excerpt from Sara Ahmed's The Cultural Poli...

12 months ago

30 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Beware! The Blob and Capitalist Realism (The Halloween Special)

Welcome to the first Halloween Special! In this episode, we're discussing horror movies and capitalism; specifically, The Blob ('58, '72, and '88), Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56), and Mark Fisher's "Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?" We talk a little about horror and science fiction, gods and monsters, Red (and Pink) scare(s), the Blob as metaphor for late capitalism, and how horror movies reflect the mass anxieties of the time. Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articl...

1 year ago

47 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Childless, Futureless?

Well, hope you're in for a long one. This episode: Lee Edleman's No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, as well as connections to Barthes and Benjamin, the myth of the Child and reproductive futurism, some psychoanalytic theory, existentialism and uncertainty, an examination and rebuttal to the recent Vice-Presidential debate, Tim Walz as America's Dad and JD Vance's utter commitment to myth-speech, and some historical econoimic data. Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articles) y...

1 year ago

1 hour 7 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

The Past, the Future, and The Violence of Hope

In this episode we start addressing some of the serious problems with utopian thinking and, especially, progressive narratives. We unpack a bit of Walter Benjamin's "Theses on the Philosophy of History," return to Barthes regarding myth, and bring a little Nietzsche and some Star Trek into the conversation as well. Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articles) you may also want to check out: Benjamin, Walter, and Hannah Arendt. 1968. Illuminations. New York: Schocken Books. Bergson, Hen...

1 year ago

39 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

A Dionysian Interlude

Today’s episode is a going to be little different from the usual style, a bit more blog and a bit less position paper, but don’t worry, we’re still going to get to some philosophy, specifically Nietzsche, in the latter half. We play catchup on what's been happening on my end as far as voiceover work and Dragoncon, then address the potential for Nietzsche to be read as a hopeful redemption narrative. Obligatory bibliography, or books (and articles) you may also want to check out: Nietzsche,...

1 year ago

18 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Work and Utopia's End

In this episode: Kathi Week’s The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries. Now, to be fair, we’re not going to examine the whole book, not yet anyway. Today we’re going to be looking at utopianism as a philosophical and political project, teleology and nonteleological utopian thinking. We're also going to run a bit of a who's who and what's what with Plato and Aristotle, Karl Popper, Francis Fukuyama, and Ernst Bloch as well as the logic of Rationalis...

1 year ago

43 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

The Mythological Order of Sarcasm

We're back to our regular format this week and continuing our unpacking of Roland Barthes' Mythologies; specifically, signification, the mythologist, and the reader of myths, as well as laying the methodology for how we’re going to be looking at utopia as a philosophical or socio-political ‘strategy.’ We take a look at the signs "the Party of Lincoln" and "MAGA" and, having done so, I could really go for some of "the good French Wine" right about now. Obligatory bibliography, or books ...

1 year ago

44 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Happy Hour with Amanda Cranford of Dish Restaurant

Hey everyone, this week’s episode is going to be a bit different. Rather than the usual philosophical info-tainment, today we’re going to focus more on the work side of the equation. I recently had the opportunity to chat with an old friend, Amanda Cranford, the owner-operator of Dish, here in Charlotte, in the Plaza-Midwood neighborhood. We had a few drinks and discussed the restaurant industry, being a small business owner, and of course a bit about work-philosophy and ethics, as well as th...

1 year ago

52 minutes

Philosophy vs Work

Wrestling with Meaning

Welcome to the next arc (next chapter?) of Philosophy vs Work! From here, we start unpacking Semiotics, Myth, and Utopia - starting with an unpacking of what is semiotics? - and the role utopias and utopian thought play in thinking about work, in how these utopias and work have been mythologized, and how these mythologized words shape how we think and even what we’re potentially capable of thinking. In this episode: Roland Barthes' Mythologies, semiotics, myth as speech, professional/amateur...

1 year ago

35 minutes