Why We Choose Gods and Masters: Reich on Ideology
Why is it that the masses desired and worked toward their own servitude in the 1930s? In this episode, Craig, Will, and Adam take a look at an essay in Wilhelm Reich’s Mass Psychology of Fascism, “Ideology as a Material Force.” Here, Reich pushes back against some of his Marxist contemporaries. To Reich, the purely economic explanation of the rise of fascism is insufficient. What are the limitations of the purely economic explanation of the success of reactionary politics? How is it that the ...
6 Apr 202154min
The Early Engels: Capitalism, Morality, and the Case Against Malthus
In this episode, Craig, Adam, Matt, and Will examine an early writing of Friedrich Engels entitled "Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy". How can we interpret the evidently moralistic language in Engels' work in light of the anti-moralism which characterizes his later writings with Marx, namely within "The German Ideology". In "Outlines", Engels offers a succinct but brilliant rendering of how the division of capital and labor precipitate other kinds of contradictions under the capita...
21 Mar 20211h
Answers Without Organs: Acid Horizon's Second Q&A Session
In this episode, Craig, Adam, Will, and Matt answer listeners’ questions ranging from Deleuze and Derrida to MacIntyre and Adorno. What are some ways to read philosophy effectively? Where does theory intersect with the novel and how does this encounter affect philosophy? Craig flexes his pedagogical muscles, Adam muses on the double bind of Twitter, Will discusses Dostoyevsky, and Matt shows us his Thomistic side. We’re full of surprises and, hopefully, answers! Contribute to Acid Horizon: h...
2 Mar 20211h 12min
The Contactee Experience: The UFO Phenomenon As Examined by Carl Jung and Jacques Valée (with Andy from Caïna)
*CW: discussions of psychological trauma, sexual assault, suicide, depression, and anxiety* Welcome to the first episode of the new series ‘Inner Experience’ from Acid Horizon! A show about exploring our consciousness, the weird, the eerie, and the beyond. For this episode, Craig, Will, and Adam are joined by Andy (@cainalikehyena), the Black Metal and Industrial maestro behind Caїna and Ritual Object, to discuss his 'inner experience' of UFOs and of communion with a liminal unknown. As conce...
16 Feb 20211h 10min
PC Music, Accelerationism, and Xenofeminism
In this episode, we invited friends of the show, Will and Anton, to discuss their upcoming project: an ethnographic, musicological, and philosophical investigation into the aesthetic phenomenon of 'PC Music' and its unique digital use of space, facial framing, and audible intensity in generating concert experiences. Taking artists such as A.G. Cook and SOPHIE as paradigm cases, we discuss how PC Music, otherwise known more generally as 'hyperpop', integrates accelerationist methods to lay bar...
10 Feb 20211h 1min
Derrida on the Secret, Sacrifice, and the Singularity of Death
What does it mean to tremble before something? In this episode, we cover “Whom to Give to” from Jacques Derrida’s The Gift of Death. Why do we commit to one other instead of all others? Our discussion centers around the notions of the ethical, the universal, and the choices we make. This is a unique work of Derrida’s – one informed by a very focused reading of Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling. This conversation cuts through Derrida’s reading of the non-communicative, secret-withholding 'knigh...
2 Feb 202159min
Imposter Syndrome and Philosophy: Thinking with Gilles Deleuze and Mark Fisher
CONTENT WARNING: MENTAL HEALTH DISCUSSION In this episode, Craig, Will, Matt, and Adam invite friend of the show Rose( @8leggedloser) to discuss the notion of 'impostor syndrome'. Using texts such as Mark Fisher's "Good for Nothing" and Deleuze's "Plato and the Simulacrum" from his Logic of Sense, we consider what it means to feel a failure of identification in relation to how one is recognised in the order of things, what it means to internalise social forces that attempt to confine you with...
19 Jan 20211h 4min
"What is Metaphysics?" - Analyzing Heidegger's Seminal Lecture at Freiburg
Why is there something rather than nothing? In this episode, Craig, Matt, Will, and Adam address Heidegger’s inaugural lecture “What is Metaphysics?”. For Heidegger, the central problem of metaphysics lies at the level of the “is” itself. His pursuit is to establish a fundamental understanding of Being, something he believes has been almost entirely overlooked since the split between Plato and Aristotle. This piece also touches on many central elements in Heidegger’s earlier work, ranging fro...
13 Jan 20211h 2min
