philosophy

“I’ll See You Later”: Repetition and Time in Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘All About My Mother’

“I’ll See You Later”: Repetition and Time in Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘All About My Mother’

There are mythical moments in Almodóvar’s All About My Mother. We are meant to register repetition in the story as something wonderfully strange, a connection across the chasm of impossibility.

Does Inclusivity Mean That Everyone Does the Same Thing?

Does Inclusivity Mean That Everyone Does the Same Thing?

What is the meaning of diversity in today’s world? Russell Jacoby raises and addresses some pertinent questions in his latest work, On Diversity.

‘Egress’ Mourns and Celebrates the Life and Work of Theorist Mark Fisher

‘Egress’ Mourns and Celebrates the Life and Work of Theorist Mark Fisher

Mark Fisher's insights are often obscured in Matt Colquhoun's personal/academic hybrid, Egress, which ranges far and wide over philosophy and pop culture.

Love at a Socially-Isolating Distance

Love at a Socially-Isolating Distance

In one sense, life in the time of Coronavirus clarifies an essential element of love: love always occurs at an ontological distance.

Nazism Repackaged? A Closer Look at the “Fascist Subtext” of ‘Attack on Titan’

Nazism Repackaged? A Closer Look at the “Fascist Subtext” of ‘Attack on Titan’

Many fantasy writers have incorporated the visual footprint of the Third Reich into their fictional worlds. Few, however, have done so as extensively as the creator of Attack on Titan, who revisited this terrible chapter of history not to find inspiration for a fearsome antagonist, but to excavate the divisive ideas that lay buried there.

Optimism and the Inquisition: The Extraordinary Life of Girolamo Cardano

Optimism and the Inquisition: The Extraordinary Life of Girolamo Cardano

Polymath Girolamo Cardano was beaten, imprisoned, survived a plague, and was banned by the church. Yet his work in medicine, engineering, mathematics and more is present in our lives today.

You’ll Never Make It Alone: On Groups in ‘The Good Place’

You’ll Never Make It Alone: On Groups in ‘The Good Place’

The Good Place puts a dirtbag, a human turtleneck, a narcissistic monster, and the dumbest person ever n the same room, because they’ll never make it alone.

Tipping the Swear Jar: How mewithoutYou Used the F-Bomb to Say More Than the F-Word

Tipping the Swear Jar: How mewithoutYou Used the F-Bomb to Say More Than the F-Word

Lyricist Aaron Weiss of post-punk Christian band mewithoutyou used the F-word in a song and it got banned from radio and the album got pulled from record stores. Meanwhile, his fans ponder his parodying of cultural mores.

‘Mister Rogers and Philosophy’, for the Children Now Grown

‘Mister Rogers and Philosophy’, for the Children Now Grown

Mister Rogers and Philosophy considers reality, fantasy, and our philosophical role in both worlds of the long-running PBS children’s program.

Abjection Incorporated: Mediating the Politics of Pleasure and Violence (By the Book)

Abjection Incorporated: Mediating the Politics of Pleasure and Violence (By the Book)

Escaping abjection's usual confines of psychoanalysis and aesthetic modernism, the contributors to Abjection Incorporated examine a range of media, including literature, photography, film, television, talking dolls, comics, and manga. Enjoy this generous excerpt, courtesy of Duke University Press.

Ever Have That Theory About Feelings About Theory in Grad School?

Ever Have That Theory About Feelings About Theory in Grad School?

Graduate school, everyone? The glory of Jordan Alexander Stein's Theory is that it unmasks both the utility and the futility of theory.

Embracing Nothing: Nihilism in Bellocchio’s ‘Fists in the Pocket’

Embracing Nothing: Nihilism in Bellocchio’s ‘Fists in the Pocket’

Bellocchio's best work, Fists in the Pocket (I pugni in tasca) is key to understanding the stark shift Italian cinema experienced in moving from the post-realism phase of the 1950s into the experimentalism, social commentary, and surrealism of the 1960s.