Damn the Absolute!

By: Jeffrey Howard
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  • Summary

  • Hosted by Jeffrey Howard, editor-in-chief of Erraticus, Damn the Absolute! is a show about our relationship to ideas. Doing our damnedest not to block the path of inquiry. Produced by Erraticus. www.erraticus.co

    damntheabsolute.substack.com
    Erraticus
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Philosophy Social Sciences
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Episodes
  • S2E05 Americans Don’t Know How to Sing the Blues w/ Brad Elliott Stone & Jacob Goodson

    S2E05 Americans Don’t Know How to Sing the Blues w/ Brad Elliott Stone & Jacob Goodson
    Aug 3 2023
    School boards and state governments have been locked in intense debates over what counts as history and whose history ought to be taught. Many of these wrestles orbit around events and cultural beliefs that the pragmatist philosopher Cornel West might refer to as “catastrophes.”Some voices are eager to bury, ignore, or sterilize many of the truly horrendous deeds that have happened in the United States. Slavery. Segregation. Jim Crow. Genocide. The exploitation of workers. And the list goes on.This inability to process the pain, guilt, or shame many of these events provoke in people is, arguably, a major contributing factor to the polarization, dehumanization, and political corrosiveness we encounter in both the national discourse and our local communities. Brad Elliott Stone and Jacob Goodson believe the answer can be found in building beloved community.They draw from the philosophies of Josiah Royce, Martin Luther King Jr, Cornel West, and William James. In their new book, Building Beloved Community in a Wounded World, they argue for ways in which we can heal the wounds inflicted on all of us by racism and economic injustices, both past and present. Here are just a few of the questions considered throughout the conversation.Should building beloved community be focused locally, nationally, or globally? What does it take to effectively respond to the cries of the wounded? And, how can communities better work through the emotional pain of past wrongs?Brad Elliott Stone is Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean in the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.Jacob L. Goodson is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas.Show NotesBuilding Beloved Community in a Wounded World by Jacob L. Goodson, Brad Elliott Stone, and Philip Rudolph Kuehnert (2022)Introducing Prophetic Pragmatism: A Dialogue on Hope, the Philosophy of Race, and the Spiritual Blues by Jacob L. Goodson and Brad Elliott Stone (2019)Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity by Richard Rorty (1989)The American Evasion of Philosophy by Cornel West (1989)“Pragmatism and the Tragic Sense of Life” by Sidney Hook (1960)The Tragic Sense of Life by Miguel de Unamuno (1954)Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James (1907)“Tender-Minded vs. Tough-Minded Thinkers” by Jeffrey Howard (2023)S2E02 Fear of Breakdown in American Democracy w/ Noëlle McAfee (2022)“American Democracy and Its Broken Bargaining Tables” by Daniel Layman (2021)“Rortian Liberalism and the Problem of Truth” by Adrian Rutt (2021)S1E12 Philosophers Need to Care About the Poor w/ Jacob Goodson (2021)S1E19 Buddhist Reflections on Race and Liberation w/ Charles Johnson (2021)S1E01 Richard Rorty and Achieving Our Country w/ Adrian Rutt (2020)Music Credits“Happy Americana” by ABCDmusic“Empty Bottle, Empty Bed” by Mini Vandals“Thinking Blues” by Bessie Smith“Nobody’s Dirty Business” by Mississippi John Hurt“That’s All Right” by Arthur Crudup“Sissy Man Blues” by Kokomo Arnold This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit damntheabsolute.substack.com
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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • S2E04 Does Metamodernism Actually Move Us Past Postmodernism? w/ Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm

    S2E04 Does Metamodernism Actually Move Us Past Postmodernism? w/ Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm
    Mar 30 2023
    The German philosopher Hegel gives us a useful tool for understanding the history of ideas: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. We can see this clearly in the movement from the Enlightenment to romanticism to modernism and postmodernism—each intellectual movement a reaction to its predecessor, integrating what works from the previous era with new solutions to meet the demands of new problems.  But, where does that leave us now? What comes next after postmodernism? Odds are, we’re already in it this new intellectual movement.  A growing number of people have become worn out with deconstruction and the postmodernist impulse to doubt everything, to dismantle every concept and institution. It’s become apparent this exercise which started out as emancipatory and liberating has congealed into its own set of dogmas and less-than-productive ways of being.  Eager to revitalize a more constructive mindset and free us from postmodernism’s long shadow, as he calls it, Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm makes a case for what he hopes will come next. He argues this in his recent book Metamodernism: The Future of Theory (2021). Chair and professor of religion and chair of science and technology studies at Williams College, he aims to take us through postmodernism to metamodernism, to establish a new approach to producing what he calls “humble knowledge.” He’s trying to create a paradigm shift, not just describe what is happening.  He believes metamodernism is about the future of all disciplines, especially the human sciences. Ultimately, metamodernism is about hope. It’s a vision whose ethical and political goals are rooted in compassion and multispecies flourishing.  And here are a few things we consider during our conversation: How does metamodernism utilize skepticism without falling prey to either nihilism or a dogmatic doubting of everything? Why has postmodernism possibly, I say, possibly, reached a dead end? What is the relationship between metamodernism and Pragmatism? And what pressing political or social problems can metamodernism help us solve?   Show Notes: The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity and the Birth of the Human Sciences by Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm (2017) “The Task of the Translator” in Illuminations: Essays and Reflections by Walter Benjamin (1968) “What Is a ‘Relevant’ Translation?” by Jacques Derrida (2001) “An Interview with Moyo Okediji on Metamodernism” by Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm (2022) “Black Skin, White Kins: Metamodern Masks, Multiple Mimesis” in Diaspora and Visual Culture: Representing Africans and Jews by Moyo Okediji (1999) Metamodernism: The Future of Theory by Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm (2021) S1E07 Charles Peirce and Inquiry as an Act of Love w/ David O’Hara (2021) Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature by Richard Rorty (1979) S2E03 Literature Must Be an Unsettling Force for Democracy w/ Elin Danielsen Huckerby (2022) “Rortian Liberalism and the Problem of Truth” by Adrian Rutt (2021) “Truth as Pragmatism’s Only Hope” by Jon Alan Schmidt (2022) “Why We Won’t Ever Arrive at Truth” by Ian Cran (2022) “The Power of One Idea” by Jeffrey Howard (2020)   Music Credits: “Suspicious” by Nicolas Gasparini licensed under a Creative Commons License “Happy Americana” by ABCDmusic “Carmen – Habanera (Piano Version) Georges Bizet” by Nicolas Gasparini licensed under a Creative Commons License “Old Bossa” by Twin Musicom licensed under a Creative Commons License “Chill Wave” by Kevin MacLeod licensed under a Creative Commons License “Bet On It” by Silent Partner licensed under a Creative Commons License This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit damntheabsolute.substack.com
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • S2E03 Literature Must Be an Unsettling Force for Democracy w/ Elin Danielsen Huckerby

    S2E03 Literature Must Be an Unsettling Force for Democracy w/ Elin Danielsen Huckerby
    Jun 1 2022
    Whether it's theology, philosophy, politics, or science, it is not uncommon for people to believe their particular worldview has greater authority over others. This authoritarian approach to ideas implies that one person's representation of truth more closely and certainly reflects reality—they have the truth and we must submit to it.   Alternatively, pragmatists believe this abstract certitude leads to religious fundamentalism, philosophical dogmatism, political absoluteness, and rigid scientism.   For thinkers like the late-twentieth century philosopher Richard Rorty, language is an instrument for coordinating our efforts in addressing concrete issues we face in our lived environments.   He doesn't believe theology, politics, philosophy, or even science are about acquiring an accurate representation of reality. In fact, he rejects the notion that the nature of truth is one of language mirroring reality. Instead, he views language as a dynamic tool, not something that reproduces truth.   Often credited with rehabilitating pragmatism, Rorty encourages us to abandon these authoritarian approaches for what he calls a literary culture. While he holds that none of these disciplines have an epistemically privileged position from which they can determine which truth claims more closely represent reality, they each still play important roles in society.   In other words, each provides us with particular vocabularies with different uses. Their vitality resides in the way they empower us to describe and redescribe experiences in continually novel and fruitful ways.   Elin Danielsen Huckerby is a research fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, associated with an EU-funded project on Inclusive Science and European Democracies. She recently graduated with a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where she worked on Rorty’s uses of literature in his philosophical work.   She believes Rorty's literary attitude gives us more productive ways to move culture, science, and politics forward.     A few questions to ponder.   What is the role of literature in liberal democracies? What is moral progress for Rorty? How can liberal democracies benefit from embracing a more literary rather than scientistic culture? And, how worried should we be about Rorty's rejection of objective truth?   Show Notes Richard Rorty  The Takeover by Literary Culture: Richard Rorty's Philosophy of Literature by Elin Danielsen Huckerby (2021) "Rortian Liberalism and the Problem of Truth" by Adrian Rutt (2021) S1E20 Can Pragmatism Help Us Live Well? w/ John Stuhr (2021) S1E14 A Tool for a Pluralistic World w/ Justin Marshall (2021) S1E12 Philosophers Need to Care About the Poor w/ Jacob Goodson (2021) S1E07 Charles Peirce and Inquiry as an Act of Love w/ David O’Hara (2021) S1E06 Levinas and James: A Pragmatic Phenomenology w/ Megan Craig (2020) S1E01 Richard Rorty and Achieving Our Country w/ Adrian Rutt (2020) “The Power of One Idea” by Jeffrey Howard (2020) “The Pragmatic Truth of Existentialism” by Donovan Irven (2020) Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher by Neil Gross (2008) "Trotsky and the Wild Orchids" by Richard Rorty (1992) Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity by Richard Rorty (1989) Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature by Richard Rorty (1979) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit damntheabsolute.substack.com
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    1 hr and 3 mins

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Intellectually Humble and Thoughtful

DtA is a pragmatist-leaning podcast that tries to explore a bunch of topics with an eye toward ideas that are useful. Don't let that fool you though into thinking it's just about philosophy. It's an interview-based format with experts and authors, most of them discussing what they think will help us solve some of our social and political problems.

Intellectually rigorous but not too stuffy. ;) Some episodes can be a bit more difficult for novices but overall you can listen to them as standalone segments.

Really cool to see this podcast grow since it launched last year. Erraticus must be doing something right.

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Great experience

I was a guest on the show and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It helped that Jeffrey was an extremely well prepared, yet approachable and personable host. He sent a list of over 20 well written, thoughtful, and relevant questions. I greatly appreciated that courtesy. This helped me hold up my end of the conversation. I hope listeners enjoy episode 15 about the commons. Jeffrey's way of doing things and philosophy make this kind of work go well, not to mention are much needed in a world dominated by media designed to be divisive. In this way, Damn the Absolute is a great tonic.

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The Practical Consequences of Ideas

The show fills a unique niche in the world of ideas and philosophy.

DtA has got an academic quality to it but feels a bit more open in that the guests usually end up talking about what their ideas mean in our daily lives or for the rest of us non-academic types.

Lots of episodes related to philosophical pragmatism but there's a worthwhile sprinkling of other topics like local architecture, placemaking, small-scale agriculture, unschooling, and political philosophy.

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