What's Left of Philosophy

• 116 TEASER | Are We Losing our Morality? Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue and the Nihilism of Modern Society

  In this episode, we discuss Alasdair MacIntyre’s landmark book After Virtue. MacIntyre, an ex-Marxist and committed anti-liberal, offers a defense of the Aristotelian tradition and its search for the truly common good against the dominant tendency of liberal societies to reduce morality to individual preferences. Modern society, MacIntyre believes, is one where we live fragmented lives, unable to narrate a coherent story of the relationship between morality and politics. Our invocations of morality ring increasingly hollow as we cannot even imagine what it would mean to convince others of what is good. We explore how the loss of morality coincides with all of us becoming moralists, why it seems we have to choose between Nietzsche and Aristotle, the costs of teaching morality like a choose-your-own-adventure buffet, and whether MacIntyre offers a compelling solution to our nihilistic times. The least we can say is that living without virtue is a real bummer!GET YOUR TICKETS FOR THE LIVE SHOW HERE:https://epiphanychi.com/events/whats-left-of-philosophy-live-show-karl-marxs-communist-manifesto/This is just a short teaser of the full episode. To hear the rest, please subscribe to us on Patreon:patreon.com/leftofphilosophyReferences:Alasadair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 3rd Edition (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007).Émile Perreau-Saussine, Alasdair MacIntyre: An Intellectual Biography. trans. Nathan J. Pinkski (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2022).Michael Lazarus, Absolute Ethical Life: Aristotle, Hegel and Marx (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2025). Music:“Vintage Memories” by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com“My Space” by Overu | https://get.slip.stream/KqmvAN

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• WLOP LIVE SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT! | AUGUST 7 | EPIPHANY CENTER FOR THE ARTS, CHICAGO

  Hi everyone! We are thrilled to announce that we will be performing live on August 7 at the Epiphany Center for the Arts in Chicago.This is a one-time only event and tickets are limited! Get yours here:https://epiphanychi.com/events/whats-left-of-philosophy-live-show-karl-marxs-communist-manifesto/Among other things, we’re planning to talk about the Communist Manifesto. The event will be filmed and released as a special episode.We’re really excited about this – it’s going to be a fantastic time, and we hope to see you there! Thanks for all your support.leftofphilosophy.comMusic: “Bubble” by Sun Cuts | https://get.slip.stream/3wxjrv/

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• Gil is Teaching a Class on Spinoza's Ethics in Chicago

  That's right, folks! Next month, Gil is teaching a class on Spinoza's Ethics at Twelve Ten Gallery in Chicago through the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.Enrollments are now open for anyone interested. Check out the course description and sign up here:https://thebrooklyninstitute.com/items/courses/spinozas-ethics/Hope to see some of you there!leftofphilosophy.comMusic: AMALGAM by Rockot

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• 115 | Modern Barbarism with Thorstein Veblen

  In this episode, we talk about Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class. In it, he argues that modern culture is basically continuous with that of predatory barbarism, except that it is drunk on the extreme surplus produced by capitalism. Under these conditions, much of human activity becomes performative: consumption, leisure, and perhaps paradoxically enough even hustle culture are all forms of demonstrating one’s superiority in a petty game of social esteem. We explore some of these paradoxes and discuss whether Veblen’s analysis still rings fully true in the 21st century, but to be honest we mostly just pour vitriol and scorn upon the extremely embarrassing members of our own ruling class. We can be petty, too!leftofphilosophy.comReferences:Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).Bernard Rosenberg, “Veblen and Marx”, Social Research 15:1 (1948): 99-117.Music:“Vintage Memories” by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com“My Space” by Overu | https://get.slip.stream/KqmvAN

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• 114 | What's Left of Representation?

  In this episode, we discuss the centrality of ‘representation’ in politics and political theory, guided by Hanna Pitkin’s 1967 treatise The Concept of Representation. Much of the focus is on her notion of ‘substantive representation’ – the activity of advancing the welfare and interests of others – in comparison to the empty husk of formal representation we’ve all become accustomed to in our putatively representative democracies. We explore the Anglo-American efforts to constitutionally immunize representation against advocacy and agitation by the represented, and heed Pitkin’s implicit warning that where representation is insubstantial and inadequate, hyper-investment in pale substitutes like flag and figurehead inevitably follows.leftofphilosophy.comReferences:Hanna Fenichel Pitkin, The Concept of Representation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972).Music:“Vintage Memories” by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com“My Space” by Overu | https://get.slip.stream/KqmvAN

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