Postmodernism with Tim Keefe (podcast recommendation)

Cino

Cino

Big Love! (Atheist mystic)
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I recently listened to two very long podcast episodes on the subject of postmodernism.

You can find them on podcast portals like iTunes and stitcher. Look for the podcast named "James and the Giant Podcast". The two episodes I mentioned are called "Postmodernism with Tim Keefe", parts one and two.

Be warned, they are three hours each! I enjoyed them very much and now have a better understanding of this phenomenon.

Anyone else up to binge-listening to a philosophy podcast? :)

And for discussion afterwards?
 
Listened to the first, admittedly not with a notebook.
 
HoHo. Started on Episode 2 and am quite enjoying their critique of Prof. Richard Dawkins ...
 
Now I'll have to re-listen ;)
 
LOL, you started it.

Make notes of the time if you want to discuss anything (I'll re-listen to ep2 and do the same)
 
Notes (very sparse, from memory) so far. I'll update this post.

Still in the first hour of the first episode. Quick recap of Modernism: Marxist critique of capitalism, late capitalism, phenomenology, and structuralism.

Semiotics: Umberto Eco's definition of "a sign is anything that can be used to tell a lie". (That's how far I got when I returned from walking the dog).
 
Cino said:
Semiotics: Umberto Eco's definition of "a sign is anything that can be used to tell a lie".
Click to expand...
OK, but let's not lead others to assume that all signs are lying.

"Semiotics is in principle the discipline studying everything which can be used in order to lie. If something cannot be used to tell a lie, conversely it cannot be used to tell the truth: it cannot in fact be used "to tell" at all."
Travels in Hyperreality (1986)

I like a quote I found from The Name of the Rose: "Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry."
 
Re-listening takes more time than expected! Bear with me.

Around and just leading up to 1:00 in the first part, there is mention of structuralism, constructivism, and how the notion that our reality (social reality as well as identity) is made up. This idea is usually today assumed to be a "postmodern position", when it was already present in these modernist systems.

In the context of interfaith discussion, this is a nice springboard for comparison with Eastern beliefs, such as the Buddhist notion of "no self" or "emptiness" (no unchanging essence, but cause and effect playing out).
 
Cino said:
Re-listening takes more time than expected! Bear with me.
Click to expand...
Doesn't it?! I'm doing the same ...

Cino said:
... there is mention of structuralism, constructivism, and how the notion that our reality (social reality as well as identity) is made up...
Click to expand...
What I wondered here is whether someone from such a perspective has ever dialogued with a cosmologist / physicist?

What we're talking about here primarily is, if I'm not off the mark, is the meaning, whereas physics et al is concerned with the materiality?

But somewhere, is there not a dialogue as to whether the cosmos has an inherent structure, or whether we impute a structure to the cosmos.

Cino said:
In the context of interfaith discussion, this is a nice springboard for comparison with Eastern beliefs, such as the Buddhist notion of "no self" or "emptiness" (no unchanging essence, but cause and effect playing out).
Click to expand...
I'd be up for that, but I've never adequately got my head round the Buddhist terms.
 
I'm enjoying the podcast episodes and your comments!
 
Yes, I am also enjoying it a lot! I was unexpectedly busy the past couple of days, but will pick up my re-listening today.
 
My vacations are over andI'm back to work, expect reduced post frequencies.

Also, the third (and ladt) part in the series is out now.
 
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