The Self Under Siege: Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

This session introduces Paul Ricoeur's concept of the 'masters of suspicion'—Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche—and their critiques of cultural mechanisms of meaning. It examines how their theories expose false consciousness and the hidden economic, psychological, and cultural motives behind our beliefs.

This lecture explores Martin Heidegger's critique of humanism, focusing on the concept of Dasein as presented in "Being and Time" and its departure from traditional notions of the self. Roderick examines the hermeneutic analysis of the historical and cultural self, contrasting Being and being.

This lecture unpacks Jean-Paul Sartre's early existentialism, focusing on key concepts such as existence preceding essence, radical freedom, and 'bad faith' as presented in "Being and Nothingness." It traces Sartre's intellectual trajectory, including his later engagement with Marxism.

This lecture analyzes Herbert Marcuse's critique of instrumental reason and the formation of 'one-dimensional man,' drawing connections to the Dialectic of Enlightenment and its societal pathologies of alienation and rationalization.

This lecture analyzes Jürgen Habermas's theory of communicative action and his defense of rationalism in modernity. Roderick explicates Habermas's distinction between labor and interaction, the necessity of undistorted communication, and its four conditions for societal emancipation.

This lecture analyzes Michel Foucault's anti-humanist critique of 'man' as a historical construct, examining his concepts of power/knowledge, discourse, and the historical shift in punitive paradigms as detailed in Discipline and Punish.

This lecture elucidates Jacques Derrida's project of deconstruction, examining its origins in Heidegger's critique of metaphysics and the concept of language constituted by difference and materiality. It contrasts Derrida with Richard Rorty, exploring the implications of textual interpretation and the "end of man" within philosophical discourse.

This lecture analyzes Jean Baudrillard's concepts of the hyperreal, simulation, and the 'fractal self' within the context of 20th-century postmodernity, tracing connections to Guy Debord and exploring their implications for individual identity and collective experience.