Deeper Dive - DSU's podcast

Our most recent episode, "Language as Power: Transcending Orwell's account of language through Nietzsche and Foucault," is Part II in a Four Part series. In our last episode, we discussed Orwell's claim that powerful, authoritarian governments have stolen our freedom of thought, speech, and action. In addition, we examined Orwell's metaphysical accounts of human freedom, rationality, and language that presuppose Orwell's claim that something has gone terribly wrong in the late-modern intellectual and socio-political space. In this episode, we raise the question: What happens if we abandon Orwell's metaphysical account of freedom and language. What happens if we approach language and power from a Nietzschean and Foucaultian perspective? What happens if we view Language as an Exercise of Power? Enjoy.

In a recent article in Salon magazine, the author claimed that the GOP has become the party of Orwell's nightmare. Is this correct? What is Orwell's nightmare? In this episode we examine the "Orwellian Mythos," and try to decipher whether current American politics, on both the left and the right, have become the stuff of Orwell's nightmare. We conclude by arguing that Orwell was right, but in the wrong ways! Enjoy.

With one year to go in office, President Obama has once again actively "transformed" the legal, political, and institutional relations of power in the United States. Enacting several "Executive Orders" relating to gun control and ownership, President Obama has by-passed Congressional authorization and acted unilaterally. This has ignited a storm of controversy not only over the Second Amendment, but equally as important over the fierce debate about the increasing power of the Executive. But, what is an "Executive Order"? Where does it come from? AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHAT IS THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND PHILOSOPHICAL ACCOUNT OF "MODERN EXECUTIVE POWER" THAT ENABLES THE USE OF "EXECUTIVE ORDERS"? In light of these historic events, we are re-posting our third episode, "Executive Power." This is critical information. Enjoy.

Two years ago DSU did a podcast called "Life as Art." In this episode we explored the philosophical foundations and implications of thinking about our identities as works of art. The response to the episode was so overwhelming that we decided to turn the "Life as Art" theme into a series. Each month we will interview individuals who are putting the ideas we discussed in the episode to work. For our inaugural episode, we interview Graham Elwood, a comedian and documentary film maker who pioneered the podcast field for comedians and who has recently released a documentary film about the power of podcasts to enable individual artists to carve out their own aesthetic and professional paths.

In our most recent episode, Walker and Professor Dungey wade into the emotionally charged and highly "political" issue of "Money in Politics." It is often argued that "money" has corrupted "politics," and that if we could just get "money" out of "politics," we would be much better off. While these are important and legitimate observations, what are the historical and philosophical influences that have led us to where we are? A clearer understanding of our modern, Liberal political-phiosophical heritage will shed light on the co-extensive relationship between the economic and the political.

Responding to the recent episode of political violence, Ben Carson stated: "Unfortunately, there's a lot of extremism coming from all areas. It's one of the biggest problems that I think is threatening to tear our country apart. We get into our separate corners and we hate each other, we want to destroy those with whom we disagree." In this episode we examine the historical and philosophical origins of what Carson called hate, the emergence of tolerance, and Liberal-Democracy's attempt to contain hate, reduce violence, and create free and open social and political spaces.

In last week's podcast, we examined the deeper philosophical and historical origins of the very idea of the political "outsider." in this episode we examine the specific characteristics of modern politics and reveal why significant numbers of Americans are exhausted with mainstream politicians and the American political process. You want to know 'why" Americans are tired of being lied to, and "why" they know their interests are being sacrificed for corporate and economic power and wealth, listen to this show!

With only 90 days until the presidential primaries, two political "outsiders," Ben Carson and Donald Trump, continue to dominate the Republican party nomination contest. By the term political "outsider," people typically mean a candidate who has no significant, or any, political experience and is not part of the political establishment. America has a long history of political "outsiders," but is there a deeper philosophical and historical story behind all of this? In this podcast, we examine the theoretical and historical context of the political "outsider."

During the last Democratic Party Primary debate, there was one theme ALL the participants could agree on: Something terribly wrong and unjust has taken place in the American socio-economic experiment. Governor O'Malley stated, "there is profound economic injustice" in America. Hillary Clinton wants to "save capitalism from itself," and Bernie Sanders stated that "the current system is totally unjust." Common to all the participants is the belief in "economic justice and injustice." But, what is "economic justice"? And, does it exist in the philosophical lexicon of Liberal- Capitalism?

During Tuesday's Democratic Primary debate, Anderson Cooper asked Bernie Sanders if he thought it was possible for an anti-capitalist socialist to be President of the United States. In this episode, Walker and Professor Dungey dissect Mr. Cooper's deeply misinformed description/question and demonstrate how the United States has transformed beyond the traditional definitions and uses of the terms socialism and capitalism.