Overthink

In episode 22 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the new Britney Spears documentary exposing her legal conservatorship. After bonding over their tween obsession with Britney, they dive into the laws around conservatorship and cultural narratives around mental health. The two argue that disability has been largely ignored in the conversation around Britney Spears, even though people with disabilities and the elderly are most affected by conservatorships. They show how  disability studies and feminist theories of care illuminate the conversation. Also mentioned: translating toxic to Spanish, early 2000's choreographed dances, Grace and Frankie, and more.

Works Discussed:
Aristotle, Politics
Erica F. Wood, State Level Adult Guardianship Data: An Exploratory Survey
Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception
Grace and Frankie (TV series)
Jan Baars, Aging and the Art of Living
Joe Coscarelli, What is a Conservatorship?
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government 
Jonathan Blakeson, I Care a Lot (Film)
Sara Luterman, The Darker Story Just Outside the Lens of “Framing Britney Spears”
Seneca, On Old Age
Simone de Beauvoir, The Coming of Age
The New York Times, Framing Britney Spears (Documentary)
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

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Ellie and David discuss the term "gaslighting" in episode 21. They begin by jumping into the origin of the term in the 1940s and its entrance into mainstream discourse today. Then the two go onto explore how gaslighting works, and whether it needs to be deliberate (spoiler alert: no!). Finally, David and Ellie think about structural and cultural gaslighting  in systems of oppression. Also discussed in the episode: The Chicks, epistemic injustice, the medical establishment, and...is Socrates a gaslighter? Gaslit? Neither?

Works discussed:
George Cukor, Gaslight (film) 
Veronica Ivy, “Allies Behaving Badly: Gaslighting as Epistemic Injustice” 
Cynthia A. Stark, “Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Psychological Oppression” 
Nora Berenstain, “White Feminist Gaslighting” 
Elena Ruíz, “Cultural Gaslighting”  
Shelley Tremain, “Structural Gaslighting, Epistemic Injustice, and Ableism in Philosophy”  
Lauren Duca, “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America”  
Karen C. Adkins, “Gaslighting by Crowd” 
Elinor Greenberg, “Are You Being "Gaslighted" By the Narcissist in Your Life?”  
Diane E. Hoffmann and Anita J. Tarzian, “The Girl Who Cried Pain: A Bias Against Women in the Treatment of Pain" 
Ashley Fetters, “The Doctor Doesn’t Listen to Her. But the Media Is Starting To”  

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In episode 20 of Overthink, Ellie and David sit down with philosopher Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò to discuss climate reparations and why they are needed as part of a broader discussion about reparations for racial injustice. Before that conversation, Ellie and David open the episode by addressing the history of reparations and the need for them both monetarily and as a signifier of justice. This episode looks at eco-fascism, whether direct payments via Cash App are viable reparations, and the need for reparations in the fight for justice.

Works Discussed:
Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877
John Torpey, Making Whole What Has Been Smashed
Cedric J. Robinson, On Racial Capitalism, Black Internationalism, and Cultures of Resistance
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, "What’s New About Woke Racial Capitalism (and What Isn’t)"
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, "An African case for carbon removal"
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò and Beba Cibralic, "The Case for Climate Reparations"
John Mbaria and Mordecai Ogada, The Big Conservation Lie
Adom Getachew, Worldmaking After Empire
Lisa J. Laplante, "The Plural Justice Aims of Reparations"

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In Episode 19 of Overthink, Ellie and David debate the idea of genius. They begin by explaining Kant and Schopenhauer's theories of genius before diving into feminist critiques of the very idea that geniuses exist. They talk about why women were traditionally excluded from being geniuses, how male professors are called "genius" on Ratemyprofessor more than their female counterparts, and how sociological conditions determine who is considered a genius. Also discussed: Ellie's childhood belief that she was, in fact, a genius, David's competitive standardized test-taking, whether genius is innate, if a scientist can count as genius, the Hollywood "it factor," and more!

Works Discussed:
Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Judgment
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation
Tom Leddy, "Kant on How to be a Genius"
Linda Nochlin, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?"
Cynthia Freeland, "Gender, Genius, and Guerilla Girls"
Fran Lebowitz, "Pretend It’s a City" (Netflix TV show)
Storage et al., "The Frequency of “Brilliant” and “Genius” in Teaching Evaluations Predicts the Representation of Women and African Americans across Fields"

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In episode 18 of Overthink, Ellie and David conclude their four-part series on intimate relationships with a discussion of polyamory. Many argue that polyamory has liberatory potential as a radical form of relating to others. Some say that polyamory is natural for humans--is this story from evolutionary biology true, and does it matter? Ellie and David discuss these issues and also explain how polyamory encourages us to rethink jealousy through the concept of compersion. The two also touch on the relation between polyamory and colonialism, and gender and racial dynamics in understanding poly identities!

Works Discussed:
Cacilda Jethá and Christopher Ryan, Sex at Dawn
Kim TallBear, The Critical Polyamorist blog
Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization
Carrie Jenkins, What Love Is and What It Could Be
Slavoj Žižek, "The Need to Traverse the Fantasy"
Justin Leonard Clardy, "‘I Don’t Want To be a Playa No More’: An Exploration of the Denigrating Effects of ‘Player’ as a Stereotype Against African American Polyamorous Men."
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1

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In episode 17 of Overthink,  Ellie and David talk about open relationships. 50% of millennials are not interested in having purely monogamous relationships. With many still wanting a primary partner, some are turning towards open relationships. What do open relationships have to offer? Ellie and David start off by talking about their own experience with open relationships and its ties to their philosophical and feminist beliefs. Then the two dive into the open relationships of famous existentialist thinkers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. It’s juicy! By the end of the episode they also discuss the romantic mystique, the triangulation of desire, our ability to understand desire, and more!

Works Discussed
Carrie Jenkins, What Love Is
Simone de Beauvoir, She Came to Stay
Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity
Tony Coelho, “Hearts, groins and the intricacies of gay male open relationships”

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On episode 16 of Overthink, Ellie and David dive into monogamy. Ellie jumps into her obsession with reality shows centered around monogamy that are actually examples of polyamory, aka the entire Bachelor franchise. Then they discuss the appeal to nature that is often made when talking about monogamy as well as Aristophanes’ story of the one, the potential negatives of all-consuming love, cheating, and more!

Works Discussed:
Plato, Symposium
Angela Willey, Undoing Monogamy
Harry Chalmers, "Is Monogamy Morally Permissible?"
Kyle York, "Why Monogamy is Morally Permissible"
Vinciane Despret, What Would Animals Say If We Asked the Right Questions?
Tristan and Iseult
Louise Crane, "The Truth About Swans"

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In episode 15 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss the history and philosophy of marriage. Why do married people in the U.S. receive over 1,000 legal benefits that single people do not? Ellie and David dive into Foucault's analysis of ancient Roman marriage and Hegel's idea that marriage unites the subjective and objective spheres. Then the two discuss the way it’s been used bio-politically, as well as queer critiques of marriage. They also discuss minimal marriage as a solution, how the average wedding in America costs thirty thousand dollars, their own experience with the idea of marriage, and much more!

Interested in works discussed?
Bertrand Russell, Marriage and Morals
Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume 3
Elizabeth Brake, Minimizing Marriage
G.W.F. Hegel, Outlines of the Philosophy of Right
Carrie Jenkins, What Love Is
Anthony Giddens, The Transformation of Intimacy

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On episode 14 of Overthink, Ellie and David sit down with Dr. Jessica Locke, an expert in Buddhist philosophy, to discuss mindfulness as a tool for anti-racist education and social justice work. After investigating the ways that Western science and capitalism have watered down Buddhist mindfulness, they explore with Dr. Locke how Buddhist practices can be an important part of a social justice toolbox. Together, they explore how mindfulness practice changes one’s relationship to suffering, alters our view of the world,  and can be especially important for white people unlearning habits of white privilege.

Works Discussed:
Jessica Locke, "Living Our Histories, Shaping Our Futures: Buddhist Practice and Anti-Racist Education for White People"
Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness
Ronald Purser, McMindfulness
Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score
Essential Mind Training, ed. Thupten Jinpa
Interconnected, the Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje

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On episode 13 of Overthink, Ellie and David explain what performativity is. They explain why the phrase "performative ally" is not philosophically accurate, and how performativity is rooted in theories about language and identity. They talk about First Amendment laws, the ball culture of Paris is Burning, Legally Blonde, pornography, and more!

Works Discussed:
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble
Jennie Livingston, Paris is Burning
J.L. Austin, How to Do Things with Words
Jeremy Waldron, The Harm in Hate Speech
Rae Langton "Subordination, Silence, and Pornography’s Authority" & "Beyond Belief: Pragmatics in Hate Speech and Pornography"
Rebecca Kukla, "Performative Force, Convention, and Discursive Injustice"

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