Phi Fic

Is the rhetoric of "White Privilege" just the modern way of acknowledging historical and systemic truths of racism, or does it point to a novel way for acknowledging injustice, or does it on the contrary obscure these insights by involving confused claims about group responsibility and guilt? Readings include articles by Peggy McIntosh, Charles W. Mills, George Yancy, Tim Wise, Lewis R. Gordon, Lawrence Blum, and John McWhorter. With guest Law Ware.

Continuing with 1984. How does the book relate to real-world politics? Is this something that we should actually be afraid our society will turn into? Was he predicting history, or was it satire, or what? We discuss the the realms of intimacy vs. surveillance, how a state might "contain" a mind that it controls, and "doublethink."

Grief. Is it mourning loss or is it mourning change?

Our book this time is The Body Artist by Don Delillo, an absorbing look at Lauren, a performance artist, and her experience of overwhelming loss when her husband commits suicide. We reflect on her travels through the murky struggle, accompanied by a strange young man ("Mr. Tuttle," whom she names after discovers him hiding in her rental home), which culminate in an elaborate performance piece.

Past, present, and future are not amenities of language. Time unfolds into the seams of being. It passes through you, making and shaping. But not if you are him. This is a man who remembers the future. Don’t touch it. I’ll clean it up later. —The Body Artist: A Novel

Join us as Daniel muses about the body and art; what Lauren notices and what she fabricates. Nathan discusses the meta-ghosts in the room that still haunt her, Laura wonders if Mr. Tuttle is a manifestation of grief, and Cezary touches on the idea of significance—a key concept in this book—and how order and duration of the moments are crucial in the book's opening scene of Lauren and her husband at breakfast, their final moments together. And Mary reminds us, "[in life] we're all just renters, with pretty damned short leases."

For further reading: Point Omega, White Noise, and Zero K by Don DeLillo, also, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (a friend to DeLillo).

Thanks to Christopher Nolen for our music.

You can see a film adaptation of the novel, The Body Artist…

… but, you ought to read the book.

If you have thoughts, recommendations, or questions that you want to send our way, please do via [email protected].

Hear more Phi Fic.

On the novel 1984 (1949) and the essays “Politics and the English Language” (1946) and “Notes on Nationalism” (1945). What's the relation between language and totalitarianism? Orwell shows us a society where the rulers have mastered the art of retaining power, and one element of this involves "Newspeak," where vocabulary is limited to prevent subversive speech, and ultimately thoughts. Do our linguistic habits and the Orwellian lies of our leaders point to a slippery slope toward the world of 1984?

Continuing on the Analects without our guest. We cover passages on glibness, using names properly, filial conduct, remonstrance, love of learning, places where he sounds like Socrates, and more!

We discuss the novel about what you do when you're "called" and how you live afterward. You can listen along while Cezary, Daniel, Laura, Mary, and Nathan discuss The Fall by Albert Camus, which Sartre claimed was "perhaps the most beautiful and the least understood" of Camus's books.

We get to know Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a renowned and successful Parisian attorney, as he tells his life story to a stranger in a cafe in Amsterdam. Clamence's tale reveals the wrenching horror of his “fall” from grace, precipitated by an egregious act of neglect.

Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.

Camus forces us to consider complex questions about absolution and forgiveness within the existential landscape, which Cezary moans is grueling, while Daniel wonders, if we look in the mirror and confess our own fallibility, does that give us the right to judge others? Laura coyly follows with her sentiment: So, if we say we suck, we can tell others they suck? Mary laments that most people don’t seem to give themselves a break for their own animal natures while Nathan highlights Clamence’s struggle with survivor's guilt. There is also a stolen masterpiece, existential crises, allusions to Dante's infernal rings of hell in Amsterdam, an enchanting narration, and a surprise purpose behind Jean-Baptiste's confession.

I choose the features we have in common, the experiences we have endured together, the failings we share—good form, in other words, the man of the hour as he is rife in me and in others. With all that I construct a portrait which is the image of all and of no one. A mask, in short, rather like those carnival masks which are both lifelike and stylized, so that they make people say: 'Why, surely I've met him!' When the portrait is finished, as it is this evening I show it with great sorrow: 'This alas is what I am!' The prosecutor's charge is finished. But at the same time the portrait I hold out to my contemporaries becomes a mirror.

Here are a few takeaways: chill out in traffic jams, call your friends more often, and maybe reach out to a sad stranger because you might be able to help. Or, failing all that, head to the bar.

If you have any recommendations for books, comments, or questions, we'd like to hear from you, our email is [email protected]. We hope you enjoy the talk.

Thanks to Christopher Nolen for our music.

If you have thoughts, recommendations, or questions that you want to send our way, please do via [email protected].

Hear more Phi FIc.

On the Analects, compiled after 479 BCE. How should we act? What's the relation between ethics and politics? Can a bunch of aphorisms written in the distant past for an unapologetically hierarchical culture emphasizing traditional rituals actually give us relevant, welcome advice on these matters? Are we even in a position to determine the meaning of these sayings? With guest Tzuchien Tho.

Continuing on the Consolation, chiefly books 3 and 4, on virtue ethics (we all naturally aim at the good but can be mistaken about it or too weak to follow it), theodicy (even the apparent bad is actually good from God's perspective), and the weird way in which those interact (fame, pleasure, wealth are really all the same thing, i.e., happiness, i.e., God).