Theory Underground

By theory undergroundSociety & Culture Science Social Sciences Education Courses

Theory Underground episodes

January 20, 2023 The Idea of the University 1
The first day of the first class of Theory Underground! Welcome.Sign up here https://theory-underground.com/courses/tiotu/ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Welcome to the Theory Underground. Theory Underground aims to make challenging philosophical and theoretical work accessible, not by summarizing, but by aiding those who seek to engage in this work as a way of life. The website will be seeing big time improvements every day. If you want to help out, you can try using it and give me feedback at [email protected] If you take a course or join a discussion, there will be a group with dedicated forums on the website. Because fuck Discord. We want to honor quality questions, not bury them. We want to honor people who actually read as opposed to staying glued to their phones all day, so we aren't going to become reliant on a "community" app that is so attention-demanding. Forums give people time to think and come back later to ask questions or add to discussions. Help beta trial this at https://theory-underground.com/ Check out the courses, patron tiers and books, as well as events listed at these links: https://theory-underground.com/courses https://theory-underground.com/support https://theory-underground.com//events Also the Theory Underground instagram and TikTok are both where it's happening: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode
1 hr 55 min
January 16, 2023 LACAN 101: Fantasy, jouissance, and prohibition
As a way of launching 2023 Theory Underground is publishing short episodes on introduction to Lacan and Žižek. These conversations are between Michael Downs and David McKerracher AKA Mikey from The Dangerous Maybe Blog and Dave, who formerly went by Theory Pleeb.Consider this a refresher for the upcoming course Mikey is teaching with Dave on Žižek's For They Know Not What They Do: https://theory-underground.com/courses/FTKNWTDABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Welcome to the Theory Underground.Theory Underground aims to make challenging philosophical and theoretical work accessible, not by summarizing, but by aiding those who seek to engage in this work as a way of life.SUPPORT this work at https://theory-underground.com/support Do you have questions, comments, or something to share that would be better off on the community site? Join the public forum here: https://theory-underground.com/forums/forum/main/Check out the courses, patron tiers and books, as well as events listed at these links:https://theory-underground.com/courses https://theory-underground.com/support https://theory-underground.com//eventsAlso the Theory Underground instagram and TikTok are both where it's happening: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/https://tiktok.com/@theory_undergroundMUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode
17 min
January 15, 2023 LACAN 101: Need, demand, and desire
As a way of launching 2023 Theory Underground is publishing short episodes on introduction to Lacan and Žižek. These conversations are between Michael Downs and David McKerracher AKA Mikey from The Dangerous Maybe Blog and Dave, who formerly went by Theory Pleeb. Consider this a refresher for the upcoming course Mikey is teaching with Dave on Žižek's For They Know Not What They Do: https://theory-underground.com/courses/FTKNWTD
32 min
January 14, 2023 LACAN 101: Holistic Ego vs. Barred Subject
As a way of launching 2023 Theory Underground is publishing short episodes on introduction to Lacan and Žižek. These conversations are between Michael Downs and David McKerracher AKA Mikey from The Dangerous Maybe Blog and Dave, who formerly went by Theory Pleeb. Consider this a refresher for the upcoming course Mikey is teaching with Dave on Žižek's For They Know Not What They Do: https://theory-underground.com/courses/FTKNWTD
29 min
January 13, 2023 Why PMC critique matters
There are good reasons to hesitate using the term "PMC." There are also a lot of people who need to think more about the designation of this term. The subject-matter is ideology at a level deeper than most people tend to go. The assumptions, habits, and general mode of the PMC are distinguishable from the rest of the working class. The "Professional Managerial Class" is not just a cluster of professionals and managers, but specifically an analysis of the way that class society is reproduced. It is essential for understanding capitalism today, but simultaneously serves as a critique for a lot of purported "alternatives" to capitalism. Socialism, fascism, and New Deal liberalism, are all three different flavors of managerial control correcting for certain contradictions that Marx had thought would destine it to ruin. It is hardly surprising that Marx left the PMC, its existence and role, out of his analysis; he was writing at a time when most of its current roles did not exist or were being carried out by either the capitalists or the workers themselves. But Marxists aren't the only ones who need to take the PMC critique seriously. Liberals and conservatives do as well. Revolutionary or reformist, left or right, insofar as you want to think seriously about what constitutes society, much less positive ways of changing it, PMC critique is something you will need to think through. I am being joined by my friend and colleague Elton L.K. of Working Class Intelligentsia podcast in leading a series of lectures and discussions on the topic of the PMC, its critique and consciousness. The course begins on the 25th of January, so two weeks from today. Think about enrolling today! If you want to hear more about this idea or get a sense for what the conversational part of this series will be like, then check out this conversation we did tonight: Starts next weekend! Sign up here https://theory-underground.com/courses/pmc/ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Welcome to the Theory Underground. Theory Underground aims to make challenging philosophical and theoretical work accessible, not by summarizing, but by aiding those who seek to engage in this work as a way of life. The website will be seeing big time improvements every day. If you want to help out, you can try using it and give me feedback at [email protected] If you take a course or join a discussion, there will be a group with dedicated forums on the website. Because fuck Discord. We want to honor quality questions, not bury them. We want to honor people who actually read as opposed to staying glued to their phones all day, so we aren't going to become reliant on a "community" app that is so attention-demanding. Forums give people time to think and come back later to ask questions or add to discussions. Help beta trial this at https://theory-underground.com/ Check out the courses, patron tiers and books, as well as events listed at these links: https://theory-underground.com/courses https://theory-underground.com/support https://theory-underground.com//events Also the Theory Underground instagram and TikTok are both where it's happening: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode
1 hr 20 min
January 13, 2023 LACAN 101: The Unconscious + Mikey speed runs everything so far
As a way of launching 2023 Theory Underground is publishing short episodes on introduction to Lacan and Žižek. These conversations are between Michael Downs and David McKerracher AKA Mikey from The Dangerous Maybe Blog and Dave, who formerly went by Theory Pleeb. Consider this a refresher for the upcoming course Mikey is teaching with Dave on Žižek's For They Know Not What They Do: https://theory-underground.com/courses/FTKNWTD
25 min
January 12, 2023 Intro to Karl Jaspers’ positive critique of the University!
Karl Jaspers' The Idea of The University is a POSITIVE critique. How is that possible? Find out from three educators who have a vested interest in bettering social institutions committed to education for its own sake, beyond profit and politics. Dave, Bryan, and Ann are teaching The Idea of the University. This primary work is short, relatively accessible, and absolutely essential. What better way to kick off the new year than by beginning and finishing a short work?” Starts next weekend! Sign up here https://theory-underground.com/courses/tiotu/ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKS Welcome to the Theory Underground. Theory Underground aims to make challenging philosophical and theoretical work accessible, not by summarizing, but by aiding those who seek to engage in this work as a way of life. The website will be seeing big time improvements every day. If you want to help out, you can try using it and give me feedback at [email protected] If you take a course or join a discussion, there will be a group with dedicated forums on the website. Because fuck Discord. We want to honor quality questions, not bury them. We want to honor people who actually read as opposed to staying glued to their phones all day, so we aren't going to become reliant on a "community" app that is so attention-demanding. Forums give people time to think and come back later to ask questions or add to discussions. Help beta trial this at https://theory-underground.com/ Check out the courses, patron tiers and books, as well as events listed at these links: https://theory-underground.com/courses https://theory-underground.com/support https://theory-underground.com//events Also the Theory Underground instagram and TikTok are both where it's happening: https://www.instagram.com/theory_underground/ https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode
1 hr 42 min
January 12, 2023 LACAN 101: Lack, objet petit a, jouissance
As a way of launching 2023 Theory Underground is publishing short episodes on introduction to Lacan and Žižek. These conversations are between Michael Downs and David McKerracher AKA Mikey from The Dangerous Maybe Blog and Dave, who formerly went by Theory Pleeb. Consider this a refresher for the upcoming course Mikey is teaching with Dave on Žižek's For They Know Not What They Do: https://theory-underground.com/courses/FTKNWTD
29 min
January 11, 2023 LACAN 101: The symbolic, prohibition (castration) and ”Lacanian analysis”
As a way of launching 2023 Theory Underground is publishing short episodes on introduction to Lacan and Žižek. These conversations are between Michael Downs and David McKerracher AKA Mikey from The Dangerous Maybe Blog and Dave, who formerly went by Theory Pleeb. Consider this a refresher for the upcoming course Mikey is teaching with Dave on Žižek's For They Know Not What They Do: https://theory-underground.com/courses/FTKNWTD
22 min
January 10, 2023 LACAN 101: ”Libidinal economy” and capitalism + The Unary Trait
As a way of launching 2023 Theory Underground is publishing short episodes on introduction to Lacan and Žižek. These conversations are between Michael Downs and David McKerracher AKA Mikey from The Dangerous Maybe Blog and Dave, who formerly went by Theory Pleeb. Consider this a refresher for the upcoming course Mikey is teaching with Dave on Žižek's For They Know Not What They Do: https://theory-underground.com/courses/FTKNWTD
27 min

About Theory Underground

From the publisher's feed

Thanks for listening! Please review us on your favorite podcast app so that the haters don't win.

Become a member of Theory Underground here: https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe

Tier 1 and higher get access to the courses and seminars going monthly throughout 2026:

Intro to Theory, The Philosophy of Stewardship, and The Philosophy of Religion with David McKerracher.

Tier 2 and higher get access to a monthly writers or speaking workshop.

Tier 3 includes the book or thesis writer's cohort. All members get access to the monthly Post Duopoly (de)Radicalization Starter Pack reading group, which is a collaboration between TU and 1Dime. https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe

David McKerracher is an organizer, theorist, husband and father (not in that order), and the founder of Theory Underground. McKerracher is the author of Timenergy: Why You Have No Time or Energy (Foreword by Slavoj Žižek), as well as the chief editor of Underground Theory (Volumes one and two are available now, with volume three in the works).

Office hours: The first Monday of every month at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, or if you wait around after lectures/seminars.

Theory Underground (TU) is dedicated to making challenging philosophical and theoretical work accessible for a non-college audience. TU emphasizes audio-based learning for real-world application of big ideas, operating both online and through an international tour that has hosted events in over 20 U.S. cities, 9 countries throughout Europe, as well as cities in Canada and Mexico.

Mission: To provide accessible, rigorous, and wide-ranging educational material for three types of people:

- dropout workers with earbuds getting into big ideas during daily routines

- burnt-out postgrads seeking to supplement their journey

- parents who take a deliberate role in their children's education through keeping alive their sense of wonder.

Vision: A world that is timenergy-rich, meaning that parents and teachers have large, energy-infused, and reliably repeatable blocks of time throughout their day, week, and month. Such a world would construct and cultivate a culture of active leisure for the sake of discovering and stewarding one’s own talent and the talents of future generations.

Lectures: Ongoing and archived sessions on key thinkers and topics, including:

📚Intro courses: Intro to Theory (monthly throughout 2026), Intro to Marx, Intro to Heidegger, Political Theory, Intro to The Idea of the University, Intro to Žižek, Intro to Lacan, Intro to Land, Intro to Illich, The Philosophy of Nature, Intro to the PMC, Intro to Critical Social Theory, and The Philosophy of Religion (2026).

📚Advanced courses: Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, Emmanuel Levinas' Totality and Infinity, and Slavoj Žižek's For They Know Not What They Do, The Autistic Subject and the Clinical Structures of Psychoanalysis.

📚Seminars: Critical Media Theory (2 years), Critical Doxology & Timenergy (1 year), The Philosophy of Stewardship and Home Economics (monthly throughout 2026).

Publishing: Underground Theory Volumes 1 and 2, Timenergy: Why You Have No Time or Energy, as well as serial releases of chapters, original thoughts, and upcoming books.

Community: Conferences, retreats, and international tour. TU’s hybrid and experimental grassroots (self-funded) tour events have occurred in prestigious private universities as well as people's garages and backyards, on campus quads or downtown in busy urban areas, as well as deep in the wilderness. TU is virtually everywhere and always on tour, but physically it is based on a small regenerative farm in North Idaho.

Renowned professors at Theory Underground have included Slavoj Žižek, Benjamin Studebaker, Nina Power, John D. Caputo, Peter Rollins, Chris Cutrone, Iain Thomson, Alenka Zupančič, Leon Brenner; Todd McGowan, as well as lesser-known but nonetheless amazing lecturers such as Tony Chamas, Bryan Weeks, Michael Downs, and Elton L.K. of the Working Class Intelligentsia and the Democratic Socialists of America education podcast called CLASS.

Music Logo Sequence Music is always either by https://olliebeanz.com/music https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode or “What's Left” Adam Leher. Thanks! If you are an artist who has something that might be good for TU's unique vibe, you can always send it to us a [email protected]