Theory Underground

By theory undergroundSociety & Culture Science Social Sciences Education Courses

Theory Underground episodes

January 10, 2023 IN DEFENSE OF SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK Feat. Young Žižekians + Guests Cadell Last & Michael from Žižek & So On
Žižek came under harsh criticism this week. This happens every couple years. Usually the theory people in academia just tuck their heads down and keep on trucking. But not us. The Young Žižekians assemble to set the record straight. Not because we think he needs us to, but because we, as four vocal supporters doing public and independent philosophy, feel the need to make sure anyone new to theory doesn't get our reasons or interest twisted. We love Žižek, but that does not mean he is beyond criticism. It is just a sad reality that the "criticism" aimed at him is not of quality. Whether you are working a wage labor job, working out in the gym, playing video games, driving, or whatever, join us for this livestream. It's going to be a riot. If you missed the last time we did a stream over on the Que Vuoi channel, you can go watch that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO4ztWebQEE&t=12sABOUT / 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_unde... https://tiktok.com/@theory_underground MUSIC CREDITS Logo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/music
3 hr 2 min
January 09, 2023 LACAN 101: Ideal ego, ego ideal, and the structural Oedipus Complex (+ Bob from Twin Peaks)
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
20 min
January 08, 2023 LACAN 101: Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real (The Three Registers) - Dave and Mikey
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
23 min
January 06, 2023 Week 1 In Review (Theory Underground Community Update)
Week in review. What you need to know. Keeping it short and to the point.ABOUT / CREDITS / LINKSWelcome 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 athttps://theory-underground.com/Check out the courses, patron tiers and books, as well as events listed at these links: https://theory-underground.com/courseshttps://theory-underground.com/supporthttps://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 CREDITSLogo sequence music by https://olliebeanz.com/musichttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode
37 min
December 15, 2022 Announcing a Christmas Advent gift from Theory Underground to You (over at Theory Underground Audiobooks)
Go subscribe to Theory Underground Audiobooks!Dave is releasing an audiobook chapter of Karl Jasper's The Idea of the University each day until Christmas! If you find this work interesting and would like to go deeper, then sign up for the course Dave, Bryan, and Ann are teaching at http://theory-underground.com/courses/tiotuThe course begins January 14th, 2023Credits:Songs made available by FMA:Audiorezout - Winter Morning Scott Holmes Music - Silent Night 🕯️❄️Everything else was recorded, edited, and produced by Dave.
8 min
December 14, 2022 The Vision and Goal of Theory Underground + Announcing 3 courses for spring 2023
This is Dave's recording of the Theory Underground launch event. If you missed it, or just want to relisten, here it is on your favorite podcast app. Find out about the new vision and the first steps of the plan!
2 hr 2 min
November 28, 2022 Jonah Hill’s Stutz vs. Lacan - The Young Žižekians critique Therapism and Ego Psychology with psychoanalysis
Young Žižekians take on Jonah Hill's brand new Netflix documentary "Stutz." This film focuses on the life and psycho-therapeutic techniques of Jonah Hill's therapist, Phil Stutz. In this video, we approach the content of his techniques as well as the film's depiction of the relationship between doctor and patient from a Lacanian perspective. More broadly, we tackle the phenomenon of "therapism" (or "therapy culture") while bringing to light the unspoken class dynamic underlying the message of the film. By "we" I mean Dave (Pleeb) of Theory Underground, Mikey of The Dangerous Maybe, Nick (FreeBeerTmrw) and Andrew (Master_Signified_Bodies) both of Que Vuoi. To see the video version, go to their channel Que Vuoi on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO4ztWebQEE
3 hr 15 min
August 12, 2022 THE UPDATE... Plus Subjectivity, Drive, Obsession and Deviance | Ft. Mikey, Andrew, Bryan
Update... plus we talk about Lacan, Jung, Nietzsche, Marx, Heidegger, Zizek, Levinas, Butler, Butler, and more!All of Pleeb’s work has been de-monetized and self-funded for over a year. If you want to give back in any way you can support #FreeMikey at www.Patreon.com/TheDangerousMaybe. Tell him Pleeb sent you.Learning a language? Follow pleeb on Duolingo and use this link so pleeb gets a week of free Plus https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKTP747NSNMAOYEIGet Pleeb’s updates and thoughts here https://nspleeb.substack.com/Make sure to follow https://www.instagram.com/pleebmemes/ for memes related to pleeb’s work and community
1 hr 46 min
August 04, 2022 Introduction to Phenomenology and Its Discontents
Bruce Beerman is back for a long-form conversation with the pleeb on phenomenology, its precursors like Descartes and Kant, and some of its detractors, like certain Marxists or Lacanians today.
4 hr 9 min
July 06, 2022 How the PMC ruins everything | feat. Catherine Liu, author of Virtue Hoarders
Catherine Liu joins the pleeb to discuss how the PMC hijacks revolutionary potential towards its own advancement and virtue hoarding. "The Professional Managerial Class" has become a hot topic in some circles, but it is rarely critiqued in good faith. Liu (and Pleeb) argue that the PMC is a necessary mode of analysis and critique if we are to ever get out of the current political deadlock.All of Pleeb’s work has been de-monetized and self-funded for over a year. If you want to give back in any way you can support #FreeMikey at www.Patreon.com/TheDangerousMaybe. Tell him Pleeb sent you.Learning a language? Follow pleeb on Duolingo and use this link so pleeb gets a week of free Plus https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKTP747NSNMAOYEIGet Pleeb’s updates and thoughts here https://nspleeb.substack.com/Make sure to follow https://www.instagram.com/pleebmemes/ for memes related to pleeb’s work and communityPLAYLISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Pleeb 'n Mikey Lecture-Interviewshttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlcbaQ1cp2TLvXtp5bYnmCjf_otZw0M2NPleeb interviews and gets schooled by amazing peoplehttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlcbaQ1cp2TKo5_C6vyIphjsMD7c_fbMwProfessor Pleeb Lectureshttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlcbaQ1cp2TISAuNvqAdpOexm08Gc8yVhPleeb’s old video essayshttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlcbaQ1cp2TJpzDw4TRjnW3zR9Al-3_JxPleeb’s Assisted Readings https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlcbaQ1cp2TKnWyq5fxA5pMTAMtxGzuExMUSIC CREDITSRoyalty Free Planet - EVA - Rear ViewLicense:Creative Commons Attribution 3.0http://bit.ly/RFP_CClicenseMike Chino – Demigods: https://youtu.be/M6wruxDngOkLicense: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 - http://bit.ly/RFP_CClicense
2 hr 1 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]