Blame Theory Nina Power and Geoff Shullenberger

Compact founding editor Sohrab Ahmari joins Geoff and Nina in this episode to examine Michel Foucault’s later work on biopolitics, governmentality, and economics. Did Foucault predict or even contribute to the dominance of neoliberalism? To what extent was Foucault ever left-wing? Can we reconcile the brilliance of his thought with the moral and ontological absence at the core of his work?
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This episode examines Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality, vol. 1 and asks to what extent Foucault is to blame for contemporary progressive dogmas about sex, gender, and power.
Listen either here on Substack or on your preferred podcast app.


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

Anchored by our own Nina Power and Geoff Shullenberger, Blame Theory takes a seriously playful look at the ideas that have shaped our minds and our world, to ask: How have we ended up here, and whom or what can we blame? Plato? Hegel? Marx? Nominalism? Gnosticism? Feminism? Postmodernism? Critical theory?
This episode takes a page out of Nietzsche’s writings and asks whether we should blame the Greeks for society’s woes. Geoff and Nina discuss Geoff’s review of Brandes and Høffding’s book The Great Debate: Nietzsche, Culture, and the Scandinavian Welfare Society, published last week in COMPACT.
Listen either here on Substack or on your preferred podcast app.


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit compactmag.substack.com

Anchored by our own Nina Power and Geoff Shullenberger, Blame Theory takes a seriously playful look at the ideas that have shaped our minds and our world, to ask: How have we ended up here, and whom or what can we blame? Plato? Hegel? Marx? Nominalism? Gnosticism? Feminism? Postmodernism? Critical theory?
This episode asks whether we should blame Judith …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit compactmag.substack.com

Anchored by our own Nina Power and Geoff Shullenberger, Blame Theory takes a seriously playful look at the ideas that have shaped our minds and our world, to ask: How have we ended up here, and whom or what can we blame? Plato? Hegel? Marx? Nominalism? Gnosticism? Feminism? Postmodernism? Critical theory?
The debut episode—“Blame Deconstruction?”—was recorded live at KGB Bar, featuring Avital Ronell, University Professor of German and Comparative Literature at NYU and author of The Telephone Book and Complaint, among many other books. We asked her whether deconstruction—with its emphasis on multiple truths and narratives—is to blame for our current woes. 
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Paid subscribers get access to the Q+A session at the end of the recording. Click below to get full access.