The Wes Cecil Podcast

Wes Cecil
  • 4.9 (28)
  • Education
  • Semiweekly Series

My lectures are dedicated to making Philosophy in particular and the world of ideas in general available to everyone. My exploration of topics and thinkers is designed to provide a foundation for listeners to engage in further reading and thought and develop their own conceptions of the topics I introduce. I have PhD in Literature and Philosophy and was a college professor for over 20 years. I am working to remove the barriers that prevent many from experiencing and understanding the lives and thoughts of some of the world's greatest thinkers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Episode 1

    New Series! The Joy of Resistance: Ep. 1

    Resistance rather than revolution and Joy rather than suffering. Within our contemporary cultural environment, understanding the tensions in how we respond to the world can help feel more powerful. Creating meaning and joy will also transform our sense of ourselves and, by extension, our world. Books Mentioned:  Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right by Karl Marx The Rebel by Albert Camus Mai 68, l’heritage impossible by Jean-Pierre Le Goff Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse Join Wes on Patreon for a deeper dive into the ideas we explore on the podcast. It’s a space for lifelong learners — with bonus lectures, course materials, peer discussion, and audio diaries from France. Wes is active in the community and often engages directly with listener questions. Starting at $2/month: https://www.patreon.com/wescecil Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    New Series! The Joy of Resistance: Ep. 1

  2. Episode 2

    The Joy of Resistance: Ep. 2 - You are Not A Resource

    2,000 years ago Cicero warned us against the idea that other people are functionally prey from whom we extract the profit. Unfortunately, his arguments have been forgotten and we inhabit a society that insists that the exploitation of others is not only acceptable but necessary and admirable. As Deleuze and Guattari and others have demonstrated, this logic leads to an idea of the self that is entirely devoid of human sympathy. We think we are exploiting others but we are in fact re-conceptualizing ourselves as extraction/consumption machines that have no other values or functions. Within this context, caring for others as valuable and even beautiful is an act of resistance. Books mentioned: Cicero De Officiis Book 3 50-57  Deleuze and Guattari A Thousand Plateaus - Plateau 6  Delueze and Guattari Anti-Oedipus  Koran Al-Mutaffifin and Al-Isra (amongst many other passages) Deluzism by Ian Buchanan particularly the last chapter. Join Wes on Patreon for a deeper dive into the ideas we explore on the podcast. It’s a space for lifelong learners — with bonus lectures, course materials, peer discussion, and audio diaries from France. Wes is active in the community and often engages directly with listener questions. Starting at $2/month: https://www.patreon.com/wescecil Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    The Joy of Resistance: Ep. 2 - You are Not A Resource

  3. Episode 3

    The Joy of Resistance: Ep. 3 - Revolution is a Trap

    The overriding narrative of revolution features a defined enemy inhabiting a defined space that we can, with courage, suffering and sacrifice, overthrow and inaugurate a new and better world. However, as Kafka and Musil demonstrated we live in a world that is diffuse, multi-layered and without center. These more uncomfortable and less entertaining versions of our world demonstrate the fundamental naivete of the notion of revolution that, functionally, becomes a disabling myth. Rather than revolution or nothing, in which we get nothing because we can’t have the revolution, I argue for the value of resistance, which is both available and immediate.  Books I mention in the lecture: Kafka The Metamorphosis Kafka The Castle Musil The Man Without Qualities Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 Lem The Invincible Raymond Aron The Opiate of the Intellectuals Join Wes on Patreon for a deeper dive into the ideas we explore on the podcast. It’s a space for lifelong learners — with bonus lectures, course materials, peer discussion, and audio diaries from France. Wes is active in the community and often engages directly with listener questions. Starting at $2/month: https://www.patreon.com/wescecil Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    The Joy of Resistance: Ep. 3 - Revolution is a Trap

  4. Episode 4

    The Joy of Resistance: Ep. 4 - Sign Value and Recuperation

    One of the significant challenges of our current environment is that our own imaginations have been turned against us. Much of our needs come from our imaginations and are very much focused on the way acts and products signify - their sign value. What this means is that our very real desire for change ends up being recuperated and being sold back to us products that reinforce the very system we wish to change. Traditional skills and ways of living become “Trad Wife”, anti-capitalist movements are sold back to us in posters and t-shirts, and despair becomes a market opportunity. In this environment, the imagination becomes a central territory for understanding and, importantly, enacting resistance. Books I mention in the lecture: Karl Marx, Das Kapital Volume 1 Jean Baudrillard Simulacra and Simulation (warning, English Translation is a bit dodgy and the early Semiotext(e) edition is incomplete and hence confusing (or more confusing, it is plenty confusing in French)) Jean Baudrillard Symbolic Exchange and Death Georges Bataille The Accursed Share George Orwell 1984 (The Appendices are written retrospectively about the world of Oceania and Newspeak that did not endure) Join Wes on Patreon for a deeper dive into the ideas we explore on the podcast. It’s a space for lifelong learners — with bonus lectures, course materials, peer discussion, and audio diaries from France. Wes is active in the community and often engages directly with listener questions. Starting at $2/month: https://www.patreon.com/wescecil Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    The Joy of Resistance: Ep. 4 - Sign Value and Recuperation

  5. Episode 5

    The Joy of Resistance: Ep. 5 - Imaginations Under Siege

    Following on last episode's discussion of the philosophical critiques of how commoditization influences our world, I thought it would be worth taking a moment to reflect in a concrete fashion on how our imaginations are used against us to distort the world and colonize our subconscious. I’ve been a bit heavy with the references so I thought I’d save a few up for next time. Join Wes on Patreon for a deeper dive into the ideas we explore on the podcast. It’s a space for lifelong learners — with bonus lectures, course materials, peer discussion, and audio diaries from France. Wes is active in the community and often engages directly with listener questions. Starting at $2/month: https://www.patreon.com/wescecil Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    The Joy of Resistance: Ep. 5 - Imaginations Under Siege
  • 5 Episodes

4.9
out of 5
28 Ratings

About

My lectures are dedicated to making Philosophy in particular and the world of ideas in general available to everyone. My exploration of topics and thinkers is designed to provide a foundation for listeners to engage in further reading and thought and develop their own conceptions of the topics I introduce. I have PhD in Literature and Philosophy and was a college professor for over 20 years. I am working to remove the barriers that prevent many from experiencing and understanding the lives and thoughts of some of the world's greatest thinkers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Wes Cecil
  • Episodes
    238
  • Seasons
    19
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Wes Cecil
  • Show Website
    The Wes Cecil Podcast

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