Theory & Philosophy

David Guignion

Welcome! My name’s David Guignion and I distill complicated philosophical and theoretical ideas for wide audiences. While ideas are important to help us understand the world, it is even more important to put ideas into action. Some of this channel’s key theoretical and pragmatic influences include, but are not limited to, Marxism, Decolonialization, Feminism, Gender and Queer theory, and Critical Race Theory.

This channel’s content is recorded on the in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal, the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka, comprised of
the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Huron/Wendat, Abenaki, and Anishinaabeg.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIq2xNjGAof0cCUaKbco6HQ

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460 episodes
Updated July 25

Episodes460

Newest first

Sep 21, 2019 · 48 min
Maurizio Lazzarato's "Governing by Debt" (Part 2/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I turn my polemical eye to the second half of Lazzarato's text to highlight some of the more unclear claims that Lazzarto makes while presenting some of his very interesting insights
Sep 21, 2019 · 45 min
Maurizio Lazzarato's "Governing by Debt" (Part 1/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I explore Maurizio Lazzarato's "Governing by Debt," a somewhat depressing book on the situation that we currently find ourselves here under advanced Capitalism. Aside from the depressing content matter, Lazzarato's provides some eloquent insights on the contemporary status of many other philosophers like Deleuze, Guattari, Schmitt, and Foucault.
Sep 21, 2019 · 35 min
Jean Baudrillard's "The Ecstasy of Communication"
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I tackles Baudrillard's "The Ecstasy of Communication." In this one, Baudrillard synthesizes some of his broadest ideas in a cohesive analysis of present day society.
Sep 21, 2019 · 46 min
Jean Baudrillard's "America"
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I tackle Jean Baudrillard's "America." This book came out of Baudrillard's travels to America where he observed the desolate nothingness that was the American hologram.
Sep 21, 2019 · 50 min
Roberto Calasso's "The Ruin of Kasch" (Part 2/2)
https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I conclude my exploration of Calasso's "The Ruin of Kasch" by outlining his criticism of Marxism for failing to consider the possibility that it is society itself that is oppressive, not capital.
Sep 21, 2019 · 50 min
Roberto Calasso's "The Ruin of Kasch" (Part 1/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I explore the the lesser known Roberto Calasso and his "The Ruin of Kasch." Calasso is a thinker of sacrifice and ceremony, and proposes what these components of the 'old order' mean in the age of modernity. To do this, Calasso traverses from the tale of the ancient kingdom of Kasch to the Napoleonic politician Talleyrand to the limitations of Marxism.
Sep 21, 2019 · 42 min
Jean Baudrillard's "Fatal Strategies" (Part 2/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I continue my exploration of "Fatal Strategies" to present something of a Baudrillardian pragmatics that accounts for the acceleration of this oppressive system.
Sep 21, 2019 · 53 min
Jean Baudrillard's "Fatal Strategies (Part 1/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I begin my exploration of Baudrillard's "Fatal Strategies." This is the text that Baudrillard becomes extremely critical against the obscenity machine that forces everything into appearance. Against this, he proposes his own theory--that we are to drive these systems to their radical conclusion. This takes the form of a fatal strategy.
Sep 21, 2019 · 50 min
Sara Ahmed's "Differences that Matter" (Part 3/3)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In my last episode of this text, I focus on the stories and films that Ahmed analyzes as being fundamentally "postmodern," but that rely on classical constructions of women and (not so) subtly maintain oppressive imagery against women.
Sep 21, 2019 · 50 min
Sara Ahmed's "Differences that Matter" (Part 2/3)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I continue my exploration of Ahmed's "Differences that Matter" and turn my attention to ethics, and the construction of women in Western Philosophy. Ahmed presents some tough criticisms here, but is equally proficient at constructing her own theoretical approach that stands opposed to the hegemony-laden approaches indicative of Western thought.
Sep 21, 2019 · 43 min
Sara Ahmed's "Differences that Matter" (Part 1/3)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I shift gears to explore Sara Ahmed's first book, "Differences that Matter." In this book, Ahmed points to the limitations of postmodern thought to account for those marginalized groups most often affected by structural inequalities.
Sep 21, 2019 · 1 hr 10 min
Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari’s “A Thousand Plateaus” Chapter 13: “Apparatus of Capture” (Part 2/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, Curtis and I continue our exploration of Plateau 13 from A Thousand Plateaus, "Apparatus of Capture." Specifically, we locate the implications of this chapter alongside the advent of algorithms, big data, and technological surveillance.
Sep 21, 2019 · 1 hr 4 min
Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari's "A Thousand Plateaus" Chapter 13: "Apparatus of Capture" (Part 1/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I'm joined by Curtis Allen, PhD candidate in Theory and Criticism, whose work focuses on the work of Deleuze and Wittgenstein. We discuss the implications of this complicated plateau by expounding upon Deleuze & Guattari's theorization of the relationship between the war machine and the state.
Sep 21, 2019 · 1 hr 28 min
Hannah Arendt's "The Human Condition" (Part 2/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, Andrew and I continue to explore the implications of Arendt's seminal text, The Human Condition. In this episode we take aim at the questioning concerning technology, and the role of science in crystallizing a contemporary (oppressive) manifestation of truthfulness.
Sep 21, 2019 · 57 min
Hannah Arendt's "The Human Condition" (Part 1/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I'm joined by Andrew Woods, PhD candidate in Theory & Criticism, to explore the implications of Arendt's seminal text, The Human Condition. We gloss over a number of key ideas pertaining to the development of the social; the end of excellence; and the alienating effects of mass society
Sep 21, 2019 · 44 min
Jean Baudrillard's "In the Shadow of the Silent Majorities or, The End of the Social"
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy Please note: I mistakenly said that this book follows Simulacra & Simulation when, in fact, it precedes it. I got mixed up with the translation date and original date. Please keep this in mind when I speak about the relationship between the two texts. In this episode, I tackle Baudrillard's "Silent Majorities" to present his primary ideas concerning the media and the masses, and the relationship that they have to one another. Moreover, he takes an interesting stance on the role that terrorism plays in both, paradoxically, consolidating and resisting the repressive mechanisms of the media and the masses.
Sep 21, 2019 · 49 min
Homi Bhabha's "The Location of Culture" (Part 2/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I continue my exploration of "The Location of Culture." In this part, I expound upon Bhabha's bifurcation of post-colonial and post-modern thought to propose an urgency behind recognizing the impact of colonialism on power and governmentality.
Sep 21, 2019 · 45 min
Homi Bhabha's "The Location of Culture" (Part 1/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I explore Homi Bhabha's "The Location of Culture," a seminal text in the field of post-colonial studies. In this enigmatic text, Bhabha sketches his conception of hybridity that stands opposed to contemporary forms of colonialism.
Sep 21, 2019 · 58 min
Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra & Simulation" (Part 2/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I continue my analysis of "Simulacra & Simulation" to expound upon Baudrillard's thoughts of political action, the "code," science fiction, and nihilism.
Sep 21, 2019 · 40 min
Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra & Simulation" (Part 1/2)
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy In this episode, I delve into Baudrillard's most famous work, "Simulacra & Simulation." In this episode, I do my best to clarify some misconceptions that I often encounter regarding what Baudrillard is doing in this text. Some of these include the explicit relationship between simulation and the media, the divide between reality and simulation, and Baudrillard's thoughts of "real" suffering

Theory & Philosophy

Maurizio Lazzarato's "Governing by Debt" (Part 2/2)

Maurizio Lazzarato's "Governing by Debt" (Part 1/2)

Jean Baudrillard's "The Ecstasy of Communication"

Jean Baudrillard's "America"

Roberto Calasso's "The Ruin of Kasch" (Part 2/2)

Roberto Calasso's "The Ruin of Kasch" (Part 1/2)

Jean Baudrillard's "Fatal Strategies" (Part 2/2)

Jean Baudrillard's "Fatal Strategies (Part 1/2)

Sara Ahmed's "Differences that Matter" (Part 3/3)

Sara Ahmed's "Differences that Matter" (Part 2/3)

Sara Ahmed's "Differences that Matter" (Part 1/3)

Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari’s “A Thousand Plateaus” Chapter 13: “Apparatus of Capture” (Part 2/2)

Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari's "A Thousand Plateaus" Chapter 13: "Apparatus of Capture" (Part 1/2)

Hannah Arendt's "The Human Condition" (Part 2/2)

Hannah Arendt's "The Human Condition" (Part 1/2)

Jean Baudrillard's "In the Shadow of the Silent Majorities or, The End of the Social"

Homi Bhabha's "The Location of Culture" (Part 2/2)

Homi Bhabha's "The Location of Culture" (Part 1/2)

Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra & Simulation" (Part 2/2)

Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra & Simulation" (Part 1/2)