Skip to main content

Jason Read

University of Southern Maine, Philosophy, Faculty Member

Followers

4,616

Following

468

Co-authors

11

Public Views

Jason Read is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine. He is the author of The Micro-Politics of Capital: Marx and the Prehistory of the Present (SUNY 2003) and The Politics of Transindividuality (Brill 2015/Haymarket 2016) and a forthcoming collection of essays, The Production of Subjectivity: Between Marxism and Post-Structuralism. He has published essays on Spinoza, Deleuze, Marx, and The Wire among others. He blogs on popular culture, philosophy, and politics at unemployednegativity.com.

less

University of Melbourne

SUNY Plattsburgh

The New School University

Alexander Douglas

University of St Andrews

University of Hildesheim

Hamilton College

Matthieu Angevin

University of Aberdeen

David Wollenberg

University of Chicago

Sjoerd van Tuinen

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Aurelia Armstrong

The University of Queensland, Australia

InterestsView All (25)

Uploads

Books by Jason Read

The Practice of Philosophy within its Limits

Cultural Critique , 2020

The Unity of Transindividuality: An Examination of Balibar's Philosophical Practice

Spinoza, The Transindividual, 2020

Introduction to the English translation of Spinoza, The Transindividual by Etienne Balibar

Postscript as Preface: Theorizing Control After Deleuze

Coils of the Serpent , 2020

Etienne Balibar, Vittorio Morfino (edited by), Il transindividuale. Soggetti, relazioni, mutazioni

by Vittorio Morfino, Jason Read, and Mariana de Gainza

Mimesis, 2014

Mode of Production

The Bloomsbury Companion to Marx, 2019

Stringer Bell's Lament: Violence and Legitimacy in Contemporary Capitalism

In The Wire the illegal drug trade acts as a sustained allegory for capitalism. It is at once the... more In The Wire the illegal drug trade acts as a sustained allegory for capitalism. It is at once the outside of the world of legitimate business, governed by different rules and principles of loyalty, and the dark mirror of business, revealing the effects of a relentless pursuit of profit on the community and lives of those caught up in its grip. Nowhere is this tension between " the game " (the drug trade) and the larger world of capitalism illustrated with greater clarity than in the life and death of Russell " Stringer " Bell. Stringer is often presented as the character most enamored of the legitimate world of business, taking economics classes at community college and applying the lessons to the world of the drug trade. Stringer is also presented as the character who desires not only wealth, but the legitimacy of the world of legal business. His story offers a brutal retelling of the classic " rags to riches " story in which murder, addiction, and betrayal are as fundamental as hard work and business acumen. His story ends tragically as well: while Stringer is able to accumulate money, he is unable to acquire security and legitimacy, and he remains caught between the semi-feudal loyalties of the drug trade and the ruthless world of capital, until the contradictions between the two eventually kill him. What Stringer's story reveals is not only the unstable nature of the border that separates the drug trade from the world of legitimate business, but the way in which the relationship between the two is sustained as much by narratives and fictions as by their actual material relations. The connection between material relations and the narratives and fictions that sustain such relations is at the center of Karl Marx's critique of capitalism, most famously in his concept of ideology, which reveals the way in which

Commons/Undercommons In Art, Education and Work

by Marta Keil, Ana Vujanović, Stefan Hölscher, Jason Read, Goran Sergej Pristas, and Josefine Wikstrom

TkH no. 23 / Journal for Performing Arts Theory, Apr 2016

The publication edited by Bojana Cvejić, Bojana Kunst and Stefan Hölscher follows the conference ... more The publication edited by Bojana Cvejić, Bojana Kunst and Stefan Hölscher follows the conference "The Public Commons and the Undercommons of Art, Education, and Labor", which was hosted by the institute for Applied Theater Studies (Justus Liebig University, Gießen) between May 29 and June 1, 2014. It was organized in collaboration with the Hessian Theatre Academy (HTA), the East European Performing Arts Platform (EEPAP), the Create to Connect Network (CTC), Frankfurt LAB (the conference venue), and supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DfG).

The Affective Economy: Producing and Consuming Affects in Deleuze and Guattari

From Deleuze and the Passions Edited by Ceciel Meiborg, Sjoerd van Tuinen Contributors Samantha B... more

The "Other Scene" of Political Anthropology: Between Transindividuality and Equaliberty

The political thought of Etienne Bali bar is framed between transindividuality and equaliberty. T... more The political thought of Etienne Bali bar is framed between transindividuality and equaliberty. These terms frame much of Balibar's writing on politics, citizenship, race and philosophy in recent decades yet they do not have the same status. One is borrowed, a citation from Gilbert Simondon, while the other is Balibar's neologism, a word that combines equality and liberty. The first is situated with respect to Balibar's investigations in the history of philosophy, constituting a tradition of Spinoza, Hegel and Marx, while the second is deployed in Balibar's investigations of the intersection of race, nation and class in contemporary politics. One term refers to a question of political anthropology, or even ontology, an articulation of the fundamental problems of individual and collective, while the other is framed between the relation between equality and liberty, rights and freedoms, in the history of political practice. The points of overlap are just as salient as their differences. Transindividuality and equaliberty challenge conventional, which is to say both philosophical and ideological, notions of the individual and society, collectivity and individuality. The point, however, is not that these terms are the same, referring to identical terms and questions, nor that they are rigorously distinct, referring to different fields of inquiry -specifically social ontology and politics -but that the differences and relations may itself be a way of articulating what are some of the most pressing questions in contemporary philosophy, not just the relation between the individual and collective, but also the relation between politics and economics, and ultimately the relation between ontology and politics. The relation between transindividuality and equaliberty defines not just a field of political questions on citizenship, civility, TIT r 1 2 Bali bar and the Citizen Subject the nation and race, but defines a particular philosophical practice, a particular way of engaging in political problems.

PHI 241 The Politics and Philosophy of Work

Under Pressure, a review of Yves Citton's Renverser l'insoutenable

Yves Citton's Renverser l'insoutenable is both a thorough critique of the current conjuncture and... more Yves Citton's Renverser l'insoutenable is both a thorough critique of the current conjuncture and an attempt to construct a politics to reverse it. With respect to the former, Citton outlines the various ways in which the present should be considered unsustainable, ecologically, economically, politically, psychically, and through its various technological mediations. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Citton proposes a politics that can overcome the untenable conditions of the present. Politics takes two figures here, a politics of pressures, of the loves and hates that drive and determine individual and collective life, and a politics of gestures, of habits and comportments that are both immediate and disseminated through various media. Citton's political proposals suggest a new political approach, one that focuses on the transindividual, on the affects, imaginations and ideas that form the basis for collective and individual existence. It is on this basis that its merits and limitations should be measured. Keywords Simondon – Spinoza – transindividuality – populism – affect

The Micro-Politics of Capital: Marx and the Prehistory of the Present

Papers by Jason Read

Negative Solidarity: The Affective Economy in Neoliberalism's Decline

Libidinal Economies of Crisis Times The Psychic Life of Contemporary Capitalism, 2024

Spinoza's question of political thought, "why do the masses fight for their servitude as if it wa... more Spinoza's question of political thought, "why do the masses fight for their servitude as if it was salvation," has taken on an unanticipated economic and social relevance since the post-2008 economic recession. With that question now displaced from its 17th-century context of taxes and bread, wars of glory, and despots, it is possible to see a struggle for servitude in how the masses clamour for more jobs, more austerity, and further persecuting the disadvantaged in the name of fiscal discipline. In a post on the blog Splintering Bone Ashes, Alex Williams has dubbed this particular struggle for servitude "negative solidarity." Williams defined it as "an aggressively enraged sense of injustice, committed to the idea that, because I must endure increasingly austere working conditions (wage freezes, loss of benefits, declining pension funds, erasure of job security and increasing precarity) then everyone else must too." 1 We can point to multiple instances of negative solidarity, and with them, a changing trajectory of both imagination and affect as its meaning (i.e., its objects and narratives) shift. There is the iconic figure of the "welfare queen," and with her, the entire racialised demonisation of benefit programs for the unemployed and impoverished. There is also the migrant figure, likewise chastised for dependency and laziness on the one hand and sometimes for "stealing jobs" on the other. More recently, negative solidarity has been aimed at the public services worker-the teacher or government employee who continues to benefit, albeit ever so slightly, from union protection and collective bargaining. Such workers are seen as failing to engage in the necessary discipline and suffering of work. That "negative solidarity" can take on so many different figures-mostly pure fantasies disconnected from actual conditions-suggests that, at its core, it articulates an imagination and a particular structure of feeling. It is not so much a reflection of actual conditions and real relations as of a particular way of representing or perceiving those conditions. Articulating and elaborating a definition of negative solidarity entails a necessary

Fighting for Exploitation As If It Were Rebellion: Spinoza, Marx, and Subjection Today

Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal , 2023

The Affective Reproduction of Capital

Duke University Press eBooks, Sep 29, 2023

3. The “Other Scene” of Political Anthropology: Between Transindividuality and Equaliberty

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Feb 21, 2017

The Present as Pre-History

International Studies in Philosophy, 2005

Another day in the future: Philip K. Dick and the philosophy of science fiction

Work and Precarity

Chapter 16 from A Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory, edited by Imre Szeman, Sarah Blacker... more Chapter 16 from A Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory, edited by Imre Szeman, Sarah Blacker, and Justin Sully. More about this chapter: The current economic crisis has returned work to the center of politics. This return is ambiguous and contradictory. Following Kathi Weeks’ discussion of the antinomies of work, this chapter examines three contradictions of work through Hegel, Marx, and Spinoza. Hegel explores the contradiction between the ethical and economic dimension of work; Marx investigates the contradiction between labor as an individual commodity and a cooperative endeavor; and Spinoza makes possible an examination of the activity and passivity of work, its relation to the affects of hope and fear. The sensibility of precarity can then be understood as siding with one contradiction against the others, emphasizing the ethical, individual, and passive dimension of labor. A movement against precarity must stress the economic, collective, and active dimension of labor.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/facbooks/1298/thumbnail.jp

To think the new in the absence of its conditions : Althusser and Negri and the philosophy of primitive accumulation

Encountering Althusser : Politics and Materialism in Contemporary Radical Thought

2010-Present University of Southern Maine Associate Professor 2005-10 University of Southern Main... more 2010-Present University of Southern Maine Associate Professor 2005-10 University of Southern Maine Assistant Professor 2004-05 Colby College Visiting Assistant Professor 2003-04 University of Southern Maine Adjunct Assistant Professor 2001-03 University of Southern Maine Visiting Assistant Professor 2000 SUNY Cortland Lecturer 1997, 1999 (Jan. Term) Hampshire College Visiting Instructor 1996-1998 Binghamton University-SUNY Teaching Associate 1995, 1999 Binghamton University-SUNY Teaching Assistant

The Practice of Philosophy within its Limits

Cultural Critique , 2020

The Unity of Transindividuality: An Examination of Balibar's Philosophical Practice

Spinoza, The Transindividual, 2020

Introduction to the English translation of Spinoza, The Transindividual by Etienne Balibar

Postscript as Preface: Theorizing Control After Deleuze

Coils of the Serpent , 2020

Etienne Balibar, Vittorio Morfino (edited by), Il transindividuale. Soggetti, relazioni, mutazioni

by Vittorio Morfino, Jason Read, and Mariana de Gainza

Mimesis, 2014

Mode of Production

The Bloomsbury Companion to Marx, 2019

Stringer Bell's Lament: Violence and Legitimacy in Contemporary Capitalism

In The Wire the illegal drug trade acts as a sustained allegory for capitalism. It is at once the... more In The Wire the illegal drug trade acts as a sustained allegory for capitalism. It is at once the outside of the world of legitimate business, governed by different rules and principles of loyalty, and the dark mirror of business, revealing the effects of a relentless pursuit of profit on the community and lives of those caught up in its grip. Nowhere is this tension between " the game " (the drug trade) and the larger world of capitalism illustrated with greater clarity than in the life and death of Russell " Stringer " Bell. Stringer is often presented as the character most enamored of the legitimate world of business, taking economics classes at community college and applying the lessons to the world of the drug trade. Stringer is also presented as the character who desires not only wealth, but the legitimacy of the world of legal business. His story offers a brutal retelling of the classic " rags to riches " story in which murder, addiction, and betrayal are as fundamental as hard work and business acumen. His story ends tragically as well: while Stringer is able to accumulate money, he is unable to acquire security and legitimacy, and he remains caught between the semi-feudal loyalties of the drug trade and the ruthless world of capital, until the contradictions between the two eventually kill him. What Stringer's story reveals is not only the unstable nature of the border that separates the drug trade from the world of legitimate business, but the way in which the relationship between the two is sustained as much by narratives and fictions as by their actual material relations. The connection between material relations and the narratives and fictions that sustain such relations is at the center of Karl Marx's critique of capitalism, most famously in his concept of ideology, which reveals the way in which

Commons/Undercommons In Art, Education and Work

by Marta Keil, Ana Vujanović, Stefan Hölscher, Jason Read, Goran Sergej Pristas, and Josefine Wikstrom

TkH no. 23 / Journal for Performing Arts Theory, Apr 2016

The publication edited by Bojana Cvejić, Bojana Kunst and Stefan Hölscher follows the conference ... more The publication edited by Bojana Cvejić, Bojana Kunst and Stefan Hölscher follows the conference "The Public Commons and the Undercommons of Art, Education, and Labor", which was hosted by the institute for Applied Theater Studies (Justus Liebig University, Gießen) between May 29 and June 1, 2014. It was organized in collaboration with the Hessian Theatre Academy (HTA), the East European Performing Arts Platform (EEPAP), the Create to Connect Network (CTC), Frankfurt LAB (the conference venue), and supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DfG).

The Affective Economy: Producing and Consuming Affects in Deleuze and Guattari

From Deleuze and the Passions Edited by Ceciel Meiborg, Sjoerd van Tuinen Contributors Samantha B... more

The "Other Scene" of Political Anthropology: Between Transindividuality and Equaliberty

The political thought of Etienne Bali bar is framed between transindividuality and equaliberty. T... more The political thought of Etienne Bali bar is framed between transindividuality and equaliberty. These terms frame much of Balibar's writing on politics, citizenship, race and philosophy in recent decades yet they do not have the same status. One is borrowed, a citation from Gilbert Simondon, while the other is Balibar's neologism, a word that combines equality and liberty. The first is situated with respect to Balibar's investigations in the history of philosophy, constituting a tradition of Spinoza, Hegel and Marx, while the second is deployed in Balibar's investigations of the intersection of race, nation and class in contemporary politics. One term refers to a question of political anthropology, or even ontology, an articulation of the fundamental problems of individual and collective, while the other is framed between the relation between equality and liberty, rights and freedoms, in the history of political practice. The points of overlap are just as salient as their differences. Transindividuality and equaliberty challenge conventional, which is to say both philosophical and ideological, notions of the individual and society, collectivity and individuality. The point, however, is not that these terms are the same, referring to identical terms and questions, nor that they are rigorously distinct, referring to different fields of inquiry -specifically social ontology and politics -but that the differences and relations may itself be a way of articulating what are some of the most pressing questions in contemporary philosophy, not just the relation between the individual and collective, but also the relation between politics and economics, and ultimately the relation between ontology and politics. The relation between transindividuality and equaliberty defines not just a field of political questions on citizenship, civility, TIT r 1 2 Bali bar and the Citizen Subject the nation and race, but defines a particular philosophical practice, a particular way of engaging in political problems.

PHI 241 The Politics and Philosophy of Work

Under Pressure, a review of Yves Citton's Renverser l'insoutenable

Yves Citton's Renverser l'insoutenable is both a thorough critique of the current conjuncture and... more Yves Citton's Renverser l'insoutenable is both a thorough critique of the current conjuncture and an attempt to construct a politics to reverse it. With respect to the former, Citton outlines the various ways in which the present should be considered unsustainable, ecologically, economically, politically, psychically, and through its various technological mediations. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Citton proposes a politics that can overcome the untenable conditions of the present. Politics takes two figures here, a politics of pressures, of the loves and hates that drive and determine individual and collective life, and a politics of gestures, of habits and comportments that are both immediate and disseminated through various media. Citton's political proposals suggest a new political approach, one that focuses on the transindividual, on the affects, imaginations and ideas that form the basis for collective and individual existence. It is on this basis that its merits and limitations should be measured. Keywords Simondon – Spinoza – transindividuality – populism – affect

The Micro-Politics of Capital: Marx and the Prehistory of the Present

Negative Solidarity: The Affective Economy in Neoliberalism's Decline

Libidinal Economies of Crisis Times The Psychic Life of Contemporary Capitalism, 2024

Spinoza's question of political thought, "why do the masses fight for their servitude as if it wa... more Spinoza's question of political thought, "why do the masses fight for their servitude as if it was salvation," has taken on an unanticipated economic and social relevance since the post-2008 economic recession. With that question now displaced from its 17th-century context of taxes and bread, wars of glory, and despots, it is possible to see a struggle for servitude in how the masses clamour for more jobs, more austerity, and further persecuting the disadvantaged in the name of fiscal discipline. In a post on the blog Splintering Bone Ashes, Alex Williams has dubbed this particular struggle for servitude "negative solidarity." Williams defined it as "an aggressively enraged sense of injustice, committed to the idea that, because I must endure increasingly austere working conditions (wage freezes, loss of benefits, declining pension funds, erasure of job security and increasing precarity) then everyone else must too." 1 We can point to multiple instances of negative solidarity, and with them, a changing trajectory of both imagination and affect as its meaning (i.e., its objects and narratives) shift. There is the iconic figure of the "welfare queen," and with her, the entire racialised demonisation of benefit programs for the unemployed and impoverished. There is also the migrant figure, likewise chastised for dependency and laziness on the one hand and sometimes for "stealing jobs" on the other. More recently, negative solidarity has been aimed at the public services worker-the teacher or government employee who continues to benefit, albeit ever so slightly, from union protection and collective bargaining. Such workers are seen as failing to engage in the necessary discipline and suffering of work. That "negative solidarity" can take on so many different figures-mostly pure fantasies disconnected from actual conditions-suggests that, at its core, it articulates an imagination and a particular structure of feeling. It is not so much a reflection of actual conditions and real relations as of a particular way of representing or perceiving those conditions. Articulating and elaborating a definition of negative solidarity entails a necessary

Fighting for Exploitation As If It Were Rebellion: Spinoza, Marx, and Subjection Today

Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal , 2023

The Affective Reproduction of Capital

Duke University Press eBooks, Sep 29, 2023

3. The “Other Scene” of Political Anthropology: Between Transindividuality and Equaliberty

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Feb 21, 2017

The Present as Pre-History

International Studies in Philosophy, 2005

Another day in the future: Philip K. Dick and the philosophy of science fiction

Work and Precarity

Chapter 16 from A Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory, edited by Imre Szeman, Sarah Blacker... more Chapter 16 from A Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory, edited by Imre Szeman, Sarah Blacker, and Justin Sully. More about this chapter: The current economic crisis has returned work to the center of politics. This return is ambiguous and contradictory. Following Kathi Weeks’ discussion of the antinomies of work, this chapter examines three contradictions of work through Hegel, Marx, and Spinoza. Hegel explores the contradiction between the ethical and economic dimension of work; Marx investigates the contradiction between labor as an individual commodity and a cooperative endeavor; and Spinoza makes possible an examination of the activity and passivity of work, its relation to the affects of hope and fear. The sensibility of precarity can then be understood as siding with one contradiction against the others, emphasizing the ethical, individual, and passive dimension of labor. A movement against precarity must stress the economic, collective, and active dimension of labor.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/facbooks/1298/thumbnail.jp

To think the new in the absence of its conditions : Althusser and Negri and the philosophy of primitive accumulation

Encountering Althusser : Politics and Materialism in Contemporary Radical Thought

2010-Present University of Southern Maine Associate Professor 2005-10 University of Southern Main... more 2010-Present University of Southern Maine Associate Professor 2005-10 University of Southern Maine Assistant Professor 2004-05 Colby College Visiting Assistant Professor 2003-04 University of Southern Maine Adjunct Assistant Professor 2001-03 University of Southern Maine Visiting Assistant Professor 2000 SUNY Cortland Lecturer 1997, 1999 (Jan. Term) Hampshire College Visiting Instructor 1996-1998 Binghamton University-SUNY Teaching Associate 1995, 1999 Binghamton University-SUNY Teaching Assistant

Reading the Tendencies

Postmodern Culture, 2013

Effect of Ibuprofen on Masking Endodontic Diagnosis

Journal of Endodontics, 2014

Thank you for choosing me to be one of your residents. You taught me how to think for myself. I k... more Thank you for choosing me to be one of your residents. You taught me how to think for myself. I know this is a tool that will benefit me in many aspects of life. I cannot express my sincere gratitude. You given me more than you could possibly know. Dr. Bowles Your persistent smile and positive attitude gave me the reassurance that I needed during the most stressful times of this program. Thank you for your knowledge, support, and guidance with my research. Dr. Baisden You always gave me confidence in my work, even when I had little. Drs. Spitzmueller Thank you for your faith and fellowship. Baumgartner, Edmunds, Zucker, Doyle Thank you for sharing your time and clinical expertise. Dr. Anders and Dr. Nguy This program is the hardest thing I have ever been through in my life. Thank you for carrying me, when I could not carry myself. Our friendships will last a lifetime, and I miss you both. Residents I will always remember the grad room as safe haven away from the stressors of the program. The memories, laughter, and exchange of knowledge helped make this program great. I will miss this deeply. Assistants and Staff Thank you for your support and patience.

Ideology as Individuation, Individuating Ideology

Chapter 7 The Age of Cynicism: Deleuze and Guattari on the Production of Subjectivity in Capitalism

Deleuze and Politics, 2008

Subjects of interest: neo-liberalism in the thought of Foucault and Negri

Abstract materialism: Sohn-Rethel and the task of a materialist philosophy today

The present as pre-history: Marx, Adorno, and Balibar on the division between mental and manual labor

Double inscription: marxism as metaphilosophy

Abstract materiality: from Marx to Foucault

Preemptive strikes (of a philosophical variety): Spinoza and Marx

No time like the present: on the materiality of historical time

Conscious Organs

Philosophy Today, 2020

In Volume Three of Capital in a striking but somewhat uncharacteristic formula, Marx argues that ... more In Volume Three of Capital in a striking but somewhat uncharacteristic formula, Marx argues that the labor relation is the “hidden basis” of the entire social edifice including the state and politics. As an attempt to clarify and develop this insight I examine the dual nature of labor as abstract and concrete labor, arguing that the two sides of labor correspond not just to two sides of the commodity, but to different ethics and alienations of labor, and ultimately to different philosophical anthropologies.

PHI 400: Race, Class, Gender: The Politics of Identity Spring 2023

PHI 241 Politics and Philosophy of Work (Spring 2022)

A course on the philosophy of work sounds like an oxymoron. What does making a living have to do ... more A course on the philosophy of work sounds like an oxymoron. What does making a living have to do with the search for a meaningful life? This course argues that has everything to do with. Work defines who we are in the eyes of others and ourselves. Work also makes up most of our daily experience of politics: it is in the world of work that we experience the reality of power, domination, hierarchy, and cooperation. Work is also central to such political ideas as property, equality, and justice. Last, but not least, there is the economic dimension of work, work creates wealth, but not for all. Work is thus an activity that stands at an intersection between philosophy, politics, ethics, and economics. Moreover, this intersection is constantly changing, as labor is transformed by technical conditions and economic decisions. This course will explore this intersection, examining the philosophical, ethical, and political dimensions of work. In doing so we will pay particular attention to the transformations of work in the last several decades, the shift from Fordist industrial labor to an economy dominated by services, information, and work of care and communication. We will also examine the demand for meaningful work, asking is such an ideal possible in a world dominated by automation and globalization. Readings will include: Arendt, Hegel, Locke, Marx, Plato, Boggs, Smith, and Weeks. This course satisfies the Ethical Inquiry, Social Responsibility and Citizenship requirement.

PHI 340/LSH 340: Individual and Society: Politics and Economics in Nineteenth Century Philosophy Payson Smith 306 Monday and Wednesday: 11:00-12:15 Instructor: Jason Read Office Location: Payson Smith 122

One of the many themes of underlying the philosophical conflicts of the nineteenth century is the... more One of the many themes of underlying the philosophical conflicts of the nineteenth century is the relationship between the individual and society. It was a century of mass movements, utopian projects, and concerns over the rights of the individual. The philosophical projects of this century defined the ideals and limitations of communism, anarchism, liberalism, and fascism, the political ideals and projects that cast a long shadow over the present. We will examine not only the politics of that century, but the underlying philosophical commitments of idealism, materialism, communalism, and individualism. Readings will include Hegel’s Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Mill’s The Subjection of Women, Feuerbach’s Principles of the Philosophy of the Future, Marx’s Grundrisse, and Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morality.

PHI 221: Philosophy of Film

The focus of this course is not simply to look at movies as a series of examples of philosophical... more The focus of this course is not simply to look at movies as a series of examples of
philosophical ideas, but on the philosophical questions raised by film itself: film as a
producer of ideas. Film is striking because of the manner in which artificial technologies,
from the illusion of movement produced by flickering images to the digital landscapes and characters of contemporary cinema, produce an experience that can be perceived as “more real,” (more intense) than reality. Central to this course is the idea that films are integral to how we make sense of the world. Thus, philosophy avoids a discussion of film at its peril. Readings will include Agamben, Beller, Deleuze, Jameson, Ranci re, Badiou, and Zizek. Finally, we will look at the post-cinema age, as film’s central place in culture is displaced by video games, online video, and television and how this transformation affects not only how movies are made and understood, but also how we think about and experience images, time, and reality. Films will run the gambit from early silent films (Eisenstein’s Strike), through classics of cinema (Hitchcock, Ford, and Kurosawa), to contemporary film.

PHI 241 Spring 2021-asynchronous

Additional readings on the courses Brightspace page Technology Requirements: a computer with an i... more Additional readings on the courses Brightspace page Technology Requirements: a computer with an internet connection. Course Description, including format: A course on the philosophy of work sounds like an oxymoron. What does making a living have to do with the search for a meaningful life? This course argues that has everything to do with. Work defines who we are in the eyes of others and ourselves. Work also makes up most of our daily experience of politics: it is in the world of work that we experience the reality of power, domination, hierarchy, and cooperation. Work is also central to such political ideas as property, equality, and justice. Last, but not least, there is the economic dimension of work, work creates wealth, but not for all. Work is thus an activity that stands at an intersection between philosophy, politics, ethics, and economics. Moreover, this intersection is constantly changing, as labor is transformed by technical conditions and economic decisions. This course will explore this intersection, examining the philosophical, ethical, and political dimensions of work. In doing so we will pay particular attention to the transformations of work in the last several decades, the shift from Fordist industrial labor to an economy dominated by services, information, and work of care and communication. We will also examine the demand for meaningful work, asking is such an ideal possible in a world dominated by automation and globalization. Readings will include: Arendt, Hegel, Locke, Marx, Plato, Smith, and Weeks. This course satisfies the Ethical Inquiry, Social Responsibility and Citizenship requirement.

PHI 241 Spring 2021-Synchronous

EYE 199 Syllabus

Theme: Politics and Ideology. This course will examine ideology as a central concept to understan... more Theme: Politics and Ideology. This course will examine ideology as a central concept to understanding politics. We will begin by examining what could be called the prehistory of ideology, the way in which La Boetie, Machiavelli and Spinoza understood distortion and deception to be integral to politics. We will also look at attempts to construct a politics of truth and rationality that could respond to the distortions and deceptions of politics, Dewey and Lippman. We will also examine contemporary theories of ideology, Althusser, Debord, and Balibar. We will then examine race as a particular ideology. Lastly we will turn our attention to three books on contemporary ideology, Charles Mills' The Racial Contract, Kate Manne's Down Girl, and Yves Citton's Ecology of Attention. Course Outcomes 1. Students will be able to understand different theories of ideology and the intersection of theories of knowledge and theories of politics in the tradition of philosophy. 2. Students will examine how technology, economics, and social relations shape and determine ideology 3. Students will investigate the ideologies shaping contemporary politics, their sources and influences, as well as how they shape attitudes such as racism and sexism. 4. Students will examine the ideologies that shape their own understanding of politics and society. 5. Students will develop habits of attention, learning, and thinking that make it possible for them to engage the ideologies that shape their world. Assignments: Two Essays. One take home midterm analyzing and evaluating the history of political philosophy (5-7 pages, 35% of grade) and one paper critically examining contemporary uses and theories of ideology (5-7 pages, 35% of grade). Late papers will be penalized a partial letter grade for each day they are late (From an A to an A-after one day, from an A to a B+ after two, and so on). For information about how essays will be evaluated please see the guidelines for evaluation on the Writing Across the Curriculum homepage Attendance/Participation: Attendance and participation are important parts of the class, making up 30% of the grade. Since this class is being offered online participation means watching videos and contributing to weekly discussion boards. Academic Integrity. Using materials or ideas without proper citation is plagiarism. In other words, presenting words (as in a quotation) or ideas (as in paraphrasing) of others as your own is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense. Anyone caught plagiarizing will receive an F in the course, and will be reported to the Office of Community Standards. (Note that the act of using words or ideas without giving credit is plagiarism; motivation is not relevant. Ignorance or sloppiness is not an excuse for plagiarism.) Contact me if you have any questions about how to cite a source. One word of advice, avoid online sources like sparknotes, or sites offering someone's notes online, they are often of dubious quality. Content Warning: This class will deal with religion, racism, and sexism. One book in particular, Mann's Down Girl is quite upfront about violence, sexism, and misogyny, dealing frankly with discussions of sexual violence against women.

Philosophical Anthropology Syllabus

What does it mean to be human? The history of philosophy can be understood as a long rumination o... more What does it mean to be human? The history of philosophy can be understood as a long rumination of this question, with multiple answers from " political animal " and " speaking animal " of classical philosophy to the " tool making " or " rational animal " of the modern era. As much as these definitions are foundational, even indispensable, after all, much of politics, ethics, even our conception of knowledge, depends on how we understand, and define humanity. As much as the question of anthropology is foundational, it is equally vexed. The various definitions of humanity, seem in retrospect to be nothing more than the universalization of a particular culture's values and ideals, inseparable from exclusions and divisions of humanity into races, genders, and classes. To put it bluntly, " human nature: can't live with it, can't live without it. " This course will be an investigation into the unavoidable and impossible question of human nature, a question that has become all the more pressing in the Anthropocene, an age defined by mankind's impact on the planet Readings will include Feuerbach, Marx, Arendt, Jun, Balibar, Stiegler, Virno, and Haraway. Assignments: One short essay (5-7 pages) on the foundational texts and problems of philosophical anthropology (25% of the grade); a presentation on one of the supplemental readings on Balibar, Virno, and Haraway (10% of the grade); and final research paper (7-10 pages) due at the end of the semester, worth (40% of the grade). Late papers will be penalized a partial letter grade for each day they are (From an A to an A-after one day, from an A to a B+ after two, and so on). Second, every student must come to class with

PHI 221 Philosophy of Film.docx

The Dialectic of Lions and Cats

Theory & Event , 2024

A review of Leigh Claire La Berge's Marx for Cats

Review of Spinoza's Political Treatise: A Critical Guide

Journal of the History of Philosophy, 2019

Book review of Spinoza's Political Treatise: A Critical Guide edited by Hasana Sharp and Yitzhak ... more

The Pedagogical Detour

Crisis and Critique , 2015

A review of Initiation à la philosophie pour les non-philosophes by Louis Althusser, Crisis and C... more

The power of the monstrous

by Vittorio Morfino, Jason Read, and Andrea Torrano

Spinoza after Marx

by Vittorio Morfino, Mariana de Gainza, Alejo Stark, Jacques Lezra, Siarhei Biareishyk, and Jason Read

This conference will explore the encounter between the thought of Spinoza and Marx, posing the qu... more This conference will explore the encounter between the thought of Spinoza and Marx, posing the question of how to conceive the two bodies of thought as a joint project. We seek to trace the traditions this encounter has given rise to, internationally and across the disciplines. What about Spinoza's thought lends itself to revival of Marxism? Is Marx's thought necessary for reevaluation of Spinoza? What is the Marx-Spinoza encounter today?