Episodes
![HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE?](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE?
Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
In this podcast, I discuss the proposition that "Hell is other people" which is found in Sartre's play Hui Clos (1944). I draw on my own reflections, and the works of Freud and Hegel rather than closely following the original play. [Free. 22 minutes.]
![EQUALITY, NIETZSCHE, SOCIAL DARWINISM](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Sunday Jun 02, 2024
EQUALITY, NIETZSCHE, SOCIAL DARWINISM
Sunday Jun 02, 2024
Sunday Jun 02, 2024
In this podcast, I take issue with a range of pleas for inequality in society. I examine the idea that inequality is "natural", and the mobilisation of Darwin's account of evolution to propagandise for that idea and find these wanting. I criticise the notion that equality as a desideratum is inimical to freedom. I examine the way in which Nietzsche draws our attention to the undeniable variation in the endowments humans find themselves with and point the illogicality of what he makes of that fact, which is partly the result of failing to distinguish the variety of phenomena that the term "equality" refers to. I conclude that society should tend towards greater equality, repudiating caste society, eugenics and capitalism, and that this is necessary for human flourishing in freedom, and indeed survival. [Free. 22 minutes.]
![WHAT IS FASCISM? 4 - SATURN EATS HIS SON & THE DEATH INSTINCT](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Sunday Apr 28, 2024
WHAT IS FASCISM? 4 - SATURN EATS HIS SON & THE DEATH INSTINCT
Sunday Apr 28, 2024
Sunday Apr 28, 2024
In this wide-ranging podcast, I interpret Goya's painting of the early 1820s, Saturn Eating His Son. This leads me to considerations of Freud's notion of Thanatos or the death instinct, Nietzsche's readings of human cruelty and its relationship to the will to power, current affairs and recent history, particularly with respect to all too common orgies of depraved destruction of life. I describe how the death instinct and the possibility of joy in cruelty are mobilsed by the rich and powerful in pursuit of their own agenda. [Free. 24 minutes.]
![TORY CONFERENCE 23 - INCOMPETENCE, FRAGMENTATION AND MADNESS - INTERESTING TIMES 69](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Saturday Oct 07, 2023
TORY CONFERENCE 23 - INCOMPETENCE, FRAGMENTATION AND MADNESS - INTERESTING TIMES 69
Saturday Oct 07, 2023
Saturday Oct 07, 2023
In this podcast, we reflect on widely reported items from the 2023 Tory Part Conference, and plug into some of the wider political and philosophical issues they give rise to. [Free. 42 minutes.]
![A SUSPICION - CLIMATE & CULTURE WARS](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
A SUSPICION - CLIMATE & CULTURE WARS
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Join me on my constitutional as I entertain the suspicion that the UK right-wing government is on the brink of refocussing its culture wars on net zero, and eco-concern generally, and throwing everything it can muster at it. I place these speculations in a context of a brief and rough explanation of the hermeneutics of suspicion. The podcast ends with the trailer to our upcoming series of live zoom talks. See http://peteyates.uk/live-events/ [Free. 28 minutes.]
![LAO TZU 63](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Saturday Aug 05, 2023
LAO TZU 63
Saturday Aug 05, 2023
Saturday Aug 05, 2023
In this podcast, we consider Chapter 76 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. The main theme that emerges is that Lao Tzu distinguishes ways of being which are inflexible, rigid and death-orientated from ways of being which a supple, flexible and life-orientated. We draw out how these orientations play out in all aspects of life, including politics and meditation. [Free. 20 minutes.]
![CLICK BAIT, RAGE BAIT & CALM BAIT](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Sunday May 14, 2023
CLICK BAIT, RAGE BAIT & CALM BAIT
Sunday May 14, 2023
Sunday May 14, 2023
In this podcast, we discuss rage bait and its role in the manipulation of behaviours through news and social media and what seems to be the deliberate arousal of strong emotions. We consider the application of behavioural science in conjunction with massive amounts of data collected by big tech in the persuasion business, especially as applied to nudging election results. The discussion ranges wide and includes a comparison of psychoanalytic approaches to behaviour manipulation with those derived from behaviourism. [Free. 34 minutes.]
![PATHOLOGICAL IRRATIONALISM IN THE UK AND BEYOND](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Sunday Jan 08, 2023
PATHOLOGICAL IRRATIONALISM IN THE UK AND BEYOND
Sunday Jan 08, 2023
Sunday Jan 08, 2023
In this rambling rant, we attempt to outline a mass and individual psychology of Thatcherism and trace its fallout in our current situation. We note that science denial which is prevalent on social media is also often promoted by extreme right wing people. We the move on to a suggestion that Thatcher's denial of the social character of human existence is an example of the same pathological irrationalism that is a core feature of historical fascism. (Click the link to by me a coffee.) [Free. 59 minutes.]
![LAO TZU 54](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Monday Oct 10, 2022
LAO TZU 54
Monday Oct 10, 2022
Monday Oct 10, 2022
In this podcast, we discuss Chapter 67 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching in which Lao Tzu elucidates the necessity for good leaders to embody compassion, thrift and humility. Click this link to buy us a coffee! [Free. 19 minutes.]
![LAO TZU 50](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Monday Jun 13, 2022
LAO TZU 50
Monday Jun 13, 2022
Monday Jun 13, 2022
In this podcast, discuss Chapter 63 of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. The main theme is how the sage negotiates life through wu wei, or non-doing. In astonishingly few words, Lao Tzu imparts a very detailed account of wu-wei. [Free. 37 minutes.]