Episodes
![OPTIMISM OF THE WILL, PESSIMISM OF THE INTELLECT - INTERESTING TIMES 80](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Wednesday May 22, 2024
OPTIMISM OF THE WILL, PESSIMISM OF THE INTELLECT - INTERESTING TIMES 80
Wednesday May 22, 2024
Wednesday May 22, 2024
In this podcast, I apply Gramsci's concepts of optimism of the will and pessimism of the intellect to some recent news items in order to expose the propaganda nature of their reporting by the BBC and other MSM, to expose the "common sense" and natural seeming language of the broadcasters, which however obscures reality whilst pretending to illluminate it. [Free. 31 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.]
![CAMPUS BUMS OR HOPE FOR THE FUTURE? ON STUDENT PROTESTS - INTERESTING TIMES 79](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Friday Apr 26, 2024
Friday Apr 26, 2024
In this podcast, I take issue with Professor Steven Pinker's take on the campus protests now spreading through the student body in the USA as revealed by an interview he did with the Radio 4 Today Programme this morning. I also tease out historical resonances with the student unrest that was, like the current protests, also initiated at Columbia University in 1968 and which subsequently spread across the world and signalled the demise of the Vietnam War. For what it's worth, I offer encouragement and advice to students participating in the protests and sketch the argument for their absolute necessity. [Free. 28 minutes.]
![RULES BASED ORDER? - INTERESTING TIMES 74](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Saturday Feb 03, 2024
RULES BASED ORDER? - INTERESTING TIMES 74
Saturday Feb 03, 2024
Saturday Feb 03, 2024
In this podcast, I reflect on the ramification of The International Court of Justice's initial ruling on the charge of genocide levelled against the State of Israel by The Republic of South Africa. [Free. 29 minutes.]
![WHAT DOES THE BBC WANT YOU TO THINK TODAY? RAW THOUGHT](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Saturday Dec 02, 2023
WHAT DOES THE BBC WANT YOU TO THINK TODAY? RAW THOUGHT
Saturday Dec 02, 2023
Saturday Dec 02, 2023
In this podcast, we discuss two recent propaganda offensives that the BBC is engaging in and which the rest of the MSM are parroting. They are the propositions that (1) carbon capture and storage can mitigate climate disruption and we can accordingly go on with business as usual, and that (2) the Israeli state are the good guys. Needless to say, we dispute both of those propositions. [Free. 32 minutes.]
![CHUANG TZU - AN INTRODUCTION](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
CHUANG TZU - AN INTRODUCTION
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
This podcast is an introduction to our forthcoming series on the work of Chuang Tzu, and which builds on our long series on Lao Tzu. [Free. 27 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 61](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Friday Jul 21, 2023
LAO TZU 61
Friday Jul 21, 2023
Friday Jul 21, 2023
In this podcast, we discuss Chapter 74 of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching. Matters discussed include; the power dynamics involved in social organisation, the relative value of fearful and fearless orientations to life, and the tendency of humans to attempt to enhance life through their ingenuity. [Click HERE to buy me a coffee.] [Free. 34 minutes.]
![SOCRATES & THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Friday Jun 23, 2023
SOCRATES & THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
Friday Jun 23, 2023
Friday Jun 23, 2023
In this podcast, we discuss the resonances between the question asked by Socrates in Plato's Republic, 'How should life be lived?', and the TV series, The Walking Dead. [Free. 50 minutes.]
![A UNIVERSE OF DISCOURSE?](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/771447/hyradiologobig2_300x300.png)
Tuesday Feb 14, 2023
A UNIVERSE OF DISCOURSE?
Tuesday Feb 14, 2023
Tuesday Feb 14, 2023
What is a universe of discourse? In this podcast, I attempt an answer, followed by an appraisal of the uses and abuse the concept might be put to. (Click the link to buy me a coffee.) [Free. 23 minutes.]