Author: Political Philosophy: Dr Laurie M Johnson

This is where I post my YouTube videos and audio versions thereof. You can find the podcast directly on iTunes, Spotify and Google podcasts.

Human v. Pig: Disc. w/ Friends (Porkopolis 3-Audio)

February 13, 2021

Alex Blanchette’s Porkopolis is the source of this discussion among friends. We are all reading Blanchette’s book about the US pork production industry. Our conversation ranges from the limits and costs of ever-increasing efficiency in production, to squeezing pennies out of runts, to the endless quest for the uniform (and therefore efficiently processed) pig and the impact this has on the workers involved. We segue into a conversation about the reality and value of universalization/homogenization in both production and societies. Thinkers discussed include Karl Marx, Jacques Ellul, Eugene McCarraher, and Adorno and Horkheimer. … More Human v. Pig: Disc. w/ Friends (Porkopolis 3-Audio)

Human v. Pig: Disc. w/ Friends (Porkopolis 3) Ft. Marx, Ellul, McCarraher, Adorno & Horkheimer

February 13, 2021

Alex Blanchette’s Porkopolis is the source of this discussion among friends. We are all reading Blanchette’s book about the US pork production industry. Our conversation ranges from the limits and costs of ever-increasing efficiency in production, to squeezing pennies out of runts, to the endless quest for the uniform (and therefore efficiently processed) pig and the impact this has on the workers involved. We segue into a conversation about the reality and value of universalization/homogenization in both production and societies. Thinkers discussed include Karl Marx, Jacques Ellul, Eugene McCarraher, and Adorno and Horkheimer. … More Human v. Pig: Disc. w/ Friends (Porkopolis 3) Ft. Marx, Ellul, McCarraher, Adorno & Horkheimer

Somos Puercos: Human-Animal Melding in the Meat Production Business (Porkopolis 2-Audio)

February 6, 2021

Alex Blanchette’s recent book Porkopolis shows how human and animal lives become intertwined in a relationship of dependency that distorts both natures. How should we understand this type of production? What does it do to the people involved every step of the way with animals who no longer feed, procreate, give birth or die without humans intimately involved? Blanchette explores these questions from the vantage point of someone who did many aspects of the work and talked openly with people involved in many steps of the process. Do we treat the people involved as interchangeable, expendable and dependent as the industrial pigs they tend? What does that say about the food system we’ve created and which most of us rely upon and benefit from? … More Somos Puercos: Human-Animal Melding in the Meat Production Business (Porkopolis 2-Audio)

Somos Puercos: Human-Animal Melding in the Meat Production Business (Porkopolis 2-Video)

February 6, 2021

Alex Blanchette’s recent book Porkopolis shows how human and animal lives become intertwined in a relationship of dependency that distorts both natures. How should we understand this type of production? What does it do to the people involved every step of the way with animals who no longer feed, procreate, give birth or die without humans intimately involved? Blanchette explores these questions from the vantage point of someone who did many aspects of the work and talked openly with people involved in many steps of the process. Do we treat the people involved as interchangeable, expendable and dependent as the industrial pigs they tend? What does that say about the food system we’ve created and which most of us rely upon and benefit from? … More Somos Puercos: Human-Animal Melding in the Meat Production Business (Porkopolis 2-Video)

Porkopolis: The Human and Economic Tragedy of Manufactured Meat (1-Audio)

January 30, 2021

Alex Blanchette’s Porkopolis (2020, Duke University Press) has had more than the usual impact for a book that started out as a dissertation. Blanchette spent quite a bit of time embedding himself in the work of pork CAFO’s and processing facilities. As a result he has a book that goes beyond the usual animal or human welfare argument to expose the Taylorist/Fordist nature of pork production that yields cheap meat at the expense of dehumanizing workers and merging to the point of inextricability the manufactured pig and the manufacturing human. This video introduces who Blanchette is and some of the themes in the book. … More Porkopolis: The Human and Economic Tragedy of Manufactured Meat (1-Audio)

Porkopolis: The Human and Economic Tragedy of Manufactured Meat (1-Video)

January 30, 2021

Alex Blanchette’s Porkopolis (2020, Duke University Press) has had more than the usual impact for a book that started out as a dissertation. Blanchette spent quite a bit of time embedding himself in the work of pork CAFO’s and processing facilities. As a result he has a book that goes beyond the usual animal or human welfare argument to expose the Taylorist/Fordist nature of pork production that yields cheap meat at the expense of dehumanizing workers and merging to the point of inextricability the manufactured pig and the manufacturing human. This video introduces who Blanchette is and some of the themes in the book. … More Porkopolis: The Human and Economic Tragedy of Manufactured Meat (1-Video)

Getting Our * Back Under Control: Charles Taylor’s Cure for Fragmentation (Malaise 6-Audio)

January 23, 2021

In this concluding video on Charles Taylor’s The Malaise of Modernity I discuss Taylor’s critique of technical rationality (scientific, corporate, bureaucratic). Taylor does it in his characteristic style–technique/technology/technical rationality is not wholly good or bad. In order to get what we create back under control so that it serves us, we have to realize this and re-assert the primacy of politics (real politics) and political control. Taylor’s analysis speaks to our moment, in which we are too divided and our ideas too simplistic and negative, to engage in real political debate and discourse. How do we get back to a place of true democratic politics? Can we realize the moral impulse that Taylor argues initiated the Enlightenment promise in reason, science and technology (they long ago went off the rails), or are we doomed to be dominated by our own creations? … More Getting Our * Back Under Control: Charles Taylor’s Cure for Fragmentation (Malaise 6-Audio)

Getting Our * Back Under Control: Charles Taylor’s Cure for Fragmentation (Malaise 6-Video)

January 23, 2021

In this concluding video on Charles Taylor’s The Malaise of Modernity I discuss Taylor’s critique of technical rationality (scientific, corporate, bureaucratic). Taylor does it in his characteristic style–technique/technology/technical rationality is not wholly good or bad. In order to get what we create back under control so that it serves us, we have to realize this and re-assert the primacy of politics (real politics) and political control. Taylor’s analysis speaks to our moment, in which we are too divided and our ideas too simplistic and negative, to engage in real political debate and discourse. How do we get back to a place of true democratic politics? Can we realize the moral impulse that Taylor argues initiated the Enlightenment promise in reason, science and technology (they long ago went off the rails), or are we doomed to be dominated by our own creations? … More Getting Our * Back Under Control: Charles Taylor’s Cure for Fragmentation (Malaise 6-Video)

Originality is Not the Point: Charles Taylor’s Views on Environment/External Reality (Malaise 5-Audio)

January 16, 2021

Inspired by Charles Taylor’s Malaise of Modernity, Chapter 8, I discuss Taylor’s points about whether rejection of all authority and previous cultural accretions in the name of authenticity is necessary or whether it entirely misses the point. Is it even possible to be “original?” If we think that it is, are we not susceptible to the worst suggestions for how to achieve our “originality” or authenticity, whether those suggestions come from unscrupulous leaders or purveyors of commercial products?. Taylor’s analysis of how this problem plays out in our relationship to the environment is especially interesting. We treat it as though it is an extension of ourselves to be molded and shaped any way we want, and yet it won’t completely comply–because it is not an extension of ourselves but an actual external reality with (recalling Jakob Hanschu’s treatment of New Materialism and his development of Dark Materialism) its own uncontrollable ramifications? … More Originality is Not the Point: Charles Taylor’s Views on Environment/External Reality (Malaise 5-Audio)

Originality is Not the Point: Charles Taylor’s Views on Environment/External Reality (Malaise 5-Video)

January 16, 2021

Inspired by Charles Taylor’s Malaise of Modernity, Chapter 8, I discuss Taylor’s points about whether rejection of all authority and previous cultural accretions in the name of authenticity is necessary or whether it entirely misses the point. Is it even possible to be “original?” If we think that it is, are we not susceptible to the worst suggestions for how to achieve our “originality” or authenticity, whether those suggestions come from unscrupulous leaders or purveyors of commercial products?. Taylor’s analysis of how this problem plays out in our relationship to the environment is especially interesting. We treat it as though it is an extension of ourselves to be molded and shaped any way we want, and yet it won’t completely comply–because it is not an extension of ourselves but an actual external reality with (recalling Jakob Hanschu’s treatment of New Materialism and his development of Dark Materialism) its own uncontrollable ramifications? … More Originality is Not the Point: Charles Taylor’s Views on Environment/External Reality (Malaise 5-Video)