What's Left of Philosophy

In this episode, we discuss the aesthetic philosophy of the so-called “Dean of the Harlem Renaissance”, Alain Locke. Locke thought art had a central role to play in the social emancipation of Black Americans. It is through art that the social consciousness of society can mature into becoming genuinely pluralist. However, not just any art will do.  We focus on why he insists there must be a strict separation between art and propaganda, how he thought poetry and drama could develop the cultural group life of black people, and why he centered the folk, or everyday people, as genuine sources of beauty and truth. Along the way we ask whether Locke’s search for a black modern aesthetic is still possible in a world where the aesthetic values around race reduce everything to moralism or didacticism. But it’s not all doom and gloom: Drake gets a positive shout out! So anything is possible.
leftofphilosophy.com
References: 
Alain Locke, The New Negro Aesthetic: Selected Writings, edited by Jeffrey C. Stewart (New York: Penguin, 2022).
Hanif Abdurraqib, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much (Button Poetry, 2016).
Tracy K. Smith, Wade in the Water (Graywolf Press, 2018).
Justin Phillip Reed, The Malevolent Volume (Coffee House Press, 2020).
Donika Kelly, The Renunciations (Graywolf Press, 2021).
Music:
“Vintage Memories” by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com
“My Space” by Overu | https://get.slip.stream/KqmvAN

Just a quick pair of announcements for you!
We'll be doing a live episode recording at the Radical Philosophy Association's conference at Pomona College at 8pm next Thursday, October 15. 
https://www.radicalphilosophyassociation.org/rpa-biennial-conference.html
And Gil will be teaching a class on Hobbes's Leviathan in Chicago next month through the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.
https://thebrooklyninstitute.com/items/courses/hobbess-leviathan/
We hope that you will be able to join us for one or both! Thanks very much.
Music: "Mothership" by Blue Steel

In this episode we discuss the concept of hyperpolitics, as originally conceptualized by Anton Jäger. We contemplate the acute lack of substantive political transformation that has resulted from recent upheavals and movements, and wonder about what it would take to revive the kind of mass politics of the early to mid-twentieth century. Throughout, we wrestle with the prevailing sense of powerlessness and doom, the practical necessity of hope, and the potential paths toward meaningful social and political transformation.
leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphil
References: 
Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences (New York: Verso, 2026)
Lillian Cicerchia, “The Futility of Hyperpolitics”, https://catalyst-journal.com/2025/04/the-futility-of-hyperpolitics
Virgilio Urbina Lazardi, “Thomas Piketti’s Utopian Socialism”, https://jacobin.com/2026/09/thomas-pikettys-utopian-socialism 
Music:
“Vintage Memories” by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com
“My Space” by Overu | https://get.slip.stream/KqmvAN

In this episode we discuss the work of French philosopher Alain Badiou. Ever since the 1970s, Badiou’s philosophy has been characterized by an untimely systematicity and an ambitious effort to bring together politics, art, science, and love in a unique synthesis under the aegis of a novel fundamental ontology. In Metapolitics, Badiou explains what he understands by politics as a historical site where truths can be produced, and what it means for a militant subject to remain faithful to such a truth, affirming a radical egalitarianism over against the exclusions and hierarchies of the state. Along the way he says some very funny things about what he sees as the deficiencies of more traditional ‘political philosophy’. Above all, Badiou reminds us that even when it seems like there is no alternative, no state is capable of truly foreclosing the possibility that a radically restructuring Event might take place – and he’s got the math to prove it. We think he’s neat!
This is just a short teaser of the full episode. To hear the rest, please subscribe to us on Patreon:
patreon.com/leftofphilosophy
References: 
Alain Badiou, Metapolitics, trans. Jason Barker (New York: Verso, 2001).
Music:
“Vintage Memories” by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com
“My Space” by Overu | https://get.slip.stream/KqmvAN

In this episode, we continue our series on modernity with a discussion of modernity, colonialism, and the future of both. We take up the claim that modernity is a justifying myth for European colonialism and wonder why we are all so enraptured by it. Are the Europeans as modern as we think they are? We also defend modernity’s promise of emancipation and then wonder what the point of all the modernity talk is anyway. There’s a lot of ambivalence here, but perhaps that’s the point!
leftofphilosophy.com | @leftofphil | @leftofphilosophy.bsky.social
References:
Aníbal Quijano, “Paradoxes of Modernity in Latin America,” in Foundational Essays on the Coloniality of Power (Duke University Press, 2024).
Enrique Dussel, “Europe, Modernity, and Eurocentrism,” Nepantla: Views from South 1.3 (Duke University Press, 2000).
Music:
“Vintage Memories” by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com
“My Space” by Overu | https://get.slip.stream/KqmvAN