Reading Group: Texts & Schedule

November & December 2024

Capitalism and the Death Drive by Byung-Chul Han, translated by Daniel Steuer. Polity, 2021.

The following sessions begin at 12:00 pm Eastern Time.

  • November 2: “Capitalism and the Death Drive” + “Why Revolution Is Impossible Today”
  • November 9: “The Total Exploitation of the Human Being” + “Inside the Digital Panopticon” + “Only What Is Dead Is Transparent”
  • November 16: “Dataism and Nihilism” + “Torturous Emptiness”
  • November 23: “Jumping Humans” + “Where Do the Refugees Come From?”
  • November 30: “Where the Wild Things Are” + “Who Is a Refugee?”
  • December 7: “Beauty Lies Yonder, in the Foreign” + “The Big Rush”
  • December 14: “In Your Face” + “The End of Liberalism”
  • December 21: “It Is Eros That Defeats Depression” + “Capitalism Dislikes Silence” + “COVID-19 Has Reduced Us to a ‘Society of Survival'” + “‘I Am Sorry, But These Are the Facts'”

January to March, 2025

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (1811)

  • January 11. Volume 1, Chapters 1-18
  • January 18. Volume 1, Chapters 19-22; Volume 2, Chapters 1-7
  • January 25. Volume 2, Chapters 8-14; Volume 3, Chapters 1-3
  • February 1. Volume 3, Chapters 4-14

Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud (1930)

  • February 8. Chapters 1-4
  • February 15. Chapters 5-8

The Entanglement: How Art and Philosophy Make Us What We Are by Alva Noƫ (2023)

  • February 22. Preface + Chapters 1-3
  • March 1. Chapters 4
  • March 8. Chapters 5-6
  • March 15. Chapters 7-8
  • March 22. Chapters 9-10
  • March 29. Chapters 11-12

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Our reading group offers a space for dialogue and philosophical community. Each member’s perspective plays a role in shaping the group spirit. You don’t need any formal academic background to join us. Register at Tier 1 to access the recording of our past sessions. Register at Tier 2 to join our Saturday conversations. We usually have a mix of long-time members and newcomers.

Joining the group will also give you immediate access to over a hundred Patreon-exclusive videos, including the following series:

  1. Beginning Theory
  2. Better Living through Criticism
  3. Deconstruction & Pragmatism
  4. Exile and the Kingdom (Camus)
  5. Understanding Poststructuralism
  6. Why Philosophize? (Lyotard)
  7. Capitalism and the Death Drive (Byung-Chul Han)