Best Slavoj Zizek Podcasts (2025)

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Episode #242 ... Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare 32:24

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35m ago32:24

32:24

Today we talk about the philosophy behind the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. We talk about how ineffective violence and honor codes are as ways of maintaining the stability of a society. How catastrophe may be a deterrent to violence. The tension presented by Shakespeare between a Christian view of love, marriage and salvation and an…

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Consciousness and psychedelics: In conversation with Rupert Sheldrake 31:33

12h ago31:33

31:33

Philosophers cannot stop talking about consciousness - what are its limits? What is it made of? What does it allow us? This podcast is part of that conversation, but from a more experimental perspective. Join biologist and researcher Rupert Sheldrake as he discusses consciousness with philosopher Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes from the lens of psychedelics.…

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The philosophy of religion and love with Alain de Botton and Alex O'Connor 26:11

9d ago26:11

26:11

Why we worship without knowing it What should be included within the remit of philosophy? Religion? Love? Hair? Join well-known public speakers and writers Alain de Botton and Alex O'Connor as they talk through what philosophy can offer us, why we should study love, and what the role of religion is in philosophy and in our lives. See Privacy Policy…

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Žižek's Squashed Birds 26:35

8d ago26:35

26:35

Alright, welcome back to Žižek & So On, we’re beginning our new series on Quantum Physics in the work of Slavoj Žižek and for this week we have a SHORT SESSION taking a look at some of the work leading up to Žižek’s Quantum History. What does it mean for history to progress if every forward movement leaves something broken behind? Can a crushed pos…

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264 - Lee Cronin: The Chemistry of Life 2:00:40

1h ago2:00:40

2:00:40

Lee Cronin is Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. Among his many pursuits are the digitization of chemistry, the discovery of alien life, and the creation of artificial life. In this episode, Robinson and Lee focus on astrobiology, the chemistry of life as we know it, and the controversies surrounding artificial intelligence. Le…

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Is the state DEAD? Farewell to Westphalia with Jarrad Hope and Peter Ludlow 1:06:30

9d ago1:06:30

1:06:30

In this episode I spoke to Jarrad Hope, founder of Logos, and Peter Ludlow, philosopher and research advisor at the University of Hong Kong, and co-authors of the new book 'Farewell to Westphalia.' In the book they detail the historical trajectory of nation states and what they perceive to be their failures as well as propose an alternative to Netw…

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Free Markets Are Planned: The Neoliberal Paradox with Christoph Sorg 1:06:39

13d ago1:06:39

1:06:39

Dr. Christoph Sorg is a social scientist at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He researches theories of capitalism and post-capitalism and the new debate on economic planning in times of digitalization and the climate crisis. During the interview we spoke about his work around understanding economic planning and his recent publication Finance as a…

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Episode #241 ... The Tragedy of Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare 31:13

9d ago31:13

31:13

Today we talk about the philosophical themes of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. We talk about the hypocrisy and false nostalgia of political violence. The ironies of living by a moral ideal like honor. Rhetoric as a site of where political power is won and lost in a republic. And Brutus as a unique kind of tragic hero somewhere…

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Joshua Oppenheimer on his movies, Tilda Swinton in "The End", the politics of movie making, and more 1:26:07

13d ago1:26:07

1:26:07

Frank Ruda and Agon Hamza sit down with the American-British movie director Joshua Oppenheimer to discuss his first narrative feature film, The End, as well as The Act of Killing, documentary filmmaking, movie making, politics, catastrophes and apocalypse, critique of ideology, and many other topics. You can listen to our podcast here: https://anch…

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Mazes of the mind: The philosophy of neuroscience | Iain McGilchrist, Colin Blakemore, Bryan Appleyard 47:58

22d ago47:58

47:58

Over the past decades, neuroscience has blossomed, positioning itself as a kind of master discipline over everything else. For who understands the brain surely understands all of human activity and creation? Or not? Neuroscience's reach has extended past its scientific remit and into the world of philosophy and its major questions. What is a human?…

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263 - Sara Imari Walker: Astrobiology, Aliens, and the Origin of Life 1:47:05

18d ago1:47:05

1:47:05

Sara Imari Walker is Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, where she is Deputy Director of the Beyond Center. Sara is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist, with research interests in the origins of life, artificial life, life and detection on other worlds. In this episode, Robinson and Sara discu…

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Episode #240 ... Varieties of Religion Today (Charles Taylor) 30:55

16d ago30:55

30:55

Today we talk more about the work of Charles Taylor and his book The Varieties of Religion Today. We look at different answers to a classic question around religious belief. The sociological and structural role that religion plays at any given point in history. Paleo, Neo and Post Durkheim versions of religious society. What religion becomes in the…

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In search of nothing | David Deutsch, Amanda Gefter, Lee Smolin 1:00:17

28d ago1:00:17

1:00:17

What is nothing? Can it be defined, either philosophically or scientifically? Or will the exploration of nothing bring, ultimately, to nothing? The philosophical exploration of nothingness is an ancient one, from the mysterious number zero through theological understandings of the absence of God right to modern physics and ideas of the void. Join l…

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Jean-Jacques Lecercle on language, politics, Chomsky, Frankenstein, and related matters. 1:36:17

14d ago1:36:17

1:36:17

Agon Hamza and Frank Ruda sit with the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Lecercle to discuss his approach to language, philosophy on the internet, the violence of language, forms of interpretation, Althusser and interpellation, class struggle in the field of language, Noam Chomsky, Jürgen Habermas… and many other things. You can listen to our podcast…

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PREVIEW - Why Television PART 2 w/ Ryan Engley 13:35

23d ago13:35

13:35

Alright, Tim is stuck in the freezer again and we have TWO NEW EPISODES with good friend of the show and one half of the Why Theory Podcast with Todd McGowan, RYAN ENGLEY. Head over to PATREON to support the show and get access to all our other interviews, short sessions, and more! We’re talking canned laughter, the history of television and the ae…

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Halloween SPECIAL | The philosophy of the apocalypse 44:25

1M ago44:25

44:25

Why are we fascinated by apocalyptic stories? Join the team at the IAI for a reading of four Halloween-themed articles, written by historian and philosopher Natalie Lawrence, professor of political philosophy Matthew Festenstein, and professor of comparative literature Florian Mussgnug. From the allure of the end times to the symbolic value of mons…

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The importance of giving up | Adam Phillips 27:14

1M ago27:14

27:14

Einstein was called “slow” at school, J. K. Rowling collected a dozen rejections, and Walt Disney was once fired for “lacking imagination.” We love stories of perseverance—but what’s the cost of never letting go? In this conversation, psychoanalyst Adam Phillips argues that our obsession with endurance can have hidden, corrosive effects. He invites…

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262 - Slavoj Žižek: Marxism, Quantum Mechanics, and Artificial Intelligence 1:38:59

1M ago1:38:59

1:38:59

Visit our sponsor, Wealthfront!: wealthfront.com/robinson Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. This is Slavoj’s fifth appearance on the show. On epi…

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Trump: We Lost Vietnam and Iraq Because of Woke 1:00:13

1M ago1:00:13

1:00:13

Donald Trump, who we keep hearing is a peacemaker, said his speech for the 250th anniversary of the founding of Navy that the U.S. only lost the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan because we got too "woke" about war tactics. Ben Burgis breaks it down. Get tickets to the election night show in NYC: https://www.barfreda.com/#/events/156966 Read Ben's ar…

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Weaponized Design and the Digital Identity Event Horizon with Cade Diehm 1:39:07

1M ago1:39:07

1:39:07

I spoke to Cade Diehm, Head of Research at the World Ethical Data Foundation and founder of New Design Congress, an independent research group confronting the gap between what is said to be happening and what is actually happening in digital societies. His career also involves working at Deloitte Australia, as leading design for CoinJar, the larges…

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Television Theory w/ Ryan Engley 51:34

1M ago51:34

51:34

Alright, welcome back to Žižek & So On, Tim is still away staring at the dot and this week we have PART ONE of our interview with good friend of the show and one half of the Why Theory Podcast with Todd McGowan, Ryan Engley! We're talking canned laughter, the history of television, the aesthetics of television, memory, and forgetting. Up next we ha…

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Slavoj Žižek on philosophy today | The madness of reality 38:03

1M ago38:03

38:03

Slavoj Žižek is back in a new interview where he takes us through his thoughts on the role of philosophy, the future of sex, his fear and love of AI and, as always, so much more. Tune in to hear one of contemporary philosophy's most original and darkly comedic minds expose his thoughts on the present and where we are heading - though that is imposs…

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Episode #239 ... Authenticity and the history of the self. (Charles Taylor) 36:43

2M ago36:43

36:43

Today we talk about the work of the philosopher Charles Taylor. First, we trace the historical origins of how he views the modern self. From the Greeks to the Reformation. From Descartes to Rousseau. The modern self to him is something "irreconcilably multileveled". Then we talk about our modern focus on authenticity as a moral ideal and why Taylor…

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The Labor Theory of Value and Marx's Theory of Exploitation 1:32:06

1M ago1:32:06

1:32:06

Both supporters and opponents of the Labor Theory of Value often assume that the LTV and Marx's theory of capitalist exploitation are a package deal. Others, like G.A. Cohen, have questioned that link. Ben Burgis takes a look at the debate, arguing that these two ideas are related...but not in the way a lot of people assume. Sign up for Ben's Capit…

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Krystal Ball vs. Saagar Enjeti: Is it “Neo-Confederate” to Refuse to Cooperate with ICE? 52:14

1M ago52:14

52:14

Last week, Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti had an interesting mini-debate on whether states and cities that don't cooperate with ICE are doing something wrong on the grounds that it involves a "neo-Confederate" rejection of federal supreamcy. Ben Burgis breaks it down. Watch the 32-hour workweek video previewed at the end: https://www.youtube.com/wa…

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How to fathom timelessness | Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes 31:23

2M ago31:23

31:23

What should time mean to us? Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes is a philosopher of mind who specialises in the thought of Alfred North Whitehead, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Benedict de Spinoza, and in fields pertaining to panpsychism and altered states of mind. In this talk, he combines insights from psychedelic experiences with an intriguing view put forward by…

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Curtis Yarvin Says We Can't Handle the Truth 1:07:14

2M ago1:07:14

1:07:14

Ambiguously fascist JD Vance guru Curtis Yarvin has written an odd little essay called "You Can't Handle the Truth." Ben Burgis responds! Read the essay: https://graymirror.substack.com/p/you-cant-handle-the-truth Read Matt McManus's essay on Yarvin: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/curtis-yarvin-thiel-carlyle-monarchism-reactionary Follow Ben on…

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261 - Tyler Cowen: The Economics of Artificial Intelligence 1:07:36

2M ago1:07:36

1:07:36

Go to https://surfshark.com/robinsonerhardt and use code robinsonerhardt at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Tyler Cowen is the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and faculty director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. A dedicated writer and communicator of economic…

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After postmodernism | Hilary Lawson, Robin van den Akker, Abby Innes, Sophie Scott-Brown 47:13

2M ago47:13

47:13

Hugely influential in the latter decades of the 20th century, postmodernism transformed many academic disciplines and culture at large. Associated with an attack on objective truth and the uniqueness of meaning, it called into question the whole edifice of knowledge which Western culture had previously glorified. But it left many lost, and in the w…