Welcome to within reason, my name is Alex Okona, why when somebody criticises Stalin and

another person says you can't criticise the leader, does the second man get sent to

the gulag first?

What does the Barbie film got to do with the Marxist concept of commodity fetishism?

Is Donald Trump best thought of as a postmodernist?

These are just some of the questions discussed by my guest today.

Mao Zhijiek is an impossible man to define, but what I do know is that he is one of the

most well-known, well-loved and idiosyncratic European philosophers alive today.

I've seen him speak before and even once met him in a canteen of a Welsh literary festival

where I found him wandering around and speaking with its attendees, but sitting down with

him for a long-form conversation was a different pleasure altogether.

Talking for the better part of two hours with him today was one of the most unique experiences

that I've had during the production of now 40 episodes of this podcast.

I hope it will provide an equally unique listening experience for you.

And so I give to you in all his Slovenian glory, Slavo Zhijiek.

I have the world map behind me because I'm quite uncreative when it comes to designing

YouTube backgrounds.

I actually usually film with a bookcase behind me of my collection of books, including

previous podcast guests, but I'm beginning to feel that there's something a little bit

pretentious about filming sat in front of books all the time.

I'm not sure.

You know what I mean?

...