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The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Episode 170: Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" (Part Two)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mark Linsenmayer

Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2017

⏱️ 69 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

More on the 1967 Situtationist book. Do we buy Debord's critique? Is any merely partial critique (i.e. no revolution) just more spectacle? Is technology inherently dehumanizing? Don't these passivity/anti-technology arguments even apply to books? Could Debord's model of authenticity catch on in society as a whole?

Start with part 1, or get the Citizen EditionPlease support PEL!

End song: "Millionaire" by The Mekons (1993); Jon Langford appears on Nakedly Examined Music #22.

Transcript

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0:00.0

The partial examin life depends on your support.

0:02.8

To find out how to do that in ways that are cheap or even free, go to partialexamenlife.com

0:07.5

slash support.

0:16.5

Hey, this is the Partial Examin Life episode 170.

0:19.4

Part 2 on Geed to Board Society of the Spectacle.

0:22.5

We're just talking about how nasty life is.

0:27.0

When we're all just enthralled by the spectacle and can't relate in an honest way to other people.

0:33.0

So where in this text should we look to next?

0:35.5

Is there more stuff in chapter 1 that we still, there's a lot of imagery packed into here?

0:39.3

Are there quotes who want to pull out of there still?

0:41.8

To get at what makes this a pseudo world, I guess is what interests me.

0:45.1

Yeah, why not just have fun?

0:47.1

I'm just saying this world, this is a lot of fun. Let's do it.

0:50.1

And what's wrong with it?

0:51.9

And also what makes for an authentic experience?

0:54.5

And what kind of level of mediation we're talking about?

0:57.4

One of the reasons I've been thinking about in particular is that I've renewed a certain kind of obsession with motorcycles recently.

1:05.1

And particularly fast motorcycles.

1:07.9

And I think that's a pretty authentic experience myself.

1:12.2

And I would be happy to articulate that as the kind of dialed in, very, very present in the moment kind of experience.

1:20.2

It seems to me exactly what one would talk about when being in the moment doing any number of other things,

1:27.6

walking down the street in Paris, experience in the city, what comes before you in the city,

...

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