What The Theory

We finally have MERCH!!! The lovely ladies over at "Can We Talk 256 "came over to talk about how they started their platform to foster more intimate, meaningful conversations between people . With their help, we will be launching our own "What the Theory" line of Can we Talk cards this week with 75 philosophy-based questions to help you inject a little dialectics into your relationships. We used the cards during the interview and the things we learned !! Oh Boy. You can find the cards and information about the physical meet-up sessions organized by them at https://www.canwetalk256.com/ and the cards are available for order from the website, their Instagram handle and at Bold in Africa, Book point - Village Mall , Gift fairing - Kansanga, Kardamon & Coffee and Mahiri Books

Ask someone about their purpose and they may say some combination of “To live my best life” or to achieve happiness. The Declaration of Independence of the United States, the hegemony of ruling ideology, might capture this well in the line “ the right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" ... Today’s episode will take a thesis, antitheses, and synthesis approach to examine this idea, critiquing it using Pshcialanlys sand then finding some space for synthesis. Also, it wouldn’t be Easter if we didn’t mention Grace. at the end works cited:    Todd McGowan -https://web.english.upenn.edu/~cavitc...   Peter Rollins-    • Grace and the Freedom from Self-Help     Slavoj Zizek- https://altexploit.files.wordpress.co...   Jacques Lacan -https://www.academia.edu/32053409/How...  

In 1888, Friedrich Nietzche finished "The Antichrist" and as you;d imagine, it wasn't released until years later due to its title. While known for being the "God is dead" guy that inspired every angry teen's atheist phase, he's probably also the most misunderstood due to his aphoristic and polemic style. The book is surprisingly kind about Christ and instead focuses on Christianity as an institution, as a belief rather than practice had betrayed the very essence of Christi, turning him into a dominating symbol and king, or an ineffectual belief system. Essentially , Christianity had become antichrist We highlight how he fleshes out this argument in today's Palm Sunday episode.

What does it mean to be engaged politically in Uganda today? Can a social media website be used to awaken a sense of engagement with politics that all too often leaves us feeling unheard and dominated over?    Today’s discussion with Anthony Natif about his life and activism most recently seen in the trending #UgandaParliamentExhibition which has unearthed what we already knew-mounds of corrupt practices with oru lawmakers. In the episode, we tackle items from free speech and tradition, why it’s dangerous for most people to speak up, and some of the ways he and the Public Square team use Twitter and other spaces for activism. 

Today we examine the ideology of personal responsibility and how the further we lean on centering the self, the further the deeper we fall into false consciousness  Works cited: Michel Foucault - Discipline and punish, John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government", Jordan Peterson's "!2 rules for life" , and Bowling Alone" by Robert Putnam

A survey taken out in 2020 showed young Africans have a strong belief that they will see success, and defeat the largely negative stereotypes that have accompanied our economic underdevelopment in the world system. Largely they believe the advent of new information technologies and a bent toward entrepreneurial innovation,  the future of Africa is bright. But is it...enough!? Will new tools and new businesses really change the fundamental material realities we face?! To discuss this,  we speak to Lorna and Olga from the Arch Africa podcast, an afro-optimist podcast that is focused on examining how grounded Afro-optimism can be a pathway to African renaissance. The survey : https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/20/afro-optimism-on-the-rise-among-continents-youth-finds-survey

This episode takes a look at the concept of technology as the foundation fo civilization as presented by Marc Andreeesen's Techno optimist manifesto and how it follows in a long line of accelerationist philosophy by the likes od Nick Land. Is technology an inevitable irresistible force or is it that the people building our tools want us to think of it that way?

1st Episode of the New Year and we check in with two therapists for life - Nietzche and Dostoyevsky to help us answer the question - should we strive to be good or to be Great?

As we close the year, Pumla, Primah, and Joel take some time to answer some big questions, ruminate on adult friendships, and only take about 20 tangents instead of the usual 30.  Thank you to everyone who subscribed and followed along.

Content is king and we are its subjects. When did everything from movies to blogs to pranks all become known by this one word? We take a look at what a young Bill Gates saw coming all the way in 1996, and how we all got turned into content creators .

In today's episode, we delve into the mind-bending world of Slavoj Žižek, the Slovenian Philosopher known for his take on Lacanian psychoanalysis and a knack for making the mundane and seemingly trivial utterly fascinating. This time, we're tackling his book "The sublime object of Ideology" and exploring how it manifests itself in the most unlikely of places: your favourite sugary beverage, Coca-Cola. Join us as we unpack Žižek's idea that ideology, far from being a mere set of beliefs, is a tangible force that shapes our desires and experiences. We'll examine how Coke, with its iconic branding and promise of refreshment, serves as a potent symbol of our unspoken yearnings for wholeness and happiness. Get ready for a philosophical trip that will hopefully leave you questioning whether we are really in a post-ideological world as well as everything you thought you knew about ideology, desire, and the irresistible allure of a perfectly chilled Coke.

Today's episode from the banks of the River Nile is about ideology as it appears in the unconscious, in how we commodity and value things, and in our religious beliefs. This serves as a preamble to a deep dive into Slavoj Zizek's "The Sublime object of Ideology" 

Nike says " Just do it" but most of our problems in our life stem from either thinking without action or acting without thinking. In this episode, we examine the latter issue, why are we encouraged to just take action instead of taking the time to actually examine what must be done The framework examined for thinking deeply is Blooms Taxonomy for the creation of Knowledge.

Startups have been all the rage in business and technology. Meant to disrupt the market, change lives, and of course make truckloads of cash for the founders.   They've also been disruptive of labor laws, and seen their fair share of fraudsters and hot-air merchants who talk the talk and nothing more. In today's episode, we ask the question - what's the reality behind the start-up phenomenon and is it truly revolutionary or just another great marketing ploy.

The unexamined life is not worth living said Socrates. But he died about 400 years before Jesus and never had to balance career, love, finances and an East African forehead In this PPJ reunion, Pumla, Primah and Joel examine whether they're actually living life well. 

In memory of the best of us

If ideology is what gives meaning to the chaos of our lives, then propaganda is how meaning is communicated and maintained in mass society. It has a negative connotation but in today's episode, I argue that it's not that simple.

Man is uncanny, part of the animal kingdom, yet not fully animal,; part of a culture, yet still carries animal instincts. To be free, both sides have to be recognized, man is an animal in search of a master for his desires.    In this episode, we explore why habits are crucial for us humans, why necessity is the highest form of freedom, and why we are oddly never happier than when we do things unconsciously.    #Philosophy #ImmanuelKant

No concept in psychoanalysis is more misunderstood, and none darker than the death drive. Why do we do things that go against our pleasure and repeat our traumas? Why is the repetition of both pleasure and pain at the core of the uncanny being we call human?  In this episode, I trace the beginnings of Freud's idea of the death drive vs pleasure principle, why he thought the sex drive to be master of all, take a trip through Lacan, who saw death at the core even of sex, and lastly Zizek who extends this to our ideology and the idea of immortality

The seven deadly sins are thought of by Christians as choosing the flesh and desire over God, by moralists as "good advice but not sin" and well, what do I think? It's complicated. This episode is a glance at how we can use the 7 deadly sins to learn about ourselves and the desires created in us living in the modern world Look out for the next episode focused on Lust