Join David McKerracher of Theory Underground and Cadell Last of Philosophy Portal for four dense explorations of the four chapters of Alenka Zupančič’s text What Is Sex?, coupled with reflections and discussions on the course forum, as well as discussions mediated by David McKerracher of Theory Underground.
Watch Dave and Cadell talk about 3 Reasons to Read What is Sex:
About the instructors:
Dr. Cadell Last (Ph.D)
Cadell Last (Ph.D.) is a philosopher with a background in anthropology, history and interdisciplinary studies. He started his intellectual journey in a type of perplexity and wonder about the human condition. This journey was first mediated by an interest in temporality: the whole history of the universe and its potential far future, resulting in his doctoral thesis: Global Brain Singularity. His work has gradually gravitated towards deep focus on thinking the present, inclusive of all its knots, cracks and negativities. In this gravitation, there has been a recognition of the importance of foundational discourses in the history of philosophy, psychoanalysis and existentialism, which is his primary motivation in establishing Philosophy Portal.
David McKerracher (M.A.)
David McKerracher (M.A.) is the organizer for, and founder of, Theory Underground, a course-based social media site and app by and for people who don’t belong anywhere: drop outs, blue collar intellectuals, and renegade PMCs. McKerracher’s background is in critical theory, political philosophy, existentialism and phenomenology. All of Dave’s work revolves around a single question: What is the Good Life? Dave’s questioning into the conditions of possibility for living the Good Life led him to an M.A. thesis on “Timenergy, the existential basis of labor power.” This work draws heavily from Marx and Heidegger. Dave develops this concept further in his first book called Waypoint: Timenergy, Critical Media Theory, and Social Change. Because “Timenergy Theory” requires a more robust theory of libidinal economy and ideology, Dave has spent the last few years learning Žižekian and Lacanian theory of ideology from his compatriot Michael Downs. Theory Underground is Dave’s vehicle for cultivating the kind of research and conservation necessary to take this project to the next level, the long-term goal of which is to overcome the current culture war deadlocks by inquiry into their conditions of possibility. The goal of this work is to pave a way forward for humanity to maintain the conditions of a robust cultural plurality, harness automation-for-all, and ultimately, explore the universe.
This course comes with four tiers of access:
Tier 1: Access to the course site, syllabus, discussion forum, and Zoom access to the lectures.
Tier 2: Everything from Tier 1 + Access to the recorded lectures after the fact (long-term buy in to the course forum and lectures).
Tier 3: Everything from Tiers 1 & 2 + Direct constructive critical feedback from Dave (via voice messages and/or marked up reviews of your assignments).
Tier 4: Everything from Tiers 1-3 + (1) Access to any of the live and recorded exegetical reading sessions of this text that Dave will do + (2) Two 1-on-1 Zoom calls with Dave. The first is to be scheduled while the course is ongoing, and the second is to be conducted after the course is over, for a constructive criticism session dealing with your final project.
