Welcome to Theory Underground.
Theory Underground is for existential, structural, phenomenological, and psychoanalytic critique of media, political-economy, and consumer culture. We do it because we love to, not because we wanna get rich. We do it because it is our passion and calling, not to pad our C.V. or pose as influencers to pre-determined marketing demographics.
Waypoint is now available here in audio and text form for “free” or you can purchase the softcover —>
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David McKerracher
Waypoint – Softcover
Original price was: $17.27.$12.00Current price is: $12.00. Add to cart
Posts by David McKerracher + Theory Underground chapters
Facing Emmanuel Levinas on his Birthday
William Large and Leswin Laubscher join for Levinas’ birthday! What follows is a short bio on an essential philosopher, Emmanuel
Clinical psychoanalysis vs. the Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis – A lesson from Dr. Leon Brenner
Words for psychoanalytic practice have a different meaning when used outside of the clinic! Guys like me or Mikey (Michael
TU Turns One Year Old – On Dec. 6th – LIVESTREAM EVENT
Dear Friends, Fellow Travelers, Students, and New Subscribers, Theory Underground is turning one year old on Dec. 6th, 2023! So
A Weak Attempt at Defending Holidays (Happy Thanksgiving!)
Dear Friends, Fellow Travelers, and New Sign Ups at Theory Underground,* Here you will find some bullet points of essential
Underground Theory: Introduction – David McKerracher
Listen to / watch Nance read this aloud here: This is the sentence that opens the book. It was supposed
Anti-Work Feelings and Automation Won’t Be Enough
From the Afterword to TIMENERGY (available Sept. 2nd). Actual title: Labor Saving Devices – From Descartes to Keynes and Gorz
TRANSMISSION FROM JUPITER: TU HUB MANIA
What’s a TU HUB event and why is it the coolest thing anyone is doing on the internet rn? Let’s start thinking about it here.
UNDERGROUND MUSIC vs. THE THEORY SCENE
Can the “underground theory scene” give rise to a genuine intellectual milieu? What are the conditions of such a thing?
The MISSING Introduction to Heidegger’s Being and Time?
Being and Time is the work Martin Heidegger is most well-known for, but it was not what first got people
The Three Principles of Study as a Way of Life
Self criticism meets pep talk meets formula for countering the worst tendencies of the attention economy Though this piece is
The Algorithmic Stage
Subjectivization in the age of the attention economy Originally published on my Substack on Sep 2, 2022 What would freedom
“Writer’s Block” and “The Fuck It Button”
There are various forms of writer’s block. For instance, one is nothing more than the fact that you have priorities
Mastery vs. Students Supposed To Know – We Need A New Master, but first we need Lectures
We need leaders. But first, we need teachers, i.e. subjects supposed to know and teach their field. It’s time for
Critique, Theory, and Ideology
On opinion-having BBQ Dads and college students vs. thinking Critical thinking is heralded by contemporary education as one of its
“NS_Pleeb” to Theory_Underground – LAUNCH EVENT, interview link, and updates
You’re invited, so mark your calendars! Dear Friends, Fellow Travelers, and Whoever Else, Hello from London! My first time in
Welcome Theory Underground – “Theory Pleeb” is no more
Not all mistakes are failures, but mistakes that are not learned from? Those are. I’m going to talk about two
THANKS BERT! Europe—here we come!
My partner and I have saved up all year for this trip to Finland, Poland, Germany, and England! I quit
Welcome to theory-underground.com
A thinking that never stops seeking after the conditions of The Good Life. David McKerracher (formerly “Theory Pleeb”) works at
Waypoint is the first publication to come out of Theory Underground. It is available here in blog form, with the audio-book version option, or you can purchase the softcover on Amazon or here for a discounted price.
Prefacacknolwedgements – 2021
This is the preface to David McKerracher AKA Theory Pleeb’s first book: Waypoint. Here you will discover the what, when, why, and how of Waypoint. This work introduces and develops a variety of topics that are key to Dave’s thought.
INTRODUCTION: Difficult prose, structural stultification, and psychological gerrymandering – 2020
To whom is this book written? Because I’ve worked in a variety of organizations that have sought to organize and
Chapter One: A justification of reading on hard mode (via Heidegger’s Being and Time) – 2016
What follows is the original abstract to the version published (under a different name) in Res Cogitans: It seems that
Chapter Two: Virtual Enframing: Heidegger, Levinas, and critical media theory – 2017
What follows is the original abstract to the version published in Stance under a different name in April, 2017: Sherry
Chapter Three: TIMENERGY: An Existential Phenomenology of Labor Power (Heidegger and Marx) – 2017-2018
Anyone who has followed much of my work at all, or talked to me about my research, will know that
Chapter Four: Culture War Critique – 2018
Contrary to one frequently expressed popular opinion, the culture war seen online is not at all “only an online thing”—it
Chapter Five: On the construction of a viral meme – 2018
“Hey Dave.” I turned to see one of my students had stayed in the room as everyone filtered out. He
Chapter Six: How the Anti-SJW Industry Exploits Ressentiment – 2018
For reasons never disclosed, Zero Books first accepted a bunch of submitted papers to publish in an anthology for the
Chapter Seven: Cancel Culture and The Vampire Castle – 2019
Introduction: Do we have to do this? This is such a tired topic, can we just not? If you listen
Chapter Eight: Perpetual Immaturity and Structural Stultification – 2019
I. The Purportedly Progressive Post-Enlightenment Administrative Elite and its discontents There was a time when the progressive establishment purported to
AFTERWORD: Read this before using “timenergy.” – 2021
As far as the theory I’m developing goes, “timenergy” has been the central concept. It has come a long way
