Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Category: Philosophy (Page 2 of 11)

These are posts on philosophy from the blog Base and Superstructure. My background is in academia, with a specific focus on feminism, philosophical issues in the social sciences, and social and political philosophy. I have also done work on historical figures such as J. L. Austin and Ludwig Wittgenstein. These posts incorporate some or all of these issues. The influences may be more or less explicit, depending on the topic. Philosophy can be intimidating, and so these posts present issues in a way that’s open to many people. There is also discussion of specific philosophical issues, and specific issues from a philosophical perspective, such as feminist accounts of pornography, Marxist and socialist accounts of the state and political economy, and the search for the best explanations for social and material phenomena.

A statue of Sophia, an ancient goddess of wisdom or practical wisdom.

Epicureanism 101: The Virtues

October 27, 2025 /

In this fifth post in the Epicureanism 101 series, we’ll take a moment to sketch out one key difference between Epicureanism and rival Hellenistic schools of philosophy.

The Hellenistic period stretched roughly from the rise of Alexander’s empire to the death of Cicero and the Roman Republic. Its influence continued through the first couple of centuries of the Roman Empire. And from this period came many key philosophical schools, including not only the Epicureans, but also the Stoics and Skeptics, as well as the Cyrenaics and the continued influence of Plato and Aristotle.

Most relevant to this post, the schools sharply differ in how they treat virtues.

So, let’s talk about virtues for a bit.

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The cover of the book The Age of Diagnosis, by Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan. The cover depicts an abstract, colorful drawing of a person in distress.

The Age of Diagnosis

October 13, 2025 /

A couple of months ago, I posted a retrospective of my work in academic philosophy. Primarily, that work concerned the use of practices as a fundamental unit of investigation in the social sciences and social philosophy. But I also had a lot to say in my work about labels.

My first book covered the topic extensively. In it, I laid out a three-part model of how labels interact with the people the labels pick out. And I explored a wide range of case studies in the social sciences and everyday life.

As it turns out, labels aren’t just inert, lifeless tags we place on something. They come to life. In many ways, classifying people isn’t like classifying rocks.

And so, I approached The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O’Sullivan with both excitement and trepidation. It promised to take on a topic very much up my alley. But it’s far easier to address this topic poorly than to do it well.

I shouldn’t have been so nervous. The Age of Diagnosis is very much worth a read.

The author is a neurologist who often treats patients who present with symptoms of psychosomatic illness. And in The Age of Diagnosis she brings her expertise to bear on a uniquely contemporary problem. She covers the vast, often problematic explosion in medical diagnostic labels.

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A photo of a large mausoleum with columns, used as a symbol for the death of academia.

Is Academia Dying?

October 6, 2025 /

Academia looks like it’s dying.

But let’s start much earlier.

Back in the early to mid 2010s, I was a professor. I taught my final class a decade ago, as a part-time Visiting Assistant Professor at The University of Iowa. It was my departure from academia. After that, I’d only see it from outside the academic priesthood.

The changes rocking academia in the 2020s would’ve affected me differently had I not left. But hopefully there’s some value in the reflections of one who once knew the world from the inside.

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An artistic depiction of atoms falling in the void, intended as a depiction of Epicurean atomic scientific theory.

Epicureanism 101: Science and Ethics

August 25, 2025 /

Welcome to the fourth post in our Epicureanism 101 series! Thus far in the series, I’ve focused on Epicurean ethics. And since we’re talking about issues of how we should live our lives, this focus makes sense.

But the Epicurean sees ethics as deeply connected to our metaphysics. Epicurus adopts a materialist, empirical metaphysics that serves to guide his ethics.

In this post, then, we’ll talk about the relationship between Epicurean empiricist philosophy and the ethical views we should adopt.

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An image of the view from inside of a grave, looking up at the gravedigger. Intended to represent the fear of death as a part of a series on Epicureanism 101.

Epicureanism 101: Fear of Death

July 28, 2025 /

In the previous two posts of the Epicureanism 101 series, I laid out the key views of Epicurus on happiness, pleasure, and desires. In short, Epicureans think we attain happiness by seeking pleasure. And the path to pleasure runs through fulfilling desires that are both natural and necessary. In this one, we’ll talk about the fear of death.

Unlike other forms of hedonism, Epicurean hedonism takes pleasure as something like a static state of tranquillity. To live a pleasurable life, we need to overcome our anxieties, fears, and mental and physical troubles.

According to Epicurus, the fear of death stands out as one of the key things that bothers people. And so, in this post, I’ll say a word about that fear and how to overcome it.

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