Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Category: Philosophy (Page 8 of 8)

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.

Icebreaker Speech

August 1, 2018 /

This post is a speech I gave about a year ago as a part of a local Toastmasters group. It’s an introduction to, well, myself. They call it an Icebreaker speech.

For anyone unfamiliar, Toastmasters is an organization for developing and promoting public speaking skills. The first speech you give as a part of the organization is an ‘Icebreaker,’ or an introduction of yourself to the group.

I’ve made some light edits to the icebreaker speech. This includes light copy editing, updating of dates (the speech is about a year old), and minor tinkering to fit the change from spoken to written format.

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On Pornography and Its Social Impact

July 9, 2018 /

If you’re familiar with my academic career, you’ll know I’ve written about pornography. But who am I kidding? I’m not famous.

You can find this writing in a book chapter and an article.

Both of these works are broadly accessible to audiences both inside and outside of academic philosophy. The article is a major expansion of the material in the book chapter, and so that’s probably the best place to look.

My perspective on these issues is not exactly abstract. I’m thinking about it from within an ongoing debate over whether and how pornography subordinates, and perhaps oppresses or marginalizes, women. This is a debate conducted largely within academic literature. I’d like to help move it beyond academia.

I recently discovered a blog entry about my article. Someone thought it interesting enough to write about. And so I wanted to reflect on my past work and how I might approach it several years later. It was fun to read the blog entry and get another person’s take on the ‘theory’ I’ve developed.

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