Summary: There is no guest this week and instead I return to the subject of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. In fact I discuss the Hegel's Master and Slave dialectic, the Unhappy Consciousness, and the Charlie Kaufman film The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with my lovely wife Miriam and our son Ben. Some of you may remember Miriam and I'm sure you all remember Ben. I want to thank the people who subscribe to the Philosophy Workshop, and here goes. Your regular donations keep this podcast going and keep me reading Hegel. I should also remind you all that you can find me on Facebook still, even though that company's stock has taken a nose dive. I am a twit on twitter also. And my webpage is douglaslain.com. And if you'd like to donate or subscribe you can find the paypal button on the dietsoap.podomatic.com or at douglaslain.com. A donation of $6 or more or a regular subscription entitles you to a copy of my novella Wave of Mutilation and as of today there are five copies left. The starting music is the theme entitled Sentimental Walk from Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 film Diva. You'll also hear Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime by the Korgis at the end of this episode. ---- Unrelated essay from Tor.com The Phenomenology of Star Trek The problem any cultural critic faces when attempting to say something definitive about a television show like Star Trek or a pop song like “I’ll Melt With You” is precisely the problem pop songs and science fiction television programs usually aim to solve. That is, how are we to know the world, to stop it and take a good look, once we realize that all we can ever have is “an imaginary grace”? How can we be sure of anything if the certainties that define the human race are “long gone by,” as the song says? The meanings and definitions we find in this televised and now digitized world are just a variety of fictions. All we find are accumulations of problems and a variety of pitches, hooks, slogans, and lyrics that only promise to make us feel good about them. So maybe we should start with that. We should start by looking at the problems and how we usually enjoy them. We all know that Star Trek was just a television show, a fiction. And fictions are really all about setting up problems so that viewers or readers will enjoy them. The writer constructs a hook so the reader will keep on reading, and we know this, but what’s confusing is just how this is done. In a world like ours, a world that thrashes around our face without us ever really knowing it, a world where the norms and rules are in flux, a universe full of strange new world, how does one know what problems to pose? Just what kind of questions will be serviceable as hooks? [Boldly Go On to Tor.com]
