Mansplainers, know-it-alls, and Grammar Nazis. In episode 166 of Overthink, Ellie and David think about the figure of the pedant with philosopher Arnoud S. Q. Visser about his book, On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All. They discuss the history of the pedant, how the charge of pedantry can promote anti-intellectualism, and the inherently gendered nature of the pedant. Why are pedants usually men? Who were considered pedants in antiquity, and how does pedantry show up nowadays? What are the moral flaws of the pedant? Is pedantry objective, or does it lie in the eye of the beholder? And what does it mean to say someone is pedantic? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts share their most pedantic takes and dive deeper into Montaigne’s essay “On Pedantry.”

Works Discussed:

Michel de Montaigne, “On Pedantry”

Arnoud S. Q. Visser, On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All

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Content warning: this episode involves discussion of sexual violence and sexual assault.

Can pornography be liberating or does it just reveal a hatred of women? In episode 165 of Overthink Ellie and David discuss pornography. They talk about the feminist ‘sex wars’ and the pro-porn vs anti-porn views which come from it, how the figure of the porn star has transformed in the era of OnlyFans, and the connection between sex and visuality. How might porn endanger women as a class? Can sex in pornography be considered art? What are some of the material ways that pornography harms women? And are AI and deepfakes perpetuating the harms of pornography? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts relate the show Heated Rivalry to some of the critiques against the anti-porn debate and they discuss the relationship between art and porn.

Works Discussed:

 Laura Bates, The New Age of Sexism: How AI and Emerging Technologies Are Reinventing Misogyny

Andrea Dworkin, Pornography: Men Possessing Women

Catharine MacKinnon, Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination

Oriana Small, Girlvert: A Porno Memoir

Amia Srinivasan, The Right to Sex

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Is the way we interact with technology moving us towards a cyborg future? In episode 164 of Overthink, Ellie and David take a closer look at Donna Haraway’s seminal essay, “A Cyborg Manifesto,” in which Haraway critiques the increasing technologization of everyday life and questions what it means to be a feminist and a socialist in the age of informatics and cybernetics. They discuss her critique of identity politics, her notion of the “homework economy,” the increase of miniaturization in technology, and her appeal to pleasure and responsibility. Why should we discard the assumption that technology has deepened mind-body dualism? And what might the theory of the cyborg look like in light of the rise of generative AI? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts discuss how the cyborg can be found in popular media like Severance and Crimes of the Future, and how the cyborg differs to Frankenstein’s monster.

Works Discussed:

Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto”

Dave Yan, “Posthuman Creativity: Unveiling Cyborg Subjectivity Through ChatGPT”

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Join our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.