Our ongoing, interdisciplinary podcast series featuring members of the Institute – and occasional guests – and a wide variety of issues of intellectual interest.
For more information on the podcast series, please see the Introduction and Notations to Episode 1.
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This is a supplemental episode of our podcast series as well as the final episode of our “first season”! In this episode - actually recorded several months ago – Michael and I (Ajay) engage in a somewhat freewheeling discussion of several issues raised in our previous podcast, particularly questions raised by philosophical naturalism and “scientism.” Along the way, we discuss a wide variety of issues and figures in philosophy (some of whom are listed in our abbreviated Notations section below) and find that we agree on a surprisingly large number of issues. As Michael mentions at the end of the podcast, he will be not be in our regular, rotating podcast roster this coming year, but will instead be recording an “On the Road” podcast series interviewing philosophers and others around the country. In addition to Michael’s supplemental series, we will return soon with new regular podcasts and more supplemental episodes, as well as new formats, and new people. We really hope you enjoy this episode and have enjoyed the “first season” of the Podcast for Social Research. We’ll be back very soon! As with the last episode, there will be a brief Notations section after the jump. Please make use of it to fill in many of our gaps, and please pardon the raucous music that begins playing next door towards the end of this episode. Ahh, New York.
You can download “Scientism and Indigestion: “Eating the Whole Thing” Part 2; A Supplemental Podcast for Social Research” here by right-clicking and “save as” or look us up on iTunes. Please see our “Introduction and Notes“ for this particular episode in the Tzeitung (Blog.)
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This is a supplemental episode of our podcast series. In this episode of the Podcast for Social Research, Michael, Christine, and I (Ajay) sit down with Professor David Albert of Columbia University to discuss quantum physics, the history of 20th and 21st century physics, the philosophy of science, and a host of related issues, including his recent – and sometimes heated – exchange with Lawrence Krauss. As this episode is so different from our others, and led primarily through Albert’s discussion of quantum physics, the Notations section will be a brief bibliography without time-stamps.
You can download “Eating the Whole Thing”: Philosophy, Science, and Anxiety; A Supplemental Podcast for Social Research with David Albert (the third Supplemental Podcast For Social Research) here by right-clicking and selecting “save as” or by searching for us on iTunes. Please see our “Introduction and Notes” for this particular episode in the Tzeitung (Blog.)
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This is a supplemental episode of our podcast series. While preparing for our most recent podcast, I (Ajay) came across a piece that Gideon Lewis-Kraus had written critiquing an article by Columbia Professor Hamid Dabashi which was, in turn, a critique of Azar Nafisi’s bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran. I was quite taken aback by Gideon’s piece both because (full-disclosure) Dabashi is my academic advisor, but far more importantly, because I agreed so vehemently with Dabashi’s original critique. As we are an institution that advocates transparency and open, critical dialogue, we thought the best thing to do was to record a brief, separate podcast in which Gideon and I were able to revisit this episode some six years later. What ensues, we hope, is an interesting discussion about politics, aesthetics, war, imperialism, writing-as-art, writing-as-industry, and a host of other issues.
You can download “Reading Lolita in Tehran” Redux, NY, 2012: a Supplemental Podcast for Social Research ( the second Supplemental Podcast For Social Research) here by right-clicking and selecting “save as” or by searching for us on iTunes. Please see our “Introduction and Notes” for this particular episode in the Tzeitung (Blog.)
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This is the fifth episode of our podcast series, “The Podcast for Social Research.” We change up the format a bit this time around and begin with Abby interviewing Gideon Lewis-Kraus about his new book, A Sense of Direction: Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful. About a month later, Christine, Michael, Abby and I (Ajay) got together to pick up the subject of pilgrimage. We discuss it without either crafting a definition or simply reducing the topic to the different question of “what is religion?” We hope you enjoy the conversation that ensues! As always, please see our Notations section for some references, time stamps, asides, topics, and more.
You can download the fifth episode of our podcast here by right-clicking and selecting “save as” or by searching for us on iTunes. Please see our “Introduction and Notes” for this particular episode in the Tzeitung (Blog.)
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This is the fourth episode of our podcast series, “The Podcast for Social Research.”In this episode I (Ajay) fail to get the show edited and annotated in a timely fashion, we fail to come to an agreement on how to proceed in philosophical discourse, and we quarrel with unexpected passion about Downton Abbey. We never claimed it wasn’t an experiment.. As with last time, please see our Notations section after the jump for some references, time stamps and topics.
You can download the fourth episode of our podcast here by right-clicking and selecting “save as” or by searching for us on iTunes. Please see our “Introduction and Notes” for this particular episode in the Tzeitung (Blog.)
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This is a supplemental episode of our podcast series, “The Podcast for Social Research.” In this episode, I (Ajay) have an informal conversation with of our Fellows, Soraya Batmanghelichi, about the situation within Iran after the controversial 2009 re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. We discuss the current political situation in Iran, a bit of history, the status of the “Green Movement” and the women’s movement in Iran today, and the role of new and old technologies in all of these. There’s also a bit about the strange, contemporary, and co-producing transmission and feedback of discontent between the Green Movement, the Arab Spring, and even Occupy Wall Street. Occasionally, you’ll hear us talk strangely around, under, and sometimes completely edited out concerning certain subjects that were deemed potentially too sensitive. We hope you understand. And pardon all the Wikipedia in the notes this time (and thank them for their efforts): lots of great, peer-reviewed sources are paywalled in one way or another. As always, please see our Notations section for some references, time stamps and topics. I will also post a follow-up blog post in the near future with some of the future reading suggestions that Soraya mentions at the end of the podcast.
You can download “The Simmering Period”: Iran, After 2009 (a Supplemental Podcast For Social Research) here by right-clicking and selecting “save as” or by searching for us on iTunes. Please see our “Introduction and Notes” for this particular episode in the Tzeitung (Blog.)
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This is the third episode of our podcast series, “The Podcast for Social Research.” This week we talk a bit about our first class, a bit more about Kamila Shamsie’s essay “The Storytellers of Empire,” and quite a lot about Evgeny Morozov’s essay “The Death of the Cyberflaneur,” Walter Benjamin, the Internet, subjectivity and a heck of a lot in between. As with last time, please see our Notations section for some references, time stamps and topics.
You can download the third episode of our podcast here by right-clicking and selecting “save as” or by searching for us on iTunes. Please see our “Introduction and Notes” for this particular episode in the Tzeitung (Blog.)
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This is the second episode of our podcast series, “The Podcast for Social Research.” This week we talk about the video game Shadow of the Colossus, Plato’s beef with poetry in The Republic, and quite a bit in between.
You can download the second episode of our podcast here by right-clicking and selecting “save as” or by searching for us on iTunes. Please see our “Introduction and Notes” for this particular episode in the Tzeitung (Blog.)
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This is the first episode of our podcast series, “The Podcast for Social Research.” It is divided into two parts. The first part is an introduction followed by discussion of various goings-on of the faculty of the Brooklyn Institute, ranging from books we’ve been reading and concerts we’ve attended to reflections on current affairs and everything in between. The second part (which begins at around 01:07:00) is a round table discussion of the recently released film, “A Dangerous Method.”
You can download the first episode of our podcast here by right-clicking and selecting “save as” or by searching for us on iTunes. Please see our “Introduction and Notes” in the Tzeitung (Blog).
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If you have topics or specific works that you’d like to hear discussed, please don’t hesitate to email us at director@thebrooklyninstitute.com. And please send in your questions, comments, and suggestions! We will try to address as many as possible in future podcasts.