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In this intellectual biography, critic and philosopher Boris Groys turns to the Arthur Rimbaud of modern bureaucracy, Alexandre Kojève, a philosopher of little-known writings and profound influence. Kojève was fascinated with Hegel’s dialectics and with communism and envisioned a universal empire as the end of history. Kojève drew on Buddhism and also proclaimed himself a Stalinist. At the same time, he was one of the creators of a nascent European Union. His concept of the human as something defined by negation and unique among animals in being separated from nature is highly political. It explains why humans can never be fully satisfied by a political system based on their allegedly ‘natural’ rights.

Groys reveals a Kojève with a unique perspective on our political capacities and human condition.

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Happy Hour at Hippel's (Adam’s blog): https://happyhourathippels.wordpress.com

​Split Infinities (Craig’s Substack): https://splitinfinities.substack.com/

​Music: https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/ and https://thecominginsurrection.bandcamp.com/

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What if fascism isn't a break from capitalism but just capitalism finally being honest about itself? Craig sits down with the podcast's very own Adam C. Jones to unpack his essay "The Promise of Cruelty: Fascism and Social Murder," tracing Engels' concept of social murder through Nietzsche, Baudrillard, and the current far right. We dig into how neoliberalism redistributes cruelty as compensation when it can't redistribute wealth. We also address why today's "simulacral fascism" mobilizes people as consumers and fans rather than as an organized political base. A wide-ranging discussion where Marxist analysis confronts the concepts of Nietzsche, Baudrillard, and Bataille.

"The Promise of Cruelty: Fascism and Social Murder": https://prometheus-mag.com/2026/03/26/the-promise-of-cruelty-fascism-and-social-murder/

Support the show

Support the podcast:

AHRC

Current classes at Acid Horizon Research Commons (AHRC): acidhorizonresearchcommons.com

AHRC Course Archive: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-course-archives

Submit your course proposal: acidhorizonresearchcommons@gmail.com

More Links

Website: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizon

Acid Horizon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast

Boycott Watkins Media: https://xenogothic.com/2025/03/17/boycott-watkins-statement/

Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438

Merch: http://www.crit-drip.com

Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform: https://pod.link/1512615438

LEPHT HAND: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHAND

Happy Hour at Hippel's (Adam’s blog): https://happyhourathippels.wordpress.com

​Split Infinities (Craig’s Substack): https://splitinfinities.substack.com/

​Music: https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/ and https://thecominginsurrection.bandcamp.com/

Emma's anti-civ class: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-courses/p/anti-civilization-recovering-from-industry-and-progress

Watch this panel discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/epvd2MT04OM

Should we all live in communes? AHRC Panel Host Emma Stamm is joined by sociocultural anthropologist Fern Thompsett and environmental humanities scholar Henry Kramer to dig into the commune form, anti-civilization thinking, the reclamation of imagination, and what radical world-building actually looks like on the ground.

The panel pushes back on the romanticized image of communes by arguing that the real work happens in the unglamorous everyday, weeding gardens, sorting recycling, arguing about seedlings, and that these experiments are far more common and historically ingrained than the '60s hippie stereotype suggests. The panelists also take seriously the critiques around race and privilege, reframing communal organization as something that marginalized communities have always practiced under different names and often out of genuine necessity.

This panel was produced as part of Acid Horizon Research Commons' free series of public philosophy panels and lectures. Each season we endeavor to bring rigorous, accessible conversation on ideas from across the humanities and humanities-adjacent disciplines that speak to the current historical conjuncture.

Links to Fern Thompsett's work:

https://humanities.tufts.edu/people/fern-thompsett

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u6VX69F8Cxk&pp=ygUMZWNvdG9waWEgbm93

Link to Henry's work:

https://henryrkramer.com/

Support the show

Support the podcast:

AHRC

Current classes at Acid Horizon Research Commons (AHRC): acidhorizonresearchcommons.com

AHRC Course Archive: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-course-archives

Submit your course proposal: acidhorizonresearchcommons@gmail.com

More Links

Website: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizon

Acid Horizon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast

Boycott Watkins Media: https://xenogothic.com/2025/03/17/boycott-watkins-statement/

Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438

Merch: http://www.crit-drip.com

Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform: https://pod.link/1512615438

LEPHT HAND: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHAND

Happy Hour at Hippel's (Adam’s blog): https://happyhourathippels.wordpress.com

​Split Infinities (Craig’s Substack): https://splitinfinities.substack.com/

​Music: https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/ and https://thecominginsurrection.bandcamp.com/