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Showing posts from March, 2025

Getting on the bus

Excess Ecology is the first title I could think of gleaned from two major influences - Todd McGowan of the Why Theory  podcast and author of, among other things, Pure Excess; and Murray Bookchin , whose 'social ecology' or 'dialectical naturalism' or 'libertarian municipalism' I found out  about (through Audible) solely because Todd wrote an afterword to a new edition of Bookchin's The Philosophy of Social Ecology.  They are pretty different, Todd being as far as I can tell statist, and Bookchin anti-statist...but both share an appreciation for the political radicality of the kind of dialectic dramatised by Hegel. McGowan mostly follows the Hegelian owl-of-minerva line - our job is to interpret the world, not to change it or make recommendations/prescriptions . But, aside from great film recommendations, one line of action is clear - favour the public, use public means where possible, engage with the public. So, now that all my theatre involvement has cea...