Adam Kotsko

The massive and incredibly comprehensive Routledge Handbook of Star Trek is out. Edited by Leimar Garcia-Siino, Sabrina Mittermeier, and Stefan Rabitsch, it also includes a chapter by me on the ethical dilemmas explored by Star Trek. See the image below for more information and a handy discount code!

I have posted the syllabi for my fall courses on my teaching history and sample syllabi page. They are as follows:

• The Shape of the World — a Shimer Great Books syllabus on the history of astronomy and cosmology. I previously taught it last year and look forward to the opportunity to learn from my mistakes when they are still fresh in my mind! I feel especially invested in this class because it was one of my biggest suggestions for revising the Shimer curriculum, in order to give students a foundation in ancient and modern worldviews before drilling into more specific topics in later science courses.
• Logic and Critical Thinking — I am excited to get another staple philosophy offering under my belt, after teaching Ethics last year. Perhaps perversely, my motive for requesting this course was to get a better handle on traditional logic as background for further study of Hegel’s Science of Logic.
• Cardinal Directions Senior Seminar — this is a fairly unique gen ed requirement, an interdisciplinary half-semester course taken in the student’s senior year. Faculty members get to choose their topic, and over the years, I have done variations on the theme of utopia and dystopia. My goal is to get students thinking seriously about the so-called “real world” they are about to enter and their place in it.

I have a new article up at The Bias. Entitled “The Political Theology of Milton Friedman,” it is an adaptation of a keynote address given at Wabash College in February.

At the end of this month, I will be delivering a keynote address and conducting a masterclass at the Graduate Summer School at the University of Münster. The topic of the Summer School this year is “Tacet ad Libitum! Towards a Poetics and Politics of Silence,” and my talk will be entitled “Toward a Political Theology of Silence.” More details about the event can be found here. After I have delivered the address, I will post the transcript on the An und für sich blog and update this post with a link.

UPDATE: The text of the lecture can be found here.

I am relieved to report that I have submitted the full draft manuscript for my latest Agamben translation, Pinocchio: The Story of a Puppet, Doubly Commented-Upon and Triply Illustrated. My tenth book-length translation of Agamben’s work, it should be published with Seagull Press early next year.

I recently talked to Doug Henwood about evangelicals and abortion on Left Business Observer.

The last of my backlog of podcasts have been posted, both centering on the Awkwardness trilogy and its relationship with the “cringe” trend in contemporary pop culture.

In the first, I talk to Nostalgia Trap host about awkwardness, creepiness, neoliberalism, and pedagogy — an exceptionally wide-ranging discussion.

In the second, I talk to Craig of Acid Horizon as part of a series of podcast episodes on the back catalogue of Zero Books. Louie CK features heavily.

A couple weeks ago, I sat down to talk to Ryan Cooper and Alexi the Greek about my Slate article on Agamben, for their Left Anchor podcast.

More recently, I discussed my book What is Theology? and my work more generally with David Kline, for the podcast of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville Department of Religion.

Watch this space for two podcast interviews on my Awkwardness Trilogy, which coincidentally came up around the same time. I suppose cringe was in the air….

I recently had a great conversation with John Drabinski for the Conversations in Atlantic Theory podcast. You can find the recording (along with links to Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Amazon Music) here.

If you’re a podcast fan, watch this space, because I have several set up for the next few weeks, on a whole range of topics.

A poster has been available for my talk at Memorial University Newfoundland, including a registration link for those who are interested in attending.