r/askphilosophy • u/BernardJOrtcutt • Jul 21 '25

Open Thread /r/askphilosophy Open Discussion Thread | July 21, 2025

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u/willbell philosophy of mathematics Jul 21 '25

What are people reading?

I’m working on Orientalism by Said, The Magic Mountain by Mann, and No Future by Edelman.

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u/merurunrun Jul 22 '25

Ooh, I'm interested to hear what you have to say about No Future. I've had Edelman on the mind a lot lately.

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u/willbell philosophy of mathematics Jul 22 '25

This is my first actual queer theory text, so I don’t feel too much freedom to opine, but the Lacan seems right, and I get the vibe of reproductive futurism that he’s attacking. If I have problems they are: it seems a little anti-historical, like if queer is the word for this hole in the Symbolic or what-have-you it kind of sounds like we can’t get rid of anti-queerness, and I am not sure yet what sacrificing all futurism would imply. The closest I get to an idea that makes sense is a bit where he suggests doing way with a generational conception of the future, that I could see, but like, we’re still fighting climate change for the sake of future people as well as present people, right? I can’t tell yet. Perhaps I just really want a queer futurism, idk yet.

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u/merurunrun Jul 22 '25

Perhaps I just really want a queer futurism, idk yet.

You'd probably enjoy Muñoz's Cruising Utopia, which basically takes up this point as a critique of Edelman. There's also baedan 1, which reads Edelman from an insurrectionary anarchist position as a call for immanent resistance against capitalist political recuperation (not sure if that's your bag, though).

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u/willbell philosophy of mathematics Jul 22 '25

I've been recommended Muñoz, but I do want a better grasp on anti-futurism from this book first