Summary of Thinking about changing the world

00:00:00 - 00:20:00

The video discusses how important it is to think about ways to change the world, and how theory and progressivism can get in the way of making real change. It argues that radical change must involve a concrete understanding of the present, and that philosophy and progressivism can often miss opportunities to make real change.

• 00:00:00 In this video, author Judith Butler discusses the concept of radical change and how it differs from more common concepts like progressivism and theory. She argues that radical change must involve a concrete understanding of the present, as opposed to relying on abstractions. Butler also discusses how theory, philosophy, and progressivism can get away from the concrete and miss opportunities to make real change.
• 00:05:00 This YouTube video discusses the difference between theory and radicalism, and how theory can leave out the dynamic movement of everyday life. It then goes on to discuss four of butler's five verbs and how they tell a story about possible change. However, the passage by Thomas Merton describing Oliver Twist provides a better example of radical thought because it is concrete and focuses on action.
• 00:10:00 This video discusses how lines are fundamental to the way humans think and how they can help us to live coherent lives. It also discusses how lines can be used to plot on grids and to sew and grow vegetables.
• 00:15:00 This YouTube video discusses the decline of religion and the possible replacement of these moorings with creative power. Some of these moorings throughout history have been Women not voting, segregation, a lack of health care, and tying people down in ways that stop them from reaching out for food, leisure, meaning, shelter, and connection. Philosophers have often untied these moorings, loosened them, and deconstructed them so that meaning could be changed and reinterpreted. Movement and creativity are encouraged and inspired in order to create new ways of being in the world and to overcome a focus on the rawness of the problems that need addressing. What both are talking about is how the differences in everyday lives, the particular conditions, can be used to create new ways of living, new worlds, new reasons for acting. Thinking abstractly and theoretically often leaves people thinking that those theories and abstractions are transcendental absolute that they have undeniable solutions. However, transcendence freezes living, makes it coagulate and lose its flow, and seeks to capture the vital difference that outruns all thought and submit it to the judgment of a single perspective. We're not searching for perfect ideals, but striking a match starting a conversation, tapping a key, pointing a
• 00:20:00 The speaker discusses the importance of thinking about ways to change the world and how to start making a difference.