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Several thinkers, across philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and theology, have contrasted cyclical time with linear time, and many of them argue that modernity increasingly privileges the future over the past or the present. But they do this in very different ways. Here are some of the central figures and ideas. Cyclical vs. Linear Time Mircea Eliade One of the most famous thinkers on this distinction. In works like The Myth of the Eternal Return, Eliade argued that: Traditional societies experienced time as cyclical: • seasons, rituals, cosmic repetition, return to origins. • Sacred rituals “reset” time and reconnect people to mythical beginnings. Modern secular societies shifted toward linear historical time: • irreversible progress, history moving forward. For Eliade, archaic cultures tried to escape history through repetition. Saint Augustine A foundational figure for the Western idea of linear time. Christianity introduced: • creation, • fall, • redemption, • apocalypse. Time be...

This becomes a major theme in 20th- and 21st-century philosophy, critical theory, sociology, and cultural criticism: the idea that modern society once worshipped the future, but eventually exhausted, colonized, or even destroyed it. Several thinkers are central here. Mark Fisher Probably the clearest and most influential contemporary example. In Capitalist Realism and Ghosts of My Life, Fisher argues that late capitalism has produced: • endless recycling, • nostalgia, • cultural stagnation, • inability to imagine alternatives. His famous idea: “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” For Fisher, society did not merely become future-oriented — it consumed the future itself. The future became canceled. He often talks about: • “lost futures,” • abandoned promises, • hauntology (from Derrida), • a culture haunted by futures that never arrived. Music, politics, and art become repetitions of dead forms. Franco 'Bifo' Berardi Berardi directly writes a...

What you are pointing to in that scene from Half Man touches a very contemporary tension: the collapse between compassion and exhaustion . Joanna’s line is cruel on the surface, but it is also desperate. She is not saying “you are worthless”; she is saying “I no longer have the emotional infrastructure to carry another person.” That distinction matters, because many people today experience relationships less as mutual belonging and more as emotional management under scarcity. Several philosophical and social currents converge here. First, modern societies increasingly organize life around productivity, autonomy, and self-optimization. A person is expected to be emotionally functional, economically viable, psychologically self-regulating, socially attractive, and resilient. When someone cannot maintain that performance — whether because of failure, depression, anxiety, addiction, grief, or instability — they begin to disrupt the social rhythm built around efficiency. Thinkers like Byu...

Language as Territory This is sharp, compressed, and politically loaded in only a few lines. It feels almost aphoristic — like something between poetry and critique. those who inherited the earth decided they’d inherited idiom. The Weight of “Idiom” The poem pivots on the word idiom . An idiom is not just language, but the accepted way of speaking, framing reality, defining what sounds “natural,” “civilized,” “correct,” or “true.” So the poem suggests that power does not stop at material inheritance — land, institutions, wealth, nationhood — but extends into control over meaning itself. Whoever “inherits the earth” also assumes authority over language. The brilliance is in the word “decided.” It implies this authority is not natural. It is asserted. Claimed. Imposed. Dominance & Discourse The poem therefore becomes about the relationship between dominance and discourse: colonial powers imposing their language, ruling classes defining “proper speech,” institutions determining legit...

how capitalism turns inner suffering into economic See: " Capitalism vs Desire " and also " Can desire be liberated? " This goes right to the heart of some of the strongest critiques of modern capitalism. Thinkers like Michel Foucault , Mark Fisher , and Byung-Chul Han each show, in different ways, how capitalism no longer exploits only labor — it exploits subjectivity itself: our emotions , anxieties , desires , and wounds . Here’s how each helps explain how inner suffering becomes economic value : 1. Michel Foucault: Power works by shaping the self Foucault argued that modern power doesn’t just repress people; it produces certain kinds of people. Instead of simply forcing obedience, systems shape how we: think about ourselves, judge ourselves, discipline ourselves. In capitalism, this means people learn to treat themselves as projects: improve your body, optimize your time, maximize your productivity, fix your emotions. The self becomes something to manage. So ...

1. Perspective, Youth Idealism, and Power in Cal and Jules In a brief exchange between Cal and Jules in Euphoria , a seemingly casual conversation about attraction reveals something much deeper: how desire is shaped not only by feelings, but by the meanings we attach to age, maturity, and experience. Jules says she likes older people because she likes “the perspective .”  What she seems to mean is that older people appear to carry something younger people do not: life experience, emotional steadiness, and a stronger sense of self. To her, “perspective” is another word for the wisdom that seems to come with age. Older people can appear calmer, more formed, and more certain. For someone younger, that can be deeply attractive — not just because of the person themselves, but because of what they seem to represent. Then Cal replies: “Perspective? I call it youth idealism .”   With that line, he reframes Jules’s attraction. He suggests that what she calls “perspective” is not necess...

The Subject in Process: Julia Kristeva’s Radical Semiotics Julia Kristeva’s theoretical framework is anchored in the concept of the "subject in process" ( sujet en procès ). Unlike traditional philosophy, which often views the "I" as a stable, unified entity, Kristeva argues that the subject is a dynamic, ongoing construction, constantly being made and unmade through the tension between two distinct components of signification: the Semiotic and the Symbolic . 1. The Semiotic vs. The Symbolic Kristeva distinguishes her use of "semiotic" from general semiotics (the study of signs). For her: The Semiotic: Associated with the maternal body, drives, rhythms, and tones. It is pre-Oedipal, fluid, and non-representational. It is the "chora"—a psychic space where rhythmic pulses and bodily pressures exist before language. The Symbolic: The domain of social rules, syntax, grammar, and law (the "Name-of-the-Father"). It is the structure that a...

Late-stage capitalism is a term used to describe the idea that capitalism has reached a more extreme and unstable phase, where its problems become more visible and intense. The phrase is often used to talk about things like: Extreme inequality: a small group accumulates enormous wealth while many struggle to afford housing, healthcare, or food. Commodification of everything: more and more parts of life become things to be bought and sold — education, relationships, attention, even personal data. Corporate domination: huge companies like Amazon , Google , or BlackRock have enormous influence over economies and politics. Precarious work: gig jobs, unstable contracts, low wages, and fewer protections for workers. Consumer excess + social decay: endless advertising and consumption alongside loneliness, burnout, debt, and environmental damage. Crisis as normal: financial crashes, housing crises, climate problems, and political instability become recurring features rather than except...

1. Antiquity: love as madness… or ascent In ancient Greece, love already sits in tension with reason. In Symposium , Plato presents two sides of love: one as madness (irrational, destabilizing) another as a path upward—from desire for bodies to contemplation of pure Beauty So here, love is not simply opposed to reason. It begins as disorder, but can become a ladder toward truth. 2. Medieval courtly love: distance and impossibility In medieval Europe , especially in troubadour poetry, love becomes something else: distant often unattainable structured by longing rather than fulfillment Think of Francesco Petrarch and his love for Laura. Here, love is not irrational chaos—it is disciplined suffering. Reason doesn’t disappear; it organizes desire into ritual, poetry, and idealization. But there’s a twist: love intensifies precisely because it cannot be resolved rationally. 3. Early modern philosophy: reason tries to explain love With thinkers like Baruch Spinoza , love becomes something ...

The Capitalist Invention of Adolescence When Robert Pinsky writes that adolescence is “a recent invention, a by-product of progress, one of Capitalism’s suspended transitions,” he is pointing to a profound historical truth: adolescence as a distinct life stage is not timeless, but rather a cultural construction shaped by modern economic and social forces. Before Adolescence In pre-industrial societies, children often moved directly into adult roles as soon as they were physically capable. Puberty marked the beginning of adult responsibilities—work, marriage, and family. There was little recognition of a prolonged “in-between” stage. The Rise of Industrial Capitalism By the late 19th century, industrial capitalism transformed family life and labor. Factories and urban economies demanded specialized skills, while governments introduced compulsory education . This kept young people out of the workforce longer, creating a new social category between childhood and adulthood. Era Transition ...