An introduction to “Post-structuralism” as a school or approach within the broader movement of “postmodern” philosophy. The lecture focuses on how Post-structuralists extended the insights of Ferdinand de Saussure’s linguistics as well as Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Philosophy of Difference”. The lecture concentrates on three key figures: Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy of difference, in particular as it is developed through his reading of Nietzsche in Nietzsche and Philosophy (1962); Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction of structuralism, in particular as it unfolds in his landmark essay “Structure, Sign and Play” (1966); and Michel Foucault’s genealogical method as it is theoretically elucidated in his essay “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History” (1971) and as it is practiced in his work Discipline and Punish (1975). Powerpoint slides for this lecture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jjp1Uvq_DfmWIsdS8ipDIx2BbaK1TJC3/view?usp=drive_link Course Web site: https://sites.google.com/site/untergehenproject/courses/contemporary-literary-theory-2025-26 0:00 - Introduction 4:20 - Saussurean Linguistics 7:27 - Post-structural Radicalization of Saussurean Linguistics 8:28 - Large Language Models (LLM's) and Saussurean Linguistics 10:47 - The Philosophy of Difference -- as a deconstruction of the history of Western metaphysics and Identity thinking 13:38 - Deleuze's Philosophy of Difference (the Interpretation of Nietzsche) 19:15 - Derrida's Deconstruction of Structuralism 25:33 - Foucault's Genealogical Method 33:31 - Jean-Francois Lyotard (The Differend and the Postmodern Condition) 35:26 - Legacy of Post-structuralism in Contemporary Identity Politics -- Queer Theory and Third Wave Feminism, Post-colonial Theory and Critical Race Theory 38:09 - Post-structuralism and Leo Strauss's Three Waves of Modernity Related Videos: https://youtu.be/jWps2AkdcfE?si=v6JZWS-fXPjOIBal&t=1 (Literary Theory) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHwZl6kC5zs&list=PLVnV4NOfHN4V5cobHCvVQWiH63dR5z6Ml&index=2&pp=iAQBsAgC (History of Theory) https://youtu.be/Ugho9Pk4V6Q?si=MgU4mT91lyP-bK5q (Nietzsche) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuU_CexrjHA&list=PLVnV4NOfHN4V5cobHCvVQWiH63dR5z6 Ml&index=9&pp=iAQBsAgC (Saussure) https://youtu.be/xBpXw1CBOCA?si=WcYgVflOpXAkVk06 (Freud) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Ok4Dc0154 (Marx) https://youtu.be/gQ_0v8CRlhQ?si=bW1rECM_ng8yLvDm&t=1 (Hermeneutics) https://youtu.be/STrXSANPWE8?si=6YhtVTo95AnAeEcX&t=1 (Heidegger) https://youtu.be/XAN7TqBZIh4?si=LXJXoOfe-MOgV0BX&t=1 (Heidegger, Destruktion) https://youtu.be/iYl9Ev5UVok?si=QYKUvZOGxC6PzQpA&t=1 (Gadamer) https://youtu.be/6WXM74g5Viw?si=4g0-Acp3CrPuN-L9 (Strauss) https://youtu.be/2RsoS2917N0?si=TV-Y5pokrG884YLw&t=1 (Strauss and the Three Waves) https://youtu.be/G0Xho-swi7o?si=jO1ev9unRsKLZmDx (Machiavelli and the First Wave) https://youtu.be/ux4EVsurjKE?si=bkCsblnhA9srRdlI (Second Wave and History) https://youtu.be/LhSz4jeH6Cw?si=Lln9mEo0l3EmS4zL (Nietzsche and the Third Wave) https://youtu.be/LAAHbV-9UWc?si=ioId6o_B20JYS87Q (Esotericism) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7Cjre8HXlo (Postmodernism) “Foucault, Genealogy, History” -- a more detailed and academic inquiry into the nature of Foucault’s genealogical method, its links to Nietzsche’s metaphysics of the will to power and to the philosophy of Deleuze (Philosophy Today, 39.2): https://www.academia.edu/4001242/Foucault_Genealogy_History Detailed Lecture Notes on Heidegger: Martin Heidegger (1889-1976): An Introduction: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZMYrICl7XGkd_hX1f336jah-_D2J2rFb/view?usp=sharing Heidegger's Being and Time (1927): An Introduction: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-EvkUjrQfGa6nQnxjs-G2zZvO2cjtd1s/view?usp=drive_link Martin Heidegger on Modern Science: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-ehWDYDras8WipX-M7wmqMECTL6Y7MKX/view?usp=drive_link Heidegger’s “On the Essence of Truth”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qHEpxxur5_z3DiWGuBnDr1Eg8OAKhstn/view?usp=sharing Heidegger’s “The Origin of the Work of Art”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QwroB0lanYa3rD-Pwu2H20zh9Ri1sJ7X/view?usp=sharing Heidegger’s Deconstruction of Plato: “Plato’s Doctrine of Truth”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o4Y2t0c42OXicT0E564nlW5BSTo22ObS/view?usp=sharing Heidegger’s “The Question Concerning Technology”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/186CKil0U8y-R7FqXRmwCh_lb87VjAhsb/view?usp=drive_link