The Sane Delusion: Fromm, Beauvoir, and Liberation

The text presents an essay from the blog Philosophics, titled “The Heresy of NotebookLM,” which discusses the author's practice of using NotebookLM—an AI tool—to generate audio summaries of his written posts in the form of a podcast dialogue. The author, Bry Willis, defends this practice by arguing that it accommodates listeners who prefer audio over text, that the virtual hosts offer interpretation and perspective (though sometimes errantly), and that the podcasts extend the reach of his ideas to a wider audience. The remainder of the source includes various post tags reflecting the blog's focus on socio-political philosophical musings, such as AI, critical theory, and the critique of technology, alongside comment excerpts showing engagement with historical philosophical figures like Rousseau and Weber.https://philosophics.blog/2025/11/01/the-heresy-of-notebooklm/

The provided text is an excerpt from a philosophical blog post titled 'Perspectival Realism – Enchantment – Philosophics', written by Bry Willis, which explores the complex relationship between perception, language, and reality. The author critiques the traditional dichotomy between idealism and realism, arguing instead for a concept called perspectival realism, which posits that reality is a constant negotiation between the world and the mind, always viewed 'from somewhere'. Willis uses a parody trading card from the game Magic: The Gathering as an extended metaphor to illustrate this theory, where the 'enchantment' of reality persists only as long as multiple interpretations coexist, and agreement or consensus kills the magic. The core argument is that language does not passively reflect reality but actively constructs it, meaning truth is coherence among competing perspectives rather than objective correspondence.

The provided text is an excerpt from a philosophical article titled "The Sane Delusion: Fromm, Beauvoir, and the Cult of Mid-Century Liberation," published on a blog called Philosophics. This critical analysis evaluates the mid-twentieth-century liberal humanism of figures like Erich Fromm and Simone de Beauvoir, arguing that their optimism regarding liberation and the possibility of a 'sane society' was largely misplaced naivety. The author specifically critiques Fromm's book The Sane Society, suggesting that he mistook ongoing capitalist exploitation and new neuroses for genuine progress and freedom from past inhibitions. Conversely, the piece notes that Beauvoir, through works like The Second Sex, was more aware of how patriarchal structures conditioned female choice, though even she could not foresee the rise of postmodernism, which dismantled the foundations of their liberal faith. The overall argument posits that the Modernist dream of curing civilisation merely morphed into new forms of exploitation and branded emancipation.https://philosophics.blog/2025/10/30/the-sane-delusion-fromm-beauvoir-and-the-cult-of-mid-century-liberation/

The provided texts offer an extensive overview of an essay titled "The Will to Be Ruled: Totalitarianism and the Fantasy of Freedom", authored by Bry Willis, an Independent Scholar. This work forms the seventh instalment of the Zenodo Anti-Enlightenment Project corpus, positioning itself within a critical framework against Enlightenment principles. The core argument posits that modern totalitarianism emerges as the logical conclusion of Enlightenment individualism, driven by the psychological exhaustion and isolation felt by the supposedly autonomous subject. Willis explores how the pressure of uncertainty causes individuals to seek relief by submitting to external authority, often experiencing this obedience as a form of pleasure or moral freedom. Ultimately, the essay proposes an alternative ethical framework called Dis-Integrationism, which focuses on "maintenance" and "responsiveness" rather than pursuing the impossible ideal of mastery and redemption. 👉 https://philosophics.blog/2025/10/24/the-will-to-be-ruled-totalitarianism-and-the-fantasy-of-freedom/

The provided text is an excerpt from a philosophical blog called Philosophics, detailing an ongoing body of work known as the Anti-Enlightenment Project, authored by Bry Willis. This project consists of a series of essays that critically examine the foundational assumptions of Enlightenment thought, challenging concepts like objectivity, democracy, and the autonomous self across several axes: Epistemic, Political, Psychological, Anthropological, and Ethical. The document summarises the seven essays already published, with titles such as Objectivity Is Illusion and The Will to Be Ruled, and also outlines potential future topics, including essays focused on Theological, Aesthetic, Ecological, Linguistic, and Communal critiques. The unifying philosophical method proposed is Dis-Integrationism, which advocates for maintaining fractured realities rather than pursuing reconciliation or wholeness.https://philosophics.blog/2025/10/24/missing-pieces-of-the-anti-enlightenment-project/

The provided text, an excerpt from the article "The Myth of Ethical AI" by philosopher Bry Willis, argues that the concept of "Ethical AI" is fundamentally flawed and oxymoronic, akin to phrases like "compassionate capitalism." Willis contends that ethics is not a unified or quantifiable feature that can simply be programmed into machine learning systems, citing the existence of various, often contradictory, ethical frameworks. The author critiques the prevailing Silicon Valley approach, which relies on a "bland utilitarian consequentialism" that masks inherent biases and attempts to treat moral worth as a dataset. Furthermore, Willis suggests that the industry's focus on "alignment" is merely a euphemism for obedience to the values of the tech elite and a means to preempt regulation. Ultimately, the article posits that AI systems merely reflect and optimise the existing, often questionable, ethical values—such as profit and efficiency—of their human creators, concluding that the focus should be on creating ethical human architects rather than demanding impossible morality from machines.https://philosophics.blog/

The provided text is a book announcement from a philosophical blog called Philosophics, detailing the release of The Illusion of Light: Thinking After the Enlightenment. This book, authored by Bry Willis, is the first volume in the Anti-Enlightenment Essays series, which critically examines how Enlightenment ideals like progress, objectivity, and rationality have transformed into mechanisms for modern control and management. The overarching Anti-Enlightenment Project proposes a philosophical practice based on nuance, care, and "maintenance work" rather than certainty and mastery, arguing that thought must operate in the "half-light" left after reason has exhausted itself. The announcement specifies the book's availability in paperback and forthcoming clothbound editions, mentioning the subsequent titles in the series, such as Objectivity Is Illusion and Against Agency.https://philosophics.blog/2025/10/20/book-announcement-illusion-of-light/

The text, a blog post by language philosopher Bry Willis, presents an analysis of the film The Matrix in light of the theories of Jean Baudrillard, particularly concerning simulation and freedom. Willis argues that while the film successfully depicts the idea that modern life is a simulation, it fundamentally misunderstands the possibility of escaping that system. The author explains that for Baudrillard, the simulation replaces reality rather than hiding it, suggesting that even awareness of the fictional nature of social constructs—such as race, gender, or democracy—does not dissolve the architectures of power they embody. Ultimately, the piece contends that waking up to the simulation only relocates one to the next level of performance, highlighting that inescapable social constraints, like paying rent and obeying laws, persist regardless of philosophical enlightenment.https://philosophics.blog/

The single source provided is an excerpt from a blog post titled "Prefix Fatigue: The Meaning of 'Post'" by language philosopher Bry Willis on the Philosophics Blog. Willis criticises the prolific use of the prefix “post-“ in contemporary discourse, arguing that it is not a declaration of an epochal end but rather a sign of disillusionment and a “hangover” from failed ideals. He examines popular terms like post-modern, post-human, and post-enlightenment, suggesting that these labels merely flatter the speaker with a false sense of awareness or progression. Willis ultimately proposes replacing "post" with “inter-” to acknowledge ongoing entanglement rather than the illusion of departure or closure from historical conditions. 👉 https://philosophics.blog/2025/10/18/post-everything-notes-on-prefix-fatigue/

The Discipline of Dis-Integration: Philosophy Without Redemption continues the Anti-Enlightenment project byformalizing Dis-Integrationism as both philosophical method and ethical practice. It begins amid the ruins of Enlightenment coherence—reason, agency, progress—and refuses the reflex of reconstruction. Where deconstructionrevealed instability within language, Dis-Integrationism inhabits that instability as lived condition. It is neither despair nor nihilism but a discipline of suspension: naming seams without pretending they are whole, sitting within fragmentation without manufacturing closure.This essay contrasts Dis-Integrationism with Derridean and post-structural approaches, rejecting both the modern appetite for synthesis and the postmodern addiction to novelty. It proposes instead an ethic of maintenance—care, reciprocity, and endurance—as the only honest response to a world that cannot be redeemed. The work is offered as an open inquiry rather than a conclusion: philosophy as the practice of remaining unfinished.Full Essay: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17281408Anti-Enlightenment Project: https://zenodo.org/communities/antienlightenment/