Episode 186: Meeting at the Center: The Wedge, Part Two

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.8 • 688 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2025

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, JF and Phil continue their conversation on the wedge, their figure for the epistemological divide between approaching reality from the heart and exploring it with the mind. As the discussion unfolds, the wedge begins to reveal itself not as a rigid binary but as a spectrum—one that stretches from ultimate thickness to ultimate thinness. Could thinking, then, may be the art of navigating this epistemic gradient, seeking the sweet spot where the self meets the world, each on the other's terms? Visit Weirdosphere for more details on Erik Davis's upcoming course, The Three Stigmata of Philip K. Dick. Support us on Patreon. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2, on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia. Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! REFERENCES Weird Studies, Episode 155 on ‘The Unbinding’ Alan Chapman, Advanced Magick for Beginners Quentin Meillassoux, After Finitude The Principle of Sufficient Reason Baruch Spinoza, Ethics Weird Studies, Episode 139 on the power of art Phil Ford, “The View from the Cheap Seats” Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer Jaques Vallee, Passport to Magonia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spectrevision Radio
0:02.0	Welcome to Weird Studies, an arts and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.
0:20.0	For more episodes, or to support the podcast,
0:23.3	go to weirdst. This is J.F.
0:53.6	Today we wrap up the conversation we started last time on the concept of The Wedge, which
0:58.5	has been a recurring theme in our discussion since even before Phil and I started the podcast
1:03.2	in 2018.
1:05.5	Since Phil provided a splendid definition of the wedge and his intro to part one, I'll simply
1:10.5	direct listeners
1:11.3	unfamiliar with the term to episode 185. Indeed, it would probably be a good idea to listen
1:17.4	to that episode before tackling this one. One of the things Phil says in his intro to that
1:23.2	episode is that while he tends to favor the thin end of the wedge, the subjective, intuitive end,
1:28.9	to put it crudely, I tend to go for the thick end, the objective, the conceptual. In this episode,
1:35.3	we end up meeting in the middle. Subjective experience, and trust in that experience over and above
1:41.5	the dictates of any authority bent on capturing it and reducing
1:45.4	it to the terms of some abstract model is, of course, of the utmost importance. At the same time,
1:52.1	the importance of trusting experience rests upon a wager that there is something there to experience,
1:58.2	a reality that transcends our subjectivity, and submits itself
2:02.9	to our ever-limited knowing.
2:05.6	The wedge is looking less and less like a duality, and more and more like a spectrum.
2:10.5	Perhaps its most important facet isn't its ends, thin or thick, but its gradient, where
2:16.6	all the magic happens.
	...

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