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Integral [+] Facticity

Last entry 2 November 2026

Podcast56 min

Matt McManus, Michael Brooks, & the Next Left

Integral [+] Facticity, episode 2 of 21, with Matt McManus

First published on Acast, 10 March 2022, with show notes on Medium. All 21 episodes

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Episode details
Date
Length
56 min
Type
PodcastIntegral [+] Facticity, episode 2 of 21
People
Contents
  1. Overview
  2. Description
  3. Original episode
  4. References & Further Reading
Listen to episode 2, 56 min. The recording is served by Acast.

Overview

A discussion of Michael Brooks’s cosmopolitan political outlook, public engagement and influence on left-wing thought. Matt McManus considers the relationships among socialism, religious and spiritual traditions, postmodern conservatism and political activism. The exchange also addresses pragmatism, the relationship between theory and practice, and Canadian political and intellectual history.

Description

Michael Brooks left more than an intellectual legacy. In this conversation, Matt McManus remembers his warmth, his willingness to argue across political divides, and the cosmopolitan outlook that shaped his work. Matt, a Canadian scholar trained in critical legal studies at York University and a Zero Books author, recalls meeting Brooks through Ben Burgis and interviewing him about Against the Web. We also consider Brooks's interest in East Asian spirituality alongside Matt's writing on Christian socialism and postmodern conservatism.

From there, our discussion ranges across an engaged left willing to write for conservative audiences, Richard Rorty's Achieving Our Country, Roberto Unger and Lee Smolin on time, the relationship between theory and activism, and Habermas. We close by returning to Canada: the NDP, Andrew Jackson's The Fire and the Ashes, and thinkers including Charles Taylor, Will Kymlicka, Harold Innis, George Grant and C. B. Macpherson.

Original episode

Title as published
Matt McManus, Michael Brooks, & the Next Left
Published
Length
56 min
Guest
Matt McManus
Series
Integral [+] Facticity, episode 2 of 21

References & Further Reading