Event


OPEN READING GROUP Continental Philosophy of Contemporary Science / OPEN READING GROUP Continental Philosophy of Contemporary Science

February – May 2015

 

Organised by Centre for Critical Philosophy Ghent University together with Prof. Hub Zwart (vistiting professor)

 

All welcome. For registration (or more information): please send an e-mail to: janr.devos@ugent.be

 

We are experiencing a period of scientific revolution: a dramatic increase in scope, scale and pace in scientific research. Notably the contemporary life sciences challenge our understanding of nature, life, technology and the role and place of human beings on a very fundamental level. Indeed, as Hegel argued, there is more philosophy in scientific research than scientists are usually aware of, or willing to acknowledge. For instance: scientific breakthroughs entail ‘narcissistic offenses’ (Freud), as traditional human self-images prove difficult to uphold, but at the same time, due to new developments in technology and science, our sway over nature seems to increase, down to the molecular level, and up to the point of becoming uncanny. Indeed, we may be on the verge of opening up a new chapter in the history of life and human existence. We already seem to have entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The scientific ‘will to know’ is driven by a desire to control and refurbish life, but at the same time we are awed by the bewildering complexity of living systems that continues to escape us. Can we, building on Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Spirit, envision an ‘updated’ version: a ‘Phenomenology of the Present’, analysing and assessing emerging life sciences research as configurations of the way we experience ourselves and the world around us (self-consciousness)?

 

Schedule: Wednesday afternoon 16:00 – 18:00 hours

 

Date Text Author
11 Feb Philosophy of Nature: Introduction. [Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften: Die Naturphilosophie] Hegel
25 Feb The oblique perspective 1 H.Zwart
4 Mar Science and mindfulness [Wissenschaft und Besinnung] Heidegger
18 Mar Science and truth [La science et la vérité] Lacan
1 Apr Case Study 1 H.Zwart
22 Apr Case study 2 H.Zwart
6 May Case study 3 H.Zwart

 

The reading group wants to contribute to an assessment of the present. To achieve this, we present a number of case studies: critical reflections on scientific developments in areas such as synthetic biology, big data and brain research. Secondly, the analysis of these case studies needs a scaffold, a number of basic readings that prepare the ground and may serve as points of orientation. The assessment will build on the work of three authors, Hegel (dialectics), Heidegger (phenomenology) and Lacan (psychoanalysis) who serve as a source of inspiration for contemporary thinkers (Badiou, Zižek, Sloterdijk, Malabou, etc.).

Organised by

Organised by Centre for Critical Philosophy Ghent University (https://www.criticalphilosophy.ugent.be/)

Prof. Hub Zwart (http://www.filosofie.science.ru.nl/)  


from 11 February 2015 to 6 May 2015

Location

Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent, Belgium

Admission information

open

Contact

Jan De Vos