Events

Medieval debates about the human will take place against the backdrop of a particular tension: that between a person’s own will, usually considered free, and the will of an “other,” especially the will of God. In the Christian tradition, this tension is succinctly expressed in the prayer petition “Fiat voluntas tua,” “Thy (not my!) will be done.” It was perhaps most radically developed in medieval mysticism. The mystics also found a solution to it that seems to amount to a paradox: to will nothing. But the tension between wanting and not wanting also plays an important role outside of theology and mysticism. The lecture will outline different perspectives of medieval (and early modern) texts on the volitional paradox of “wanting not to want.” It will also attempt to build a bridge to relevant contemporary discourses, such as the concept of “un/controllability” (“Un-/Verfügbarkeit”) in sociological resonance theory.

At the Sommerakademie Feministische Rechtswissenschaft 2024.

This interdisciplinary workshop will address the rise of neoliberal illiberal politics and their connection to anti-intellectualism and discourses around academic freedom. Based on the guest lecture, we will discuss a variety of cases, ranging from the US-American moral panic around ‘Critical Race Theory’, Bolsonaro’s intentional attacks on University funding, discourses around ‘islamo-leftism’ and ‘wokism’ in France to the ban of Gender Studies in Hungary. What do those cases and the growing hostility against researchers tell us about the global state of democracy? How and why are academics and their modes of knowledge production targeted not only by far-right actors but increasingly also by the state?

In psychoanalysis and pedagogy, there is a long tradition of thinking about contradictions, which are not only at the center of reflections on action in theory, but also in practice – qua connection of the respective discipline with a profession. In addition to Freud’s dictum that psychoanalysis and pedagogy are among the “impossible professions” due to these contradictions, one of the best-known pedagogical concepts is that of the “antinomies of pedagogical action” according to Helsper et al. First, information is provided about these theoretical traditions in order to build interdisciplinary bridges. Then, the theory of trilemmatic inclusion is used to develop a proposal on how formal-logical contradictions (Aristotelian), contradictory imperatives for action in a situated practice (antinomic) and self-contradictory desire (psychoanalytic) can be related to each other.

The role of orality in philosophy is an old and intriguing topic. Some have claimed that philosophy cannot exist as an oral tradition because sophisticated thought presupposes a written form. Others (including Plato) have claimed that writing destroys memory. Still others have formulated central statements in catchy aphorisms and proverbs that are easy to memorise and immediately invite you to unfold their meaning: „You cannot enter the same river twice.“ Fortunately, however, we can enter into discussion with Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Anke Graneß & Lindokuhle Shabane, to unfold the role of orality in philosophy, especially in an African context where oral traditions have always played a crucial role.