Sunday 16 December 2012

Thanks

Thanks to everyone for coming out over the last two days. The conference was a resounding success. I made recordings of (almost) all of the papers. These may or may not show up online in time. Watch this space.

Monday 10 December 2012

GENERAL INFORMATION:


Dear participants,

Just in case anyone was unclear, the event is taking place in the ground floor lecture theatre of the Ben Pimlott Building at Goldsmiths College. (Map below). Also, just to re-iterate: the event is free and open to all. There is no need to register but seating is limited and places are available on a first come / first served basis.


 
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Thursday 6 December 2012

Final Programme announced!


The programme for 'The Philosophy of Walter Benjamin' conference is now available for download. (Link below!)

Download programme.

Wednesday 14 November 2012

The De-formation of the World

Howard Caygill's keynote address bears the provisional title "The De-formation of the World".

Thursday 4 October 2012

Update, 04/10/2012


We have now stopped taking submissions for 'The Philosophy of Walter Benjamin'. Thanks to everyone who submitted an abstract. Due to the large number of contributions we have decided to tag on a second day. The conference will now run from Friday, 14th Dec to Saturday 15th Dec. We are currently in the process of putting together a programme which we will announce shortly. Watch this space.

Sunday 12 August 2012

Call for Papers:

'The Philosophy of Walter Benjamin'

One-Day Conference, December 14th, 2012 – Goldsmiths College, University of London
InC – Goldsmiths Continental Philosphy Research Group

The work of the German-Jewish critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) spans a vast array of themes, ranging from the metaphysics of youth to the Paris arcades. His writings on Goethe and Scheerbart; Kafka and Baudelaire, as well as his work on the relationship between art and technology continue to fascinate and polarize in equal measure. His singular intersection of Marxian and Jewish thought is amply evidenced in the extensive correspondence with Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno, Bertold Brecht and Hannah Arendt, amongst others. Undoubtedly it is the sheer breadth of Benjamin's interests that accounts for the enduring concern with his often fragmentary work across academic disciplines. That is to say, Benjamin is no longer a stranger at the Academy. Nevertheless, a central aspect of Benjamin's work is all-too-often overlooked when his aesthetic and literary works are treated in isolation. The manifest content of Benjamin's writing is never merely incidental: rather, it is shot through with a burgeoning philosophical project – from the 'Programme of the Coming Philosophy' (1917) to the 'Theses on the Concept of History' (1940). In this regard it appears that recent anniversary of Benjamin's birth in 1892 warrants a re-appraisal of this legacy by asking the question: how can the various strands of Benjamin's work be engaged to illuminate the unfolding of his philosophical position, and – vice versa – how does Benjamin's philosophy illuminate other aspects of his thought?

This conference aims, then – on the one hand – to explore Benjamin's thought in relation to the various philosophical traditions that inform his project (Leibniz, Kant, Schlegel, Lukács etc.), and – on the other hand – to ask how these influences continue to operate between the lines even where Benjamin is not explicitly concerned with the philosophical canon? In short: how are we to understand the philosophy of Walter Benjamin? 

We ask potential speakers to submit abstracts of no more than 200 words to sebastian.truskolaski@gmail.com by September 30th. The full programme will be announced in due course.