Inimkond: Daniele Monticelli
24.04.2013 kell 15.00 - 15.00
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Inimkonna seminarisarja järgmine esineja on TLÜ itaalia uuringute ja
kultuurisemiootika dotsent, romanistika osakonna juhataja Daniele
Monticelli, kes räägib teemal “Toward a New Universalism: Radical
Thinking, Equality, Community”. Seminar toimub kolmapäeval, 24.
aprillil, kl 18-20, ruumis N315.Vaata
ka: https://www.facebook.com/events/371620276290887/AbstractThe
attempt to isolate species-specific properties of the human being has had a
central role in Western philosophical thought, political theory and
practice. From the Aristotelian “speaking/political animal” to Marxian
“producing beings”, philosophers’ universal definitions of humanity
have often been at the basis of our understanding of society and community,
becoming the grounding ideals of political movements and institutions. In
the second half of the 20th century, this universalistic stance has been
thoroughly criticized from both a philosophical and political point of
view. Anthropology, poststructuralist and postcolonialist approaches,
cultural studies have all been at pain to disclose the actually always
partial, interested, excluding and, therefore, imperialistic and violent
character of universal definitions of the human being. The process of
decolonization of the 40s-60s and the raising of identity politics in
Western societies of the 70s seemed to release “all the difference in the
world”, emancipating previously repressed ways of living and making
community. Nowadays, this kind of theoretical approaches and
political attitudes have run into serious trouble. The alternative and
liberating differences of postmodern politics (oppressed people, women,
blacks, homosexuals, and so on) are being everywhere replaced by the
reappearance of essentialist and excluding identities (ethnic, national,
religious). Contemporary identity politics canalizes the fear and
uncertainty which characterize our societies into communitarian
self-enclosure and hostility against everything that seems to somehow
endanger it. On the background of the shortcomings of contemporary identity
politics, the seminar will explore the possibility for a renewed
philosophico-political commitment with universalism today. We will
discuss the ideas of radical thinkers such as Alain Badiou, Giorgio
Agamben, Jacques Rancière, Jean-Luc Nancy who share a critical attitude
towards both poststructuralism and Marxism and try to elaborate a new
understanding of politics and community which recuperates the universalist
tradition rethinking it in an antiessentialist way.What would a universal
look like if we imagine it as an infinite, open process instead of as the
grounding essence of humanity? How to avoid the reduction of the universal
to concrete, particular contents, which would become a criterion of
socio-political inclusion/exclusion? Can a human community possibly embody
an empty universal in a never-ending process of becoming? What does this
all tell us about the present (and the future) of humanity? We will discuss
these questions focusing on a central issue for the Western universalist
discourse: the notion of ‘equality’.Suggested readingsGiorgio Agamben,
The Coming Community. Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press,
1998.Alain Badiou, Saint Paul. The Foundation of Universalism. Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 2003Jean-Luc Nancy, The Inoperative Community.
Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press, 1991: 1-42.Jacques
Rancière, Disagreement. Politics and Philosophy. Minneapolis, London:
University of Minnesota Press, 1991.About the speakerDanielle Monticelli is
Chair of the Department of Romance Studies at Tallinn University, and
Associate Professor of Italian Studies and Semiotics at the University’s
Institute of Germanic and Romance Languages and Cultures. He has previously
help positions at the Estonian Institute of Humanities and at the
University of Tartu. Danielle holds an MA in Philosophy from the University
of Milan, and a PhD in Semiotics and Cultural Theory from the University of
Tartu. He has conducted and widely published research on translation,
semiotics, literature, and philosophy of science. About the seminar
seriesInimkond: Current issues in anthropology and beyondThis seminar
series features speakers from anthropology and related fields, and fosters
discussion of their research with a transdisciplinary audience. It aims to
contribute to the culture of academic scholarship and debate at Tallinn
University. Speakers include both local researchers and guests from a
variety of disciplinary backgrounds and with various takes on
anthropological theory and methods. Presentations in the seminar series
will be of interest to staff and students in anthropology, cultural theory,
sociology, and history, among others.Lisainfo: franz@tlu.ee
kultuurisemiootika dotsent, romanistika osakonna juhataja Daniele
Monticelli, kes räägib teemal “Toward a New Universalism: Radical
Thinking, Equality, Community”. Seminar toimub kolmapäeval, 24.
aprillil, kl 18-20, ruumis N315.Vaata
ka: https://www.facebook.com/events/371620276290887/AbstractThe
attempt to isolate species-specific properties of the human being has had a
central role in Western philosophical thought, political theory and
practice. From the Aristotelian “speaking/political animal” to Marxian
“producing beings”, philosophers’ universal definitions of humanity
have often been at the basis of our understanding of society and community,
becoming the grounding ideals of political movements and institutions. In
the second half of the 20th century, this universalistic stance has been
thoroughly criticized from both a philosophical and political point of
view. Anthropology, poststructuralist and postcolonialist approaches,
cultural studies have all been at pain to disclose the actually always
partial, interested, excluding and, therefore, imperialistic and violent
character of universal definitions of the human being. The process of
decolonization of the 40s-60s and the raising of identity politics in
Western societies of the 70s seemed to release “all the difference in the
world”, emancipating previously repressed ways of living and making
community. Nowadays, this kind of theoretical approaches and
political attitudes have run into serious trouble. The alternative and
liberating differences of postmodern politics (oppressed people, women,
blacks, homosexuals, and so on) are being everywhere replaced by the
reappearance of essentialist and excluding identities (ethnic, national,
religious). Contemporary identity politics canalizes the fear and
uncertainty which characterize our societies into communitarian
self-enclosure and hostility against everything that seems to somehow
endanger it. On the background of the shortcomings of contemporary identity
politics, the seminar will explore the possibility for a renewed
philosophico-political commitment with universalism today. We will
discuss the ideas of radical thinkers such as Alain Badiou, Giorgio
Agamben, Jacques Rancière, Jean-Luc Nancy who share a critical attitude
towards both poststructuralism and Marxism and try to elaborate a new
understanding of politics and community which recuperates the universalist
tradition rethinking it in an antiessentialist way.What would a universal
look like if we imagine it as an infinite, open process instead of as the
grounding essence of humanity? How to avoid the reduction of the universal
to concrete, particular contents, which would become a criterion of
socio-political inclusion/exclusion? Can a human community possibly embody
an empty universal in a never-ending process of becoming? What does this
all tell us about the present (and the future) of humanity? We will discuss
these questions focusing on a central issue for the Western universalist
discourse: the notion of ‘equality’.Suggested readingsGiorgio Agamben,
The Coming Community. Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press,
1998.Alain Badiou, Saint Paul. The Foundation of Universalism. Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 2003Jean-Luc Nancy, The Inoperative Community.
Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press, 1991: 1-42.Jacques
Rancière, Disagreement. Politics and Philosophy. Minneapolis, London:
University of Minnesota Press, 1991.About the speakerDanielle Monticelli is
Chair of the Department of Romance Studies at Tallinn University, and
Associate Professor of Italian Studies and Semiotics at the University’s
Institute of Germanic and Romance Languages and Cultures. He has previously
help positions at the Estonian Institute of Humanities and at the
University of Tartu. Danielle holds an MA in Philosophy from the University
of Milan, and a PhD in Semiotics and Cultural Theory from the University of
Tartu. He has conducted and widely published research on translation,
semiotics, literature, and philosophy of science. About the seminar
seriesInimkond: Current issues in anthropology and beyondThis seminar
series features speakers from anthropology and related fields, and fosters
discussion of their research with a transdisciplinary audience. It aims to
contribute to the culture of academic scholarship and debate at Tallinn
University. Speakers include both local researchers and guests from a
variety of disciplinary backgrounds and with various takes on
anthropological theory and methods. Presentations in the seminar series
will be of interest to staff and students in anthropology, cultural theory,
sociology, and history, among others.Lisainfo: franz@tlu.ee