Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Network

The Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group is pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And this summer, we plan on finding out what that is.

Up Next: 05/26 – Simmel – Fashion

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• 05/26 – Simmel – Fashion
• 06/02 – De Beauvoir – “Social Life” in The Second Sex
• 06/09 – Barthes – “Forward” AND “Written Clothing” from The Fashion System
• 06/16 – Benjamin – “Convolute B” from The Arcades Project
• 06/23 – Butler – Gender Trouble (pgs. 163-180)
• 06/30 – Entwistle – “Addressing the Body” from Fashion Theory: A Reader
• 07/07 – Baudrillard – “The Ideological Genesis of Needs/Fetishism and Ideology” AND “Fashion, or the Enchanting Spectacle of the Code” from Fashion Theory: A Reader
• 07/14 – Manning – Dress Becomes Body: Fashioning the Force of Form

This Spring, the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group will tackle the feedback loops, self-reference, and nomadic turns of cybernetics.

Up Next: May 12 – Lovink, Geert. (2019). “On Recursivity and Contingency: Interview with Yuk Hui.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• Feb. 3 – Tausk, Victor. (1919). “On the origin of the ‘influencing machine’ in schizophrenia.”
• Feb 10 – Wiener, Norbert. (1950). “What is Cybernetics” in The Human Use of Human Beings;  and Rosenblueth, Arturo, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow. (1943). “Behavior, Purpose and Teleology”
• Feb. 17 – Shannon, Claude. (1948). “A mathematical theory of communication”; and McCulloch, Warren, and Walter Pitts, “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity.”
• Feb. 24 – Canguilhem, Georges. (1947). “Machine and organism.”
• Mar. 3 – Simondon, Gilbert. (1953). “Epistemology of Cybernetics.”
• Mar. 10 – Hayles, Katherine. (1999). How We Became Posthuman. Chapter 3.
• Mar 17 – Lilly, John C. (1968). Programming and metaprogramming in the human biocomputer (excerpt).
• Mar. 24 – Maturana & Varela. (1970). The Tree of Knowledge (excerpt).
• Mar. 31 – Brown, George Spencer. (1969) Laws of Form (excerpt); and Dible, Randy. (2025), “Ontopoiesis, Autopoiesis, and a Calculus Intended for Self-Reference”
• Apr. 7 – Bateson, Gregory. (1972). “Form, Substance, and Difference” in Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
• Apr. 14 – Deleuze, Gilles. (1980) A Thousand Plateaus (excerpt); and Pickering, Andrew. (2009). “Cybernetics as a nomad science.”
• Apr. 21 – Wynter, Sylvia. (1984). “The Ceremony Must Be Found: After Humanism”; and optional Vizcaíno, Rafael. (2022). “Sylvia Wynter’s New Science of the Word and the Autopoetics of the Flesh.” 
• Apr. 28 – von Foerster, Heinz. (2003). Understanding Understanding (excerpts).
• May 5 – Carstens, Delphi. (2009). “Introduction to Hypersition: An Interview.”; and CCRU. (2015). “Part 2: The Cthulhu Club” in Writings 1997-2003.
• May 12 – Lovink, Geert. (2019). “On Recursivity and Contingency: Interview with Yuk Hui.”

This Spring, the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group will tackle the feedback loops, self-reference, and nomadic turns of cybernetics.

Up Next: May 5 – Carstens, Delphi. (2009). “Introduction to Hypersition: An Interview.”; and CCRU. (2015). “Part 2: The Cthulhu Club” in Writings 1997-2003.

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• Feb. 3 – Tausk, Victor. (1919). “On the origin of the ‘influencing machine’ in schizophrenia.”
• Feb 10 – Wiener, Norbert. (1950). “What is Cybernetics” in The Human Use of Human Beings;  and Rosenblueth, Arturo, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow. (1943). “Behavior, Purpose and Teleology”
• Feb. 17 – Shannon, Claude. (1948). “A mathematical theory of communication”; and McCulloch, Warren, and Walter Pitts, “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity.”
• Feb. 24 – Canguilhem, Georges. (1947). “Machine and organism.”
• Mar. 3 – Simondon, Gilbert. (1953). “Epistemology of Cybernetics.”
• Mar. 10 – Hayles, Katherine. (1999). How We Became Posthuman. Chapter 3.
• Mar 17 – Lilly, John C. (1968). Programming and metaprogramming in the human biocomputer (excerpt).
• Mar. 24 – Maturana & Varela. (1970). The Tree of Knowledge (excerpt).
• Mar. 31 – Brown, George Spencer. (1969) Laws of Form (excerpt); and Dible, Randy. (2025), “Ontopoiesis, Autopoiesis, and a Calculus Intended for Self-Reference”
• Apr. 7 – Bateson, Gregory. (1972). “Form, Substance, and Difference” in Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
• Apr. 14 – Deleuze, Gilles. (1980) A Thousand Plateaus (excerpt); and Pickering, Andrew. (2009). “Cybernetics as a nomad science.”
• Apr. 21 – Wynter, Sylvia. (1984). “The Ceremony Must Be Found: After Humanism”; and optional Vizcaíno, Rafael. (2022). “Sylvia Wynter’s New Science of the Word and the Autopoetics of the Flesh.” 
• Apr. 28 – von Foerster, Heinz. (2003). Understanding Understanding (excerpts).
• May 5 – Carstens, Delphi. (2009). “Introduction to Hypersition: An Interview.”; and CCRU. (2015). “Part 2: The Cthulhu Club” in Writings 1997-2003.
• May 12 – Lovink, Geert. (2019). “On Recursivity and Contingency: Interview with Yuk Hui.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

This Spring, the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group will tackle the feedback loops, self-reference, and nomadic turns of cybernetics.

Up Next: Apr. 28 – von Foerster, Heinz. (2003). Understanding Understanding (excerpts).

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• Feb. 3 – Tausk, Victor. (1919). “On the origin of the ‘influencing machine’ in schizophrenia.”
• Feb 10 – Wiener, Norbert. (1950). “What is Cybernetics” in The Human Use of Human Beings;  and Rosenblueth, Arturo, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow. (1943). “Behavior, Purpose and Teleology”
• Feb. 17 – Shannon, Claude. (1948). “A mathematical theory of communication”; and McCulloch, Warren, and Walter Pitts, “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity.”
• Feb. 24 – Canguilhem, Georges. (1947). “Machine and organism.”
• Mar. 3 – Simondon, Gilbert. (1953). “Epistemology of Cybernetics.”
• Mar. 10 – Hayles, Katherine. (1999). How We Became Posthuman. Chapter 3.
• Mar 17 – Lilly, John C. (1968). Programming and metaprogramming in the human biocomputer (excerpt).
• Mar. 24 – Maturana & Varela. (1970). The Tree of Knowledge (excerpt).
• Mar. 31 – Brown, George Spencer. (1969) Laws of Form (excerpt); and Dible, Randy. (2025), “Ontopoiesis, Autopoiesis, and a Calculus Intended for Self-Reference”
• Apr. 7 – Bateson, Gregory. (1972). “Form, Substance, and Difference” in Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
• Apr. 14 – Deleuze, Gilles. (1980) A Thousand Plateaus (excerpt); and Pickering, Andrew. (2009). “Cybernetics as a nomad science.”
• Apr. 21 – Wynter, Sylvia. (1984). “The Ceremony Must Be Found: After Humanism”; and optional Vizcaíno, Rafael. (2022). “Sylvia Wynter’s New Science of the Word and the Autopoetics of the Flesh.” 
• Apr. 28 – von Foerster, Heinz. (2003). Understanding Understanding (excerpts).
• May 5 – Carstens, Delphi. (2009). “Introduction to Hypersition: An Interview.”; and CCRU. (2015). “Part 2: The Cthulhu Club” in Writings 1997-2003.
• May 12 – Lovink, Geert. (2019). “On Recursivity and Contingency: Interview with Yuk Hui.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: On Ethics and the Self in Indigenous Mexico

Professor Louis Sass
The Silverman Phenomenology Center
Friday, May 1 at 5:00 pm

Abstract: The religious syncretism of Mesoamerica involves more than a juxtaposing of pre-Hispanic deities with Christian saints. On a more profound level, there is a coexistence or merger of overall viewpoints, mood-visions, or ontological frameworks. I will consider several ways in which ethical visions common in Mexico may differ from the official as well as the everyday ethics of the “modern West”: especially regarding notions of evil and fatalism and ways of tolerating conflict and ambiguity. Affinities with existentialism and implications for selfhood are discussed. The talk is grounded in ethnographic research conducted with indigenous healers in Michoacan, Mexico. 

Professor Sass is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP), at Rutgers University. He has published extensively on schizophrenia, phenomenological psychopathology, psychoanalysis, and hermeneutics. He is the author of Madness and Modernism and The Paradoxes of Delusion, works that have transformed the field of phenomenological psychopathology and contemporary approaches to schizophrenia.

This Spring, the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group will tackle the feedback loops, self-reference, and nomadic turns of cybernetics.

Up Next: Apr. 21 – Wynter, Sylvia. (1984). “The Ceremony Must Be Found: After Humanism”; and optional Vizcaíno, Rafael. (2022). “Sylvia Wynter’s New Science of the Word and the Autopoetics of the Flesh.” 

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• Feb. 3 – Tausk, Victor. (1919). “On the origin of the ‘influencing machine’ in schizophrenia.”
• Feb 10 – Wiener, Norbert. (1950). “What is Cybernetics” in The Human Use of Human Beings;  and Rosenblueth, Arturo, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow. (1943). “Behavior, Purpose and Teleology”
• Feb. 17 – Shannon, Claude. (1948). “A mathematical theory of communication”; and McCulloch, Warren, and Walter Pitts, “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity.”
• Feb. 24 – Canguilhem, Georges. (1947). “Machine and organism.”
• Mar. 3 – Simondon, Gilbert. (1953). “Epistemology of Cybernetics.”
• Mar. 10 – Hayles, Katherine. (1999). How We Became Posthuman. Chapter 3.
• Mar 17 – Lilly, John C. (1968). Programming and metaprogramming in the human biocomputer (excerpt).
• Mar. 24 – Maturana & Varela. (1970). The Tree of Knowledge (excerpt).
• Mar. 31 – Brown, George Spencer. (1969) Laws of Form (excerpt); and Dible, Randy. (2025), “Ontopoiesis, Autopoiesis, and a Calculus Intended for Self-Reference”
• Apr. 7 – Bateson, Gregory. (1972). “Form, Substance, and Difference” in Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
• Apr. 14 – Deleuze, Gilles. (1980) A Thousand Plateaus (excerpt); and Pickering, Andrew. (2009). “Cybernetics as a nomad science.”
• Apr. 21 – Wynter, Sylvia. (1984). “The Ceremony Must Be Found: After Humanism”; and optional Vizcaíno, Rafael. (2022). “Sylvia Wynter’s New Science of the Word and the Autopoetics of the Flesh.” 
• Apr. 28 – von Foerster, Heinz. (2003). Understanding Understanding (excerpts).
• May 5 – Carstens, Delphi. (2009). “Introduction to Hypersition: An Interview.”; and CCRU. (2015). “Part 2: The Cthulhu Club” in Writings 1997-2003.
• May 12 – Lovink, Geert. (2019). “On Recursivity and Contingency: Interview with Yuk Hui.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

This Spring, the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group will tackle the feedback loops, self-reference, and nomadic turns of cybernetics.

Up Next: Apr. 14 – Deleuze, Gilles. (1980) A Thousand Plateaus (excerpt); and Pickering, Andrew. (2009). “Cybernetics as a nomad science.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• Feb. 3 – Tausk, Victor. (1919). “On the origin of the ‘influencing machine’ in schizophrenia.”
• Feb 10 – Wiener, Norbert. (1950). “What is Cybernetics” in The Human Use of Human Beings;  and Rosenblueth, Arturo, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow. (1943). “Behavior, Purpose and Teleology”
• Feb. 17 – Shannon, Claude. (1948). “A mathematical theory of communication”; and McCulloch, Warren, and Walter Pitts, “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity.”
• Feb. 24 – Canguilhem, Georges. (1947). “Machine and organism.”
• Mar. 3 – Simondon, Gilbert. (1953). “Epistemology of Cybernetics.”
• Mar. 10 – Hayles, Katherine. (1999). How We Became Posthuman. Chapter 3.
• Mar 17 – Lilly, John C. (1968). Programming and metaprogramming in the human biocomputer (excerpt).
• Mar. 24 – Maturana & Varela. (1970). The Tree of Knowledge (excerpt).
• Mar. 31 – Brown, George Spencer. (1969) Laws of Form (excerpt); and Dible, Randy. (2025), “Ontopoiesis, Autopoiesis, and a Calculus Intended for Self-Reference”
• Apr. 7 – Bateson, Gregory. (1972). “Form, Substance, and Difference” in Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
• Apr. 14 – Deleuze, Gilles. (1980) A Thousand Plateaus (excerpt); and Pickering, Andrew. (2009). “Cybernetics as a nomad science.”
• Apr. 21 – Wynter, Sylvia. (1984). “The Ceremony Must Be Found: After Humanism”; and optional Vizcaíno, Rafael. (2022). “Sylvia Wynter’s New Science of the Word and the Autopoetics of the Flesh.” 
• Apr. 28 – von Foerster, Heinz. (2003). Understanding Understanding (excerpts).
• May 5 – Carstens, Delphi. (2009). “Introduction to Hypersition: An Interview.”; and CCRU. (2015). “Part 2: The Cthulhu Club” in Writings 1997-2003.
• May 12 – Lovink, Geert. (2019). “On Recursivity and Contingency: Interview with Yuk Hui.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

This Spring, the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group will tackle the feedback loops, self-reference, and nomadic turns of cybernetics.

Up Next: Apr. 14 – Deleuze, Gilles. (1980) A Thousand Plateaus (excerpt); and Pickering, Andrew. (2009). “Cybernetics as a nomad science.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• Feb. 3 – Tausk, Victor. (1919). “On the origin of the ‘influencing machine’ in schizophrenia.”
• Feb 10 – Wiener, Norbert. (1950). “What is Cybernetics” in The Human Use of Human Beings;  and Rosenblueth, Arturo, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow. (1943). “Behavior, Purpose and Teleology”
• Feb. 17 – Shannon, Claude. (1948). “A mathematical theory of communication”; and McCulloch, Warren, and Walter Pitts, “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity.”
• Feb. 24 – Canguilhem, Georges. (1947). “Machine and organism.”
• Mar. 3 – Simondon, Gilbert. (1953). “Epistemology of Cybernetics.”
• Mar. 10 – Hayles, Katherine. (1999). How We Became Posthuman. Chapter 3.
• Mar 17 – Lilly, John C. (1968). Programming and metaprogramming in the human biocomputer (excerpt).
• Mar. 24 – Maturana & Varela. (1970). The Tree of Knowledge (excerpt).
• Mar. 31 – Brown, George Spencer. (1969) Laws of Form (excerpt); and Dible, Randy. (2025), “Ontopoiesis, Autopoiesis, and a Calculus Intended for Self-Reference”
• Apr. 7 – Bateson, Gregory. (1972). “Form, Substance, and Difference” in Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
• Apr. 14 – Deleuze, Gilles. (1980) A Thousand Plateaus (excerpt); and Pickering, Andrew. (2009). “Cybernetics as a nomad science.”
• Apr. 21 – Wynter, Sylvia. (1984). “The Ceremony Must Be Found: After Humanism”; and optional Vizcaíno, Rafael. (2022). “Sylvia Wynter’s New Science of the Word and the Autopoetics of the Flesh.” 
• Apr. 28 – von Foerster, Heinz. (2003). Understanding Understanding (excerpts).
• May 5 – Carstens, Delphi. (2009). “Introduction to Hypersition: An Interview.”; and CCRU. (2015). “Part 2: The Cthulhu Club” in Writings 1997-2003.
• May 12 – Lovink, Geert. (2019). “On Recursivity and Contingency: Interview with Yuk Hui.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

This Spring, the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group will tackle the feedback loops, self-reference, and nomadic turns of cybernetics.

Up Next: Apr. 7 – Bateson, Gregory. (1972). “Form, Substance, and Difference” in Steps to an Ecology of Mind.

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• Feb. 3 – Tausk, Victor. (1919). “On the origin of the ‘influencing machine’ in schizophrenia.”
• Feb 10 – Wiener, Norbert. (1950). “What is Cybernetics” in The Human Use of Human Beings;  and Rosenblueth, Arturo, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow. (1943). “Behavior, Purpose and Teleology”
• Feb. 17 – Shannon, Claude. (1948). “A mathematical theory of communication”; and McCulloch, Warren, and Walter Pitts, “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity.”
• Feb. 24 – Canguilhem, Georges. (1947). “Machine and organism.”
• Mar. 3 – Simondon, Gilbert. (1953). “Epistemology of Cybernetics.”
• Mar. 10 – Hayles, Katherine. (1999). How We Became Posthuman. Chapter 3.
• Mar 17 – Lilly, John C. (1968). Programming and metaprogramming in the human biocomputer (excerpt).
• Mar. 24 – Maturana & Varela. (1970). The Tree of Knowledge (excerpt).
• Mar. 31 – Brown, George Spencer. (1969) Laws of Form (excerpt); and Dible, Randy. (2025), “Ontopoiesis, Autopoiesis, and a Calculus Intended for Self-Reference”
• Apr. 7 – Bateson, Gregory. (1972). “Form, Substance, and Difference” in Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
• Apr. 14 – Deleuze, Gilles. (1980) A Thousand Plateaus (excerpt); and Pickering, Andrew. (2009). “Cybernetics as a nomad science.”
• Apr. 21 – Wynter, Sylvia. (1984). “The Ceremony Must Be Found: After Humanism”; and optional Vizcaíno, Rafael. (2022). “Sylvia Wynter’s New Science of the Word and the Autopoetics of the Flesh.” 
• Apr. 28 – von Foerster, Heinz. (2003). Understanding Understanding (excerpts).
• May 5 – Carstens, Delphi. (2009). “Introduction to Hypersition: An Interview.”; and CCRU. (2015). “Part 2: The Cthulhu Club” in Writings 1997-2003.
• May 12 – Lovink, Geert. (2019). “On Recursivity and Contingency: Interview with Yuk Hui.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

This Spring, the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group will tackle the feedback loops, self-reference, and nomadic turns of cybernetics.

Up Next: Mar. 31 – Brown, George Spencer. (1969) Laws of Form (excerpt); and Dible, Randy. (2025), “Ontopoiesis, Autopoiesis, and a Calculus Intended for Self-Reference”; Optional: War Machine Podcast – Randy Dible /// Laws of Form

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring a copy (digital or paper) copy of the reading with you to the meeting.

Location: Yinz Coffee in Bloomfield (Liberty Ave), most Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm.

SCHEDULE:

• Feb. 3 – Tausk, Victor. (1919). “On the origin of the ‘influencing machine’ in schizophrenia.”
• Feb 10 – Wiener, Norbert. (1950). “What is Cybernetics” in The Human Use of Human Beings;  and Rosenblueth, Arturo, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow. (1943). “Behavior, Purpose and Teleology”
• Feb. 17 – Shannon, Claude. (1948). “A mathematical theory of communication”; and McCulloch, Warren, and Walter Pitts, “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity.”
• Feb. 24 – Canguilhem, Georges. (1947). “Machine and organism.”
• Mar. 3 – Simondon, Gilbert. (1953). “Epistemology of Cybernetics.”
• Mar. 10 – Hayles, Katherine. (1999). How We Became Posthuman. Chapter 3.
• Mar 17 – Lilly, John C. (1968). Programming and metaprogramming in the human biocomputer (excerpt).
• Mar. 24 – Maturana & Varela. (1970). The Tree of Knowledge (excerpt).
• Mar. 31 – Brown, George Spencer. (1969) Laws of Form (excerpt); and Dible, Randy. (2025), “Ontopoiesis, Autopoiesis, and a Calculus Intended for Self-Reference”
• Apr. 7 – Bateson, Gregory. (1972). “Form, Substance, and Difference” in Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
• Apr. 14 – Deleuze, Gilles. (1980) A Thousand Plateaus (excerpt); and Pickering, Andrew. (2009). “Cybernetics as a nomad science.”
• Apr. 21 – Wynter, Sylvia. (1984). “The Ceremony Must Be Found: After Humanism”; and optional Vizcaíno, Rafael. (2022). “Sylvia Wynter’s New Science of the Word and the Autopoetics of the Flesh.” 
• Apr. 28 – von Foerster, Heinz. (2003). Understanding Understanding (excerpts).
• May 5 – Carstens, Delphi. (2009). “Introduction to Hypersition: An Interview.”; and CCRU. (2015). “Part 2: The Cthulhu Club” in Writings 1997-2003.
• May 12 – Lovink, Geert. (2019). “On Recursivity and Contingency: Interview with Yuk Hui.”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE