Don’t forget, abstracts and proposals for this year’s conference (un)commons: theory and public space, are due by Wednesday, July 15th!
Archive by Author
Tomorrow (Monday) Feyerabend!
5 JulJoin us tomorrow for a discussion of the first four theses of Feyerabend’s “Against Method” and learn why the only principal that doesn’t impede scientific progress is “anything goes!”
As always, the text is available as a pdf HERE.
We will be meeting at 7:00pm at Tender Bar + Kitchen, in Lawrenceville (4300 Butler St, Pittsburgh, PA 15201)
As a reminder, even though we have moved to thematic groups, there is no expectation that people participate in every week, so even if you can’t commit to the whole summer, you are still more than welcome to join us when you can.
Tomorrow (Monday) Kuhn!
29 JunTomorrow we will be kicking off our reading group with the postscript to Thomas Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions. As always, the text is available as a Pdf HERE.
We will be meeting at 7:00pm at Tender Bar + Kitchen, in Lawrenceville (4300 Butler St, Pittsburgh, PA 15201).
img source: http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/
Summer Reading Schedule and pdfs
22 JunWhat is Scientific Research?:
- 6/29: Kuhn, Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Postscript
- 7/6: Feyerhadbend, Against Method, Part 1-4
- 7/13: Latour, Pandora’s Hope, Chapter 5
Philosophy and Physics:
- 7/20: Koyre, From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe, Chapter 2
- 7/27: Meillassoux, After Finitude, Chapter 1
Philosophy and Mathematics:
- 8/3: Lakatos, Mathematics, Science, and Epistemology, Chapter 1 and 4
- 8/10: Badiou, Being and Event, Chapter 26
Philosophy and Biology:
- 8/17: Canguilhem, A Vital Rationalist: Chapter 14
- 8/24: Deleuze, A Thousand Plateaus: “Rhizome”
Philosophy and Neuroscience:
- 8/31: Malabou, What Should We Do With our Brain, Chapter 3
- 9/7: Brassier, Nihil Unbound, Chapter 1
- 9/14: Mark Solms, Brain and the Inner World, excerpt tbd
Reading Group to Return, June 29th
17 JunStay tuned for more information, including pdf links, soon!
Link
NYT: A Night of Philosophy
30 AprAs the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Network grows, I hope to someday put on events like this:
‘A Night of Philosophy,’ 12 Hours of a Mental Marathon
Reading Group Reminder: Tonight, Žižek on Hegel (part deux!)
27 AprThis week the reading group will be taking a look at the second half (roughly p. 219 until the end) of Slavoj Žižek’s chapter, “Is it still possible to be a Hegelian today?”
Looking Ahead: Next week we will be looking at John Caputo’s “Is there an Event in Hegel?”
As a reminder, there is no expectation that one attend every meeting. If you havent been able to stop in yet or if you missed a few meetings, feel perfectly free to stop by tonight.
download pdfs: HERE
When/where: 8:00pm, Tinder Bar + Kitchen, Lawrenceville
CFP for the 2nd annual conference is up!
23 AprBig news! The CFP for the 2nd annual conference is up and ready for submissions (due July 15th)!
Already the excellent philosopher Fred Evans (Duquesne University) and the amazing podcast, The Partially Examined Life (http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/) have signed up to join us!
Here is a brief outline of the theme:
The Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Network is pleased to announce the 2nd Annual Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Conference, “(un)commons: theory and public space.” Devoted to a critical examination of the public sphere, the conference is seeking papers and artworks that deal with philosophy, criticism, and analysis of public space, as well as those which deal with philosophy, criticism, and analysis in public space.
Towards the end of interdisciplinary collaboration, this conference invites contributions from a range of disciplines including philosophy, architecture, geography, psychology, religious studies, communication, rhetoric, and sociology, among others. Additionally, we strongly encourage artists and performers whose work deals with the notion of the “public” or the “common” to submit samples or descriptions of works in any medium—visual, musical, performance, installation, etc. We will accept paper and panel proposals on any topic relevant to continental philosophy, and particularly encourage those that seek to cross the bounds between multiple disciplines.
Additionally, since the conference will be joined by a live recording of an episode of “The Partially Examined Life” (http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/), we strongly encourage those whose work deals with the “new media”—including podcasts, blogs, youtube, etc.—to join us.
Full CFP available as a pdf here
Reading Group Tomorrow (Monday): Žižek on Hegel
20 AprThis week the reading group will be taking a look at the first half (roughly pp. 195-219) of Slavoj Žižek’s “Is it still possible to be a Hegelian today?” Here Žižek will attempt to deconstruct the traditional reading of Hegel, countering with a reading that emphasizes the materialism, contingency, and retroactivity at the heart of Hegel’s project. Ever wonder if you could change the past? Come on over tomorrow night, and you will find out that you can! (no time machine necessary)
As a reminder, there is no expectation that one attend every meeting. If you havent been able to stop in yet or if you missed a few meetings, feel perfectly free to stop by tonight.
download pdfs: HERE
When/where: 8:00pm, Tinder Bar + Kitchen, Lawrenceville
Malabou on Hegel (and other reminders).
12 AprFirst: after last week’s slog through an unexpectedly long Derrida text (my bad), we will take it a little lighter this week with a chapter out of Malabou’s The Future of Hegel, and ask: can sublation (Aufhebung) itself be plastic? In other words — and to return to the question that has haunted this entire spring — is there room for continegency in Hegel’s philosophy, or is Hegel’s thought truly the violent, dominating force that he is often said to be?
As a reminder, there is no expectation that one attend every meeting. If you havent been able to stop in yet, feel perfectly free to stop by tonight.
download pdfs: HERE
Second: this wednesday is the last day to send in abstracts or papers for the 2015 meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences which is meeting in Atlanta. I’ll be there, you should be there too!
Third: This Friday, C.D.C. Reeve of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, will be giving a lecture at Duquesne University as part of the philosophy department’s speaker series.
Plastic Hegel… get it.
Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Network 