The Spectre of the Negative: Contemporary Readings of Hegel
A series of seminars with Ray Brassier on Hegel and on contemporary interpretations of Hegelian philosophy
In January 2017, Ray Brassier will be leading a series of seminars on Hegel at the University of Brighton. These sessions have been organised by the University’s Centre for Applied Philosophy and Ethics, and are due to take place between the 18th and the 20th of January. Ray will also give a public lecture on Thursday the 19th.
Hegel once remarked that ‘philosophy is its own time comprehended in thought’. Philosophy, for Hegel, involves an awareness of the nature and tensions of a given historical moment. Our own time is a time of crisis, and contemporary philosophers have turned to Hegel himself as a means of addressing this moment. Ray will argue that that the tensions and contradictions between contemporary understandings of Hegel’s philosophy bear relation to the concrete conditions of crisis that prompted this turn to Hegel in the first place. These seminars will explore the idea that Hegelian thought not only demands the overcoming of crises of understanding within philosophy, but also the overcoming of crises within the social reality to which such philosophy responds. This will involve considering the nature and status of Hegelian reason, with a view towards distancing the latter from versions of Hegel that emphasise placid resolution, or which stress the tragic inevitability of discord. We will go on to address these issues in connection to the political antagonisms between democratic reformism and revolutionary communism, and between differing conceptions of communism.
If you would to attend, please contact either Tom Bunyard (tombunyard@gmail.com) or Toby Lovat (t.lovat2@brighton.ac.uk) in order to reserve a place.
