Materialism Today
Of course all you Z-man-philes have heard of this already, but for the rest of the audience:
'Materialism Today' Conference 22nd & 23rd June Room B34 Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX
2008 will be the centenary of Lenin's "Materialism and Empiriocriticism", the book which focused on the ongoing struggle between materialism and idealism. Where do we stand today with regard to this struggle? Many theories claim to be materialist: scientific materialism (Darwinism, brain sciences), "discursive" materialism (ideology as the result of material discursive practices), what Alain Badiou calls "democratic materialism" (the spontaneous egalitarian hedonism), even attempts at "materialist theology". And there are spiritualist tendencies: so-called "post-secular" thought (Derrida, Levinas), neo-Bergsonism (Deleuze, for some), not to mention the obvious cases, up to New Age spirituality.
The aim is to clarify the coordinates of this struggle, with Alain Badiou’s new masterpiece Logiques des Mondes as the central point of reference.
Contributors will include: Alain Badiou, Slavoj Zizek, John Milburn, Mladen Dolar, Peter Hallward, Bruno Bosteels, Creston Davis, Glyn Daly, Adrian Johnston, Robert Pfaller and Ali Alizadeh
Registration will be essential.
'Materialism Today' Conference 22nd & 23rd June Room B34 Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX
2008 will be the centenary of Lenin's "Materialism and Empiriocriticism", the book which focused on the ongoing struggle between materialism and idealism. Where do we stand today with regard to this struggle? Many theories claim to be materialist: scientific materialism (Darwinism, brain sciences), "discursive" materialism (ideology as the result of material discursive practices), what Alain Badiou calls "democratic materialism" (the spontaneous egalitarian hedonism), even attempts at "materialist theology". And there are spiritualist tendencies: so-called "post-secular" thought (Derrida, Levinas), neo-Bergsonism (Deleuze, for some), not to mention the obvious cases, up to New Age spirituality.
The aim is to clarify the coordinates of this struggle, with Alain Badiou’s new masterpiece Logiques des Mondes as the central point of reference.
Contributors will include: Alain Badiou, Slavoj Zizek, John Milburn, Mladen Dolar, Peter Hallward, Bruno Bosteels, Creston Davis, Glyn Daly, Adrian Johnston, Robert Pfaller and Ali Alizadeh
Registration will be essential.