We are glad to give notice of the conference Politics of Nature. Philosophical Perspectives on the Anthropocene, which will take place at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry (ICI) Berlin, on October 20th-21st, 2022.
The conference is organized by Thomas Khurana and it is an event of the Department of Philosophy & the Center for Post-Kantian Philosophy (University of Potsdam) in cooperation with the ICI Berlin, supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
With the participation of: Jacob Blumenfeld, Robin Celikates, Xenia Chiaramonte, Lillian Cicerchia, Jeanette Ehrmann, Hanna Hamel, Katharina Hoppe, Thomas Khurana, Kristina Lepold, Beth Lord, Andreas Malm, Christoph Menke, Karen Ng, Oliver Precht, Rupert Read, Francesca Raimondi, Eva von Redecker, Frank Ruda, Eric-John Russell, Martin Saar, Christian Schmidt, Johannes-Georg Schülein, Melanie Sehgal, Oxana Timofeeva, Alexey Weissmüller, Slavoj Žižek.
Below you can find the description and the program of the conference.
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It is obvious that human forms of life have affected the earth system to such an extent that one has to consider the possibility that a new geological age has emerged. More importantly, the severe changes underway in this new age, often called the ‘Anthropocene’, seem to undermine the very conditions of survival on this planet: Climate change, a severe reduction of biodiversity, the increasing exploitation and devastation of the environment, and new diseases based on cross-species virus transmission are only some of the most visible forms in which human activities have seriously undermined the habitability of this planet for human and non-human species. It is the dire irony of the term ‘Anthropocene’ that it is named after the very species that is heading for self-extinction in this age. This situation does not just underline the fact that the present capitalist forms of life are unviable, it also poses a challenge to some of the constitutive ideals that have guided the critique of these forms of life – notions of growth and transformation, liberation and invention, freedom and self-determination, care and responsibility, justice and equality. Against this background, the conference seeks to articulate the ‘Anthropocene’ as a philosophical problem that requires a deep revision of our self-understanding and a new conception of politics.
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Thursday, October 20th.
10:00 – 10:30 – Thomas Khurana, Politics of Nature: An Introduction
10:30 – 11:45 – Beth Lord, Spinoza and the Politics of Soil
Chair: Oliver Precht
11:45 – 12:15 Coffee break
12:15 – 13.30 – Martin Saar, Nature/Politics: Critical Theory and the Turn to Life
Chair: Hanna Hamel
13:30 – 15:00 Lunch Break
15:00 – 16:15 – Jacob Blumenfeld, The Socialization of Nature
Chair: Lillian Cicerchia
16:15 – 16:45 Coffee break
16:45 –18:00 – Karen Ng, Metabolism and Natural Limits: Rethinking Species-Being in Hegel and Marx
Chair: Kristina Lepold
18:30 – 20:00 Keynote – Slavoj Žižek, ‘Unbehagen in der Natur‘: On Thinking the End of Nature
Chair: Christian Schmidt
Friday, October 21st
10:00 – 11:15 – Frank Ruda, Un-Natur: De-natura (rerum)
Chair: Katharina Hoppe
11:30 – 12:45 – Melanie Sehgal, Philosophy and the Arts of a New Climatic Regime
Chair: Johannes-Georg Schülein
12:45 – 14:30 Lunch break
14:30 – 15:45 – Oxana Timofeeva, The World Soul?
Chair: Francesca Raimondi
15:45 – 16:15 Coffee break
16:15 – 17:30 – Christoph Menke, The Humanization of Nature
Chair: Xenia Chiaramonte
17:30 – 18:00 Coffee break
18:00 – 20:00 Discussion: What Is to be done? Climate Crisis and Political Activism, With Eva von Redecker, Rupert Read, Andreas Malm
Chair: Robin Celikates
How to Attend
At the venue (registration required): Fully booked. Add yourself to the waiting list, using the form below.
Public livestream (no registration required) on this page with the possibility to ask questions via chat.
