We are glad to give notice of the workshop Hegel and Critical Theory. A workshop exploring the (anti)colonial legacy of Hegel in Critical Theory, which will take place on June 3rd, 2022 at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Bergen (Sydneshaugen skole, Auditorium A; rear left entry in the courtyard: “Inngang A”) and via Zoom.

The workshop is organized by Daniel James and Franz Knappik, and funded by the University of Bergen.

About the workshop:

Among the philosophical traditions that have been building on Hegel’s heritage over the last decades, the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory looms large. While Critical Theory has a prominent focus on issues of political and social injustice, critics have argued that thinkers in this tradition have failed to properly address topics like (neo)colonialism and racism, and that they themselves have been relying on a conceptual framework that is in many ways indebted to colonialist modes of thought. Yet at the same time, it is possible to point to tight connections between Critical Theory and antiracist thought—most prominently in the case of Angela Davis, who studied in Frankfurt with Adorno and was later supervised by Marcuse, and engaged with Kant, but also with Hegel from a theoretical angle informed by the Frankfurt School.

Our workshop will explore how Critical Theory, as part of the reception history of Hegel’s thought, has been relating to topics like race, racism and colonialism: To what extent do positions within Critical Theory suffer from a colonial blind-spot and a Eurocentric mindset, and how do such issues relate to the impact that Hegel (directly, but also via Marx) has been exercising on Critical Theory? To what extent has Critical Theory created potentials for an antiracist reception of Hegelian philosophy, and to what extent have these potentials been actualized? What philosophical interactions have been taking place between the Frankfurt School and Black radical thought, and what role does Hegel play within these interactions?

Below you can find the program:

9.30 Welcome (Franz Knappik, University of Bergen; Daniel James, Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf)

Section I

9.45 Tomas Stølen (NLA Bergen): Hegel, history, and the Frankfurt School: On Amy Allen’s The End of Progress

10.15 Hans Marius Hansteen (University of Bergen): Thinking with Hegel against Hegel: Adorno’s critique of universal history

10.45 Discussion

12 Lunch break

Section II

13.30 Charlotte Baumann (University of Sussex): Hegel, Adorno and the painful friction of universal values

14 Daniel James (Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf): Davis, Hegel, and Black Liberation

14.30 Discussion

15.45 Coffee break

Section III

16.15 Christopher Senf (University of Bergen): Can struggles for recognition be evil?

16.45 Discussion

17.30 End

No registration required for physical attendance. For Zoom registration and further information, please visit the webpage of the event.

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