Philosophy

In this presentation we consider historically specific ways and sites of knowing such as world’s fairs, zoos, circuses and freak shows, which fundamentally structured how visitors made sense of humanness and civilization. These diverse types of exhibit were at the intersection of scientific authority and popular hunger for exoticism, and require an interdisciplinary theoretical approach combining critical race, postcolonial and gender studies.

This workshop brings together students based in the Central European region and working on innovative and groundbreaking doctoral projects in Ancient Philosophy. After presenting their work, each student will receive comments from a respondent working in their field followed by an open discussion of the issues and questions arising from their work.

There is no registration fee, but please RSVP to the organisers.

PROGRAM

Recently, some philosophers of science have argued that epistemology should be extended in order to encompass scientific instruments as material forms of knowledge. One line of argument for this position has consisted in drawing a strong analogy between the traditional concept of knowledge as justified true belief and to argue that what makes the alliance of these three components into proper knowledge can and is satisfied by scientific instruments. Consequently, scientific instruments are not just conductive to scientific knowledge, they are --literally-- scientific knowledge.

The question of what constitutes a human being, being human, humanness or humanity, in all its variations, has been a longstanding feature in academic and public discourse, and particularly in its relation with human rights. The varied answers and perspectives can influence attitudes and social behaviour that are either in line with or in opposition to human rights norms. The lecture will consider the various perspectives from philosophical, biological, theological, sociological and legal sources, and how these categorizations intersect with human rights objectives.

What do “orangutans” make to our understanding of Enlightenment “science of man” – considered by historiography as a major contribution to the shaping of human and social sciences? How do they connect with the conceptualization of humankind and to what extent does such a conceptualization interplay with the humanization and/or dehumanization of peoples? My paper deals with the multiples uses to which comparative anatomy was put in different disciplinary frameworks, such as natural and philosophical histories, political as well as legal discourses, and even trials, in eighteenth-century Brit

“Narrative” is often used as just a fancy synonym for “story”, yet there is more to it. A story can be narrated in many ways, representing the constitutive events differently, and so there can be many narratives telling the same core story. Representing events, in language or through images, is a fundamental way of understanding the world of purposeful human action. However, narratives become especially interesting in special cases.