|
The 12th
International Conference of |
|||
|
|
ISSEI |
In cooperation With |
|
|
International Society for the Study
of European Ideas |
|||
Section
V: Religion, Philosophy, Anthropology, Psychology, Language
Workshop: Thinking Monstrosity (in Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, and
Literature)
Chair:
Erik Vogt
This
workshop aims to examine the notion of monstrosity (and some of its cognates,
such as the uncanny, the ugly, or the in-human) at the interface of philosophy,
psychoanalysis, and literature. While philosophy has traditionally been less
open to the monstrous and has even attempted repeatedly to banish it from its
totalizing political as well as aesthetic representations of human nature and
thought, functioning as a kind of border patrol so as to keep the order of
things and of normality safe from monstrous violations, both literature and
psychoanalysis have been more welcoming sites to the disruptive forces of
monstrosity; that is to say, literature (think of, for instance, Frankenstein) and psychoanalysis (especially
in the context of Lacan's return to and appropriation
of Freud's thought) seem to have been more receptive to the idea that the
monstrous, far from simply presenting an alienated or distorted limit-feature
of humanity to be overcome, designates something like the horror at the core of
all existence and is thus to be defined as a terrifying excess that is inherent
to “being-human”.
However, in the wake—and, perhaps, under the influence—of
both literature and psychoanalysis, recent philosophy has experienced a kind of
return of repressed monstrosity. The work of philosophers such as Derrida,
Foucault, Agamben, or Žižek
testifies to this new conceptualization of the relation between thought and the
monstrous. Our workshop will thus attempt to assess the impact of literary and
psychoanalytic figurations of monstrosity on philosophical thought.
Erik Vogt
Professor
of Philosophy
Univ.-Doz. for Philosophy
[The conference] [Feedback]
[Contact
us]
Please direct any questions
or comments about this website and/or report broken links to Rachel
Ben-David