You are invited to attend a presentation by Professor Leonard Lawlor "A New Possibility of Life: The Experience of Powerlessness as the Solution to the Problem of the Worst² Chaired by Prof. Paul Patton, Philosophy UNSW Webster Building 327 University of New South Wales 4.00-5.15 Tuesday 9 December Prof Leonard Lawlor is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy at Penn State University. He specializes in 19thC and 20thC Continental Philosophy and is widely recognised for his research that brings concepts within those traditions to bear on contemporary social and political problems. His recent books include The Implications of Immanence: Toward a New Concept of Life (Fordham UP, 2006) and This is not Sufficient: An Essay on Animality and Human Nature in Derrida (Columbia UP 2007) ABSTRACT: This essay is part of an attempt to determine a new mode of existence, an ethics, for humans. It consists in reversing the idea of the worst, which is unconditional ³impassage²: ³don¹t let anyone in; don¹t let anyone out!² As a reversal, the new mode of existence turns us into friends of passage, a people who love the world so much that they will let everyone without exception enter and let everyone without exception exit. They say, ³Let¹s tear down all the walls and open all the doors!² The reversal comes about by focusing on the transcendental experience of powerlessness. Professor Lawlor is being hosted by UNSW Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in December. This presentation is part of the FASS Technology, Bioscience and Innovation Culture Research Strength RESEARCH WORKSHOP: ³Thinking Through Things: Innovation and the Politics of Life² 8-9 Dec 2008
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