Philosophy Postgraduate Work-In-Progress Seminar Nick Malpas, 'Hannah Arendt and the Autonomy of the Political'
Monday 24th of August, 3.30-5.00pm, Philosophy Common Room. At the next PG WIP Seminar this Monday, Nick Malpas will talk on 'Hannah Arendt and the Autonomy of the Political': 'Hannah Arendt characterizes political action as an inherently non-instrumental activity; one which is not characterized or assessed by whether it attains certain ends. Connected to this insistence on the non-instrumental character of political action, Arendt claims that politics is independent of violence, domination, absolute authority, and theory. This network of claims can be brought together under the expression ‘the autonomy of the political’. The claim for the non-instrumentality and autonomy of the political run counter to many everyday and theoretical suppositions about action and politics. I will seek to demonstrate the coherence of these claims and show why their unconventionality provides a compelling way to look at political phenomena. The autonomy of the political will thereby emerge as a conceptual device for criticizing ideas within contemporary (especially liberal) political theory, such as that of public justification. The concept of the autonomy of the political stresses the dynamism, conflict, openness, and undecidability that are inherent to the political while much liberal theory neglects these aspects.' Everyone (including non-postgrads) is welcome to attend. If you would like to present or require further information, please contact Nick Malpas at [email protected]. The format is 30 minutes for presentations followed by 1 hour of discussion. Since the primary aim of this seminar is to generate discussion, presentations need not be particularly polished or formal. _______________________________________________ SydPhil mailing list: http://bit.ly/SydPhil 872 subscribers now served. To UNSUBSCRIBE, change your MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS, find ANSWERS TO COMMON PROBLEMS, or visit our ONLINE ARCHIVES, please go to the LIST INFORMATION PAGE: http://lists.arts.usyd.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/sydphil
