Susann Schmeisser

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic this event is unfortunately cancelled.

Nancy Fraser’s Lectures are postponed to 2022.

That capitalism is “in crisis” has almost become a truism. The financial crisis of the last decade already de-stabilized the trust in the ability of the capitalist social order to deliver on its promises. With climate catastrophe looming and ecological disasters affecting more and more people even in wealthy states, it seems all the more obvious that something is fundamentally wrong with a social order depending on the ruthless exploitation of all available social and natural resources. But how can this crisis be conceptualized and analyzed in a theoretically sound manner? In which ways is the climate crisis a crisis of capitalism?

In the Benjamin-Lectures of 2020, Nancy Fraser, one of the leading and most influential critical theorists of our times, will present an analysis of the current climate crisis that situates it within the broader framework of a social critique of the impending ecological disaster. Starting from the description of capitalism’s specific understanding of nature and the struggles over resources which the capitalist economy continually exhausts, Fraser develops solutions to global ecological problems based on a new vision of society.

June 17th: Capitalism’s ecological contradiction
(Commentary: Andreas Malm, Lund University)

June 18th: Struggles over Nature
(Commentary: Barbara Muraca, Oregon State University)

June 19th: Degrowth, Green New Deal or Ecosocialism
(Commentary: Stephan Lessenich, Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität, München)

No registration prior to the lectures is necessary. There is no entrance fee. The lectures will be held in English.

The Benjamin-Lectures are named after the Berlin-born philosopher Walter Benjamin and dedicated to his intellectual integrity and political commitment in the face of historical catastrophe. Each year, inspired by the Amsterdam Spinoza-lectures as well as the “Adorno-Vorlesungen” in Frankfurt, the Benjamin-Lectures will bring one leading critical theorist to Berlin. His or her public lectures will allow for a broad audience to partake in the latest debates on social and political issues of core concern. Prior to the lectures, the invited speaker will hold the Walter-Benjamin-Chair at the HSC Center Berlin and spend up to three months in close cooperation with the HSC academic community.

In 2019, the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor inaugurated the series. In a sequence of three evening lectures, Taylor addressed “Democracy and its Crises”, covering various forms of democratic deterioration, such as political alienation, increasing inequality, xenophobia and polarization, as well as possible ways out of crisis. You can watch the videos of his lectures.

Against the background of failed state socialisms and the crisis of socialism in Latin America, the term “socialism” was long frowned upon when it came to discussing current political and social problems. At present, however, in Western democracies the voices calling for a revival of socialist projects are becoming louder. In the mother countries of neoliberalism, the USA and Great Britain, politicians who openly plead for “democratic socialism” can mobilize broad masses in recent years. And there are also attempts in the academic world to initiate new debates on the concept of socialism. It is undisputed that any revival of the concept must critically reflect the history of real socialism. More controversial are the questions of how exactly a socialist future project should be understood and realized and which social areas it should cover. The answer to these questions determines what is meant by “socialism”.

How far-reaching are the societal transformations that are subsumed under the concept of socialism? Does a socialist future project essentially present itself as an alternative economic order? Or does the concept of socialism concern the deeper (moral) idea of an alternative understanding of freedom, which differs from that of liberalism? Is there even the idea of socialism or do we need manifold socialisms in order to initiate the path to a modernity based on solidarity?

We want to discuss these questions with Lea Ypi (London School of Economics), Giacomo Corneo (Freie Universität Berlin) and Michael Brie (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation) on December 12, 2019 in Vierte Welt. The event is the prelude to a series of events on the topic of Re-Thinking Socialism, which we will continue in the coming semesters.

Bei der Frankfurter Adorno-Konferenz 2003 konstatierte Axel Honneth eine „dramatische Abkehr“ von Adornos Philosophie und beklagte das Fehlen eines „vitalen, spannenden Forschungsmilieus“. Davon kann heute keine Rede mehr sein. Neue Interpretationsansätze haben Adornos Philosophie für die systematischen Debatten der Gegenwart fruchtbar gemacht. Anlässlich des 50. Todestages von Adorno veranstalten wir einen internationalen Workshop, der Vertreter*innen dieser neuen Interpretationsansätze zusammenbringt. Gemeinsam wollen wir diskutieren, inwiefern durch die Rückkehr zu Adorno aktuelle Debatten in der Sprach-, Moral- und Sozialphilosophie vertieft werden können. Adornos Beispiel folgend, verbindet der Workshop diese Themen dabei mit ästhetischen und epistemologischen Fragestellungen. So wollen wir nicht nur der Komplexität seines Denkens gerecht werden, sondern zugleich der Verengung der zunehmend spezialisierten Fachphilosophie entgegenarbeiten.

Mit Beiträgen von Jay Bernstein, Julia Christ, Fabian Freyenhagen, Katia Genel, Agnès Grivaux, Antonia Hofstätter, Philip Hogh, Bastian Ronge, Arvi Särkelä.

Da die Anzahl der Teilnehmerplätze begrenzt ist, bitten wir um Anmeldung bis zum 3. November 2019 unter workshops.sozialphilosophie@hu-berlin.de. Die Teilnehmer*innen werden zeitnah benachrichtigt und erhalten weitere Informationen sowie einen Reader mit den Texten der Vorträge.

This June, the Humanities and Social Change Center Berlin will launch its new event format, the annual Walter-Benjamin-Lectures. The Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor inaugurates the prominent series. In a sequence of three evening lectures (June 17^th to 19^th), Taylor will address “Democracy and its Crises”, covering various forms of democratic deterioration, such as political alienation, increasing inequality, xenophobia and polarization, as well as possible ways out of crisis.

Walter-Benjamin-Lectures by Charles Taylor

Democracy is in crisis. Various phenomena such as the electoral success of authoritarian leaders, distrust in public institutions and media, rising social tensions, neo-nationalism and reactionary family politics certify this. But what are the underlying reasons for such developments? Is this crisis democracy’s own crisis, or does it originate elsewhere in the social order?