Events Berlin

Walter-Benjamin-Lectures 2019 724 1024 Susann Schmeisser

Walter-Benjamin-Lectures 2019

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 17th to 19th), 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

Charles Taylor is one of the most profound thinkers of our age. His early work on the embeddedness of cognition in the life-world demarcated a paradigm shift in the epistemology of social science. Guided by his novel reading of Hegel, Taylor subsequently embarked on an extraordinary research program: to elucidate and overcome the contradictions of modernity in the light of modernity’s own development, drawing out its limitations and imbalances. This project is laid out in two monumental monographs, one on the history of the self and one on secularization. More recently, Taylor has brought the motif of obscured social grounds to bear on questions of democratic politics. He has traced progressive trajectories, yet also started to analyze how the disavowal of shared values, imaginaries, and social relations unleashes destructive tendencies. The Benjamin-Lectures will assemble these investigations, combining a trenchant diagnosis of current threats to democracy with an encompassing philosophical picture of our time.

The Benjamin-Lectures will take place in the Emil-Fischer-lecture hall at Humboldt-University, Berlin, at Hessische Straße 1-2, each day at 6pm.

There is no entry fee.

June 17th “Losing Faith in Democracy”; respondent: Maeve Cooke (University College Dublin, Ireland)

June 18th “Xenophobia and polarization”; respondent: Patrizia Nanz (Universität Potsdam, Germany)

June 19th “What can be done?” respondent: Zhang Shuangli (Fudan University, China)

International Summer School Critical Theory 2019. Democracy and Social Unreason 1024 532 Susann Schmeisser

International Summer School Critical Theory 2019. Democracy and Social Unreason

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?

In the early Frankfurt School, analyses of regressive tendencies aimed at tracing political pathologies back to underlying social contradictions, questioning the very compatibility of liberal democracy and late capitalism. Even critiques of individual aspects, such as the authoritarian character, were primarily meant to criticize the societies which produce such effects. Irrationality, as well as reason itself, was attributed not just to individual persons, but also to their collective way of organizing life.

But what does it mean to speak of actual and potential reason in society? The idea originated in Hegel’s reconstruction of ethical life and influenced later materialist and sociologist theories of society, which located rationality in societal differentiation, cooperation and integration. However, both the assumption of a systemic cohesion of society in its totality and the ideal of a fully rational order are theoretically demanding and have on various occasions been questioned by critical theorists themselves.

In the face of evident unreason, a new assessment of our frameworks for theorizing modern societies and their ensuing criteria for rationality can draw from the strengths of both social and political analyses. Besides classics such as Hegel, Marx, Durkheim, Horkheimer and Adorno we studied contributions by leading contemporary theorists of democracy and society, several of which were present as instructors.

For more details about the summer school, please check the resume written by Sara Gebh (New School for Social Research/Universität Wien) and Lindsay Atnip (University of Chicago/University of California – Santa Barbara).

The summer school involved plenary lectures and discussions, reading sessions, smaller group discussions and panel debates.

Instructors: Andrew Arato (New School, NY), Jean Cohen (Columbia University), Fabian Freyenhagen (Essex University), Rahel Jaeggi (HU Berlin), Regina Kreide (Universität Gießen), Frederick Neuhouser (Columbia University, NY).

Organizers: Rahel Jaeggi, Eva von Redecker, Isette Schuhmacher, Susann Schmeißer (HSC/Humboldt-University Berlin) in cooperation with the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research and the New School for Social Research (Alice Crary).

 

You can find FAQs and the Call for Participation for download.

Krise, Kritik und Zukunft des Sozialstaats 724 1024 Susann Schmeisser

Krise, Kritik und Zukunft des Sozialstaats

Im Rahmen der Reihe „Critical Theory in Context“ (Lehrstuhl für Sozialphilosophie/Center for Humanities and Social Change, HU Berlin) diskutieren Claus Offe (Professor Emeritus of Political Sociology an der Hertie School of Governance) und Stephan Lessenich (Professor an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) Fragen nach der Krise, Kritik und Zukunft des Sozialstaates. Die Veranstaltung findet am 09.01.2019 von 18-21 Uhr in der Vierten Welt statt, der Eintritt ist frei.

Berlin, 9. Januar 2019: Krise, Kritik und Zukunft des Sozialstaats.

Der Sozialstaat bildet in institutioneller und normativer Hinsicht ein zentrales Element moderner westlicher Gesellschaften. Seine Herausbildung stellte historisch betrachtet einen enormen sozialen Fortschritt dar: Mit der Einführung sozialer Bürgerrechte und Sicherungsleistungen wurde den Bürgern ein Anspruch auf ein Mindestmaß an sozialer Gleichheit und Teilhabe gewährt und so einem krassen Pauperismus entgegengewirkt. Als eine Vermittlungsinstanz zwischen Demokratie und Kapitalismus trägt der Sozialstaat damit sowohl zur sozialen Integration in die Gesellschaft als auch zum funktionsfähigen Zusammenwirken der verschiedenen Gesellschaftsbereiche bei.

Nun befindet sich der Sozialstaat schon länger in einer Krise, die nicht zuletzt auch von einer von links geäußerten Kritik gegenüber ihm mitgetragen wurde. Dies erklärt sich unter anderem dadurch, dass viele der Errungenschaften, die das wohlfahrtsstaatliche Arrangement bot, aufs Engste mit negativen Folgen verbunden waren. So etwa gehörten zur sozialen Sicherung und Integration immer schon Mechanismen der sozialen Kontrolle, Normierung, Standardisierung und des Ausschlusses von bestimmten Teilen der Bevölkerung. Hinzu treten neue Herausforderungen im Zuge einer neoliberalen Umgestaltung und globalisierten Welt, die die normative Institution des Sozialstaats in ihrer Geltung aushöhlen und infrage stellen. Gewachsene Problemlagen und sozialstaatliche Lösungsangebote geraten so immer mehr in ein Missverhältnis, das die Frage nahelegt, ob es sich bei dem Sozialstaat um ein historisch ‚überlebtes‘ Gebilde handelt oder nicht doch die Notwendigkeit besteht, diesen – und seine emanzipatorischen Aspekte – zu verteidigen und dabei neu zu denken.

Barrikadengespräch: Aneignung und Enteignung: Zur Wohnungsfrage 738 1024 Susann Schmeisser

Barrikadengespräch: Aneignung und Enteignung: Zur Wohnungsfrage

Auseinandersetzungen darüber, wie überhaupt noch sichergestellt werden kann, dass Häuser bewohnbar oder Mieten bezahlbar bleiben. Damit aber sind ganz generelle Fragen angesprochen: Was macht es aus unseren Städten, wenn Wohnraum immer unumschränkter zur Ware wird? Wie legitim ist das Eigentumsverhältnis in Bezug auf Grundgüter und öffentliche Güter überhaupt? Zur Debatte stehen aber auch konkrete politische Handlungsspielräume: Wie lässt sich die im Grundgesetz festgehaltene Gemeinwohlbindung des Eigentums konkret institutionell durchsetzen? Und welche Erfahrungen gibt es mit Maßnahmen gegen die Verdrängung von Bewohnerinnen aus ihren Vierteln?

Berlin, 19 December 2018: Barrikadengespräch: Aneignung und Enteignung: Zur Wohnungsfrage.

Bei unserem Barrikadengespräch bringen wir eine einzigartige Gesprächskonstellation zusammen. Jenny Weyel aus New York wird das von ihr verantwortete Pilotprojekt gegen Mieter-Verdrängung der New Yorker Stadtverwaltung vorstellen und mit Canan Bayram, der direkt gewählten grünen Bundestagsabgeordneten für Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg und Prenzlauer Berg (Ost), über die progressivsten Vorstöße in der Berliner Wohnungspolitik diskutieren. Daniel Loick, derzeit Fellow am HSC Berlin Center, kommentiert den Austausch vor dem Hintergrund seiner Überlegungen zu einer Theorie der Ent-Aneignung.

Organisiert von: Rahel Jaeggi und Eva von Redecker (Center for Humanities and Social Change, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

Problems of Property 720 1018 Susann Schmeisser

Problems of Property

Property is a key institution both in the capitalist economy and in liberal political orders. Property law regulates access to material goods as well as symbolic status, it is seen as the foundation for personal liberty and political legitimacy, and it mediates our relation to the world of objects.

Berlin, 17-18 December 2018: Problems of Property.

While many critical discussions concern the question of the distribution of goods, this workshop investigates problems arising with the specific form and function given to property in modernity.

How to account for the social ontology and societal function of property? What is the genealogy of the modern, Western understanding of property and which shifts can we observe in the present? How paradigmatic are notions of ownership to concepts of personhood and subjective rights? Could the emancipatory potential of property be preserved without prolonging the dispossession and domination implicated by it?

Speakers include: Carol Rose, Silke van Dyk, Daniel Loick, Bertram Lomfeld

Organized by: Rahel Jaeggi and Eva von Redecker (Humboldt University Berlin) 

Authoritarianism: Rule or Exception 500 300 domonda

Authoritarianism: Rule or Exception

Invited speakers: Prof. Seyla Benhabib (Yale University), Prof. Zeynep Gambetti (Boğaziçi University)

Berlin, 04/07/2018, 6-8pm, Gorki Theatre Berlin

Authoritarian movements and governments resurface globally. They are often presented as a shocking aberration from the progressive norm. But whether we should see authoritarianism as rule or exception to the present world order hinges on how we explain its emergence, referring, for instance, to the fragmentation of public spheres and transnational institutions, as well as to the rise of neo-liberal financial capitalism and inequality.

One common denominator between authoritarianism and neo-liberalism could be seen in the creation of superfluous people, stripped of rights through statelessness, homelessness or other forms of exclusion. How should we reformulate the defenses against exclusion and despotism, such as human rights and citizenship, in order to strengthen pluralist and cosmopolitan modes of democratic participation? And which deeper structures would need to be addressed in order to forgo the lapse into fascist tendencies or autocracy?

abstract painting; visual motif of the conference
Emancipation, International Conference 500 300 domonda

Emancipation, International Conference

50 years after the events of 1968, the question of emancipation is still of central importance.

Berlin, Emancipation 25-27 May 2018 in Berlin.

The international conference “Emancipation” will investigate from a social-philosophical perspective what emancipation is, what actors need to know in order to emancipate themselves and what practical-political conditions the collective capacity to act requires and its dynamics. In addition, at the conference the problem of emancipation will be examined in its connection with other important social-philosophical questions such as “power and domination”, “politics of forms of life” and “hope and utopia”. What will become apparent is that the concept of emancipation is a key concept in social philosophy which allows to connect various approaches from diverse traditions—from Critical Theory, poststructuralism and the recent analytical debates on social critique.

Speakers are: Seyla Benhabib, Didier Eribon, Nancy Fraser, Achille Mbembe, Hartmut Rosa and many others.

abstract painting; visual motif of the conference

Download the Preliminary Programme

The conference will be held in German and in English. Registration for the conference is not required. The conference will take place at HKW (25th of May) and at Technische Universität Berlin (26th and 27th of May). If you have further questions, please write an email to emanzipation2018.philo@hu-berlin.de.

The conference is organised by Prof Dr. Sabine Hark (Technical University Berlin), Prof. Dr. Rahel Jaeggi (Humboldt University Berlin), Dr. des. Kristina Lepold (Goethe University Frankfurt) and Dr. Thomas Seibert (medico international e.V.) with the assistance of Dr. Bastian Ronge, Carolin Botos and the team of the chair of practical philosophy and social philosophy at Humboldt University Berlin and in cooperation with medico international e.V.

International Summer School Critical Theory 2018: Re-Thinking Ideology 500 300 domonda

International Summer School Critical Theory 2018: Re-Thinking Ideology

Why do people often accept, and even embrace, social and political conditions that seem to run counter to their own interests? How is it possible that we sometimes support forms of domination with our ways of behaving and thinking without intending or even realizing it?

Berlin, 15-20 July 2018: Summer School Critical Theory.

One answer to these questions refers to the notion of ideology. Ideologies are more or less coherent systems of practices and beliefs that shape how individuals relate to their social reality in ways that distort their understanding of what is wrong with that reality and thereby contribute to its reproduction.

The summer school will seek to clarify the meanings and theoretical roles of ideology, as the concept has been prominently developed from the writings of Marx via Critical Theory in the tradition of the Frankfurt School to more recent debates in feminism and analytic philosophy. Key contemporary protagonists of ideology critique like Sally Haslanger, Robert Gooding-Williams, Axel Honneth, Alice Crary, Karen Ng, Titus Stahl, Robin Celikates, Martin Saar and Rahel Jaeggi will be present at the summer school and facilitate debates both of key texts from canonical authors and of their own systematic positions.

Instructors: Robin Celikates (University of Amsterdam), Alice Crary (Oxford/New School), Robert Gooding-Williams (Columbia), Sally Haslanger (MIT), Axel Honneth (Columbia/IfS), Rahel Jaeggi (HU Berlin), Karen Ng (Vanderbilt), Martin Saar (Goethe University Frankfurt), Titus Stahl (Groningen).

Organizers: Rahel Jaeggi, Eva von Redecker, Isette Schuhmacher (Humboldt University Berlin), Robin Celikates (University of Amsterdam), Martin Saar (Goethe University, Frankfurt) in cooperation with the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research and the New School for Social Research.

The application deadline for participants has already closed, but there will be two panel-discussions on the evenings of Monday 16th and Thursday 19th which are open to the public.

Alice Crary: Inside Ethics, Book Presentation (invitation only) 500 300 domonda

Alice Crary: Inside Ethics, Book Presentation (invitation only)

We have come to think of human beings and animals as elements of a morally indifferent reality that reveals itself only to neutral or science-based methods.

Berlin, 31/05/2018.

This little-commented-on trend, which shapes the work of moral philosophers and popular ethical writers alike, has pernicious effects, distorting our understanding of the difficulty of moral thinking. Inside Ethics traces the roots of existing views to tendencies in ethics, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. Crary underlines the moral urgency of revisiting our approach in ethics so that, instead of assuming we confront a world that itself places no demands on moral imagination, we treat the exercise of moral imagination as necessary for arriving at an adequate world-guided understanding of human beings and animals. The result is a commanding case for a reorientation in ethics that illuminates central challenges of moral thought about human and animal lives, directing attention to important aspects of these lives that are otherwise hidden from view.

Organized by the chair for social philosophy (Rahel Jaeggi) and the social philosophy research Colloquium.

31st May 2018 6-9pm (Invitation Only) in Berlin