At the end of the spring term ECLA of Bard welcomed members of the Club of Philosophy from the University of Bialystok, Poland and their – in the words of Katarzyna Chocha (chairman of the club) – “institutional and inspirational” tutor, Bartosz Kuzniarz, and their “non-institutional, but inspirational” tutor Piotr Nowak, both Doctors of Philosophy.
CategoryGuest Lecturers
Survival Kits for Apocalypses: Georgi Gospodinov at ECLA
On the 6th of June, the ECLA community welcomed Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov. The evening entitled Survival Kits for Apocalypses included readings from Gospodinov’s play The Apocalypse Comes at 6 pm (in which two ECLA students were also involved in the reading), from his poetry, and from the latest novel The Physics of Sorrow. Georgi Gospodinov also presented some of his
“War is unfit for a society that cultivates individualism”
On Monday, the 4th of June 2012, both ECLA of Bard’s Politics Club and students from the Democracy seminar had the pleasure of hosting Professor Ran Halévi (EHESS, Paris) for a talk on Israeli Democracy and the Politics of War. Twelve students and three members of staff gathered with him for a discussion that centred around his
The Right of Necessity
Students of the Property Core Course had the good fortune to have Professor Andreas Blank conduct a seminar about Samuel Pufendorf’s theory of necessity on May 30th. Professor Blank is a teacher of early modern philosophy in the University of Hamburg and his expertise was most helpful in comparing Pufendorf’s notions of ownership and necessity with
The Truth About Lying
On Tuesday the 29th May, Thomas Schmidt visited ECLA to give a lecture entitled “Why Lying is Wrong (When it is Wrong)”. Schmidt, who teaches at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin’s Department of Practical Philosophy and Normative Ethics, is regarded as one of Germany’s most important writers in his field. Thomas Schmidt began by defining exactly what
Krytyka’s Look at Ukrainian Politics
In 1997 Professor Grabowicz founded Krytyka, a Ukrainian-language journal that discusses politics, history and cultural studies, amongst other things, and serves as, “the highest standard of intellectual debate” available in Ukraine. Though this would of course be considered a respectable project in any circumstances, it became clear to us that this is a particularly important provision
Babette Babich: “The Aesthetics of the Between: On Beauty and the Museum”
On May 21st, ECLA students had the honor of having Professor Babette Babich for a guest lecture titled “The Aesthetics of the Between: On Beauty and the Museum”. Babette Babich is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University in New York and her works have covered studies of Nietzsche and Heidegger, as well as theories in philosophies of
Democracy and Political Compromise
On Thursday 10th May, Richard Bellamy, Director of the European Institute at University College London, gave a lecture entitled “Democracy, Compromise and the Representation Paradox” at Berlin’s Hertie School of Governance. Richard Bellamy’s lecture dealt with the very real and relevant topic of compromise in coalition governments. Indeed, Professor Bellamy began by offering a reminder