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.
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
David Levine: Authenticity, Appropriation and Genius
In the Spring term of 2012, artist and faculty at ECLA David Levine has been teaching the Art & Aesthetics concentration seminar titled: Authenticity, Appropriation and Genius. I have asked David Levine about the experience of teaching this new theoretical course, and about the boundary between art and teaching. Aurelia Cojocaru: Usually at ECLA you
“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
“Leaders come and go, but you are here to stay”
On June 7th, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, PM Cameron of the UK and PM Stoltenbergof Norway took a break from their busy schedules to discuss the future of global and German democracy with local and international students studying in Berlin. This meeting was part of a bigger initiative aimed at creating a series of dialogues
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
Impressions From a Theatre Play
This spring term, as part of the Studio Theatre Class, ECLA of Bard is taking its students to performances in various theatres in Berlin to enable them to develop their perspective on the art of theatre-making, but also to offer a personal experience of Berlin, as one of the most vibrant sites for the art