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The spring season of TU Studia Generalia will be concluded by Prof.
Leonidas Donskis’ public lecture “Machiavelli and Shakespeare”, which
analyses the relationships between power and imagination, and politics and
literature through the works of Niccolò Machiavelli and William
Shakespeare. The lecture will be held in the auditorium of the TU Mare
building (M-225) on Tuesday, May 25 at 16:00. The lecture will held be in
English."Classical literature often does a better job of revealing the
organized world’s forms of power and authority structures than do works
of political philosophy. At this point, the classics of European
literature, including those of Thomas More, François Villon, François
Rabelais, Niccolò Machiavelli, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe,
Miguel de Cervantes, Jonathan Swift, and Voltaire, deserve honorable
mention, even if we put aside their purely literary fame. What are the
origins of political consciousness? How does our understanding of political
power and its exercise originate in literature? Why do the early
manifestations of political and religious tolerance appear in utopian
literature rather than in philosophical treatises? Is it possible to do
fictionally what others prefer to do academically and theoretically? These
are the main foci that allow us to analyze the relationship between power
and imagination, politics and literature, the principle of reality and that
of imagination through a comparison of Niccolò Machiavelli and William
Shakespeare, two distinguished literary and philosophical voices of early
modernity," introduces Prof Donskis.Leonidas Donskis, Ph.D., is a Member of
the European Parliament. As an academic writer and editor, he wrote and
edited twenty-three books, ten of them in English. An interdisciplinary
scholar, he combines political theory, history of ideas, philosophy of
culture, and essayistic style. Among other books, he is the author of
Troubled Identity and the Modern World (New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2009), Power and Imagination: Studies in Politics and Literature (New York:
Peter Lang, 2008), and Forms of Hatred: Troubled Imagination in Modern
Philosophy and Literature (Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi, 2003). He
lectured and researched in the USA, Great Britain, and Europe. He also acts
as a Visiting Professor of Social and Political Theory at Vytautas Magnus
University in Kaunas, Lithuania.Leonidas Donskis is visiting Tallinn in
order to present his latest book “Armastus, vihkamine ja vastuseis:
uurimusi filosoofiast, poliitikast ja kirjandusest“ published by Tallinn
University Press.Studia Generalia is a series of lectures that consists of
public lectures delivered by the teachers, researchers and visiting
lecturers of TU. Anyone who enters the University building can listen to
what prominent thinkers have to say on current topics that affect the
society, and also participate in the discussion. The lectures are held once
a month on Thursdays. Anyone from or outside of Tallinn University is
welcome to participate. Students can obtain two credits upon hearing the
whole series. Participation is free of charge. In order to watch past
lectures, please visit the Tallinn Virtual University.