����Ӱ��

Daniele Monticelli, Tallinn University, will deliver a paper entitled
"Toward a New Universalism: Radical Thinking, Equality, Community". It is
one in a series of seminars "Inimkond/Humankind – Current Issues in
Anthropology and Beyond" which are held every fortnight. This seminar will
be held in auditorium N315 (Tallinn University Nova building) on Wednesday,
24 April from 18:00-20:00.Abstract:The attempt to isolate species-specific
properties of the human being has had a central role in Western
philosophical thought, political theory and practice. From the Aristotelian
"speaking/political animal" to Marxian "producing beings", philosophers’
universal definitions of humanity have often been at the basis of our
understanding of society and community, becoming the grounding ideals of
political movements and institutions.In the second half of the 20th
century, this universalistic stance has been thoroughly criticized from
both a philosophical and political point of view. Anthropology,
poststructuralist and postcolonialist approaches, cultural studies have all
been at pain to disclose the actually always partial, interested, excluding
and, therefore, imperialistic and violent character of universal
definitions of the human being. The process of decolonization of the
40s-60s and the raising of identity politics in Western societies of the
70s seemed to release “all the difference in the world”, emancipating
previously repressed ways of living and making community.Nowadays, this
kind of theoretical approaches and political attitudes have run into
serious trouble. The alternative and liberating differences of postmodern
politics (oppressed people, women, blacks, gays and lesbians, and so on)
are being replaced by the reappearance of essentialist and excluding
identities (ethnic, national, religious). Contemporary identity politics
canalizes the fear and uncertainty which characterize our societies into
communitarian self-enclosure and hostility against everything that seems to
somehow endanger it.On the background of the shortcomings of contemporary
identity politics, the seminar will explore the possibility for a renewed
philosophico-political commitment with universalism today. We will discuss
the ideas of radical thinkers such as Alain Badiou, Giorgio Agamben,
Jacques Rancière, Jean-Luc Nancy who share a critical attitude towards
both poststructuralism and Marxism and try to elaborate a new understanding
of politics and community which recuperates the universalist tradition
rethinking it in an antiessentialist way.What would a universal look like
if we imagine it as an infinite, open process instead of as the grounding
essence of humanity? How to avoid the reduction of the universal to
concrete, particular contents, which would become a criterion of
socio-political inclusion/exclusion? Can a human community possibly embody
an empty universal in a never-ending process of becoming? What does this
all tell us about the present (and the future) of humanity? We will discuss
these questions focusing on a central issue for the Western universalist
discourse: the notion of ‘equality’.Suggested readingsGiorgio
Agamben. The Coming Community. Minneapolis, London: University of
Minnesota Press, 1998.Alain Badiou. Saint Paul. The Foundation of
Universalism. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003Jean-Luc
Nancy. The Inoperative Community. Minneapolis, London: University of
Minnesota Press, 1991: 1-42.Jacques Rancière. Disagreement. Politics
and Philosophy. Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press,
1991.Danielle Monticelli is Chair of the Department of Romance Studies at
Tallinn University, and Associate Professor of Italian Studies and
Semiotics at the Tallinn University Institute of Germanic and Romance
Languages and Cultures. He has previously held positions at the Estonian
Institute of Humanities and at the University of Tartu. Danielle holds an
MA in Philosophy from the University of Milan, and a PhD in Semiotics and
Cultural Theory from the University of Tartu. He has conducted and widely
published research on translation, semiotics, literature, and philosophy of
science.The series of seminars "Inimkond/Humankind - Current Issues in
Anthropology and Beyond" features speakers from anthropology and related
fields, and fosters discussion of their research with an interdisciplinary
audience. It aims to contribute to the culture of academic scholarship and
debate at Tallinn University. Speakers include local researchers as well as
guests from a variety of background disciplines including those with
different interpretations of anthropological theory and methodology.
Presentations in the seminar series will be of particular interest to staff
and students in anthropology, cultural theory, sociology, and history.For
further information about the seminar series, please contact:Franz
KrauseE-mail: franz.krause@tlu.ee