graduate student Whitehead conference

This is one I would definitely try for if a graduate student, and I especially like that they provide lodging and food.

Call for Graduate Student Papers

Conference title: “Experience & Reality: Thinking with Whitehead and American Pragmatism”

Dates: November 29-December 1, 201

Location: Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California

Paper Submission Due: Friday, August 31, 2012 to henning@gonzaga.edu

Co-Sponsors: Whitehead Research Project & Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy

Website: whiteheadresearch.org/experience-and-reality/

In keeping with its mission to analyze the relevance of Whitehead’s thought in dialogue with contemporary philosophies, the Whitehead Research Project (WRP) is hosting a conference to explore current lines of congruence and tension between American pragmatism, classical American philosophy, and contemporary Whitehead scholarship. Co-sponsored by the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, the purpose of the conference is not to rehearse old debates, but to work at the intersection of experience and reality to incite novel and creative thought about the future of American philosophy. Specific questions that may be addressed include:

* Is Whitehead a Pragmatist and/or an American philosopher?

* What contrasts and affinities exist between American Pragmatism and Whitehead’s thought?

* What new questions, strategies, and critiques emerge by juxtaposing their distinct perspectives?

Lodging and food will be provided by the conference sponsors for all conference participants. All participants will be invited to submit their work to be considered for inclusion in a planned anthology.

Submissions should be presentable in 15-20 minutes (approx. 10 pg) and must make a philosophical contribution. All papers and abstracts should be sent to the organizer of the conference, Dr. Brian G. Henning, no later than August 31st. Submissions should be sent electronically to henning@gonzaga.edu and should include:

1. Your paper (with no identifications of the author within the text)

2. Abstract (also without identifications)

3. A separate cover page with your name, paper title, institutional affiliation, telephone number, e-mail address and mailing address.

See attached PDF of this call. Also attached is the conference poster listing invited conference participants.

Meet Egypt’s President

This article is absolutely right. Morsi is no revolutionary angel. This election was a choice between two very un-good things:

“Morsy is considered one of the conservative voices within Egypt’s oldest Islamist organization. His power put him in confrontation with the group’s progressive youth on several occasions.

When the group issued its political platform in 2007, some young brothers had decried on the blogosphere three controversial clauses that denied women and Copts the right to run for president and stipulated that laws should be vetted by a board of religious scholars.

In a bid to contain the outrage of the organization’s young activists, Morsy sat down with these bloggers. However, his discourse alienated them further.

According to Ayyash, a 22-year-old blogger who attended the meeting, Morsy said in a firm tone: “This is how we think and this is how we understand Islam.” After the revolution, the group dropped the three clauses.

Last year, the tension between Morsy and the group’s youths intensified as the latter became overtly defiant of the leaders’ commands.

The revolution emboldened many young brothers and prompted them to challenge the leaders’ orders on several occasions during the 18-day-uprising that culminated in Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. Young brothers had refused orders not to take to the streets on 25 January 2011 and to withdraw from the square during the Battle of the Camel.”

He’s a conservative bore, a compliant organizational man, and an Islamist ideologue, and I hope he only lasts one term.

But at least he wasn’t Mubarak’s Prime Minister as protestors were being gunned down in the streets.

It’s all hypothetical for me, because I can’t vote in Egypt. But what shifted me from “damned if I’d vote for either of these two” to “better vote anti-Mubarak no matter what” was the tenor of the recent court decisions, which brought us back to the abyss of open military fascism. (And we’re not free of that danger yet. But at least now there’s a chance of slow movement away from that.)

relieved

Life is strange. I never imagined that “relieved” and “Muslim Brotherhood victory” would go together in the same sentence for me. Indeed, I always used to say I’d be on the first plane out of Egypt if they took over. But situations change.

Aside from the fact that it’s always right to announce election results honestly, I think the generals saved their own skins here, at least for awhile. Trying to install their own man would inevitably have led to violence, and in cracking down they would have had to go much further than before, and could quickly have become international outlaws at something approaching Assad level.

It could have been an ugly couple of years in Egypt. Now, at least, there’s a chance to work on things. We bought some time today, and buying time is often underrated as a form of success.

Morsi wins

Only about my 15th favorite candidate, but at least an honest result was announced, and big big trouble was avoided in the streets. Some hope now that the revolution can continue in slow motion.

“we have so much integrity”

It doesn’t seem like a good sign when an Election Commission tells you before an announcement how much integrity they have.

Election winner procastination

Long, long prefatory speech. Heavy security at the airport, apparently. Another rumor, denied by the concerned parties, is that Omar Suleiman and his family left for the UAE. (If true, that would mean a Brotherhood victory, and Suleiman would probably smart to leave if they won. He’d be first on the investigation list.)

Blah blah blah, “The experienced judges of the committee…,” etc.

Presidential announcement

Here comes the announcement. National anthem playing, everyone rising. This is bizarre and a bit scary.

interesting observation

Khaled Fahmy, Chair of our Department of History, is on CNN right now, and made a very true point that I’ve never heard anyone state so explicitly before:

“In terms of personalities, we are dealing with two mediocrities here.”

So true. Morsi is a boring shadow of some the Muslim Brotherhood’s charismatic leaders across the decades, and Shafiq is perhaps the fifth-stringer of the Mubarak regime.

My own choice is for the mediocrity who actually won the election, and we can work out the rest later. But if the losing mediocrity is declared the winner, I fear what might happen.

Zagreb semi-wrap-up

It’s only a semi-wrap-up because I’m staying in the city for a few extra days. But the PUF event is now over. The occasion was the 90th anniversary of Presses universitaires de France. They wanted to hold some commemorative events outside as well as inside France, and one of them was hosted in Zagreb.

On Friday evening Patrice Maniglier spoke about metaphysical method. The upshot: he prefers Badiou and Deleuze’s methods, which he says are based on “encounters,” to the methods of me, Meillassoux, and Garcia, which he says are based on a systematic ambition to describe the world as a whole. I didn’t find the distinction convincing, and am not even sure I understood it. But the talk was nicely delivered, and Maniglier generally has a nice way of expressing skepticism without being a jerk about it, which is a rare skill.

After a short break, I spoke about Garcia’s Forme et objet. (Since it was a PUF event, I thought I should speak about one of the PUF books.) The book is extremely rich, and I still don’t think I’ve managed to view it from every angle.

Yesterday evening, Ian Bogost appeared via Skype from the U.S. (and that must have been the best Skype video connection I’ve ever experienced). Ian seemed to be thinking along the same lines, that it would be good to speak about a PUF book, since he spoke about L’Objet quadruple. It was a very thorough interpretation, presented with just the sort of on-screen support graphics that one would expect from Bogost.

Then there was a concluding discussion that Petar Milat moderated very effectively. There must have been 6 or 7 questions, answered in each case by all three of us.

MaMa in Zagreb puts on good events. And such is the infrastructure, the funding support, and the quality of people here, that it can safely be expected that Zagreb will be hosting some of the more important philosophy events over the next decade.

litany of the week

From a manuscript I’ve been reading:

“Social relations became by definition relations among human subjects, and any attempts to include drums, reindeer, and birch trees were seen as highly suspicious.”