UPDATE: Wandering with Spinoza (Australia) (6/30/06; 9/13/06-9/15/06)

full name / name of organization: 
Dimitris Vardoulakis

'Wandering with Spinoza'

www.conferences.unimelb.edu.au/spinoza/

The Conference will be held at the Victorian College of the Arts, =
Melbourne, Australia from 13 =96 15 September 2006.

The conference aims to bring together philosophers, theorists and visual =
and performing artists to celebrate this most influential of =
philosophers.

Keynote Speakers include Alain Badiou, Mieke Bal, Thomas Hirschhorn, =
Genevieve Lloyd, and Christopher Norris=20

There are at least two senses in which =93wandering=94 can be taken as a =
productive category to approach Spinoza=92s thought. First, it could =
designate Spinoza=92s image of the human as the =93little worm in the =
blood=94 which wanders around the cosmic circulation system. To follow =
this =93worm=94 is to follow Spinoza=92s thought, from the impassioned =
geometrical writings to the personal epistolary exchanges. But, like =
the =93worm=94 that the human is, one=92s thought will not be allowed to =
rest at one particular point, instead one wanders on with Spinoza. The =
second meaning of the =93wandering=94 could refer to the divergent =
routes and detours that the explications of Spinoza=92s work has taken. =
>From materialist to rationalist, from political philosopher to =
metaphysician, from heretic to theologian =96 the import of Spinoza=92s =
thinking also eludes a single trajectory.

At the same time, if both of the above senses are retained, then a third =
one will also come into light. Namely, that as one confronts Spinoza=92s =
thought and its reception, then that confrontation itself will become =
nomadic, passing on and through various spheres. A wandering that goes =
from the purity and eternality of philosophical thinking to the =
particularity and heterogeneity of art and politics =96 and then back =
again. Thus, Spinoza raises a challenge to the disciplines that =
approach questions of what it means to be human.

The conference =93Wandering with Spinoza=94 will respond to those =
movements, not by remaining faithful to Spinoza himself. Rather, the =
conference calls on the responsibility to =93wander with=94 as an =
enterprise which can be reduced neither to an individual, nor to =
determinate boundaries. This call for papers is extended to everyone =
who likes to take on this responsibility.

The CFP has been extended to June 30.

Abstracts of around 100 words should be sent to =
Dimitrios.Vardoulakis_at_arts.monash.edu.au

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _=20

Dimitris Vardoulakis
Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
Building 11
Monash University
Clayton, Vic 3800
Australia

tel: +61 3 9905 9009
fax: +61 3 9905 5593
email: Dimitrios.Vardoulakis_at_arts.monash.edu.au

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Received on Wed Jun 07 2006 - 10:15:12 EDT