Theoria discusses...

Theoria discusses... is the seminar series of the St Andrews Critical Theory Group. Rather than a formal lecture series, the programme is designed so that postgraduates and academics working on critical theory and continental philosophy across disciplines can come together in discussion with – it is hoped – unexpected and productive results. At each event a topic will be introduced in a short twenty minute talk by a guest speaker, before the discussion is opened to the floor for the rest of the session. Discussion will depart from a short text – which it is intended participants will have read in advance – copies of which will be available electronically or distributed at the preceding session and placed in the Theoria pigeonhole in the School of English Office, Castle House, The Scores. Please come along – everyone is welcome.

All seminars take place on Wednesdays, 12.40-1.55pm, in the Arts Building, Seminar Room 6. Please feel free to bring your lunch!

Theoria discusses... Semester 1, 2012/13 programme

Wednesday 17th October

Theoria discusses...things, humans and Gods – what's the difference?
Discussion opened by Dr Bettina Bildhauer, Reader in German, School of Modern Languages, University of St Andrews.
Text: Bruno Latour, ‘On the Cult of the Factish Gods, in Latour, On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods, trans. Catherine Porter and Heather MacLean (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010), pp. 1-66 (esp. pp. 54–61).

Wednesday 31st October

Theoria discusses... iconicity and the face
Discussion opened by Dr Oliver Smith, Lecturer in Russian, School of Modern Languages, University of St Andrews.
Text: Jean-Luc Marion, 'The Icon or the Endless Hermeneutic', in In Excess: Studies of Saturated Phenomena (New York: Fordham University Press, 2002), pp. 104-27.

Wednesday 14th November

Theoria discusses...the philosophy of sleep
Discussion opened by Dr Michael Greaney, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Department of English and Creative Writing, Lancaster University.
Text: Maurice Merleau-Ponty, 'Sleep', in Institution and Passivity: Course Notes from the College de France (1954-1955), trans. Leonard Lawlor and Heath Massey (Northwestern University Press, 2010), pp. 138-145.

Wednesday 21st November

Theoria discusses... crisis ordinariness
Discussion opened by Dr Daniela Caselli, Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, The University of Manchester.
Text: Lauren Berlant, Cruel Optimism (Duke University Press, 2011), Introduction and Chapter 1.

Previous seminar series

Semesters 1 and 2, 2011/12
Semesters 1 and 2, 2010/11 (PDF)
Semesters 1 and 2, 2009/10 (PDF)
Semesters 1 and 2, 2008/09 (PDF)
Semesters 1 and 2, 2007/08 (PDF)
Semester 1, 2006/07 (PDF)