Affirmative Ethics – the philosophy of the big YES!

The posthuman convergence, defined as the simultaneous occurrence of cognitive capitalism (aka Fourth Industrial Revolution) and the climate change (aka Sixth Extinction), encourages a critical reappraisal of what counts as human, and how humans relate to non-humans and living matter itself. That includes a serious reconsideration of the negative passions, the experience of pain, mourning and dispossession that are significant features of the posthuman condition.

Caught between technologically-driven optimism and ecologically-based despair, both human and non-human dwellers of this planet face uncertain times and deep fears. These include environmental devastation, unequal distribution of wealth and access to the new technologies, the persistence of technologically mediated wars and surveillance strategies which, together with the rise of racism, xenophobia and illiberal governance, are defining features of our times. This lecture proposes a form of ethical accountability developed from the critiques of both anthropocentrism and exclusive humanism. A neo-materialist affirmative ethics for posthuman subjects is proposed, in order to deal with the conflicts and challenges of our current predicament. 

The talk will be in English.

On the day following the Hegel Lecture, there will be a workshop with Rosi Braidotti for masters students and doctoral candidates. 

Rosi Braidotti is a feminist Continental philosopher and Distinguished University Professor Emerita at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She holds degrees in philosophy from the ANU and the Sorbonne and  Honorary Degrees from Helsinki, (2007) and Linkoping (2013). She is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA) and also a  Member of the Academia Europaea. In 2022 she received the Humboldt Research Award for life-long contribution to scholarship. Main publications: Nomadic Subjects (2011a), and Nomadic Theory.(2011b), Columbia University Press. The Posthuman, 2013, Posthuman Knowledge, 2019; Posthuman Feminism, 2022 Polity Press. The Posthuman Glossary (2018) and More Posthuman Glossary (2022), Bloomsbury Academic. (www.rosibraidotti.com)

Recommended reading:
In the "Zeit" issue of June 6, a conversation with Rosi Braidotti was published as part of the series "The Future of the West." The student of Foucault pleads for the design of a new understanding of nature, in which the (western) human being steps back from the center. To achieve this, our way of thinking must also be revolutionized. Laughter instead of lamentation and an expanded understanding of power that breaks down dualistic structures in order to create space for rhizomatic zig-zag thinking. Those are just a few of the topics the philosopher touches on in her conversation with Peter Neumann and will explore in greater depth at the Hegel Lecture.
You can read the full article at the following link: https://www.zeit.de/zustimmung?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeit.de%2F2023%2F25%2Fzukunft-westen-globalisierung-weltordnung-abspaltung

You can also find articles about the 2023 Hegel Lecture on the Merkur-Blog and in campus.leben. 

You can find the press release here.