Objects in the Realm of Shadows

Instructor: Andrei Chitu Date & Time: Saturdays, April 25, May 9, 16, 23 11 AM - 1:30 PM ET

DESCRIPTION: Philosophy, amongst other things, is a process of decluttering the theoretical space, by framing the objects or the concepts that populate it not as things, but as reflective abstractions. The universe of theory is a “realm of shadows”, as Hegel puts it, a space of contours, forms and reflections, where the object of thought gets its shape and specificity. It denies thus the seeming “concreteness” of things as well as the evident character of immediate experience and dispositions. As such, far from being just a method, philosophy has a core of theoretical commitments, which will be the topic of this seminar. As it will otherwise run the danger of generating a caput mortuum, this Seminar will not only enumerate a series of principles, but will also deduce them by setting them in opposition to other trends in the cluttered field of contemporary theory. Instead of searching for common ground, as one of the commitments that will be discussed, we will proceed as if truth is a matter of distinction. Therefore, if we try resisting various domestications of Hegel, both in the analytical philosophy and psychoanalysis, we will discover a much weirder author, one who can help us formulate irritating theses for philosophical, artistic and political practice in our world. We will use the notion of the object as a guiding thread in the reconstruction of Hegel’s Logic, a work that will be framed as being the furthest away from today’s post-critical theory and various forms of object-oriented ontology.

Image: Rene Magritte, The Muscles of the Sky, 1927

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