Philosophies of Nostalgia

The conference, “Philosophies of Nostalgia,” poses the following research core question: What can philosophy tell us about nostalgia? While nostalgia has become a topical issue within both society and scientific research, philosophy has tended to remain rather mute on the phenomena. The event proceeds from the hypothesis that philosophy can shed light on the structure and experience of nostalgia by asking questions such as: What, if any, are the invariant structures that define nostalgia? To what extent is nostalgia conceptually and experientially separable from homesickness? What role does nostalgia play in generating and impeding health and illness? And to what extent does the current model of nostalgia accurately shed light on the actual experience of nostalgia? 

Programme:

11:00: Welcome

11:15-12:00: Manu Sharma (University of Vienna), "Monolingual Slippages: The Coloniality of Hindu Right Wing Nostalgia."

12:00-12:45: Christina Schües (Universität zu Lübeck), "Existential negation and (Dis-)placement. A Temporal-Phenomenological Perspective."

Lunch break (90 min)

14:15-15:00: Giacomo Croci (Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg ), "Nostalgia as a Paradigm for Social Ontology."

15:00-15:45: Michela Summa (University of Würzburg), “Ambiguities of Nostalgia: In Praise of Imperfection.”

Coffee break

16:15-17:15: Tobias Becker (FU Berlin): "Yesterday: A New History of Nostalgia." [Book discussion, Harvard 2023]

17:15: Conclusion