6th Annual BU Workshop on Late Modern Philosophy

The BU Workshop on Late Modern Philosophy is an annual forum for presenting new work on late-eighteenth through early-twentieth-century philosophy.    


THEME FOR 2017 WORKSHOP: 
The theme for the 2017 workshop is nihilism and cultural decadence. Early in the nineteenth century, Friedrich Jacobi argued that Enlightenment humanism inevitably leads to nihilism.  This charge resonated with the thinkers of the time: discussions of nihilism began appearing in works of literature (e.g., in works by Turgenev and Dostoevsky) and philosophy.  The concept of nihilism was not univocal.  It was variously characterized as a loss of commitment to values; a sense of the ultimate futility of life; an inability to be guided or informed by a sense of what is worthwhile; a collapse of value in the face of rational inquiry; and one could go on and on.  Interestingly, though, there was a common thread: many thinkers treated nihilism as primarily manifest in culture.  Thus, to cite one example, Nietzsche’s rich reflections on nihilism evince little concern with whether any particular individual embraces nihilism; rather, he focuses on showing that modern culture exhibits distinctive forms of collective pathology that give rise to nihilism. This idea of a distinctively cultural illness, either produced by or consisting in nihilism, plays a prominent role in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  This workshop will examine these discussions as they emerge in thinkers including Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, and Heidegger, as well as in contemporary philosophical work. 

2017 Workshop Schedule
Friday, May 5

10:00-11:20 Keren Gorodeisky (Auburn)
"Affective Nihilism?"


11:30-12:50 Ken Gemes  (Birkbeck)
"Nietzsche, Nihilism, and the
Paradox of Affirmation"
 

2:30-3:50  Paul Katsafanas (BU)
"Nihilism and the Indeterminacy
of Practical Reason"
 

4:00-5:20 Andrew Huddleston (Birkbeck)
"Nietzsche on Nihilism: A Unifying Thread"

5:30-6:30 Reception

~~~

Saturday, May 6

10:00-11:20 Yuri Corrigan (BU)
"Nihilism as Refuge: The Dostoevsky
that Nietzsche Couldn't See"


11:30-12:50  Scott Jenkins (Kansas)
"Pessimism and Nihilism in
Nietzsche's Late Writings"


2:30-3:50 Maudemarie Clark (UC Riverside/Colgate)
"Nietzsche's Nihilism"


4:00-5:20  Ben Crowe (BU)
"'...endless void all around': Jacobi on the
Nature of Ethical Nihilism"

5:30-6:30 Reception


Supported by the BU Center for the Humanities