Conference/PhD Course: "Religion and Subjectivity: Reconsidering the Relational Self"

March 13-15, 2008 in Copenhagen
Conference/PhD Course

The fact that the self is relational has been stated often enough – but what precisely does this mean? This is still to be explored and explained. Further, to what extent is it appropriate to oppose the category of substance (or, subsequently, of the subject or the self) to the category of relation, and in which sense do we need a 'substantial' correlate of the relations we investigate? The issue of selfhood in relations will be approached from different perspectives. Particularly we are aiming at a dialogue between phenomenology, philosophy of religion and theology, focusing on accounts of a 'relational ontology of the person' in Luther, Kierkegaard, Levinas, Ricoeur and Scheler.

Organizers: Arne Grøn, Carsten Pallesen and Claudia Welz in cooperation with the Nordic Society for Philosophy of Religion and the Theological Faculty of the University of Copenhagen.
Location: Lecture room 27.0.17, University of Copenhagen, Njalsgade 144 (building 27, ground floor). Map
Prior registration is required. Please state if you are a PhD student when registering. Please register before February 15th, 2008, by sending an email to cfs@hum.ku.dk

Abstracts can be downloaded here

Programme

Thursday, March 13

14:00-14:15 Welcome
14:15-15:30 Anthony Steinbock: "Reducing the One to the Other: Kant, Levinas, and the Problem of Religious Experience"
15:30-15:45 Coffee Break
15:45-16:15 Martin Wendte: "'To Meet a Person Means to be Kept Awake by a Secret.' The Withdrawal of Divine and Human Persons as Good News"
16:15-17:30 Bo Kristian Holm: "Being in Relation: God, Man, and Relationality in Luther’s Thinking"

 Friday, March 14

09:30-10:45 Jeffrey Bloechl: "Vulnerability and Recognition between Levinas and Ricoeur"
10:45-11:00 Coffee Break
parallel
11:00-11:30 Mary-Ann Crumplin: "Finite Self, Infinite Self"
11:00-11:30 Michael Tilley: "Relating to Others: Re-evaluating the Priority of the God-relationship in Fear and Trembling"
parallel:
11:30-12:00 Rebekka Klein: "(Non-)Relational Selfhood in Levinas: From Social to Ethical Relationality"
11:30-12:00 Andrew Nam: "Kierkegaard's Radical Subjectivity as the Ideal Relational Self: A Reading of Fear and Trembling"
12:00-13:30 Lunch break
13:30-14:45 Arne Grøn: "Self in Relation"
14:45-15:00 Coffee break
parallel
15:00-15:30 Benda Hofmeyr: "Radical Passivity: The Paradox of the Relational Self in Levinas"
15:00-15:30 April Capili: "Levinas on the I's Createdness, Relatedness, and Responsibility"
parallel
15:30-16:00 Stine Holte: "Melancholy and the Problem of Relation in Levinas"
15:30-16:00 Ervik Cejvan: "Some Remarks on Non-Relation Concerning the Relational Self"
16:00-16:30 Break
16:30-17:00 Line Ryberg Ingerslev: "Playing Oneself – a Discussion on the Social Ontology of Self-Relatedness"
17:00-17:30 Mads Peter Karlsen: "Redemptive Individuation in the Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze"

 Saturday, March 15

09:30-10:45 Günter Bader: "'Ani ani' – Zur Selbstoffenbarungsformel des Menschen"
10:45-11:00 Break
11:00-11:30 Werner Stegmaier: "Being Self Without Substance. The Self as Relation of the Orientation to Itself"
11:30-12:45 Richard Purkarthofer: "Grammatica religiosa. Kierkegaards 'linguistic turn' in der philosophischen Anthropologie"

Location: Lecture room 27.0.17, University of Copenhagen, Njalsgade 144 (building 27, ground floor). Click here for a Map.

PhD students and other participants belonging to the Nordic Network for Philosophy of Religion can apply for funding (travelling, accommodation). Nordforsk has offered us generous funding, but the actual refund (NOK 2-4000 per person) depends on the number of participants. Applicants should collect their ORIGINAL bills and mail them to Marius Timmann Mjaaland, University of Oslo, Box 1023 Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo, Norway together with the detailed account information (2 forms you may ask for during the conference). Other participants may also apply for funding, but preference is given to network members.

Organized by Arne Grøn, Carsten Pallesen and Claudia Welz in cooperation with the Theological Faculty of the University of Copenhagen and the Nordic Society for Philosophy of Religion. Please see here regarding the NSPR.

Participation is free of charge, but prior registration is required. Please state if you are a PhD student when registering. Please register before 15 February 2008, by sending an email to cfs@hum.ku.dk.