CHEM Archive
Fall 2007 - The Question of Cosmopolitanism
Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, 11 - 12:30 in Ballantine Hall 664: The Stoic idea of cosmopolitanism. Reading:
A chapter from Malcolm Schofield's The Stoic Idea of the City (Chicago, 1999). You can download it here.
Friday, Sept. 21, 11 - 12:30, Ballantine Hall 664: The idea of cosmopolitanism in Kant. Readings:
"Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in welbĂĽrgerlicher Absicht" (Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View)
"Zum ewigen Frieden: Ein philosophischer Entwurf" (On Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch).
I have not checked the texts on the web, so I can't vouch for their quality. If you prefer print editions then you'll find both essays in volume XI of the Suhrkamp Werkausgabe (ed. Weischedel) or, in English translation, in the Cambridge UP edition of his Political Writings (ed. Reiss).
Friday, Oct. 12, 11 - 12:30, Ballantine Hall 664: The idea of cosmopolitanism in Marx. Reading:
Marx/Engels, The Communist Manifesto
Friday, Oct. 26, 11 - 12:30, Ballantine Hall 664: Benjamin and Agamben on the idea of a universal language. Readings:
Walter Benjamin, "The Task of the Translator" (PDF)
Giorgio Agamben, "Language and History: Linguistic and Historical Categories in Benjamin's Thought" (PDF)
Friday, Nov. 9, 10 - 12, University Club, IMU: Alain Badiou's singular universalism. Meeting with Professor Badiou. Reading:
Alain Badiou, Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism.
Friday, Nov. 16, 11 - 12:30, Ballantine Hall 664: Discussion of Badiou's Saint Paul in light of our meeting with him.
Alain Badiou, Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism.
Friday, Nov. 30, 11 - 12:30, Ballantine Hall 664: Continuation of discussion of Saint Paul and universalism. Reading:
Slavoj Zizek, The Puppet and the Dwarf (PDF of excerpts).
The larger context of our question, including further readings, can be found in the syllabus Eyal has put together for his Introduction to Comparative Literature.
Center for High-Energy Metaphysics; Michel Chaouli's Homepage