First, MOCA is doing an Arshile Gorky retrospectve. It would make for an interesting discussion, as Gorky’s work is in many ways typically modern, and therefore, somewhat inaccessible to a lot of people. People will probably have strong opinions on whether or not they liked his work, in any case. Gombrich’s essay offers an interesting inroad into thinking through abstraction and purely formal representation.

We will meet for the Arshile Gorky retrospectve on Thursday, July 29 @6pm at MOCA. MOCA is open til 8pm and free.

Next, the discussion on E.H. Gombrich’s essay ” Meditations on a Hobby Horse” will take place on the next day, Friday, July 30 @5:30pm at 466 E. Mariposa Street, Altadena, CA 91001. You can download then print the essay here. To combat the heat, bring your favorite beverage and a swim suit for the pool.

Source: Foucault at a lecture in Japan (DR) In Michel Foucault: Une histoire de la vérité, Paris: Syros, 1985, pp. 20-21.

“But then, what is philosophy today – philosophical activity, I mean – if it is not the critical work of thought on itself? And if it does not consist in the endeavour of knowing how and to what extent it might be possible to think differently, rather than legitimating what is already known? There is always something ludicrous in philosophical discourse when it tries, from the outside, to dictate to others, to tell them where their truth is and how to find it, or when it presumes to give them naively positivistic instruction. But it is its right to explore what might be changed, in its own thought, through the practice of a knowledge that is foreign to it. The “essay” – which should be understood as the test by means of which one modifies oneself through the play of truth and not as the simplistic appropriation of others for the purpose of communication – is the living body of philosophy, at least if we assume that philosophy is still what it was in times past, i.e., an “ascesis”, an exercise of the self, in thought.” (trans. mod)   -Michel Foucault.

(1992) [1984]. The Use of Pleasure. The History of Sexuality Volume 2, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, pp. 8-9.

Fellow Philosophers,

Hope all is well with you.

On Wednesday May 19th at 6:10pm in room E&T A420 I will have the privilege of leading a short discussion on one of the most influential French thinkers of the 20th century. Foucault’s influence reaches beyond the discipline of philosophy. In fact, he is often thought of as a historian, sociologist, and a cultural theorist.

Unfortunately, Foucault is not taught in most Philosophy departments today due to the heavy emphasis on the analytical tradition. He can be a bit difficult to digest if you are not familiar with continental writers. However, I think his work is well worth the trouble.

Throughout the several years I have been in and out of school, I have not done enough homework to graduate but have done plenty of reading on my own (maybe too much). I can say that by far Foucault has left the most significant mark on my examined life.

This is the article we will use as a guideline for our discussion:

Please read: http://foucault.info/foucault/biography.html.

When trying to choose a piece by Foucault:

1. I wanted the article to be short enough for most people to have the time to read,

2. I wanted the piece to be introductory but not a biographical piece written by a third party,

3. I wanted Foucault’s writing style and overall project to come through,

4. I also thought that it is fascinating to read a piece written by a philosopher on himself but from a third person perspective.

If you are looking for interesting links to look at in the meantime, here are a few:

http://www.michel-foucault.com/index.html

http://www.csun.edu/~hfspc002/foucault.home.html

Foucault’s extensive bibliography:

http://foucault.info/foucault/extensiveBibliography.pdf

Also, if you know a bit more about Foucault and are a fan of Chomsky:

just search YouTube for a video of a debate between them. I might bring this up in our discussion. This debate was more important than most people realize.

Enjoy and see you on 5/19/2010 at 6:10pm in room E&T A420

Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Time: 6:10pm – 10:00pm
Location: On Campus, Room: KH B3017

Come and check out our next philosophy in film discussion where we will talk about the flick, Fight Club directed by David Fincher. See you there.

And then, something happened. I let go. Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.

* * *

God Damn! We just had a near-life experience, fellas.

It’s based on “Is GOD a Taoist?” from The Tao is silent by Raymond M. Smullyan. (C) 1977 by Raymond M. Smullyan.

Manuel de Landa speaking about the importance of Gilles Deleuze in the 21st century and the fundamentals of materialism in a seminar entitled Gilles Deleuze and Science at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. Questioning the role of structuralism and the post-modern position in philosophy, de Landa argues for a view of a materialist world autonomously removed from the concepts of our own mind. His challenge, he says, is to remove a transcendental plane from material objects, that is to remove the concept of essence from the world, without giving rise to a metaphysical position. Towards this, de Landa used the analogy of the battlefield as an example of the social material space to illustrate a plane of existence of extreme materiality.

… or you may check out a shorter video of Manuel DeLanda lecturing about The Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. Public Open Video Lecture at European Graduate School EGS, Media and Communication Studies department program. Saas-Fee, Switzerland 2007.

… watcha you guys think?

Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Time: 3:15pm – 5:00pm*
Location: University Student Union 307 (Pasadena Room)
Topic: Whitehead’s Cosmic Epochs and Contemporary Cosmology

Please join us Tuesday, March 2 as Leemon McHenry (CSUN) offers a lecture/PowerPoint presentation on process philosophy and, particularly, Whitehead’s cosmology. …To read an introductory essay on metaphyics written by Dr. McHenry, click here. See pages 43-46 and the section entitled “Events vs. Substances” for a few basic arguments that motivate process philosophy. Note, however, that Dr. McHenry’s talk Tuesday will go beyond these basics. His abstract:

Recent developments in cosmology and particle physics have led to speculation that our universe is merely one of a multitude of universes. While this notion, the multiverse theory, is highly contested as a legitimate scientific theory, it has nonetheless struck many physicists as a necessary consequence of the effort to construct a final theory. In his masterpiece, Process and Reality (1929), Alfred North Whitehead advanced a cosmology as part of his more general metaphysics of process. Part of this project involved a theory of cosmic epochs which bears a remarkable affinity to current cosmological speculation. This talk demonstrates how the basic framework of a multiverse theory is already present in Whitehead’s cosmology.

*Immediately following the lecture, stay for a finger-food reception to be held in the same room. It will be an interesting talk. Hope you can attend!

Date: Wednesday, February 17. 2010
Time: 7:00pm
Location: L.A. Central Library, 630 W. 5TH ST.
Topic: Breakthroughs in Science from Pythagoras to Heisenberg

Come join us for a free Q&A at the L.A. Central Library [ALOUD]

Philosopher and science historian Robert P. Crease tells the stories behind ten of the greatest equations in human history. Was Nobel laureate Richard Feynman really joking when he called Maxwell’s electromagnetic equations the most significant event of the nineteenth century? How did Newton’s law of gravitation influence young revolutionaries? Why has Euler’s formula been called “God’s equation,” and why did a mysterious ecoterrorist make it his calling card? What role do betrayal, insanity, and suicide play in the second law of thermodynamics? The Great Equations tells the stories of how these equations were discovered, revealing the personal struggles of their ingenious originators. From “1 + 1 = 2″ to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, Crease locates these equations in the panoramic sweep of Western history, showing how they are as integral to their time and place of creation as are great works of art.

If you’re interested, make reservations yourselves and reserve your seat here.
For more information, contact: Joel @ (626) 437-8126

Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Time: 6:10pm – 9:30pm
Location: On Campus, Room King Hall B1013

Next in our series of open discussions about philosophy in film is the classic, The Seventh Seal directed by Ingmar Bergman.

“Is it so terribly inconceivable to comprehend God with one’s senses? Why does He hide in a cloud of half-promises and unseen miracles? How can we believe in the faithful when we lack faith? What will happen to us who want to believe, but can not? What about those who neither want to nor can believe? Why can’t I kill God in me? Why does He live on in me in a humiliating way . . . despite my wanting to evict Him from my heart? Why is He, despite all, a mocking reality I can’t be rid of.”

So we hope to see you next Wednesday for the discussion, or check out The Seventh Seal and reply what you think about the flick here.