Dear all,

Thursday 9 March, 13:15 – 15:00 in room Huizinga 0.06

Leiden Centre for Continental Philosophy is pleased to announce a talk by Delia Popa (Villanova) and Iaan Reynolds (Utah Valley):

The Social Dimension of Critical Phenomenology

When the new direction of “critical phenomenology” appeared a few years ago in the North American philosophical landscape, two of its main features were a highlight of phenomenology as a first-person approach to experience, and the rejection of transcendental eidetics in favor of a normatively-oriented method supposedly better aligned with the social and political stakes of our time. Our aim in this workshop is to discuss these methodological assumptions, redirecting the reflection on the critical dimension of phenomenology towards broader social and political considerations. While reflecting on the importance of otherness and community for the critical orientation of phenomenology, we reconsider the problem of phenomenological essences from the standpoint of Husserl’s genetic phenomenology, highlighting their historically sedimented character. Contrary to the received view of Husserl’s phenomenology as an idealistic and rigid undertaking, we show that his genetic phenomenology is interested in the formation of meaning (Sinnbildung), offering resources for a phenomenological approach to a materialist social theory. The broadened conception of historical formation denoted by this shift opens the possibility of a project aligning with critical theory’s attempts to study capitalist forms of objectivity as socially necessary false consciousness.

All are welcome!