IWM Lectures in Human Sciences with Seyla Benhabib

 

The intense interest in cosmopolitanism in the social and political sciences, cultural and legal studies dates back to the last two decades of the twentieth century. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the reunification of Germany, and the extension of the European Union to east and central European countries formerly under Communist rule, the Kantian cosmopolitan ideal of uniting diverse countries under the rule of law, respect for human rights and the free exchange of goods and services seemed to come alive. By the beginning of the new century, cosmopolitanism had fallen on hard times. This series will defend cosmopolitanism from below by engaging with the postcolonial critiques of Kantian thought, voiced by James Tully, Inez Valdez, Sylvia Wynter, and Walter Mignolo. The three lectures bearing the overarching title "The Changing Fortunes of Cosmopolitanism: Demos, Cosmos and Globus" will be held on 5, 11, and 19 October 2023 at the University of Vienna. For more information and to register, please see here.

 

Seyla Benhabib has held appointments at Yale, Columbia, and Harvard, in addition to numerous visiting professorships around the world. Among her many publications are Exile, Statelessness, and Migration. Playing Chess with History from Hannah Arendt to Isaiah Berlin (2018), Another Cosmopolitanism (2006), The Claims of Culture (2003), and The Rights of Others (2004). Her work has been translated into twelve languages. Benhabib is currently Albert Hirschman Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences.

 

The lecture series is organized in cooperation with the Departments of Philosophy, Sociology, Political Science, and Anthropology at the University of Vienna.