Dear all,
I am excited to invite you to the next installments of the
Trans*Formations series at the Department of Philosophy!
This series of talks and workshops, supported by the Vienna Doctoral
School of Philosophy, provides insights into recent developments in
trans theorizing.
This time, we will be joined by Prof. Emma Heaney, who is a Clinical
Assistant Professor and Faculty Advisor for Experimental Writing at New
York University (US). She will give both a workshop (25 participants,
booking required) and a public talk that everyone is welcome to!
Please find all the info below and in the flyers attached to this mail,
and disseminate to all who might be interested!
Trans*Formations Workshop: On the Cisness of the Bourgeoisie: A Workshop
with Professor Emma Heaney
25.6.2025, 18:00 - 19:30, HS 3A (NIG, 3rd Floor)
This workshop will consider recently published and forthcoming work by
American scholar of Trans Studies and Comparative Literature: Emma
Heaney. Participants will read the introduction to Heaney's recently
published edited collection,_ Feminism Against Cisness_ [1], an
interview [2] with feminist theorist Sophie Lewis (_Full Surrogacy Now_,
_Abolish the Family_, _Enemy Feminisms_), and a forthcoming interview
that addresses questions of historical and linguistic translation in
decentering Anglophone texts (and histories of Western Europe and the
United States) in queer and trans theory. The historical focus on this
workshop is tracing the itinerary of transness and cisness in
medicalization of sex and sexuality from the mid-19th century to the
mid-20th century. Theoretical questions focus on the definition of sex,
the status of the feminine in regard to sex distinctions in the
foliations of the twentieth century, and the imposition of cisness as an
ideology that obfuscates the understanding of sex on both the
experiential and the political level.
To join the workshop, please sign up via e-mail to
flora.loeffelmann(a)univie.ac.at. You will then be sent the workshop
material! Participants are expected to read the material before the
workshop so a productive discussion can be ensured.
Thanks to the support of queer@hochschulen [3], there is a also a
limited number of travel stipends available for university students from
other Austrian universities. Please indicate in your sign-up mail if you
would like to apply for one!
The workshop will be in English with ÖGS translation.
Trans*Formations Talk: Provincializing Cisness
26.6.2025, 19:30 - 21:00, HS 3A (NIG, 3rd Floor)
Most examinations of sex and gender in the academy take bourgeois
national histories of North America and Western Europe as their frame of
reference. In the histories of Germany, the UK, France, and the United
States, doctors and state bureaucracies incorporated sexual and gendered
social practices into a taxonomy of identities (or even species, as
Foucault puts it,) beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. However, in
many sex-gender systems, including those of the proletarian
neighborhoods of these nations' metropoles, the assumptions that formed
expert orderings did not apply. This lecture surveys the non-cis
vernacular categories that ordered these sex-gender systems. The
relation between race/class and cisness means that there is no absolute
geography to this story. Drawing on source material from Indigenous
Americas to the South Asian subcontinent and from the working-class
neighborhoods of Kansas City to the courts of Nigerian nobility, the
talk will be attuned to a range of sex-gender systems that do not accord
with the categories produced by the Euro- American bourgeois in order
to, as the title suggests, reveal the provincial status of cisness.
The talk will be in English with ÖGS translation.
I want to thank the VDP [4], the Culture & Equality Unit [5] of the
University of Vienna, queer@hochschulen [3], and ACCESTECH / TU Wien [6]
for their financial support.
Bio: Emma Heaney is a scholar and teacher of feminist theory,
comparative literature, and trans studies. Her first book, _The New
Woman: Literary Modernism, Queer Theory, and the Trans Feminine Allegory
_(Northwestern 2017) is a study of the prominence of the medicalized
figure of trans femininity in works of twentieth-century literature and
philosophy. Her edited collection _Feminism Against Cisness _(Duke 2024)
gathers essays that demonstrate the nature and potential of feminist
thought unobscured by the counterrevolutionary mystification of assigned
sex. _This Watery Place: Four Essays on Gestation --- _a political and
phenomenological report from the gestational sensorium against cisness,
capital, and genocide --- is forthcoming from Pluto Press in November
2025. Her current book project is a sequel edited collection that draws
on the work of scholars from many disciplines and areas of geographical
and historical focus to reveal the provincial nature of the ideology of
cisness. Forthcoming essays theorize the emergence of the trans-gay
distinction in the twentieth century via literary representations. She
is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the XE program at New York
University, where she serves as faculty advisor for the Advanced
Certificate in Experimental Writing.
With all the best wishes and hoping to see many of you at the events,
Flora Löffelmann, MA MA
Pronouns: they/them (for more info see:
https://www.mypronouns.org/what-and-why/)
Happy about a gender neutral "hello"!
Department of Philosophy at University of Vienna
Links:
------
[1] https://www.dukeupress.edu/feminism-against-cisness
[2] https://pinko.online/web/on-the-cisness-of-the-bourgeoisie
[3] https://queer-at-hochschulen.org/
[4] https://vd-philosophy.univie.ac.at/
[5] https://personalwesen.univie.ac.at/en/culture-equality/
[6] https://www.experiencing-access.eu/de/news/
Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,
am Donnerstag den 15.5.2025 um 17.00 Uhr findet die Bonitz Lecture dieses Jahres im HS21 des Hauptgebäudes der Universität Wien. Vortragender ist Professor Lindsay Judson (Oxford). Im Anhang finden Sie das Plakat und das Handout seines Vortrags. Am Freitag den 16.5.2025 um 10.00 haltet Prof. Judson ein Seminar zu Platons Euthyphron an der Bibliothek des Instituts für Klassische Philologie.
Alle sind herzlich willkommen!
Dear colleagues,
this is to remind you of the Bonitz Lecture that will take place on Thursday the 15.5.2025 at 17.00 o'clock in Room 21 of the University's main building. The speaker this year is Professor Lindsay Judson (Oxford). I attach the poster and the handout of the event. On Friday the 16.5.2025 at 10.00 Professor Judson will hold a seminar on Plato's Euthyphro in the library of the Department of Classics in the University's main building.
You are all very welcome!
George Karamanolis
____
--
Univ.-Prof. Dr. George Karamanolis
Institut für Philosophie
Vizedekan für Lehre, Fakultät für Philosophie und Bildungswissenschaft
Zimmer: D0308
1010 Wien, Universitätsstraße 7 (NIG)
T: +43-1-4277-46476
eFax: +43-1-4277-846476
https://antikephilosophie.univie.ac.at
Dear All,
The "Wittgen=Steine" group organizes a talk this week Friday:
May 16th, 2025, 15.00-16.30h, HS 3D
Charles Travis (U of Porto): "After the Fall (Russell's Puzzle)"
Abstract:
In 1929, the _Tractatus_ collapsed before Wittgenstein's eyes. By
December 1931 he had come to see it as dogmatic, and worse yet, shot
through with the idea that there was an (uncompleted) research agenda in
full swing, and it was only a matter of time until details were filled
in. By 1931 he had ceased to believe any of this.
As I now read the _Investigations_, the first 79 paragraphs are devoted
to diagnosing what went so thoroughly wrong with the _Tractatus_, and
outlining, not what a fix for _it_ would be, but how the problems raised
should in fact be handled.
Russell, especially of 1918, is a convenient foil for Wittgenstein in
carrying out these aims. First, Russell placed a _very_ strong demand on
truly singular thought. (Though not such an unnatural one considering
the history of philosophy, or philosophical logic, from 1893 on).
Second, to satisfy this demand (not unreasonably given what the demand
was), Russell relied on a very minimalist conception of an item
susceptible to being the object of a singular thought. It paralleled, in
obvious ways, the demand on being an object of _sensory_ awareness
placed by familiar sense-datum theory. And in both cases the demand was
strong enough to condemn the would-be solution to a problem to failure.
In that beginning section of the _Investigations_, there are three
prominent ideas. One is that of a language game, another, related, of
family resemblance (a rope of many strands with no one running all the
way through), and a certain conception of the world-involvingness of
representing centring on something like a notion of _supposition_ (and,
incidentally, spelled out both by Leibniz and by Putnam, the latter in
terms of the idea he called _cluster concept_.
On reflection it is not surprising that things would take this turn for
Wittgenstein. But in the present talk I will try to make the key
ingredients more transparent. (I expect in advance that my success, if
any, will certainly be far less than total.)
All welcome!
Best wishes from the organizers,
Esther Ramharter
Anja Weiberg
Martin Kusch
---------------------------------------
Prof. Martin Kusch
Univ. of Vienna, Dpt. of Philosophy
https://philosophie.univie.ac.at/institut/
Workshop “From Permanence to Open-endedness”
Place: May 19-20, 2025, Department of Philosophy, Lecture Room 3A (Room D0312, 3rd floor) Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna
Organized by: Richard Lawrence (FWF Project: "Frege Among the Formalists"), Iulian D. Toader ( <>FWF Project: "The Principle of Permanence of Forms"), and Georg Schiemer (ERC Consolidator Grant, FORMALISM, 101044114, “The Formal Turn - The Emergence of Formalism in Twentieth-Century Thought”)
Day 1 Monday | May 19, 2025
Chair: Georg Schiemer (University of Vienna)
10:00 (s.t.) – 10:15 Opening
10:15 – 11:15 Gabriel Sandu (University of Helsinki) “Natural logic and the completeness ideal”
11:15 – 11:30 Tea/Coffee
11:30 – 12:30 Jennifer Whyte (Duke University, IVC Fellow) “Formal and Practical in William Kingdon Clifford”
12:30 – 14:30 Lunch
Chair: Richard Lawrence (University of Vienna)
14:30 – 15:30 Iulian Toader (University of Vienna) “Conservatism and the unprovability of outer consistency”
15:30 – 15:45 Tea/Coffee
15:45 – 16:45 Brett Topey (University of Salzburg) “If the omega rule is a solution, what was the problem?”
16:45 – 17:00 Tea/Coffee
Logik Café talk in room 3B, NIG
17:00 – 18:00 Constantin Brincus (University of Bucharest, IVC Fellow) “Categoricity by Inferential Conservativity”
19:00 Conference Dinner
Day 2 Tuesday | May 20, 2025
Chair: Iulian D. Toader (University of Vienna)
9:30 – 10:30 Danielle Macbeth (Haverford College) “Thinking about Numbers: From Objects to Inquiry”
10:30 – 10:45 Tea/Coffee
10:45 – 11:45 Georg Schiemer (University of Vienna) “How to eliminate ideal elements”
11:45 – 12:00 Tea/Coffee
12:00 – 13:00 Richard Lawrence (University of Vienna) “Domain extension: Hankel and the power of formal
mathematics”
Registration: Participation is free and open to everyone. Please register by sending an email to: florian.kolowrat(a)univie.ac.at <mailto:florian.kolowrat@univie.ac.at>
For further information visit: https://formalism.phl.univie.ac.at/
Dear all
The Vienna Animal Studies Group (VAS) is delighted to announce the upcoming talk
Genetic Pain Surgery with Molecular Scissors? Animal Disenhancement in the Context of Genome Editing
from Dr Samuel Camenzind
Date: 14 May 2025, 17:00 – 19:00, NIG, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien, Austria (room 2H)
Dr Samuel Camenzind’s lecture will address the current state of research on the breeding of pain-free animals. It will explore biotechnological, philosophical, and ethical issues that have not received sufficient attention in the current debate on GPD.
Please register here: https://www.viennaanimalstudies.com/event-list <https://www.viennaanimalstudies.com/event-list>
Looking forward to seeing you at the talk!
Best, Samuel
Upcoming VAS talks:
11 June 2025, Dr Carlo Salzani From Zoopticon to Democratic Spectacle: Foucault Goes to the (Schönbrunn) Zoo” by (Neues Institutsgebäude, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien, 17:00-19:00)
Homepage: https://www.viennaanimalstudies.com/ <https://www.viennaanimalstudies.com/>
Lecture series: https://www.viennaanimalstudies.com/event-list <https://www.viennaanimalstudies.com/event-list>
Samuel Camenzind, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
APART-GSK Fellow (ÖAW)
Department of Philosophy
University of Vienna
Sensengasse 8, 1090 Vienna
www.samuelcamenzind.com
--------------------------------------
Recently published:
Camenzind, S.: Xenotransplantation in the Age of Genome Editing: Results From the Expert Report for the Federal Ethics Committee on Nonhuman Biotechnology With a Special Focus on Animal Ethics.
In: Xenotransplantation vol 31, nr. 6, 2024.
Open access: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13993089
Dear all,
the Vienna Forum for Analytic Philosophy warmly invites you to join a
talk to be held by Quassim Cassam from the University of Warwick in two
weeks. The title of the talk is "How To Be A Political Epistemologist".
When? Wednesday, 21.05.2025, 01:00 - 2:30 pm
Where? Lecture room 3A, NIG Universitätsstaße 7, 1010 Wien
Abstract
One of the fastest growing areas of philosophy today is political
epistemology. In my lecture, I will discuss the extent to which its
leading figures operate in an epistemic bubble or echo chamber. I will
draw on Kusch's conception of a sociology of philosophical knowledge to
investigate the background assumptions, concerns, ideologies, and master
narratives of mainstream political epistemologists. I will propose a
class-based analysis of political epistemology and explore the
suggestion that this field's major preoccupations are essentially the
preoccupations of what Musa Al-Gharbi calls 'symbolic capitalists'. I
will conclude with a plea for a more diverse and self-critical approach
to political epistemology.
Quassim Cassam has kindly recommended the following texts as preparatory
reading:
* Kusch, M. (1995). Psychologism: The Sociology of Philosophical
Knowledge. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203983898 [1] [read
chapter 2]
* al-Gharbi, M. (2024). We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural
Contradictions of a New Elite. Princeton University Press. [read
introduction and chapter 1]
The WFAP will discuss them as part of its discussion session at 06:30 pm
on Friday, May 16th in lecture hall 2i, NIG. You can find the
recommended reading attached to this e-mail. Anyone is welcome to join!
Kind regards,
Veronika Lassl
Acting-Chair - Vienna Forum for Analytic Philosophy
wfap.philo.at
Links:
------
[1] https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203983898
Liebe Kolleg*innen,
im Anhang ist eine Einladung zur Tagung der SWIP AUSTRIA Society for
Women in Philosophy für alle Interessierten.
Liebe Grüße
Carina Wurzinger
Hi everyone,
This is a quick reminder about our upcoming conference on Misinformation
and Disinformation, organized by the Knowledge in Crisis cluster. The
conference will take place at CEU on 19-20 May. We'll have talks from
the following speakers:
Sacha Altay: Rethinking the problem of misinformation and generative AI
Verena Wagner: TBA
Justin McBrayer: What’s so bad about fake news?
Anne Meylan: If you ask yourself a question, seek the answer!
Keith Harris: Misinformation, mistrust, and immersive fantasy
Jessica Pepp: Not even wrong? LLMs, meaning, and misinformation
Dan Williams: The Misinformation Dilemma: Balancing Objectivity and
Explanation
Quassim Cassam: The problem with ‘misinformation’
To register to attend either online or in person, please fill out (by
May 15) the form here: https://forms.office.com/e/f9ukKr1Mh5. You can
also find out more about the conference on the conference's PhilEvents
page: https://philevents.org/event/show/135437
Best wishes,
Keith
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
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Institutskoordination
Dipl.-Ing. Katherina Geneviève Krobath, BEd
Andreas Wintersperger, MA
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