Rebecca Comay, Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature, The University of Toronto discusses Hegel and Beckett followed by a response from Paul Kottman of The New School for Social Research.
One of the central questions facing human beings is how we should respond to the humanity of others. Since the enlightenment, secular Western ethics has gravitated towards two kinds of answer: we should care for others’ well-being, or we should respect them as autonomous agents. Largely neglected is an answer we can find the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Buddhism: we should love all. Analytic philosophers have started to pay more attention to love. But unlike those working within religious traditions, for whom an ideal of love for all serves as the central, organizing ideal in ethics, most of these philosophers see love as confined to the domain of intimate relationships between friends, family, romantic partners and the like. This paper argues that an ideal of love for all, of agape, can be understood apart from its more typical religious contexts and moreover provides a unified and illuminating account of the the nature and grounds of morality. Against challenges to the idea that love for all is possible, I offer a novel account of what it would be to love all. I go on to argue that while it is possible to love all, most of us should not, as doing so would rule out the possibility of loving particular friends and families. Instead, we should approximate love for all. I argue that the minimal approximation of love for all is, surprisingly, respect, deriving the basic, structural features of deontological ethics (including anti-welfarism and anti-aggregation) from my account of love for all.
Reception to follow.
Luca Corti (University of Padua) – March 6
Amy Allen (Penn State) – March 27
Andreja Novakovic (UC Berkeley) – April 3
Alberto Siani (University of Pisa) – May 8
Luca Corti (University of Padua) – March 6
Amy Allen (Penn State) – March 27
Andreja Novakovic (UC Berkeley) – April 3
Alberto Siani (University of Pisa) – May 8
Luca Corti (University of Padua) – March 6
Amy Allen (Penn State) – March 27
Andreja Novakovic (UC Berkeley) – April 3
Alberto Siani (University of Pisa) – May 8
Luca Corti (University of Padua) – March 6
Amy Allen (Penn State) – March 27
Andreja Novakovic (UC Berkeley) – April 3
Alberto Siani (University of Pisa) – May 8
The New York German Idealism Workshop is pleased to announce the first talk of the semester. Alison Stone (Lancaster University) will be giving a talk entitled, “Bettina von Arnim’s Romantic Philosophy in Die Günderode” on September 17 from 10am-12pm EST. Giulia Valpione (Università degli Studi di Padova) will be providing comments.
Join Zoom Meeting https://NewSchool.zoom.us/j/93096095303?pwd=ZjVWaTdLZ0VlNTlPUHFuWmJDVE9DZz09
Please email nygermanidealism@gmail.com to request the paper (and join our listserv), which has already been distributed (as of 9/8/21).
The second talk of the semester will be by Elisa Magrì (Boston College), who will be giving a talk entitled, “Sedimentation and Ethical Memory in Hegel’s Philosophy of Spirit.” The talk will take place on October 15 from 4:30-6:30pm EST.
A Zoom link will be provided in advance. Please stay tuned for a poster containing all the events for the fall semester.
Presented by NY German Idealism Workshop
With response from Karen Ng (Vanderbilt)
Presented by NY German Idealism Workshop