On September 30, Ricky Sebold from La Trobe University will give a paper titled give a paper titled ‘Therapeutic Naturalism: Renewing an Ancient Tradition’. Ricky is the author of Continental Realism: A Critique (Rowman and Littlefield International, 2014).
The seminar will take place from 4pm to 5.30pm at our Burwood Campus, room C2.05. It will also be linked to Geelong (ic3.315) and Warnambool (D.2.30).
For further information, please see the PhilEvents entry.
On September 23, Sonam Thakchoe from the University of Tasmania will give a paper titled ‘The Theory of Two Truths in Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka Philosophy’. Sonam is is a former Tibetan monk trained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for fifteen years, and is the author of The Two Truths Debate: Tsongkhapa and Gorampa on the Middle Way (Wisdom Publications).
The seminar will take place from 4pm to 5.30pm at our Burwood Campus, room C2.05. It will also be linked to Geelong (ic3.315) and Warnambool (J2.22).
For further information, please see the Philevents entry. 
Professor Jack Reynolds and La Trobe’s Ricky Sebold will be speaking on “The Existential Turn: Niezsche and French Existentialism” on 25th September 2014, 6:30-8:30pm as part of Melbourne Free University‘s “Philosophy and the Divine” series. For details, click here.
Matt Sharpe will be presenting the following as part of the Centre for Citizenship and Globalization Seminar Series:
Albert Camus’ Hellenism, Between Saint Augustine and Hegel
12 pm – 1 pm Thursday 4 September, Burwood Campus room C2.05
We do not believe any longer in God, but we believe in history. For my part, I understand well the interest of the religious solution, and I perceive very clearly the importance of history. But I do not believe in either the one or the other, in an absolute sense. I interrogate myself and it vexes me very much that we are asked to choose absolutely between Saint Augustine and Hegel. I have the impression that there must be a supportable truth between the two. – Albert Camus, Essais, 1427-1428.
Much French thinking since 1960 has gravitated towards forms of decisionism or messianism which arguably secularises eschatological hopes and modes of thinking inherited from the Judaic and Christian tradition. Albert Camus is almost unique in French letters (alongside his friend, the poet Rene Char) in arguing for the need to reanimate motifs from the classical Mediterranean legacy: notably, the value of mesure (moderation), the notion of a constant human condition, the urgent need to recapture a non-instrumental, contemplative sense of our place in the natural world, and an opposition to all ideas of an ‘end of history’ or a single all-changing Event. According to Camus’ often-maligned “midday thought,” human beings are not solely historical, language-using, political beings. We are also mortal, natural beings in an ecosphere we did not create, but in whose profoundly interconnected (and now as we know profoundly threatened) recurrences Camus saw the basis for a new philosophy limiting human hybris, this side of thermonuclear or ecological collapse. In this paper, I’ll reconstruct the different registers of Camus’ hellenism: beginning from his own youthful experiences growing up in Algeria (for him, a ‘Greece in rags’) [1], passing through his mature defences of mesure, limit, and “a thought which would exclude nothing” [2], then his attempts to articulate a post-metaphysical virtue ethics [3], to his defence of artistic creation, style, and mythopoiesis as a practice of liberty [4].
Catch Dr Leesa Davis talking about “Buddhist Conceptions of Virtue” this Wednesday August 27, 7.00 – 9.00pm, at the Barking Dog Hotel, Pakington St, Geelong West.
On August 26, Dr Knox Peden from the Australian National University will give a paper on the tension in Louis Althusser’s work between his Spinozism and his interest in theological discourse.
The seminar will take place from 4pm to 5.30pm at our Burwood Campus, room C2.05.
For further information, please see the Philevents entry.
Deakin’s Dr Matthew Sharpe will be running a course titled, ‘So, what was the Enlightenment?’, as part of the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy’s semester 2 evening school. Information about enrollment, dates, times and location can be found here.
This Sunday, 17th August, catch Deakin’s own Dr Petra Brown in conversation with Melbourne philosopher Dr Damon Young at this year’s Word-For-Word National Non-Fiction Festival at our Waterfront campus:
Well over two thousand years since Socrates drunk the hemlock, many contemporary philosophers argue that their ancient vocation is as essential than ever. Philosophy can help us to become more lucid, independent and just.
Click here for booking information.
Dr Leesa Davis will be on local radio The Pulse 94.7 FM on Thursday 14th August at 1.00pm, discussing Buddhism and Mindfulness, along with Stephen McKenzie from Deakin Psychology.
A new reading and discussion group in Carlton (and blog!): http://womenandphilosophy.wordpress.com/