International Peace Workshop 2008 >> >> >> >> >> >>
2 till 4 October 2008
A congress in cooperation with the International research group transcendental philosophy/German idealism of the institute for philosophy from the Technische Universität Berlin and arttransponder Berlin (www.arttransponder.net)
TU Organisation Team: PD Dr. Christoph Asmuth, Kai U. Gregor / Serguei Spetschinsky (PhD Candidates)
Project Group: Kenichi Onodera, Japan/ Germanistic/ Literary Studies,
Arthur Kok/NL philosopher, Nanako Nakajima/Japan, Dance Studies/Dance Dramaturg, Kai Gregor/D philosopher, Sergueï Spetschinsky/B philosopher, Manos Perrakis/GR philosopher, Tatjana Fell/D artist
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>> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Main Concept
True peace, in the time of "global war zones" and "home grown terrorists" is obscured through the rhetoric of utopian fantasies. War is an every day phenomenon. Political battlefields seem omnipresent and limit our perception and understanding of peace. But globalisation forces us to find solutions to the problem of "peace." To begin with, clarifying the concept of peace necessitates an investigation into the conditions of its possibility. Common sense views peace in terms of realpolitik, and defines the term "peace" as being a wishful but labile political opposite to warlike disputes and conflicts. It is a qualitative and distinguishable concept of peace which seems to be an urgent desideratum. For as health is not just the absence of sickness, can peace be more than the absence of war? This vacuum of thinking surrounding peace draws particular attention to itself through the fact that large religious institutions and political ideologies appear to have lost their credibility in discourses of peace and its realisation. Because of these reasons, we are trying to bring new conditions and possibilities for the existence of peace from different perspectives to light.
During this three-day congress, new viewpoints must make some noise. Could it be that the pure positivistic concept of peace, as it is used in politics and everyday life, in history, in psychology and sociology too partial or unsuitable in order to capture the complicated philosophical main dimensions of a systematic concept of peace? Could it be that the origins and ground for a distinction between war and peace are found deep in the human consciousness and are based on human ethics? That would be the case if the human condition were not found in the empirical world referred to by positivistic scientific discourses but also found in the prima facia of invisible power of the transcendental capability of man.
Within the conditions of modernity and after the monopoly of churches and ideologies, we are looking for global perspectives on the concept of peace which can propose new questions, relations and representations. Peace is frequently represented as an everlasting omnipresence - as a pantopia. However, the finite globe doesn`t seem to be an adequate place to realise this idea. Quickly, peace is understood as utopian in character, as an unreal and missed peace. We are looking for the conditions under which peace can be conceived through the framework of two extremes, utopia, obvious unreality of peace, and pantopia, its real idea, which makes its unreality thinkable. We are searching for ways and methods, philosophical and artistic, to give both a theoretical and practical solution to this dilemma.
Where is the space for peace in the arts and philosophy? Which representations, between utopia and pantopia, are possible for peace? The congress aims to produce a philosophical and artistic determination of peace, between real possibility and possible reality. It shall give us a first draft for a topology of peace. The purpose of the congress is to reflect on the comprehensive structure of peace ? in all its aspects concerning the different fields of life- and by doing so, to update our understanding of the phenomenon of peace. The congress calls artists and philosophers, using the idea of true peace and its realisation as an approach and basis for creative action. The congress defines itself as explicitly interdisciplinary and tries, above all, to initiate a creative dialogue between artists and philosophers.
The workshop and congress "Concerning Peace > Utopia or Pantopia?" is part of the artproject "Peace - Utopia or Real Space?" and is an interdiciplinary workshop planned as a starting point and framework for theoretical discussions and practical approaches on the theme peace.
Potential Themes and Sections << << << << << << << << << << <<
1. Utopia, Fiction and Futureperspective:
the unreal possibility and impossible reality of peace.
This module examines the relation between peace, fiction and utopia. How could a new utopia be achieved? Can an aesthetic presentation of peace today, under the conditions of modernity, still succeed? We are in search of an aesthetics of peace, whoich declares a new utopia and creates strong fictions of a true peace in a final world. We are in search of philosophical approaches, which shed light on the meaning, structures and functions of utopia and the fictions surrounding the concept of peace.
2. Anti-Utopia, Perversion, Corruption and Failure: a dead peace as real impossibility.
This module examines the problematic relations of peace and utopia. The human attempts and beliefs to live together in peace, have already resulted to calamities and perversions. On the artistic side, we ask for views for a dead peace, peace as corruption of humanity and the natural. On the philosophical side, we ask for analysis which develop not only structures, but also established criteria for peace as perversion.
3. Pantopia, Omnipresence and Modern Metaphysic: the real possibility of lively peace.
Though peace is nowhere secure and nowhere guaranteed, peace needs the reassurance of being necessary. Peace remains the irreducable aim of humans. What makes humans hold on to this apparently unrealistic goal? Which reality contains this irredeemable possibility? Are three philosophical and artistic approaches, which can surpass the fictional quality of peace in this final world? Can a possibility already be the reality of peace and how can it exist? Not only philosophical, but also aesthetical approaches are asked for, which can show that a possibility can be more real than a concrete reality. We are in search of artists that practically put their visions of peace into their work, into action and who thematise the substancial omnipresence of the possible as the reality of peace. We are in search of philosophers who attempt, by analysis to legitimise the complex realm of the possibility of peace.
If you hit this page and you are interested to get further information about the lectures which have taken place in this workshop, please feel free to write an e-mail to: peace-workshop@peace-realspace.net
venue: TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BERLIN - Room 3005 >> >> >> >> >> Straße am 17. Juni 135 - 10623 Berlin - mainbuilding -
The workshop will be followed by a publication edited by Kai Gregor and Serguei Spetschinsky and published by Cambridge University Press in 2009
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