PHILOSOPHICAL COLLOQUIUM

Expanding body thoughts, prospectives for the future

curated by Stefanie Rinke und Tobias Wieland

Nächste Termine// next dates:

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14. Februar 2024// 19:30

"Sexualität in matriarchalen Lebensformen. Funktionen, Perspektiven und Möglichkeiten für heute"

Gäste: Simone Plaza Finis und Martina Engel-Fürstberger, Lecturer on Modern Matriarchal Studies, MatriForum Potsdam

Matriarchale Kulturen basieren auf der symbolischen Ordnung der Mutter, wodurch sie sich in vielen Punkten deutlich von patriarchal geprägten Lebensformen unterscheiden. Es gibt etwa keine Ehe, es gibt die Ethik des Schenkens und des Für- und Miteinanders, und auch die Sexualität wird anders gelebt. Was matriarchale Kulturen ausmacht, wie sie funktionieren und welche Möglichkeiten und Perspektiven sie für heutige Fragen hinsichtlich sexpositiver Lebensentwürfen bieten, wollen wir an diesem Abend mit unseren beiden Gästen diskutieren. Grundlage ist die umfangreiche Matriarchatsforschung von Heide Göttner-Abendroth.

Sprache: Deutsch mit englischer Übersetzung// Donation-based from 10€ and up// Auf Spendenbasis ab 10€//

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19. Juni 2024 // 19 30

"Eros and Earth in Judaism"

Gast: Jonathan Schorsch, Professor für Jüdische Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, Universität Potsdam

Our guest will focus on some of the traditions of judaism, e.g. the Kabbala, and he will show, that judaism has a very positive approach to sexuality, that judaism cares about sex and earth. We will read some short religious texts together in close reading, which will be in English and German and distributed in advance of the evening seminar.

Talk in English// Contributions in German will be very welcome// Donation-based from 10€ and up// Auf Spendenbasis ab 10€//

Expanding body thoughts, prospectives for the future.

Sexuality is an existential dimension of the human form of being in the world. We premise our philosophical investigations on the experience of the ongoing violation of this anthropological fact. The social norms and ideals, which govern us in our intimate interactions alone or with others, are inscribed in our bodies. They express a heteronormative, misogynist, and racist paradigm.

With the discursive format of the “Philosophical Colloquium ”, we like to address key aspects of a progressive concept of sexuality. What are the groundworks of a philosophy of sexuality that does justice to the plurality of our sexual, somatic and spiritual expressivity?
We are convinced that, subversively understood, the erotic is “source of power and knowledge” (Audre Lorde). Taking this claim as a starting point, we aim at a conceptual framework for an emancipated sex-positive culture.

We believe there is a lot of conceptual work to be done to reach emancipation, given the intersectional and trans-temporal consistency of the binary, anti-pluralistic paradigm.

Analytical background and discursive connections

We want to investigate the theoretical groundworks of a philosophy of sexuality.

Our first analytical perspective is shaped by questions concerning the ontology, epistemology and the discursive history of the prevalent anti-pluralistic paradigm.

How are sex, gender and the erotic conceptualized in the scientific and public discourse?

How to account for the enormous changes of this discursive field and how to move on?

How thinking beyond the binary schemes of sex and gender?

There will be space to reflect on the practical dimension of the varieties of the forms of life and love.

What are the ethical implications and presuppositions of affirming both, openness and bonding through love?

What is a fair practice, to balance between the tension of need of care-taking and freedom of erotic expressivity?

What privileges and role expectations condition the social space in which we are oneself in the other?

We aim also to address, the aesthetical dimension of the social spaces of queer expressivity and somatic empowerment. How can we reconsider the relation between sex and art?

Can sex be art? Can a participatory and activist art contribute to a sex-positive culture? Playing with Oscar Wilde’s “Bonmot”, if everything in the world is about sex, except sex, why then is power play so beautiful?

We believes that theses theoretical, practical and aesthetical dimensions are analytical and since they intersect in the reality, they cannot be taken apart. They stand in the background of our investigations and become more concrete and detailed by the topics of the series of the Philosophical Colloquium.

Format of the “Philosophical Colloquium”

What we will do during the night is theory.

We will invite researchers with expertise in these fields of study. The program will be specified throughout the year. The format is discursive as the content is conceptual.

We will not discuss everything and all together, but we will have a focus on individual aspects and revealing phenomena. One of the organizers will host each event: a preluding discussion with the host will be follow by a talk with the invited guest, and after that all participants will gather in small groups, without moderation, to reflect the topics brought up so far.

In a final collective and moderated discussion, inspired by the topics invoked throughout the night, we will deepen and structure the body thoughts and bring up together new prospectives for the future.

TOPICS