Radical Philosophy and Literature
The research group for Radical Philosophy and Literature is a venue for scholars and graduate students with an interest in the critical potential of literature and philosophy.
About the research group
The group has no political platform, but is committed to exploring the possibilities for effecting change in political and economic structures. What role do philosophy and literature play in such events? How can literature add to the experience of what can be changed? Can philosophy conceive of the political?
French philosophy, psychoanalysis, Marxism and literary theory of the last half of the past century comprise key components of the group's frame of reference. But the actual work may just as well concern philosophical texts from other epochs, such as Greek antiquity, the baroque, German idealism, but also the reworking of this theoretical heritage in new contexts and on new continents. The literary material is limited merely by the fantasy and language proficiency of the members of the group.
Radical Philosophy and Literature holds monthly meetings where the members present their current research to one another. Other scholars are also invited on a regular basis to give talks on subjects that are topical for the group. Moreover, the research group is open for PhD candidates and other graduate students with projects that have some bearing on the activities of the group.
The research group also organizes larger seminars, workshops and conferences on more specific themes.
Conferences and seminars
Is the University Obsolete?
The language we use to legitimize, describe, and understand our own roles as university-workers frequently mask the actual function of today’s academia. This discrepancy between language and reality summons us to articulate the idea of the university anew, not only in order to understand our present predicament, but also to enable the envisioning of alternatives.
The relation between the claimed autonomy of the universities, the state’s need to reproduce the professional-managerial class, and capital’s demand for innovation and profit, is fraught with contradictions and suppressed conflicts. To take these contradictions and conflicts seriously, we must approach them in a manner that is both philosophically and politically informed. Thus, we might ask, what is the relation between education and truth? Do we have to accept the opposition between “the old” and “the new” university, i.e., between humanistic nostalgia and posthuman techno-optimism, or is there a radical position beyond this ideological opposition? Are the old ideals of the university still relevant, or do they rather obfuscate the true contradictions? And how can the university-worker take care of knowledge, not merely as customized input for bureaucracy and market, but as a way of maintaining a critical space for alternative ways of life and political action?
Keynote speakers at the conference are Marine Garcés (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) and Henrik Jøker Bjerre (Aalborg Universitet).
Hegel 250 years!
Hardly any philosopher has such a heterogeneous legacy as Hegel: He is regarded as the 'discoverer' of modernity as an (emerging) epoch and has given rise to both conservative political philosophy and radical/revolutionary currents of various kinds. After the turn of the millennium, there is much evidence that Hegel has experienced a renaissance as a 'radical' philosopher.
The discussion of various aspects of this legacy from Hegel, with an emphasis on Hegel's significance for ecology, Marxist commodity analysis, feminism, psychoanalysis, and criminology, can be found on YouTube: Part 1 (external link) | Part 2 (external link) (in Norwegian).
We have with us Alenka Zupančič (Ljubljana) and Cecilia Sjöholm (Stockholm), in addition to Arne Johan Vetlesen (Oslo), Oscar Dybedahl (Oslo), Franz Knappik, Tomas Stølen, and David Vogt (UiB). From the research group RFL, Kari Jegerstedt and Gisle Selnes will also participate and lead the seminar.
People
Group manager
Gisle Selnes Professor
Hans Jacob Ohldieck Associate professor (USN)
Group members
Angela Tania Espinoza Postdoctoral researcher
Johannes Grytnes PhD candidate
Wolfgang Hottner Associate professor
Kari Jegerstedt Professor
Jon Martin Perander PhD candidate
Ellen Stark Theander PhD Candidate
Kjersti Irene Aarstein Associate Professor
Iben Brinch Associate Professor
Contact
For additional information about the research group’s current activities, please contact the core leadership: Gisle Selnes (gisle.selnes@uib.no) and Hans Jacob Ohldieck (Hans.J.Ohldieck@usn.no)