Oisin Keohane (Dundee)
3-5pm, Wednesday 15 Oct
Dalhousie 2F14
Or online via Teams: Philosophy Seminar Oisin Keohane | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
Abstract
My talk aims to be the first to create a dialogue between Hadot’s work on the idea of naked nature and Agamben’s work on the relationship of grace to nature via nudity. It argues that Hadot’s account, as valuable as it is, overlooks the role of Christianity in thinking about ‘naked nature’. To do this, my talk examines the idea of Nature as a personified naked being, using three case studies to examine this idea, two of which are contemporary, and one which is ancient, and places these case studies into dialogue with Christianity. The first case is the use of naked protest by Extinction Rebellion (XR), and the second case is the use of nudity by a group of so-called erotic activists who calls themselves Fuck For Forest (FFF). The former group, XR, has used naked protest extensively since 2018. The latter group, FFF, promote public nudity and make what they deem to be ethical pornographic films to collect money for ecological projects. The third case comes from Macrobius’ fifth century Commentary on Cicero’s Dream of Scipio, which describes Nature as someone unwilling to be seen naked by all.
Hadot’s work contained in The Veil of Isis is then considered in light of Giorgio Agamben’s arguments that nudity in the West is inseparable from what he calls a ‘theological signature’. I argue that both XR and FFF’s use of naked protest does not escape this Christian framework, since the naked protest utilised by both movements does not dismantle or render inoperative the inseparable division Agamben argues exists in the Augustinian heritage, namely, nature and grace, exemplified in the anti-Pelagian writings of St Augustine. I also argue that both XR and FFF miss the ‘non-unveilability’ of nature – that nature can be neither veiled nor unveiled. In sum, that to dismantle or render inoperative the inseparable division Agamben argues exists in some quarters of Christianity, namely, nature and grace, is itself tied to rendering inoperative the two traditions of thinking about nature as veiled or nude as described by Hadot.
Oisin Keohane is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Dundee.
His research crosses the analytic-continental divide, and the three ‘traditions’ that most influence him are Phenomenology (esp Heidegger and Derrida), the Frankfurt School (esp Adorno and Benjamin) and so-called Ordinary Language Philosophy (esp Cavell). One strand of his research explores issues of linguistic justice, ‘Anglobalisation’, and philosophical nationalism, while another strand explores film-philosophy, feminism, and the nude. He is the author of Cosmo-nationalism (EUP 2018), and he is currently completing a book on the nude.