Events and Activities – SCCP – Scottish Centre for Continental Philosophy

Thomas Nail (University of Denver)

by Ashley WoodwardUpcoming Events 16 April 202516 April 2025No Comments

‘Chaos and the Birth of Form’ 4pm, 23 April Dalhousie Building 2F14 University of Dundee Or online Form has occupied the very top of the great chain of being throughout nearly all ancient and modern thought. In much of this tradition, however, form ultimately has no birth. And yet, birth is precisely what defined the …

Yuk Hui, ‘After Organic Form’

by Ashley WoodwardPast Events 5 March 202516 April 2025No Comments

4pm, Dalhousie 2F15 Or online here. In the 18th century, criticism of mechanism led to a new discourse on the organic form, largely inspired by research in the natural sciences. The most significant exploration of this concept can be found in Kant’s Critique of Judgment, where he proposed an alternative model based on organic structure and …

Sha Xin Wei (Arizona State University)

by Ashley WoodwardPast Events 27 January 202516 April 2025No Comments

Textural Sensemaking 4.30 – 6 pm Wed 29 January 2025 Dalhousie LT2, University of Dundee Or online here. A seminar for the Scottish Centre for Continental Philosophy. Sponsored by the Royal Institute of Philosophy and the AHRC project Energy: A Philosophy of Practice. Lightning… distinguishes itself from the black sky but must also trail it …

Didier Debaise

by Tina RockPast Events 7 January 202527 January 2025No Comments

Talk: Thinking the earth. Geophilosophy from Deleuze and Guattari to Latour. Wednesday 22nd of January Dalhousie 2F15 – 16.00-17.30 Sponsored by the Royal Institute of Philosophy Streamed live on Teams here. In their latest work, Deleuze and Guattari invent “geophilosophy”. With this expression, they intend to give philosophy a new orientation by inscribing it in its …

Research Seminars 2024-5

by Ashley WoodwardPhilosophy Speaker Series 6 January 20256 January 2025No Comments

Unless otherwise indicated, seminars are held 4:40 – 6:00pm Wednesdays, both in person (Room 2F15, Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee) and online (links will be posted below). 25 Sept Gregory Cajete (U of New Mexico), ‘Native Science and the Laws of Interdependence’ 9 Oct Dominic Smith (U of Dundee), ‘Programme without Transmission: The Translatability of …

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Nicholas Davey ‘On the Virtues of Subjectivism’

by Ashley WoodwardPast Events 29 November 202411 January 2025No Comments

Nicholas Davey (Professor Emeritus, University of Dundee) 4:30pm, Wednesday 4 December Dalhousie Building, Room 2F15, University of Dundee A seminar for the Scottish Centre for Continental Philosophy. Funded by the Royal Institute of Philosophy. All welcome. Link for online streaming on Teams: Abstract Unless hermeneutical thinking can establish a robust philosophical justification for what is …

Information and Its Support: The Simondon-Stiegler Controversy

by Ashley WoodwardPast Events 22 October 202429 November 2024No Comments

Ashley Woodward (University of Dundee)

4:30-6:00pm, Wednesday October 30

Dalhousie 2F15

All welcome!

The notion of information has had an uncomfortable place in the reception of Gilbert Simondon’s work. While clearly being central to his thought, many interpreters have largely ignored or side-lined it. In some of his last writings, Bernard Stiegler, one of Simondon’s most illustrious inheritors, directly attacked Simondon’s notion of information. This paper aims to unpack and address this criticism. The crux of Stiegler’s critique is that Simondon implies an idea of information independent of any support. According to Stiegler, the ultimate implication is that Simondon’s notion of information does not allow us to account for the inherent dangers of calculative information theory which have led to all the problems of contemporary computational capitalism. The paper offers a qualified defence of Simondon’s notion of information.

Ashley Woodward is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Dundee. His research project Transforming Information excavates the history of philosophy of information in neglected traditions with an eye to contemporary problems.

Dominic Smith on Walter Benjamin

by Ashley WoodwardPast Events 4 October 202427 October 2024No Comments

Programme without Transmission: On the Translatability of Benjamin’s Radio Work Dominic Smith (University of Dundee) 5-6:30pm, Wednesday October 9 Dalhousie 2F15 This presentation argues for the strong contemporary relevance of Walter Benjamin’s radio work (1927-1933), despite 1.) his low opinion of it as a means of subsistence (Rosenthal 2014: xvii), and 2.) the fact that …

Philosophy Seminar

by Ashley WoodwardUncategorised 20 September 202420 September 2024No Comments

GREGORY CAJETE Interdependence and the Creative Process: An Indigenous Perspective Wed 25 Sep, 4.30 – 6pm, all welcome Dalhousie Building, 3G02 Lecture Theatre 1 The Indigenous worldview is rooted in a pan-species epistemology. It cultivates axiological relationships of humans to the natural world through an inclusive taxonomy of ‘being alive’ where everything – plants, rocks, …

new journal issue: parrhesia 39

by Ashley WoodwardUncategorised 19 September 202419 September 2024No Comments

Parrhesia is open access and may be read freely online: The editors of parrhesia: a journal of critical philosophy are pleased to announce the publication of issue 39, featuring new translations of Michel Foucault and Raymond Ruyer, a chapter from Bill Ross’ book Order and the Virtual, a review of Gilbert Simondon’s Imagination and Invention, and articles on Spinoza, …