Marking the 20th anniversary of the publication of Bernard Stiegler’s landmark book, La Technique et le temps 1, which first outlined the project of a general organology, this conference aims to survey the range of twentieth-century and contemporary philosophical accounts, scientific theories and technical innovations that intersect an organological dimension. Within this overarching theme, the goal of the conference is to weave together different perspectives and disciplines from neurosciences to ecology, from the digital humanities to psychology, in order to identify and address contemporary issues that twenty-first century philosophies have to consider. The objective is to enrich the philosophical understanding of the interrelations between natural, technological, psychological and social individuations in order to better read our present time and make appropriate plans for the future. With this is mind we underline the philosophical priority of the question of knowledge, without confining it within merely cognitive bounds.
Over the last decade, we have witnessed spectacular progress in two fields of knowledge, namely digital technology and the neurosciences. These two fields of theoretical and practical knowledge are revolutionising all domains of human life, from economy to health care, from art to politics. Contemporary philosophies are urged to respond to these transformations. Not only are the effects of these phenomena fully transdisciplinary. In as much as digital technologies and brain sciences aspire to transform the human dimension of knowledge, the question of how to transcend neurocentrism and technological determinism remains. Both digital technology and neuroscience are reconfiguring a spectrum of issues with which philosophy has always been concerned, but which it now risks failing to address in their renewed form. These include the notions of desire, memory, imagination, the collective, and the role of writing, grammatisation and language itself.
Keynote Speakers:
- Cornelius Borck, Philosophy of Medecine
- Maurizio Lazzarato, Philosopher
- Bernard Stiegler, Philosopher
- Maryanne Wolf, Tufts University
- Francesco Vitale
- Antoinette Rouvroy
Confirmed Speakers:
- Jiewon Baeck
- Riccardo Baldissone
- Mariana Casanova
- Patrick Crogan
- Martin Crowley
- Yuk Hui
- Ian James
- Ilan Kaddouch
- Ganaele Langlois
- Pieter Lemmens
- Michael Lewis
- Gerald Moore
- John Mowitt
- Carlos Natálio
- Ali Rahebi
- Ben Roberts
- Estrella Rojas
- Dominic Smith
- Ben Turner
General Organology is organized by Noötechnics collective in collaboration with Ars Industrialis, and the Centre for Critical Thought, University of Kent (UK).
General organology proposes to rethink the relations between biological organs, technical organs and social organizations and how all of these individuate in the socius. General organology draws from the original practice of organology in musicology, which is the study of the history of musical instruments, their practices and their social roles in all civilizations and historical periods. Yet general organology is not limited to the study of musical instruments but takes into account all technical instruments and their effects on biological and social organs.
20th–22nd November 2014
University of Kent
The conference programme is available here, and for more information on the conference see the Noötechnics website.
Please register before the 10th November (for catering purposes).
0 Comments