16021

WiSe 14/15: Political Philosophy of Mind

Jan Slaby

Information for students

Sprechstunde nach Vereinbarung: jan.slaby@fu-berlin.de

Comments

This explorative lecture outlines a program for a politicized philosophy of mind. The philosophical study of mental processes will be shifted from concerns with mental causation, qualia and the naturalization of intentionality toward issues of agency, power, affect, self-governance, sociality and (mental) institutions. A recurring theme throughout the lecture will be a critical engagement with recent neuroscience-informed political philosophy, such as work by William Connolly, John Protevi and others. Likewise, Catherine Malabou's conception of cerebrality will be discussed, and also proposals from the field of embodied, embedded, enactive and extended cognition that have so far not been analyzed with regard to their political implications and potentials. Central aim of the lecture is to develop a constructive programmatic for subsequent work by analyzing and critiquing a broad variety of theories and proposals. Authors to be discussed include Spinoza, Nietzsche, Foucault, Deleuze, Butler, Clark, Gallagher, among others. Ample opportunity for discussion will be provided in each session. Note: The lecture will develop a quite specific philosophical proposal, so it will neither serve as an introduction to standard philosophy of mind nor to political philosophy. Selected Readings: Butler, J. (1997). The Psychic Life of Power, Stanford: Stanford University Press. Connolly, W. E. (2002). Neuropolitics: Thinking, Culture, Speed, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Malabou, C. (2009). The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain Damage. New York: Fordham University Press. Protevi, J. (2009). Political Affect. Connecting the Social and the Somatic, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Saar, M. (2013). Die Immanenz der Macht. Politische Theorie nach Spinoza. Berlin: Suhrkamp. Vander Falk, Frank (ed. 2012). Essays on Neuroscience and Political Theory: Thinking the Body Politic. New York: Routledge. close