HISTORIES OF FAILED SYNTHESIS

F.I.N.O. Graduate Conference in the History of Philosophy

University of Turin
12-13 November 2015
Sala Principi d'Acaja, Palazzo del Rettorato, Via Verdi 8

Central to the conference is the question of ‘synthesis’, by which we mean here the attempt to compose into unity the multiplicity and variety of the real — be such unification a perceptive, intellectual, a priori, a posteriori, ontological or epistemological one. From a philosophical point of view, any synthesis implies two moments, the effort to disregard divergent elements and the necessity to encompass them. This dichotomy may reflect the irreducibility of the simple to the complex: thus syntheses often fail. The purpose of the conference is twofold: to consider how philosophy has engaged this question throughout its history; and to shed light on the unresolved tensions that failed syntheses have left extant.

PROGRAM

Thursday, 12 November
Chair L. Vanzago (Pavia)

14:30-16:00 Keynote Speech
Nicolas de Warren (KU Leuwen),
The Failure of Failing: The Disintegrating Synthesis of Stupidity in Sartre

16:00-16:30 Coffee break

16:30-16:50 D. Herskowitz (Oxford),
Synthesizing Heidegger and Judaism: the Case of Hans Jonas
16:50-17:10 S. Gino (Torino),
Thomas Reid on Unconscious Souls
17:10-17:30 Discussion

17:30-18:00 Coffee break

18:00-18:20 L. Sala (Pisa),
Identity and Synthesis: Kant on the Necessity of Synthesis for an I Think
18:20-18:40 J. D. Thumser (ENS Paris),
The Unified Ego: Synthesis and Splits in Husserl’s Transcendental Phenomenology
18:40-19:00 Discussion

Friday, 13 November
Chair E. Pasini (Torino)

9:00-9:20 G. Margiotto (Milano),
Tycho’s System and the Decline of the Traditional Cosmos
9:20-9:40 M. Storni (ENS Paris),
Systematic Thought and the Early French Enlightenment
9:40-10:00 Discussion

10:00-10:30 Coffee break

10:30-10:50 P. Sperber (Utrecht),
There’s no Success like Failure: On the Early Reception of Kant’s Most Famous Synthesis
10:50-11:10 R. Ziegelmann (Heidelberg),
Social Synthesis and Self-preservation
11:10-11:30 Discussion

11.30-12:00 Coffee break

12:00-13:30 Keynote Speech
Justin E. H. Smith (Paris Diderot),
The History of Philosophy in Six Types

13:30-14:00: Final Observations

ORGANIZATION

Research Group fMOD (Edoardo Caracciolo, Claudia Matteini, Lucia Randone)
Consorzio F.I.N.O. - Phd Program in Philosophy of the University of Turin