Dear all, I would like to bring to your attention a research project at the University of Warwick devoted to Deleuze and Guattari's 'What is Philosophy?' and the paradigm proposed there for the relationship between art, philosophy and science. All those interested are encouraged to join in and contribute to the ongoing debate that will culminate in a one day symposium. See below or follow the link for further details.
Best,
Eskandar Sadeghi
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/research/phillit/research/wip/research/ The Project [c] Philosophers have not been sufficiently concerned with the nature of the concept as philosophical reality. They have preferred to think of it as a given knowledge or representation that can be explained by the faculties able to form it or employ it. But the concept is not given, it is created; it is to be created.
Deleuze and Guattari, What is Philosophy?
What is Philosophy?, first published in 1991, was Deleuze and Guattari’s final collaborative text. The book elaborates a theory of philosophical practice that concentrates on the creative activity of philosophy with close attention given to the method of creating concepts. Within the book they argue that philosophy maintains an active and dynamic relationship with the non-philosophical traditions of science and art. They seek to elaborate the creative operations of science and art in order to explicate what it is that philosophy can learn from these disciplines. For Deleuze and Guattari the task of philosophy is nothing less than creative pedagogy associated with concept creation. Fifteen years after its initial publication in France, this research group will seek to investigate the relationship between the three disciplines at stake within the book. It will culminate in a one-day symposium which will bring together a philosopher, an artist and a scientist, to critically discuss
the implications of the different models proposed in this important philosophical work.
What is Philosophy? [c] What is Philosophy? The definition of philosophy is famously a difficult matter, and indeed many definitions of philosophy begin by stating that it is famously difficult.
According to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guarttari, the authors of What is Philosophy?, it is the only study that is concerned with the creation of concepts, which distinguishes it from science, and art. To support this thesis, the authors discuss the nature of these disciplines and the thought of a wide spectrum of philosophers, from Plato to Foucault.
Their work examines the creative relationship between philosophy, science and the arts, considering the independent pursuits of each study and their ultimate connections.
What is Philosophy? Project This too is the aim of the What is Philosophy? Project, led by Dr Darren Ambrose and Siobhan McKeown. Darren, Siobhan and colleagues from a variety of university departments are setting up reading groups, seminars, blog discussion boards and a one-day symposium all dedicated to the study of how science, art and philosophy overlap and inform each other.
Undergraduates, postgraduates and academics from all kinds of different disciplines are invited to take part in the project - 70 renowned academics from overseas universities are already signed up.
According to Dr Ambrose philosophy has a pedagogical relationship with art and science, it can learn lessons from them. Art and Science develop strategies of creative thinking and Philosophy must understand these processes.
Special Guests The research project culminates in a one-day symposium on Saturday 24 June at which a scientist (Professor Ian Stewart, Mathematics), an Artist (Turner Prize-nominated Jake Chapman) and a Philosopher (Professor Keith Ansell Pearson) will discuss the question: What is Philosophy?
Each of these main speakers, along with a dozen invited expert speakers, will be engaged in the ongoing research and discussion prior to the event. Reading groups and seminars are being held every Thursday at 6pm in the Learning Grid, as well as being podcast, and the various discussion threads are constantly being updated on Warwick Blogs. All of this collaborative discussion will feed in to the main event.
In addition the University's incoming Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nigel Thrift, will be speaking at the symposium. Professor Thrift, a human geographer, has co-authored a recent article on the relationship between the conceptions of space in the work of Deleuze and Paul Klee.
Building a Research Community The project team feels that using e-lab technology, combined with traditional face-to-face learning, in this way will help to create an international research community and integrate Warwick's cutting edge technology into the academic environment. They see the project as both an experiment and a showcase. International colleagues are particularly enthusiastic seeing this group as a way of combating individuals' isolation and the stagnation of ideas. And Warwick students are no less enthusiastic - over 40 turned up for last week's introductory meeting.
Using the Technology By using the blogs to build working and evolving definitions of concepts the project leaders hope that they will become a trusted online research resource. Siobhan, a graduate research student and project organiser, explained that it would be used like a Wiki (a webpage that allows anyone to edit its content) so that the discussion will be truly collaborative.
Deleuze and Guarttari - Interdisciplinary Overlaps Darren and Siobhan are keen to involve as many people from across the University, and beyond, as possible and if you are interested in any of the following areas then you might want to get involved in the project:
Art
Francis Bacon, Paul Klee, El Greco, Tintoretto, Paul Cezanne
Cinema
Time-images, Movement and style, Modern European, Art Cinema
Music
Musical Time, Flow of Music, Contemporary Composition
Literature
Hardy, Melville, DH Laurence, Kafka, Proust, Beckett, Dickens, Murakami
Science
Complex dynamic systems, Chaos theory, Catastrophe theory, Fractals, Mandelbrot, James Gleick, Darwin, Rene Thom, Maturana & Varela
Philosophy
Deleuze & Guattari, Bergson, Nietzsche, Spinoza, Foucault, Kant, Hegel
Research on a Shoestring Perhaps the most impressive thing about the entire project is the dedication and enthusiasm of the organisers: Dr Darren Ambrose, Siobhan McKeown, Michael Eardley, Robert O'Toole and Emily Harding. This entire project is being carried out with no allocated funding: guest speakers are invited to stay in people's spare rooms, websites being updated in people's spare time etc. And although they would love to offer travel bursaries to UK students and be able to pay for some part-time support, whether the funding comes or not they are determined to pull it off anyway!
Interested? So, if your interest has been piqued then have a look at some of the following:
What is Philosophy? Website - http://www.warwick.ac.uk/go/whip
Science blog - http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/crpl_science
Art blog - http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/crpl_art
Philosophy blog - http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/crpl_philosophy
What is Philosophy? - http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0231079893/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-6177363-9141759#reader-link
Or come along to one of the seminars or reading groups - every Thursday between 18:00 and 20:00 in the Learning Grid, Presentation Room B.
Research
Contact
Darren Ambrose
Siobhan McKeown
Centre for Research in Philosophy and Literature
Department of Philosophy
University of Warwick
Coventry
CV4 7AL Tel +44 (0)2476 524960
Fax +44 (0)2476 523019
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