Conference
The Concept of the Unconscious in Nineteenth-Century German Thought
Thursday, 21 May - Friday, 22 September 2006
Venue: Stewart House/Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
Co-Ordinators: Angus Nicholls (Queen Mary, University of London) and Martin Liebscher (IGRS, University of London)
This conference will examine the pre-history of the psychoanalytic concept of the unconscious in nineteenth-century German thought. Prior to its more or less 'official' scientific theorisation by Freud, the concept of the unconscious already possessed a detailed and complex genealogy in nineteenth-century German thought, beginning with the aftermath of Kant’s critical philosophy in German idealism and Naturphilosophie (philosophy of nature), and extending into the discourses of Romanticism and beyond. The English-speaking world remains comparatively unaware of this heritage and its importance for the ways in which the concept is used in contemporary academic discourses. Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of Freud’s birth, this conference brings together experts from Great Britain and Germany to address the various theorisations, representations and transformations undergone by the 'unconscious in nineteenth-century German thought'.
PROGRAMME
Thursday, 21 September
Room ST 274/275, Stewart House
9.15 Registration
9.30 Welcome
9.45 Paul Bishop (Glasgow): The Dialectic of Time and Pleasure in the Early Goethe and in Freud
10.45 Coffee
11.15 Andrew Bowie (London): Schelling's Unconscious in the Light of Contemporary Reinterpretations of German Idealist Philosophy
12.15 Angus Nicholls (London): The Experimental Unconscious: Goethe's Post-Kantian Epistemology
13.15 Lunch (own arrangements)
14.45 Christopher Janaway (Southampton): The Real Essence of Human Beings: Schopenhauer and the Unconscious Will
15.45 Tea
16.15 Matthew Bell (London): Carl Gustav Carus and the Science of the Unconscious
17.15 Discussion
Friday, 25 May
Room ST 274/275, Stewart House
9.30 Michael Heidelberger (Tübingen): The Unconscious in the Works of Johann Friedrich Herbart and Gustav Theodor Fechner
10.30 Coffee
11.00 Sebastian Gardner (London): The Unconscious in Eduard von Hartmann's Worldview
12.00 Martin Liebscher (London): Friedrich Nietzsche and the Unconscious
13.00 Lunch (own arrangements)
14.30 Günter Gödde (Berlin): Freud and the Philosophy of the Unconscious in the Nineteenth Century
15.30 Sonu Shamdasani (London): History in the Soul: The Constitution of Jung's Collective Unconscious
16.30 Discussion/Wine
17.00 Conference Ends
Further Information/Registration
To obtain further information and register for the conference, please contact Jane Lewin <mailto:[log in to unmask]> (tel: 020 7862 8966). Please note the closing date for receipt of registrations is 7 September 2006.
Conference Fees
Conference Fees
2 Days 1 Day
Standard Rate £30.00 £19.00
Reduced Rate
Fully paid-up Friends of Germanic Studies at the IGRS and paying members of the IGRS only £25.00 £17.00
Student Rate
With a photocopy of a current university or student identity card only
£15.00 £ 8.00
INSTITUTE OF GERMANIC & ROMANCE STUDIES
University of London School of Advanced Study
Room ST282, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
Telephone: +44 (0)20-7862 8966 Fax: +44 (0)20-7862 8970
E-mail: jane.lewin @sas.ac.uk
Website: http://igrs.sas.ac.uk