[SydPhil] University of Sydney Postgraduate Colloquium Sep 03

[Tama Coutts]

Hey All,


The details for our fifth talk of semester two follow. All are welcome.


 
 Speaker: Joshua Mendelsohn


Title: Immediacy, mediation and the unity of
rational space

Abstract:

The concepts of immediacy
[Unmittelbarkeit] and mediation [Vermittlung] occupy
a special place in Hegel's grand philosophical project. He deems the
concept of immediacy to be a fit starting point for the most
fundamental part of his philosophical system, the Science of Logic,
because it expresses no more than the idea of a beginning of inquiry:
The free choice to engage in philosophical reflection. The dual
concepts of immediacy and mediation subsequently permeate Hegel's
discussions of such diverse topics as free will and determinism,
appearance and reality, and love and the law.

Though Hegel's zealous insistence on
absolute systematicity is difficult to stomach, his adoption of
immediacy and mediation as philosophical primitives is, I argue, both
insightful and justified. Thinking in terms of immediacy and
mediation allows us to overcome a range of philosophical stalemates.
I illustrate this by sketching a Hegelian resolution to an
antinomy regarding Wilfrid Sellars's idea of a space of reasons. Do
rational spaces co-exist side by side, or are we all playing one,
great game of giving and asking for reasons? Sellars's employment of
the metaphor of rational space is based on Wittgenstein's insight
into the plurality of language games, but the legitimacy of petitions
for justifications that span rational spaces destabilises the view
that these are distinct. By considering spaces of reasons
diachronically à la Hegel, we can appreciate the sense in which
rational space is at once multifarious and unified.
 Talk
Details:
 
Time:
3pm, Mon Sep 03

Location:
Philosophy common-room, quadrangle building, University of Sydney
 
Cheers,
 
Tama
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