PHAIS Seminar Series Week 8: Professor Alexander García Düttmann (Philosophy)

The PHAIS Seminar Series meets weekly in term time to discuss a paper by a visiting Philosopher, Historian, Art Historian or a member of our academic staff.

DOES TRUTH MAKE LOVERS UNLOVABLE? Concerning E. M. Forster’s Eternal Moment

Professor Alexander García Düttman, Universität der Künste Berlin 

The paper attempts to unravel the notion of an "eternal moment" as introduced by novelist E. M. Forster. To do so, it focuses on the relationship between sense and truth and suggests a distinction between two kinds of unlovability, one conditioned by social mechanisms and another one, cold and hardly human, that exceeds such conditioning and must be sought at the very heart of love. What is an unlovability that does not contradict love and how does it relate to the "eternal moment", to the moment when sense and truth touch upon each other?

Biography

Alexander García Düttmann teaches philosophy and aesthetics at Berlin's University of the Arts. His latest book publications include "So What. How to Make Films With Words" (Northwestern University Press 2023) and "Kaputt. An Essay on Violence" (Diaphanes 2024). 

The seminar will be delivered in person, but a Zoom link will be available for those who wish to attend remotely. Please email phaispg@essex.ac.uk to request the link.