French Realism Seminars 2022

I coordinate the French Realisms seminars at the French Section of the Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages, University of Cambridge. The seminars seek to offer a range of perspective on the question of realism in contemporary French thought. This year’s schedule is outlined below. Details about last year’s seminar, including a link to the recording, can be found further down the page.

The current schedule for this year:

15th March at 14.00 (UK) via Zoom: Prof Jocelyn Benoist, “Realism and the End of Phenomenology” with a response from Prof John Milbank (University of Nottingham) and chaired by Solange Manche (University of Cambridge)

“What can the resurgence of self-proclaimed ‘realist’ philosophical positions mean today? Many things, certainly. In the confusion inherent in our times, which tends to think in catchwords, it is not always easy to find one’s bearings. If, beyond the slogans, there is a more substantial philosophical core behind this notion of realism, it seems to me that it lies first and foremost in the following idea: the end of the era of representation.” 

4th May at 17.00 (UK) via Zoom: Prof Catherine Malabou, “The Political Void of Speculative Realism” with a response from Dr Ian James (University of Cambridge)

“Speculative realism has not elaborated a political vision of its critique of ‘correlationism’. It has not questioned the becoming of the subject after its eviction from the real. It has condemned materialism without considering Althusser's important theory of the residual subject. Through a confrontation between realism and materialism, I intend to argue that the place of the decorrelated subject appears as that of a renewed vision of anarchism.”

18th May at 14.00 (UK): Prof Andrea Bellantone (L’institut catholique de Toulouse), “Réalisme et philosophie de l’esprit” with responses from Dr Jean Khalfa (Cambridge) and Prof John Milbank (Nottingham). The talk will be given in French, but an English translation will be distributed to attendees beforehand. The discussion afterwards will be conducted in English with the help of an interpreter.

“This lecture will attempt a creative repetition of spiritualist realism (I). It is a forgotten tradition of modern and contemporary thought. This realism proposes an alternative theory of experience, opposed to the "philosophies of representation" (II). It is based on two interrelated forms of participation in reality: intimate (vertical) and open to the world (horizontal). These two orientations constitute the "cross of participation". The Vertical, metaphysical participation is invisible and not objective. It goes beyond all phenomenology and allows us to access a relation with Being. This relation can be called "metaphysical experience" (III). This participation takes place essentially in affective form (IV) and opens up the possibility of experiencing what surrounds us in the world (V). A historical digression offers a deeper insight into the spiritualist interpretation of modernity (V). Finally, spiritualist realism presents itself as a hermeneutic philosophy of love (VII).”

The French Realisms seminars are supported by the French Section of the Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages at the University of Cambridge and the Faculté de Philosophie et l’UE CERES de l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse

French Realism Seminars 2021

The French Realism seminars began last year. The very first talk took place in May 2021 with Prof Katarina Kolozova’s “The Status of ‘Subjectivity’ in Philosophy and Capitalism in their Identity-in-the-last-instance: the Tautology of Value Production” and response from Dr Ian James. A link to the recording can be found here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pju3r-MEUZw The talk starts at the 3:00 minute mark!

Two other seminars were scheduled for last year but had to be postponed due to the pandemic.