Philosophies of Defeat

The Jargon of Finitude

A Master Class with

Professor Bruno Bosteels

Department of Historical Studies, UTM Department of Spanish and Portuguese Department of Comparative Literature Latin American Studies Centre for South Asian Studies Historical and Cultural Studies, UTSC

University of Toronto

Photograph: Marcelo Brodsky, Aperturas, 1990-1995

Starting from the premise that finitude constitutes the new dogmatic presupposition of much work in philosophy or so-called theory after Heidegger and Foucault, this seminar will proceed to tackle five key concepts that figure prominently in the new jargon of finitude: difference, retreat, inoperativity, affect, and community or commonality. October 4th
and

18th*

and

November 1st, 15th, 29th, 2013

5-7pm, Sidney Smith Hall Natalie Zemon Davis Conference Room, SS2098 *Oct 18th session at UTSC, Room HW525C*

Note: To participate in this Master Class, please email Kevin.Coleman@utoronto.ca to register.

This Seminar is Free and Open to All

Bruno Bosteels is Professor of Romance Studies at Cornell University. He is the author of Alain Badiou, une trajectoire polmique (La Fabrique, 2009); Badiou and Politics (Duke University Press, 2011); The Actuality of Communism (Verso, 2011), and Marx and Freud in Latin America (Verso, 2012). He is preparing two new books, After Borges: Literature and Antiphilosophy and Philosophies of Defeat: The Jargon of Finitude (under contract with Verso). He has translated Alain Badious Theory of the Subject (Continuum, 2009). Further translations include Badious Wittgensteins Antiphilosophy, Philosophy for Militants, The Adventure of French Philosophy and Rhapsody for the Theatre (all for Verso). He is the author of dozens of articles on modern Latin American literature and culture, and on contemporary European philosophy and political theory. Between 2005 and 2011, he served as the general editor of Diacritics.