Jan 31st
A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petty Bourgeoisie a talk by Dan Evans
The petty bourgeoisie ― the insecure class between the working class and the bourgeoisie ― is hugely significant within global politics. Yet it remains something of a mystery.
Initially identified as a powerful political force by theorists like Marx and Poulantzas, the petit-bourgeoisie was expected to decline, as small businesses and small property were gradually swallowed up by monopoly capitalism. Yet, far from disappearing, structural changes to the global economy under neoliberalism have instead grown the petty bourgeoisie, and the individualist values associated with it have been popularized by a society which fetishizes “aspiration”, home ownership and entrepreneurship. So why has this happened?
Dr Dan Evans is currently a lecturer in Criminology at Swansea University. His research has been published in numerous academic journals and has recently published a book A Nation of Shopkeepers. He is a public sociologist and has made numerous television and radio appearances and written for popular platforms like Jacobin, The New Statesman, Open Democracy, The Conversation, The Guardian, Planet: The Welsh Internationalist, and more.
Feb 14th
Feb 28th
Michel Serres on Politics, Ethics and the Natural World – Contracts and Translations a talk by David Webb
In 1990, Michel Serres published The Natural Contract, a book on environmental philosophy in which he made what was at the time a radical proposal that nature should be given similar legal rights and protections to people. This idea has since become a reality in many parts of the world, but there was always more to Serres’s proposal than a programme of legislation. His work, spanning nearly sixty years and over sixty books, engages with the history of philosophy, mathematics, the sciences, information theory, cybernetics and much more. Along the way, he devised and practised an almost unique way of thinking in which there is no single principle or logic to guide us through a complex and changing world.
In this talk, I’ll outline Serres’s idea of a ‘natural contract’ and then introduce features of his thinking that mean we cannot take it at face value as a legal artefact. Instead, it becomes a thread that we can follow to think about our relation to nature as a variation on forms of relation within nature itself. I’ll then show how this makes possible a distinctive approach to ethics that can – perhaps must – be developed alongside the legal dimension of the natural contract. With Serres’s work, we can draw virtues from the natural world that can inform a human ethics which is consistent with sustainable processes in nature
David Webb is Professor of Philosophy at Staffordshire University. His interests include Michel Foucault’s conception of critique as a rational practice, and above all the ethical and political significance of the work of Michel Serres. He is co-editor of the series Michel Serres and Material Futures at Bloomsbury Press and is the co-translator with Bill Ross of Serres’s book The Birth of Physics (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018).
March 20th
An Introduction to the Thought and Life of Simone Weil a talk by Christopher Thomas
The philosopher, mystic, labourer, and political activist Simone Weil lived a short life that burned brightly. In recent years the work of this otherwise marginal figure of 20th Century French philosophy has seen a renaissance of interest. Books, talks, conferences and even think pieces have begun turning to the new and unusual vocabulary of this singular thinker.
In this talk, Dr Christopher Thomas, co-founder of the UK Simone Weil Research Network, will outline a little about the life of Simone Weil, before introducing how her unique creation theology leads into her most popular ethical concept, that of attention.
April 24th
Philosophy as a Way of Life a talk by Jill Marsden
Nietzsche once wrote that the product of the philosopher is their ‘life’ and is more important than their works. What might it mean to live philosophically today? Does philosophy as an ‘art of living’ have implications beyond the self-improvement industries?
Jill Marsden is Professor of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Bolton where she teaches in the department of English and Creative Writing.
May 15th
Busting some myths about Hegel and Marx a talk by Gordon Finlayson
Professor Gordon Finlayson teaches philosophy at Sussex. He works on German philosophy and Frankfurt School critical theory, especially Adorno and Habermas. He was a graduate student alongside William Large, back in the day.
All talks will take place at the FCH Campus of the University of Gloucestershire in Rm. HC203.
You can find a map of the campus here: https://www.glos.ac.uk/visit-us/our-campuses/francis-close-hall-campus/
All talks start at 7 pm and usually last for an hour.
We are a local partner of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and these events are funded by a grant from them. Their website can be found here: https://royalinstitutephilosophy.org/.
Contact email is: glosphilsoc@gmail.com