Dear all, Please join us for an ad hoc seminar with Matteo Falomi (University of Essex) to discuss his paper "Conformity and Second Nature. Natural and Social Necessitation in McDowell’s Mind and World" (abstract included below). The seminar has been arranged following interest in the work of Stanley Cavell earlier this year, including two Cavell readings groups held in the Faculty of Philosophy.
The seminar will be held on Zoom, Wed 20 May, 12-1330. It will follow a pre-read workshop format; the paper will be circulated a week before the meeting, and participants are asked to read the paper in advance. Zoom invite details are included at the bottom of this email. Please email me if you would like to participate and I will ensure you get a copy of the paper in advance. I look forward to seeing many of you then. Best wishes, Matt -- Matt Bennett Lecturer, Faculty of Philosophy Director of Studies, Selwyn College University of Cambridge (01223) (7)60825 Email: mp...@cam.ac.uk ***** Conformity and Second Nature Natural and Social Necessitation in McDowell’s Mind and World Matteo Falomi (Essex) In Mind and World, McDowell aims at dissolving a philosophical anxiety about the place of reason in nature. His dissolution hinges upon a Wittgensteinian “reminder of the obvious”: reason is second nature to us, as we become rational through social habituation. I will argue that the content of this “reminder”, if thought through, turns out to be anything but obvious: if self-determination is acquired through habituation, then we must, but also must not, rely on the authority of our educators in order to acquire it. From this perspective, what habituation can deliver is at best a capacity to rely on external authority. This indicates that McDowell’s therapeutic attempt is incomplete, as it does not dissolve the reader’s anxiety, but rather leaves her with an anxiety of a different form: the attempt transforms an anxiety about natural necessitation into an anxiety about social necessitation, or conformity. To bring Mind and World’s project to completion, one would need to dissolve this anxiety. I will conclude by suggesting that Stanley Cavell’s work on Perfectionism may be a good starting place for approaching this task. ***** Zoom invite details: Join Zoom Meeting (Zoom seminar 2) https://zoom.us/j/96143579557 Meeting ID: 961 4357 9557 On the following webpage you will find a Zoom user guide, which could prove helpful: https://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/aboutus/IT/zoom-user-guide.pdf _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CamPhilEvents mailing list, or change your membership options, please visit the list information page: http://bit.ly/CamPhilEvents List archive: https://lists.cam.ac.uk/pipermail/phil-events/ Please note that CamPhilEvents doesn't accept email attachments. See the list information page for further details and suggested alternatives.
