Dear all, Please note the change in time for this seminar, and contact me if you would like to participate and have not already been in touch.
Wed 20 May 1030am: Matteo Falomi (University of Essex) will discuss his paper "Conformity and Second Nature. Natural and Social Necessitation in McDowell’s Mind and World" Abstract 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. The seminar will follow a pre-read workshop format; participants are asked to read the paper in advance. I will forward the paper to anyone who is interested. 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 _____________________________________________________ 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.
