31.01.2025

COF Lecture: 05 and 19 February 2025

“Philosophical Pragmatism and the Ethics of Attention” and “Trump and the Bolsonaro Radical Right Populist Projects of Race”

COF Lecture:  “Philosophical Pragmatism and the Ethics of Attention”
with Prof. Michael Raposa (Lehigh University, Bethlehem, USA)

5 February 2025, 6:30 PM
Großer Senat, Neue Aula, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, 72074 Tübingen

In this lecture Prof. Raposa explores the relationship between classical American philosophical pragmatism and an “ethics of attention,” inspired by Simone Weil and Iris Murdoch, who emphasized attention as a central ethical act. Pragmatists like William James, Charles Peirce, and Josiah Royce are presented as offering valuable insights for developing this ethic. The lecture also examines meditation - a certain spiritual exercise - as a practice of paying attention, assessing its philosophical and moral significance.  For further information here!

COF Lecture:  “Trump and the Bolsonaro Radical Right Populist Projects of Race”
with Prof. Carlos de la Torre (University of Florida)
19 February 2025, 6:30 PM
Großer Senat - Neue Aula, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, 72074 Tübingen

Prof. Carlos de la Torre will compare Trump’s racial project of eliminating predominantly nonwhite illegal immigrants with Bolsonaro’s project of re-employing Brazil’s so-called racial democracy. Trump seeks to revive an imagined white nation from before the 1960s, while Bolsonaro aims to restore a model of harmonious race relations allegedly threatened by affirmative action and indigenous rights. 

These projects reflect distinct histories: in the U.S., racial mixing was feared as a threat to white purity, whereas in Brazil, it was embraced as a means of whitening the population.

This talk addresses one of the most up-to-date issues of public and political discourse around the world. So, we are looking forward to having Carlos de la Torre here for this profoundly important talk.
For further information here!