Thinking Our Present
Facilitator: Antoine Constantin Caille
Wednesdays 7-9pm from 10 June to 8 July, 2020.
This is an online course – to register see details below.
The goal of this course is to gain a more acute understanding of our time period. In this regard it is not different from many other courses offered in a time of anxiety about our future. Yet we will try to differentiate our approach by insisting on the three notions that compose its title – thinking, our, present – problematizing each one separately and then in their relationship(s).
Thinking about what is thinking (or metacognition) helps us to think better – this aspect of the course will lean toward logic, in the broadest sense of the term (we will not use many writings by logicians), and ontology. Thinking about what is ours should improve our understanding of what we are as human beings or living beings amongst others – this aspect will lean toward ethics. Thinking about what we call the present or about what the word present may mean should improve our understanding of our finite condition, of our position in history, and of our potential role in the situation we live – this aspect will lean toward pragmatism and politics.
This introductory course will be divided into two parts: I. Forces at stake; II. Thinking our present as the task or definition of “Modernity”. The three aspects of the course (onto-logical, ethical, and political) will not be treated separately.
How to register for this course
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we’re offering all our courses online using Zoom classrooms. To sign up for this course, and get the Zoom link, you’ll need to join our Ryver forum first. Instructions here.
When you’ve signed up to Ryver, find the course by searching under forums for “Thinking Our Present” and the tutor will post the Zoom link there. You’ll also be able to use Ryver to chat to other students in between classes, and to download course materials.