Brockington Visitorship: Dr. Donatella Di Cesare

It is our pleasure to announce a visit of Dr. Donatella Di Cesare as part of the Brockington Visitorship Fund. Dr. Di Cesare will held lectures in Kingston and at Queen’s between 27 and 29 September. The visit is co-sponsored by Harry and Sylvia Rosen Memorial Symposium Fund in Jewish Studies; Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures & Department of Philosophy.

Dr. Donatella Di Cesare is one of the most prominent contemporary philosophers and is a highly productive scholar in the major areas of contemporary philosophy: alterity, semiotics, hermeneutics, deconstruction, and feminism.  She has published and lectured in major venues around the world.  Her work includes numerous essays and over 15 monographs on: hermeneutics, contemporary philosophy, philosophy of language, Jewish philosophy, phenomenology, ethics, and Greek philosophy. Her books Utopia of understanding has had 8 editions in English between 2012 and 2013; her book Gadamer: A Philosophical Portrait , translated in 4 languages, has had 17 editions between 2007 and 2013 and her latest book Heidegger e gli ebrei (published in Italian and in the process of being published in translation in several languages) has already had 3 editions since November. She has also worked on the effects of globalization, focussing on the human condition of exile and on the figure of the “alien resident,” as well as on the problems relating to ethical and political justice, including the theme of the “taking responsibility” after Auschwitz.  Di Cesare’s work evolves around the question of the human condition in today’s world, creativity in the age of technology, and the future of language; topics which bring insight into the understanding of the importance of the individual in human society.

In her keynote public lecture “Heidegger’s Metaphysical Anti-Semitism”, Dr. Di Cesare will address her findings on works of Martin Heidegger, one of the 20th century most influential philosophers, and his interpretation of Shoah. In his newly discovered “Black Notebooks”, Heidegger claims that the Holocaust was an example of “self-destructions: the Jews destroyed themselves and no fingers should be pointed at anyone except the Jews themselves.” Di Cesare will show that Heidegger was not only the Nazi, but also anti-Semitic, and this without ceasing to play a key role in the history of European thought. She will also discuss what role Holocaust played in the construction of Heidegger’s philosophy of the history of being. By addressing the issue of the Holocaust philosophically and indicating the dehumanization of the universe, Di Cesare’s lecture will contribute to the understanding and appreciation of the dignity, freedom and responsibility of the individual in our global society.

Program:

Tuesday, 27 September:

7:00 pm: Lecture “Heidegger and the Jews”
Wilson Room, Kingston Frontenac Public Library, 130 Johnson Street, Kingston

Wednesday, 28 September:

5:00 pm: Keynote Lecture: “Heidegger’s Metaphysical Anti-Semitism”
Agnes Etherington Art Centre Atrium

Thursday, 29 September:

4:00 pm Lecture: “Exiled in Language”
Colloquium Series at the Department of Philosophy. Watson Hall 517

Everyone is welcome!