University of Helsinki
Date: 12. – 13. April 2012, Venue: University of Helsinki
Europe, today, is at pains with its universality. On the one hand, it appears as a universal construction that cannot satisfy particularistic passions within, and on the other hand, it appears as only a particular culture that cannot match the universality of the global world.
But what is European universality? In the conference “Transcending Europe” it will be studied as a philosophical concept: as the paradox of a “situated universality”. Maybe European universality cannot be understood as a model that could be used as a source of identification, but rather as a regulative principle with ethical and political dimensions? Maybe Europe is not a particular idea imposing itself on a global framework of thought, but a desire of universality that can only be realised as a constant self-transgression and openness towards what is other to it?
The conference ‘Transcending’ Europe looks for new philosophical articulations of European universality, its way of being supranational without being global and of being ideal without being merely cultural.
The keynote speakers of the conference are Rodolphe Gasché, who has recently published “Europe, or the Infinite Task. A Study of a Philosophical Concept”, and Denis Guénoun, whose “Hypothèses sur l’Europe: un essai de philosophie” will soon be published in English.
For further information, contact Susanna Lindberg (susanna.lindberg@helsinki.fi) or Tuomas Parsio (tuomas.parsio@gmail.com)
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