Guest Lecture with Ian James and Martin Crowley: "Catherine Malabou. The Future of Hegel", April 25th, 2018

Ian James and Martin Crowley, internationally reputated experts in the field of modern French philosophy, gave elucidating insights into the book “The future of Hegel” by Catherine Malabou, a well-known French philosopher and student of Jacques Derrida. Invited by the Department for Fundamental Theology and the Research Centre RaT, they gave a workshop entitled “Postmodern Lecture of Hegel”, which took place in the inspiring and hospitable atmosphere of the convent of Melk on April 24th, and a lecture for participants of seminars concerning Hegel, Deleuze and De Certeau at the University of Vienna on the following day. Both events were dedicated to the mentioned book by Malabou.

Her highly challenging and complex oeuvre discusses the topic of time and temporality in Hegel. The workshop in Melk followed the method of close reading, enriched by short talks concerning certain passages. This allowed to discuss Hegels understanding of time en detail. Questions that were also asked in the lecture the following day could be reflected thoroughly, such as: What does ‘becoming’ mean in Hegel? How can we understand the concept of ‘redemption of time’? Inhowfar are time and subjectivity related with each other? A further challenge was to contextualise Malabous concept within the field of philosophical reflection on time by Heidegger and Derrida. An emphasis lay on the concept of plasticity in Malabou. To think a radical openness of time that is not understood in categories of chronological linearity is an important thought in this context.

As wholehearted experts for French philosophy, Ian James and Martin Crowley spontaneously declared their willingness to participate in the seminar on Deleuze and De Certeau that took place subsequently. Their expertise concerning especially Deleuze, which is based on long professional work and moreover very personal engagement with his philosophy was an enriching and fascinating contribution to the seminar.