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Religious Perspectives on Global Solidarity in the Era of Global Crises |
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Seminars and Colloquia |
Clemena AntonovaLudger Hagedorn |
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Series: Seminars and Colloquia
All three global crises of recent times – the financial crisis of 2008, the refugee crisis, and now the coronavirus crisis – have been, among other things, tests of solidarity. But what is it that decides in a concrete situation, whether solidarity is extended to those in need or not? Especially interesting are those cases, when people feel forced to make difficult choices between solidarity to one group versus solidarity to another. The talk tried to distinguish between two concepts of solidarity, one that could be called civic solidarity (to one’s family, friends, compatriots, etc.) and another one offering a broader sense of global solidarity (to all human beings as such).
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Series: Seminars and Colloquia
All three global crises of recent times – the financial crisis of 2008, the refugee crisis, and now the coronavirus crisis – have been, among other things, tests of solidarity. But what is it that decides in a concrete situation, whether solidarity is extended to those in need or not? Especially interesting are those cases, when people feel forced to make difficult choices between solidarity to one group versus solidarity to another. The talk tried to distinguish between two concepts of solidarity, one that could be called civic solidarity (to one’s family, friends, compatriots, etc.) and another one offering a broader sense of global solidarity (to all human beings as such).
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Facing Post-Truth in Central-Eastern Europe |
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Seminars and Colloquia |
Arvydas GrišinasLudger Hagedorn |
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Series: Seminars and Colloquia
The main challenge that post-truth poses, as the concept itself suggests, is the alleged end of centrality of the idea of truth in politics. Central and Eastern Europe finds itself in a political culture where claims, ideas and utterances must no longer necessarily be grounded in proven empirical facts, in order to be held true by the broader public. This situation, however, is by no means new or unheard of. In this regard, it resembles Soviet social reality, where officially held narratives also had scant empirical grounding. Furthermore, while it were Central-Eastern European dissidents who problematized these issues and set out to successfully counter them, resulting in the events of 1989, the same dissident heritage is also used nowadays to promote agendas of populist illiberal regimes in the region. The talk explored the prospects and challenges to utilizing the dissident heritage to tackling these contemporary issues.
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Series: Seminars and Colloquia
The main challenge that post-truth poses, as the concept itself suggests, is the alleged end of centrality of the idea of truth in politics. Central and Eastern Europe finds itself in a political culture where claims, ideas and utterances must no longer necessarily be grounded in proven empirical facts, in order to be held true by the broader public. This situation, however, is by no means new or unheard of. In this regard, it resembles Soviet social reality, where officially held narratives also had scant empirical grounding. Furthermore, while it were Central-Eastern European dissidents who problematized these issues and set out to successfully counter them, resulting in the events of 1989, the same dissident heritage is also used nowadays to promote agendas of populist illiberal regimes in the region. The talk explored the prospects and challenges to utilizing the dissident heritage to tackling these contemporary issues.
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Religion and Revolution |
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Lecture |
Clemena AntonovaGayle Lonergan |
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Series: Lecture
While the “Russian religious renaissance” at the beginning of the 20th century and the political fervour, which culminated in the October Revolution of 1917, took place at the same period, these two developments are rarely studied alongside each other. In their joint book presentations, the two speakers considered a tradition of religious philosophy, on the one hand and the political history of the early years of the Bolshevik Party, on the other as two responses to the crisis of modernity. Interestingly, with all their differences, the religious and the Marxist-Leninist projects – both of which displayed utopian and illiberal features – shared common concerns and themes. It is, thus, not surprising that some of the most prominent religious thinkers had started as Marxists. It is exactly these common themes that can be relevant to contemporary debates on the critical issues of the early 21st century.
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Series: Lecture
While the “Russian religious renaissance” at the beginning of the 20th century and the political fervour, which culminated in the October Revolution of 1917, took place at the same period, these two developments are rarely studied alongside each other. In their joint book presentations, the two speakers considered a tradition of religious philosophy, on the one hand and the political history of the early years of the Bolshevik Party, on the other as two responses to the crisis of modernity. Interestingly, with all their differences, the religious and the Marxist-Leninist projects – both of which displayed utopian and illiberal features – shared common concerns and themes. It is, thus, not surprising that some of the most prominent religious thinkers had started as Marxists. It is exactly these common themes that can be relevant to contemporary debates on the critical issues of the early 21st century.
Read more
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