Universität Wien

180116 SE Speculative Physics (2021W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work
MIXED
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

The seminar will take place in a synchron hybrid manner. Those students, which would like to attend the seminar in physical presence will have the chance to do it up to the number of students allowed to be in Lecture-room 3D according to the Covid-rules, operative during the Winter-semester. If the number of students who would like to attend the seminar on spot exceeds the number of persons allowed to be in lecture-room 3D, Böhler will develop a rotating system for all students in the first seminar meeting.
Once you have succefully registered yourself online for this seminar, please send an email to Mr. Boehler whether you prefer to attend this seminar in a digital mode or on the spot in presence: arno.boehler@univie.ac.at

  • Tuesday 12.10. 11:30 - 14:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Tuesday 19.10. 11:30 - 14:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Tuesday 09.11. 11:30 - 14:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Tuesday 16.11. 11:30 - 14:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Tuesday 23.11. 11:30 - 14:30 Hybride Lehre
    Hörsaal 3D, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. III/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Tuesday 30.11. 11:30 - 14:30 Digital
  • Tuesday 07.12. 11:30 - 14:30 Digital
  • Tuesday 14.12. 11:30 - 14:30 Digital

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

In this seminar we will read core texts of a contemporary stream of thinking which some call "New Materialism" or "Speculative Materialism". In this context matter is no more conceived as a passive principle, but as active, vital agency which animates space while penetrating it as a fluctuating vaccuum (Barad) or "vibrating matter (Bennett).
Core problems which will haunt us in this semester are the concepts of matter / materiality / mattering (Barad). What are vibrating fields? What does Spinoza understand by conatus? Where can we draw the line between inorganic matter and organic life if matter itself is a vital being (Schelling, Deleuze)?

Method and digital concept:
In the first course unit, you will be asked choose one of texts of our literature and orally present it in an agreed session of our online seminar. In order to enable your fellow students to study the main lines of your presentation in advance, you are asked to send an audio file of your presentation to the course instructor a few days before your oral presentation (via email or cloud), who will upload your audio presentation to Moodle and make it available for all participants to listen to. Your oral presentations will be discussed live in the online session and placed in a historical, intellectual-historical context by the course instructor.

The seminar will take place in a synchron hybrid manner. Those students, which would like to attend the seminar in physical presence will have the chance to do it up to the number of students allowed to be in Lecture-room 3D according to the Covid-rules, operative during the Winter-semester. If the number of students who would like to attend the seminar on spot exceeds the number of persons allowed to be in lecture-room 3D, Böhler will develop a rotating system for all students in the first seminar meeting.
Once you have succefully registered yourself online for this seminar, I would ask you to write me an email whether you prefer to attend this seminar in a digital mode or on the spot in presence: arno.boehler@univie.ac.at

Assessment and permitted materials

Oral Presentation (15 minutes) which has to be presented in an online meeting. A audio-recording of this presentation has to be send to the course instructor via email some days before the online presentation of the lecture. The audio-file is the second part of your achievements for the seminar. The third criterion for the evaluation is participation in the seminar.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The overall grade implies: oral presentation (25%), audio-file (25%), presence and active participation in the sessions of the online-seminar (50%). By registering for this course/seminar, you tacitly agree to having all your electronic submissions checked by Turnitin. Minimum requirement for a positive evaluation: > 50% of the overall achievments.
For a positive grade you have to be present in the online-meetings. In case of an excused absence (max. 2 per semester) you are asked to inform the course instructor in time.

Examination topics

All particants have to present one of the texts made available on Moodle. The presentation should communicate the central thoughts of the text to the participants, question them critically and contextualize it historically. You also are asked to send an audiofile with your oral presentation some days in advance to the course instructor (arno.boehler@univie.ac.at), who will make it available on Moodle. File name: NAME_SE_Spekulative_Physik.pdf

Reading list

• Barad, Karen (2007): Meeting the Universe Halfway, Durham & London: Duke University Press
• Bennett, Jane: Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham: Duke University Press, 2010.
• Diefenbacher, Katja: Spekulativer Materialismus: Spinoza in der postmarxistischen Philosophie. Wien, Berlin: Turia + Kant, 2018.
• Spinoza, Baruch de: Sämtliche Werke. Ethik in Geometrischer Ordnung dargestellt. Hg. v. Wolfgang Bartuschat. Hamburg: Felix Meiner, 2007.
• Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph (1804): System der gesamten Philosophie und der Naturphilosophie insbesondere. in F. W. J. von Schelling: Sämmtliche Werke. Electronic Edition., Band IV, Schriften zur Identitätsphilosophie: 1801-1807, http://pm.nlx.com.uaccess.univie.ac.at/xtf/view?docId=schelling_de/schelling_de.04.xml;chunk.id=div.schelling.531;toc.depth=100;toc.id=div.schelling.531;brand=default

Weiterführende Literatur wird auf Moodle bereitgestellt.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Fr 12.05.2023 00:18