Presented by Niki Young
11 January 2016, 18:00-19:30
Gateway Building (GW) Room 104 (Mikiel Anton Vassalli Conference Centre), University of Malta (number 7 on the campus map)
Quentin Meillassoux is most well-known for his work entitled After Finitude, in which he coins the term ‘correlationism’. In ‘Time Without Becoming’, Meillassoux claims that ‘correlationism’ refers to any philosophical position which maintains “that there are no objects, no events, no laws, no beings which are not always-already correlated with a point of view, with a subjective access. Anyone maintaining the contrary… would be exemplarily naïve, or if you prefer: a realist, a metaphysician, a quaintly dogmatic philosopher”. Against this correlationist tendency which Meillassoux deems to have pervaded the whole of philosophy since Kant, he wants to claim that being is independent of thought, and that thought can think being.
In this session, Niki Young shall give an introductory account of what Meillassoux means by ‘correlationism’ as well as his proposed path to the ‘great outdoors’, through an analysis of ‘Time Without Becoming’. The essay can be found through this link.
The Philosophy Postgraduate Reading Group (PPRG) is intended for current and recent postgraduates, doctoral students and academics researching within or bordering the field of philosophy. The aim is to have a speaker lead a session, presenting one's research or work in progress. The speaker can also propose a text (10-20 pages) written by a thinker s/he is familiar with or has written a dissertation about, which the group will then analyse and debate. Prior to the meeting, participants are expected to read any sources provided. Undergrads are encouraged to attend.
Rather than sticking to one philosophical perspective, this reading group enables a fruitful and stimulating engagement with a vast array of conceptual tools, enriching the analysis of issues which have dominated the history of thought and which are still of great relevance to the present.
Anyone interested in moderating a session or in helping out in the coordination of the reading group or has any suggestions, feel free to get in touch.