Lecturer Michael Halewood (University of Essex, UK) vierailee huhtikuun lopulla Turun yliopistossa (sosiologian oppiaine) sekä Tampereen yliopistossa (UTACAS). Dr.
Halewood pitää Turun yliopistossa kaksi luentoa (Publicum --rakennus, Assistentinkatu 7):
*What is Sociology? What does A. N Whitehead offer Sociology today?*
Publicum ls. 3, klo 12 -- 14, tiistai 27. 4. 2010
*'A Culture of Thought': A. N. Whitehead's challenge to modernity.*
Publicum ls. 3, klo 14 -- 16, torstai 29. 4. 2010
Tampereen yliopistossa Lecturer Halewood pitää luennon:
*'A Culture of Thought': A. N. Whitehead's challenge to modernity.*
UTACAS (Pinni B -rakennus, Kanslerinrinne 1)
klo 16 -- 18, keskiviikko 28. 4. 2010
Allekirjoittaneelta voi tiedustella kaikesta mahdollisesta Dr. Halewoodin vierailuun liittyvästä.
Seppo Poutanen
Dr.Soc.Sc., Docent
Department of Social Research, Sociology
University of Turku
Assistentinkatu 7
FIN-20014 University of Turku
Finland
email: seppou(at)utu.fi
Lisätietoja luennoista:
Lecturer, Dr. Michael Halewood
University of Essex, UK
see http://www.essex.ac.uk/sociology/staff/profile.aspx?ID=132
Lectures in Turku and Tampere, 27. 4. – 29. 4. 2010
What is Sociology? What does A. N Whitehead offer Sociology today?
The introductory chapter of most sociology textbooks start with the question ‘What is Sociology?’ By the time we get to university such questions are usually forgotten or dismissed as too simplistic. In this lecture I will suggest that the occasional return to such basic questions can be very provocative and yet helpful. Looking at such a question can make us stop and think as to what exactly it is we are doing, how we are doing it, and why.
In this lecture I will start by introducing some of the common assumptions that would seem to define sociology (study of the social, interactions between humans, etc.). I will locate these within a specific version of modernity and will point up some of the problems inherent in such accounts (as discussed by Latour, for example) for example, the distinction between the natural and the social, and the difficulty that sociology has in accounting for or describing material objects. I will then introduce the work of the philosopher A. N. Whitehead (1861-1947) as a way of moving beyond some of the limitations identified. In doing so, the lecture will try to introduce notions of process, becoming, and the extension of relations to non-humans so as to produce a novel yet more effective version of sociology.
‘A Culture of Thought’: A. N. Whitehead’s challenge to modernity.
Social science and social theory is a creature of modernity and is deeply implicated in the process of its development and its modes of thought. This lecture will use the work of A. N. Whitehead (1861-1947) to investigate the extent to which social research today relies upon certain problematic assumptions and concepts which are a legacy of out-dated view of the world. In doing so, it will outline what might be termed modernity’s ‘culture of thought’. Whitehead argues that one major element of the conceptual apparatus of modernity is what he terms the ‘Bifurcation of Nature’ which splits the world into the really real realm of inert matter which science studies and the realm of human experience and life which social science studies. This, he argues, produces various logical inconsistencies and limits the development of critical thought and research.
In this lecture I will outline Whitehead’s critique and also the manner in which he attempts to develop a new ‘culture of thought’ which enables a more inclusive and robust approach to social theory. The main element of his philosophy will be introduced in terms of the social character of all existence and the reconfiguration of subjectivity. This lecture will also explain the importance of the role of the body within Whitehead’s thought and will relate this to contemporary discussions of gender and sexual difference. In this way, the lecture will outline some of the opportunities that Whitehead’s work offers social research.