Digest Week 1 Trinity Term 2025

Lecture

Title: 'Seeing and Thinking'

Time: 7pm

Location: Shulman Theatre, The Queen’s College

Speaker: Johannes Roessler (University of Warwick)

Abstract: Philosophers have traditionally treated the senses and the intellect as distinct faculties, but from time to time the dichotomy has been challenged. Reflecting on the phenomenon he called ‘seeing an aspect’ Wittgenstein asked: ‘Is it a case of both seeing and thinking? or an amalgam of the two, as I should almost like to say?’ Again, in The Concept of Mind, Ryle maintains that perceptual recognition implicates both perceiving and thinking, in a way that cannot be analysed as a ‘conjunction’ of distinct facts about the operation of perception and the intellect. Merleau-Ponty attributes a similar view to Cézanne: ‘ “I agree that the painter must interpret it [a face]”, said Cézanne. “The painter is not an imbecile.” But this interpretation should not be a thought distinct from seeing.’

In this talk, I plan to do three things: to distinguish between two readings of the ‘amalgamation thesis’ (one stronger than the other); to make a case for the stronger reading; and to consider how that reading bears on questions about the nature of perception. 

Maison Française Oxford

Title: 'New Realism? On the Reality of Appearance'

Speaker: Jocelyn Benoist 

Time: 5pm

Location: Maison Française d'Oxford

For further information/registration, go to: https://www.mfo.ac.uk/event/lecture-new-realism-reality-appearances-jocelyn-benoist

This lecture will be followed by a roundtable discussion on the next day (1 May), in the company of Jocelyn Benoist, Rosalie Allain, Morgan Clarke, Chihab El Khachab and Perig Pitrou. They will discuss the crossroads between philosophy and anthropology to answer the question: 'New philosophical tools to deal with the question of relativism?' See: https://www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/event/roundtable-discussion-new-philosophical-tools-to-deal-with-the-question-of-relativism

The discussion will be followed by a sandwich lunch.

Link to register: https://forms.office.com/e/q414thiHuk

Maison Française Oxford

Title: A roundtable discussion on 'New philosophical tools to deal with the question of relativism?' 

Speakers: Jocelyn Benoist, Rosalie Allain, Morgan Clarke, Chihab El Khachab and Perig Pitrou. 

Time: 10.30am

Location: 43 Banbury Road

For more information, go to: https://www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/event/roundtable-discussion-new-philosophical-tools-to-deal-with-the-question-of-relativism

The discussion will be followed by a sandwich lunch, please use this link to register: https://forms.office.com/e/q414thiHuk

Please note: this roundtable discussion follows Jocelyn Benoist's lecture the previous day (30 April) on 'New Realism? On the Reality of Appearance'. Further details on the lecture can be found in the previous section (30 April).

German Research Seminar

Title: 'Sensing the Air. On an Aesthesis of Climate'

Speaker: Eva Horn (Universität Wien) 

Time: 2pm

Location: New College, Lecture Room 6

Abstract: Today, our interest in climate is essentially reduced to climate change. However, the modern definition of climate as "average weather" and our focus on rising global temperatures have all but erased an ancient sensorium that earlier cultures had for the air. Climate was seen as a force that affected health, mentalities, habits and moods. There was also an intense sensorium for the states of the atmosphere, the smells, the winds and the weather. My talk will recall some of the historical aspects of this "elemental" understanding of air and climate, which goes back to Hippocrates but persisted until the 19th century. But it will also trace how air came to be "forgotten" in the modern age. And I will offer some suggestions for a renewed attention to and understanding of the atmosphere(s) that surround us.

For more information please contact: bernhard.malkmus@new.ox.ac.uk

Book of Changes seminars

This series of the reading group will offer an interpretation from nine perspectives: the truth of the body, the ancient sages and Confucius of “today”, Confucius’s transformation of the Way of Heaven (tian dao), What is the Way of Earth (di dao), What is the Way of Humanity (ren dao), the Sun(损, decrease) and  Yi(益, increase) of Heaven and Earth, the Sun(损, decrease) and Yi(益, increase) of the Middle Heaven, the Sun(损, damage) and Yi (益, benefit) of the Way of Humanity, and the rhythms of human life.

Through this initial series of readings, participants will, although only attaining a preliminary and superficial understanding, nonetheless gain a correct and meaningful entry into Confucius' thought on the I Ching (Book of Changes).  This will aid us in comprehending the truth of human life and the profound implications of Confucius’s composition of the hexagrams. It will significantly benefit our subsequent series, which will focus on how to interpret each hexagram and explore Confucius’s ideas concerning human civilization.

We look forward to the participation of everyone interested in Confucius’s thought, the truth of life, and the direction of human civilization in this reading group.

Title: The Truth of the Body

Time: 18.00-19.30

Venue: Colin Matthew Room 

In the Readings we will examine the “Shuogua Zhuan”(《说卦传》) in conjunction with other chapters of the Yi and interpretations of certain hexagrams, in order to understand the ontological foundations, epistemological methods, categories, and logic that underlie Confucius’s composition of the Yi.

I. Understanding Confucius

II. Understanding through the Silk Manuscript of the Yi and Philosophical Rationality

III. Ju Xi’s Studies of the Yi as a Revelation of Confucian Yi Studies; the Three Issues Concerning Yi and Confucianism; A brief Introduction of Ju Xi

IV. The Way of Life: Why Begin with the Gen Hexagram

V. Historical Interpretations of the Gen Hexagram, the Gen Hexagram and Buddhism; Philosophy of the Body and Phenomenology of the Body

VI. The Correct Interpretation of the Gen Hexagram