Speaker: Emre Şan
Our aim will be to demonstrate that phenomenological thought along the axis of intentionality and epoche is not only a description of the inner experience of things lived, but that it can also be used for the critique of our present-day social and collective phenomena. The method of epoche, as an act concerning the suspension of one’s natural attitude, refers to freedom. Through the Husserlian understanding, we will attempt to present a new point of view on the discussions in contemporary philosophy on crisis and event, with a shift from the experience of individual freedom to the idea of a collective freedom. In a phenomenological sense, although the event is dependent on history and the situation in which it arises, it is a moment of unpredictability that cannot be determined by these, and that transcends them to lead to the birth of something brand new. The emergence of the irresistible, the undermining of fixed given meanings, and the loss of a stable ground bring about new possibilities and drive the subjects towards a constitutive transformation. We will attempt to arrive at a description of this transformation – in whose depth of philosophical potential we believe – initially starting from Husserl’s idea of the crisis of meaning and Heidegger’s notion of the crisis of action, and by way of Patočka’s heretical understanding of history, through which he examines the historical existence of man.
Emre Şan received his bachelor’s degree from Galatasaray University, and completed his master’s degree and doctorate at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Pursuing a post-doctoral research at École Normale Supérieur following his PhD, Emre Şan’s book on transcendence as a phenomenological problem was published with a preface by Renaud Barbaras (Paris, Mimesis, 2012). The author has published articles in national and international journals and book series, in Turkish, French, English and Spanish, as well as working as an editor in publications on Contemporary French Philosophy. He has been serving as a member of the editorial board of the periodical Cogito, and was awarded the Prix Mercier, presented biennially by L’Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL). Emre Şan is currently an Associate Professor at Istanbul 29 Mayıs University.
Events are free of charge. Invitations can be obtained, on the day of the event, one hour prior to the event, at the Akbank Sanat ticket counter.