Updates

Sorry for the light posting. The Society has been busy over the last few months, even if the blog has not.

The SSPP panel at SPEP — Anarchism and Philosophy — attracted quite a crowd, wit people standing and sitting on the floor. Conversation rotated around the degree to which anarchism was taken seriously as theory, as philosophy, and whether this was the right question altogether. Is there something in anarchist thought that is inherently hostile to systematization? Conversely, when anarchists have turned to philosophical theories, what have been the hesitations? What political failures could be traced to failures of the imagination, and how can some strains of anarchist thinking help us to overcome these failures?

Our panel at the APA Eastern — Envirnmental Philosophy as Political Philosophy — was also well attended and lively. I’m hoping to bring some first hand reports to the blog soon.

Finally, several SSPP members presented at the Historical Materialism conference in NYC in January. The conference was quite lively, quite youthful, and quite exciting, and every panel seemed to attract more people than the room could hold.  Bill Lewis presented on Henri Lefebvre’s philosophy of science; Hasana Sharp presented on Spinoza’s theoretical antihumanism; Jason Read presented on transindividuality and species being; and I presented on Paolo Virno’s reading of Aristotle.  I haven’t memorized the membership, so if other members presented, please let me know and I’ll add you to the list.