Sighard Neckel, Prof. für Gesellschaftsanalyse und sozialen Wandel, Universität Hamburg
Time of catastrophes
The corona pandemic and the subsequent collapse of the global economy, the continuously increase of global warming, the extinction of species and the worldwide threat to democracy demonstrate that we are no longer living in a time of mere “crises.” Rather, we have apparently reached a time of catastrophes, where one disaster follows the next and a collapse of the ecological, economic and social systems seems imminent. In order to prevent this, how far-reaching must social change be? And do we still have enough time to avert catastrophes?
Antonia Birnbaum
Against the consensus: Present scenarios
With regard to Corona, the use of repression in France has shown itself to be the flip side of the absolute thoughtlessness of a completely incapable state power, which is concerned with nothing more than what it has always done before in terms of dismantling: re-establishing the conditions for the reproduction of capital. This also means, however, that any intellectuality that still behaves as “advisor to the prince” is drafting empty future programs for the supposed “after” without being properly located itself. Thereby it only confirms its own powerlessness and inclusion by consensus.
In order to escape this trap, one can perhaps suggest two detours: the first in terms of time and the second in terms of content. Instead of asking “What comes after that?”, it should be asked: “What comes now? No more wavering back and forth between a reduction to naked survival (and dying) and a supposedly free individuality (which consumes more or less), but supporting the invention of new collective forms of dispute and interaction in order to transform this forced interruption into a real interruption.
Intro/Host: Walter Ötsch
Moderation: Renata Schmidtkunz
Speakers: Sighard Neckel, Antonia Birnbaum
Video
Biographies
Antonia Birnbaum
Antonia Birnbaum writes philosophy as well as texts pertaining to contemporary art. She is a professor for philosophy at the Universität der Angewandten Künste since 2020 after having taught many years at the University Paris 8. She contributes to the review Radical Philosophy, has written amongst other things:
Nietzsche Les aventures de l’héroïsme collection « Critique politique », dirigée par Miguel Abensour, Paris, Éditions Payot, 2000. Traduction en espagnol : Las aventuras des heroísmo, Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2004
Le vertige d’une pensée. Descartes corps et âme, Lyon, Editions Horlieu, 2003
Bonheur Justice. Walter Benjamin collection « Critique politique », dirigée par Miguel Abensour, Paris, Éditions Payot, 2009
Trajectoires obliques, Paris, Sens&Tonka 2013
Egalité radicale. Diviser Rancière, Paris, éditions Amsterdam 2018
Sighard Neckel
Sighard Neckel is a sociologist and Professor of Social Analysis and Social Change at the University of Hamburg, spokesperson of the DFG Research Group “Zukünfte der Nachhaltigkeit” and project leader of the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1171 “Affective Societies”. He studied sociology, philosophy and law in Bielefeld and at the Free University of Berlin, where he received his doctorate in 1990 and his habilitation in sociology in 1996. This was followed by professorships in Gießen, Vienna and Frankfurt a.M. among others, as well as guest professorships in the USA, Australia, Switzerland, Poland, Greece and South Korea. From 2000 to 2017, Sighard Neckel was a member of the staff of the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt am Main and from 2012 to 2016 Principal Investigator of the Cluster of Excellence “Normative Orders” at the Goethe University Frankfurt. His research focuses on economic and financial sociology, social inequality, emotion research, social theory and conflicts over sustainability. In recent years he has published “Gesellschaftstheorie im Anthropozän” (2020), “Die Gesellschaft der Nachhaltigkeit” (2018), “Die globale Finanzklasse” (2018), “Leistung und Erschöpfung” (2013) and “Strukturierte Verantwortungslosigkeit. Berichte aus der Bankenwelt” (2010).
Walter Ötsch
Walter Ötsch is an economist and was formerly employed at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, where he established and headed the Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy. Since 2015 he has been professor of economics and cultural history at the Cusanus Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung. His areas of expertise are the cultural history of economic theory and questions of political communication. Publications: Populismus für Anfänger. Anleitung zur Volksverführung (2017) and Mythos Markt. Mythos Neoklassik. Das Elend des Marktfundamentalismus (2019). Further information at: www.walteroetsch.at
