Von der FS organisiert:

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Domination qua Appearance: Guy Debord and the society of the spectacle:

It has become an ubiquitous observation to say that we live in a society of ‘spectacles.’ This seminar will deal with Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle as a critical theory of the way in which capitalism has developed a form of social life dominated by appearances. We will see that the full meaning of Debord’s analysis can only be derived not just from Marx’s critique of political economy, but also Hegel’s speculative philosophy.
This seminar will explore the way in which Debord employs elements of both Marx and Hegel for his critique of the society of the spectacle. Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle stands as an anomaly within both postwar French philosophy and the tradition of French Marxism, returning to Hegelian philosophy at a time of its illegitimacy while outlining, in bombastic style, the extent to which the modern commodity economy has, throughout the twentieth century, developed its fetish character into a social form mediated by appearances. Our central theme will be to explore how Debord did not simply find within Marx and Hegel the language necessary to speak to the problems of capitalist society. Rather, we find that Marx’s critique of exchange-value and Hegel’s logic of appearances together gives Debord’s diagnosis greater determinacy and coherence.
Our approach will allow Debord’s work to stand as a yet unacknowledged and potentially profound resource for contemporary critical theory, one that attempts to uphold the merits of theorizing capitalism in terms of a logic of appearances, and by emphasizing the difficulty in seeing the world not as it really is.

Readings will include chapters 1, 2, 3 and 9 of The Society of the Spectacle, the “The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret Thereof” chapter from Marx’s Capital Vol. 1, sections from Georg Lukács’ essay “Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat,” and extracts of Hegel’s Wesenslogik from the Encyclopaedic Logic.

Dozierender: Dr. Eric-John Russel

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Argumentationskompetenz im Philosophie- und Ethikunterricht:

Dozierender: Jonas Zorn

Fachschaft Philosophie

Das Mentorat bietet eine Studienberatung sowie einen Fachkommentar an.

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