Georges Canguilhem Beyond Epistemology, online event, 16 May 2022 new date to be arranged

Georges Canguilhem was one of the most influential historians and philosophers of science of 20th-century France. Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Alain Badiou and other important thinkers of the stressed the importance of Canguilhem’s ideas and methods for the development of their own thinking as well as for shaping the intellectual field in which they positioned themselves. There is, however, much more to Canguilhem’s work than a series of delimited and specialised studies in epistemology and the history of science. The workshop will explore the wider philosophical implications of Canguilhem’s historical epistemology and reveal a more nuanced and complex picture of this author. Our aim will be to present Canguilhem as a ‘philosopher’, exploring a variety of topics, from his engagements with the history of philosophy to his ethical and political reflections, passing through his reflections on technology and society.

Giuseppe Bianco (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia)

Cristina Chimisso (Open University)

Stuart Elden (University of Warwick)

Maria Muhle (Akademie der Bildenden Künste München)

Samuel Talcott (University of the Sciences in Philadelphia)

Charles T. Wolfe (Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès)

Federico Testa (University of Bristol)

The event is free, but please register your attendance via Eventbrite here.

This is an interesting event, organised by Federico Testa, in which the speakers present someone else’s paper and raise some initial questions for discussion. My paper explores the links between Canguilhem, Georges Dumézil and Jean Hyppolite. The programme is below: