Tallinn University
Baltic Philosophy Network, BalPhiN, is an open network of institutions of philosophy in the Baltic Sea area. The purpose of the network is enrich and facilitate for the academic philosophy of the area, such as research, education and student and teacher exchange, but also create forums for philosophical culture in general, for discussion, publication and philosophical happenings.
At the moment the network consists of eight members, with the Department of Social and Moral Philosophy of University of Helsinki as the Coordinator, the Estonian Institute of Humanities of Tallinn University, the Centre for Ethics of University of Tartu, the Department of Practical Philosophy of University of Latvia, the School of Political Science and Diplomacy of Vytautas Magnus University, the Philosophy Unit of European Humanities University, the Department of Philosophy of University of Iceland, and the Philosophy Unit of Södertörn University College.
The new book by Arvydas Šliogeris, The Archipelago of Melancholy, catches the eye of the reader because of its aesthetic cover that looks more like a photo album rather than „philosophy book“. Actually this is an evolution of Šliogeris late tendency to publish impressively – his republished book Being and the World in its latest version is split into two volumes that are wrapped in „plastic fantastic“ with no chance to open it in a book store. In other words, the message is simple: if you want to know what Šliogeris thinks about Being and the world, you either buy it or leave it.
MA Irina Poleshchuk (University of Helsinki and European Humanities University) will defend her doctoral thesis "Temporality of the Face- to-Face in Levinas' Ethics" in University of Helsinki, main building, lecture hall XII, 24.11 starting at 10 am. The opponent is Richard Cohen, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Institute of Jewish Thought and Heritage, University at Buffalo.
For more information, see
http://www.helsinki.fi/kalenteri/hy/tapahtuma/200911/200911241000_15914.html (only in Finnish, sorry)
The Department of Social and Political Theory and the School of Political Science and Diplomacy at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania presents:
In Praise of Plurality:
An International Conference in Honor of Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997)
Time: Thursday 5th - Saturday 7th November
Conference venue: Lithuanian Emigration Institute, S. Daukanto st. 25. antras aukštas (second floor)
The interview with Dina Babushkina, who is PhD student of University of Helsinki, Finland, a translator of F.H. Bradley, and whoes current interests are metaethics, normative ethics, history of philosophy.
1. What differences and similarities do you see in the University of St. Petersburg and Helsinki: are there different philosophical traditions, approaches, perspectives, directions, methods?
University of Helsinki is the centre of academic life in Finland, being the largest university of the country. It gives teaching for approximately 35 000 students through circa 4000 researchers and teachers on four campuses.
What today is acknowledged as the University of Helsinki was originally founded under the Swedish rule in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Turku. The Swedish surrendered Finland to the Russian Empire in 1809, who founded the capital of Grand Duchy of Finland in Helsinki. The university operated in Turku until1828 when, after a great fire in Turku, the Russian czar Nicholas I moved the operating university to the new capital and renamed it as the Imperial Alexander University of Finland, and after the Finnish independence in 1917 it gained its contemporary name.
A small advertisement from our partner university EHU for all interested: subscribe now to Topos, cultural and philosophical studies journal of European Humanities University (member of BalPhiN).
Subscription information and form is here as a pdf.
With great grief we inform you that Professor Vladimir Furs of the European Humanities University died in his home in Minsk of a heart attack on Thursday 4.6, at the age of 45. Vladimir was a central force in Baltic Philosophy Network, a great philosopher, but most of all, a very dear friend. His untimely death was great loss to all of us, but especially to his family.
This is the interview with a doctoral student of the Unviersity of Iceland, Gabriel Malenfant, who is Québécois (Canada), but has joined the BalPhin student group in Tartu this May for an intensive course on Continental and Analytic Ethics.
1. What differences and similarities do you see between the University of Iceland and Université de Montréal: are there different philosophical traditions, approaches, perspetives, directions, methods?
LIVING IN A NIETZSCHEAN WORLD
This is a personal note on the BalPhiN’s course “Analytic and Continental Ethics” in Tartu in May 24-30, 2009. The traditions of analytic and continental philosophy share a point of departure for their respective routes. It is the basic inconsistency of defining meaning in a world defined meaningless to begin with, the Nietzschean world without god. The analytic tradition has provided insight and clarity to some by piecemeal philosophical engineering. The continental tradition has provided insight and inspiration to some by heroically trying to act as if life had a meaning. Neither of them satisfies all.
