Academic views: Seminar actualité critique européenne 4901-ASKAC-OG

The seminar is part of the network of debates taking place in many countries in Europe. It was initiated by the École Normale Supérieure Paris as part of the Actualité critique européenne interdisciplinary seminar. This seminar brings together researchers and students around issues of key importance to politics, science, economics, society and the arts.

The theme of this year’s seminar is ‘crisis’. ‘Crisis’ denotes first and foremost ambivalence. It is a moment of a threat, but also of an opening onto new possibilities caused by the breakdown of extant structures, which may result in a social transformation. In a classic text dealing with the genealogy of this concept, Reinhart Koselleck reminds us that the original sense of ‘crisis’ has to do with the crucial moment of an illness: when it is decided whether a patient survives or dies. As such, as a limit case of a judgement on life and death, ‘crisis’ shares its etymology with ‘critique’.

In the course of the seminar we will ask questions about actual, intractable crises gripping modern societies, institutions and academic disciplines: whether the ‘patients’ whose fates we will discuss are likely to survive; whether we can imagine what may come after their demise; and, what is the most pressing from our perspective, whether analysing crises may become a useful tool of scientific critique.

General bibliography
1. Toporowski, J. (2022). Michał Kalecki. Biografia intelektualna. Tłum. A. Paszkowska. Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej.
2. Dowbor, L. (2023). O społeczną funkcję ekonomii. Kwestia ludzkiej godności. Tłum. J.Bednarek. Instytut Wydawniczy Książka i Prasa.
3. Koselleck, Reinhart (2015), “Krytyka i kryzys. Studium patogenezy swiata mieszczanskiego” red. M. Moskalewicz, przekład. J. Duraj. M. Moskalewicz, Biblioteka Res Publiki Nowej.
4. Kostyrko, W. (2024). Róża Luksemburg. Domem moim jest cały świat. Wydawnictwo Marginesy 2024.
5. Klimatyczne ABC. Wydanie II. (2023). M. Budziszewska, A. Kardaś, 4. Z. Bohdanowicz (red.). Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. https://wuw.pl/data/include/cms//Klimatyczne_ABC_Budziszewska M_Kardas_A_Bohdanowicz_Z_red_2023.pdf
6. Popkiewicz, M. (2024). Zrozumieć transformację energetyczną : od depresji do wizji albo jak wykopywać się z dziury, w której jesteśmy. Wydanie III uaktualnione. Sonia Draga.
7. Mundy S. (2022). Wyścig po jutro. Przetrwanie, innowacja i zysk na froncie kryzysu klimatycznego. Tłum. J. Bednarek. Instytut Wydawniczy Książka i Prasa.

Additional bibliography in English:
8. Andersen, L S (2023), 'Hont and Koselleck on the crisis of authority', Journal of the Philosophy of History, vol. 17 , no. 3 , pp. 357-379 . https://doi.org/10.1163/18722636-12341506 (open access)
9. Devetak, R. (2012). Histories and crises: modern, global, natural and social. Global Change, Peace & Security, 24(1), 31–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781158.2012.641274
10. Hont, I. (1994). The Permanent Crisis of a Divided Mankind: “Contemporary Crisis of the Nation State” in Historical Perspective. Political Studies, 42 (1_suppl), 166–231. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.1994.tb00011.x
11. Tooze, A. A series of posts on ‘polycrisis’ published online at: https://polycrisis.org/resource/chartbook/

Due to the format of the seminar, additional readings will be transmitted to the participants on an ongoing basis. This will consist of original sources and academic texts suggested by the guest lecturers.