Monday, November 4th, 2024, YMCA 401, Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University

This one-day symposium explores ancient, early modern, and 20th c. philosophical ideas concerning the intertwined lives of plants, animals, and people through presentations and discussion with visiting faculty from the University of Palermo.

Program

9.00am: Coffee and pastries

9.30am – 10.15am: “PRIMARY MATTER: The technical nature of wood in ancient thought,” Professor Andrea Le Moli (University of Palermo)

10.15am -10.45am: Discussion

10.45am: Coffee and tea

11am -11.45am: “Between Life and Existence. Heidegger’s Aristotelianism and the Question of Animality,” Professor Andrea Le Moli (University of Palermo)

11.45am – 12.15pm: Discussion

12.15pm – 1.15pm: Lunch

1.15pm – 2.30pm: “Vegetal Modes. Spinoza and Contemporary Plant Philosophy”, Dr. Marcello Di Paola (University of Palermo)

2.30pm – 3.00pm: Discussion

3.00pm – 3.15pm: Closing remarks

Attendance is free and open to all. Coffee, tea, and lunch will be provided to participants who have registered. To register, please complete this form by 28 October: https://forms.gle/uwx2j3pVfo9f9NLFA

The symposium is organized by Dr. Emily Brady (ebrady@tamu.edu) and co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy’s Continental Philosophy Reading Group.

Speakers

Marcello Di Paola is Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Humanities, University of Palermo. He works in environmental philosophy, particularly climate change, the Anthropocene, and the philosophy of plants. Among his publications are Ethics and Politics of the Built Environment. Gardens of the Anthropocene (Springer, 2017) and the edited or co-edited volumes: The Vegetal Turn: Histories, Concepts, Applications (2024); The Philosophy of Outer Space. Explorations, Controversies, Speculations (2024); Handbook of the Philosophy of Climate Change (2023); and Plant Ethics: Concepts and Applications (2018). He is a professional plant grower, specializing in the production of succulents.

Andrea Le Moli is Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Humanities, University of Palermo. His research interests span from the reception of ancient thought in contemporary continental philosophy to Global Philosophy and Cultural Studies, with particular focus on the issue of subjectivity. His books include: Technophysis. Le tecniche della natura (Palermo 2022, 2nd rev. ed. 2023); Platonismo e antiplatonismo da Nietzsche a Derrida (Rome 2018); Heidegger: soggettività e differenza (Milan 2011); Novecento platonico (Palermo 2005); and Heidegger e Platone. Essere, Relazione, Differenza (Milan 2002).

Congratulations to the editorial team on the publication of the first issue of the new journal, Plant Perspectives. The journal “is a new forum, grounded in interdisciplinary plant studies, to explore plant–human interactions in all spatial, temporal and cultural contexts. Plants are the central actors here, and the journal encourages new directions in the study of sensory, instrumental and affective entanglements between human and vegetal spheres.”

‘Varieties of Natural Beauty,’ Philosophy Department, University of South Florida, 16 February 2024.

‘Land Art as Commoning and Resistance: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Community,’ for the 2023-2024 Campion-Weber Lectures on Values, University of San Diego, 13 March 2024.

‘Planetary Aesthetics’ for ‘Defining and Using the Aesthetic in the Environmental Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Experiment’ workshop, LMU Munich/Rachel Carson Center, April 2024 (via Zoom). Keynote.

Nordic Society of Aesthetics Annual Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland, June 2024. I’ll be delivering one of the keynotes, a lecture entitled, “Earth to Sky: Geosphere, Atmosphere, and Planetary Aesthetics.”

Mantovarchitettura (May 2023): This fantastic annual event in Mantua is supported by the UNESCO Chair in Architectural Preservation and Planning in World Heritage Cities, Politecnico di Milano (Mantua campus). I’ll be presenting an invited talk on 15th May, 2023, “Aesthetic Virtues, Nature, and Co-Flourishing.”

University of Bologna (May 2023): As a visiting professor at the University in May this year, I’ll be presenting a keynote, “Planetary Aesthetics: Environmental Aesthetics for the Earth’s Future,” to the “The Practices of Common Sense between Social Ethics and Aesthetics: environment, ecology, conflict and democracy” conference on 18th May. The event is organized by three research centers in the Philosophy and Communication Studies Department: Almæsthetics, RaMo-Radici e Motivi del Pragmatismo, and AlmaClimate).

University of Palermo (June 2023): My keynote lecture, “Environmental Aesthetics, Biodiversity, and Co-Flourishing,” will be presented to the conference “Cultivating the Idea of Biodiversity: The arts and their languages for an ecologist engagement in the public space” as part of the session, “Biodiversity as a transdisciplinary paradigm between science and art, ethics and aesthetics.” The conference, 6-7th June, is organized by the Department of Humanities.

Palermo Botanical Garden (Wikipedia)

The Consortium of Environmental Philosophers (CEP) has created an Environmental Humanities Toolkit “to bring the knowledge and methodologies of the humanities to bear on key environmental crises.The Toolkit assembles some of the existing work in humanities into a digestible format, for use by policymakers who recognise the need to think differently but are at a loss as to what this might look like or where to begin. Key insights are synthesized for application across a range of institutions and sectors of society, demonstrating the potential contributions of the Environmental Humanities to policy.”

Download the toolkit and explore CEP’s efforts to bring the knowledge and methodologies of the humanities to address global environmental problems.

Check out this article by the journalist, Richard Fisher, “The upsides of feeling small,” published in December 2022. It’s a wonderful overview article about the sublime and kicks off a new series, “Immensities,” by BBC Future. Fisher quotes from my book, The Sublime in Modern Philosophy: Aesthetics, Ethics and Nature (2013), reflects on a variety of sublime experiences, and references work in psychology, too.

The Snowdon Massif from Glyder Fawr. 2004. Wikipedia.

This series of events explores research in the humanities and other disciplines concerning the relationship between people and plants. The series is hosted by the Glasscock Center’s Humanities: Land Sea Space initiative. During 2021-2022, LAND features as our main theme and, through it, we explore the deep, foundational role that plants play in the ecosystems that support life on Earth. These events highlight the variety of human-plant relationships—from individual relationships like those experienced in a garden, to broad, societal relationships and dependencies on land like agriculture and forestry—and how these relationships are expressed through different worldviews and contexts.

Series flyer

Humanities & Science Exchanges: Human-Plant Relationships

Thursday, October 21, 2021
Leach Teaching Gardens Pavilion, Texas A&M campus
4:15-6:15pm

Please RSVP at tx.ag/PlantsRSVP

Speakers: Dr. Allison Hopkins (Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M) & Dr. Kenneth R. Hurst (Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M)

4:15 PM: Opening and Introductions

4:30 – 5:15 PM: Discussion between speakers

5:15 – 5:40 PM: Q&A

5:40 PM: Closing Remarks

5:45 – 6:15 PM: Attendees tour the gardens

Exploring People-Plant Relationships in the Arts and Philosophy

Friday, November 5, 2021
Zoom Webinar | Register at tx.ag/PlantsRegistration
10:00am – 1:15pm Central Time

This webinar, hosted by the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research at Texas A&M University, features talks and discussion by artists and philosophers exploring people-plant relationships in gardens and the rural landscape.

10:00: Dr. Emily Brady (Texas A&M), Opening remarks

10:10-10:50: Dr. Isis Brook (Crossfields Institute) | “Engaging with the Plant Realm”

10:50-11:10: Q&A

11:10-11:20: Break

11:20-12:00: Dr. Reiko Goto and Dr. Tim Collins (Collins & Goto Studio) | “Ancient boglands and the Irish peat industry: Does Culture Mitigate Ecocide?”

12.00-12.20: Q&A

12:20-12:30: Break

12:30-12:50: Dr. Marcello Di Paola (University of Palermo), Respondent

12:50-1:15: Closing discussion

Coastal Communities and Justice

As part of the Glasscock Center’s Humanities: Land Sea Space initiative, this series of virtual events explores issues concerning environmental justice, energy, community, and forms of resilience in coastal areas in Texas and beyond. We are collaborating with the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center to present this series.

 Seadrift (2019) film screening

Directed by Tim Tsai and winner of numerous awards, including the 2019 Texas Visionary Award and Best Documentary feature at the Indie and Foreign Film Festival 2019.

“In 1979, a Vietnamese refugee shoots and kills a white crab fisherman at the public town docks in Seadrift, TX. What began as a dispute over fishing territory erupts into violence and ignites a maelstrom of boat burnings, KKK intimidation, and other hostilities against Vietnamese refugees along the Gulf Coast. Set during the early days of Vietnamese arrival in the U.S. Seadrift is a feature documentary that examines the circumstances that led up to the shooting and its dramatic aftermath, and reveals the unexpected consequences that continue to reverberate today.”

Please RSVP for a free link to view the film, which will be available one week before the Q&A event on October 22. Additional viewing options here: https://www.seadriftfilm.com/watch

Thursday, October 22, 5:00-6.30pm  Seadrift Q&A and Discussion

Chair: Emily Brady (Glasscock Center/Philosophy, Texas A&M

Tim Tsai, Seadrift Director

Thao Ha, Seadrift Associate Director and Professor of Sociology, MiraCosta College

Webinar. Please RSVP for link.

Friday, October 30, 12:00-1:30pm  Coastal Communities and Justice Roundtable

Chair: Michelle Meyer (Director, Hazard and Reduction Recovery Center, Texas A&M)

Deidra D. Davis (Landscape and Urban Planning, Texas A&M)

Clare Palmer (Philosophy, Texas A&M)

Carlee Purdum (Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center, Texas A&M)

Joy Semien (Urban and Regional Science/HRRC, Texas A&M)

Webinar. Please RSVP for link.

Friday, November 6, 1:00-2:30pm

“Coastal communities, major environmental change, and inherent resilience: insights from the Fukushima coast”

Leslie Mabon (Marine Social Science, Scottish Association for Marine Science-University of the Highlands and Islands)

Chair: Emily Brady

Zoom link: https://tamu.zoom.us/j/96950354619

November 7-8th, Texas A&M University

PROGRAM

Keynote speakers: Helen Rozwadowski and Laura Winkiel

In tandem with urgent calls for the protection of oceans, seas, and coastal communities from the effects of global warming and pollution, humanities and humanistic social science disciplines have been experiencing an ‘oceanic’ or ‘blue’ turn. Recent work in history, literary studies, philosophy, cultural geography, anthropology, communication, and the arts has produced a vibrant body of research exploring relationships between marine spaces, species, and people. New conversations have emerged between the humanities and the natural sciences, sparking imagination and critical engagement with respect to issues and topics marginalized by land-based scholarship. This symposium seeks to foster cross-disciplinary conversations among faculty, invited speakers, and students at Texas A&M, as well as the broader community, with respect to the histories, poetics, and conservation futures of the planet’s oceans.

Details of the event can be found here.