current projects Archives

Berlin Pragmatist Kant Conference

07/18/2017 by Krzysztof Skowronski

Above and below: Pragmatist Kant at Berlin Finnish Institute. An International conference (within the series of American and European Values-Berlin Edition) that took place on July 10-13, 2017. 30 speakers from the US and Europe discussed on various topics related to the future developments of the Kantian philosophical tradition and the pragmatist philosophical tradition.

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Skowroński and Marchetti on Pragmatist Kant

05/16/2017 by Krzysztof Skowronski

Chris Skowroński (Opole University/Berlin Practical Philosophy International Forum) talks to Sarin Marchetti (University of Sapienza, Rome, Italy) on the occasion of the Berlin Forum’s international conference they both co-organize at the Finnland Institut in Berlin (July 10-13, 2017).

Professor Marchetti talks about his contribution to the Pragmatist Kant conference in Berlin. The title of his project is:“Kant, James, and Pragmatic Anthropology.” He explains the connections between these two great philosophers in the context of philosophical anthropology. Their seminal works (Kant’s Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View and James’s Principles of Psychology) give us a wonderful and pregnant material for philosophical, moral and anthropological research. Marchetti discusses also some practical dimensions of his approach towards philosophical anthropology.

Marchetti authored Ethics and Philosophical Critique in William James, London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015

A Berlin Forum Member Farhad Bazyan’s Recent Film

05/04/2017 by Krzysztof Skowronski

A photographer loses his memory and he falls in love with his sister. It is the beginning of his destruction – this is what the official info tells you about Photographer, His Lover, His Sister, and Her Lover (2016). What’s this in my view? A sort of mysterious postmodern combination of narratives within 12 minutes of the film: one, picture based narrative uses images, music, horror scenes mixed with camouflaged eroticism and full of understatements; the other one based on meta-language as if describing the story on the first plane. Both tell us kind of impressionistic fragments, if not snapshots, of the reality of a relationship or more relationships, the viewer cannot be sure. What is sure, is that the more vivid imagination the viewer has, the better, because the whole thing is very frugal; not explicitly presented, which, by the way, should not, by any means, seen as a vice: it generates some additional effects. One can find some scattered semi-philosophical thoughts, e.g. saying that without memory there is hardly any meaningful relationship possible (this thought is repeated throughout the film). Hearing German and Farsi (and some other) languages is not problem thanks to English subtitles; just the opposite – it seems to be on purpose to produce an effect of mystery that is born at the clash of cultures, especially when members of these are interconnected on emotional basis. This is strengthened by the effect of overhearing conversations and surmising the interpersonal connections – since hardly anything is clear here, which, it should be repeated, is not a vice. Besides, we can see unusual sensitivity of the director: he uses ordinary objects yet present them or sees them in an uncommon way, which, in effects, gives an impression that normal things can be seen in noteworthy ways. Bazyan likes looks: on numerous occasions, he closes up faces, esp. female faces looking directly at the camera as if trying to find something more than facial expressions can tell. A happy ending? – no way, forget about it: instead, you get a mixture of the unexpected.

Chris Skowroński

Farhad Bazyan (1979), an international film director, author of a book about mimes (2007); a member of Berlin Practical Philosophy International Forum e.V. Presently, completing his PhD at Vienna University.

Skowroński and Pihlström on Pragmatist Kant

03/17/2017 by Krzysztof Skowronski

Chris Skowroński (Opole University/Berlin Practical Philosophy International Forum) talks to Sami Pihlström (Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki) on the occasion of the Berlin Forum’s international conference they both co-organize at the Finnland Institut in Berlin (July 10-13, 2017).

The general title of the conference is “Pragmatist Kant” and its main idea is to discuss various aspects of the pragmatist philosophy and the Kantian philosophy as seen from the viewpoint of their mutual interrelationships. Professor Sami Pihlström is talking about his own contribution to the project. He discusses his ideas that are present in his paper/speech, entitled “Jamesian Pragmatism, Rortyan Ironism, and Kantian Antitheodicy.” He briefly explains some practical aspects of his theoretical investigations on religion, ethics, evil, suffering, and others. For example, one can detect a practical dimension of a philosophical discussion on suffering while looking for its possible justification. More generally, some people can ask: is there any deeper sense in suffering? Various philosophies provide us with different answers to this question. Both pragmatism and Kantianism do not see any cosmic, divine, and universal justification of evil and suffering.

Sami Pihlström is a professor of philosophy of religion; his recent book, co-authored with Sari Kivistö , is entitled “Kantian Antitheoicy: Philosophical and Literary Varieties.” In his numerous books and papers he investigates the problems of metaphysics and religion in the philosophical tradition of American pragmatism, and its relationships with the philosophy of I. Kant and the Kantian tradition in general.