Pessimism: Problematising the Value of Life
Colégio Almada Negreiros
NOVA University Lisbon
25–27 November 2024
Org. Paulo Lima, Luís Aguiar de Sousa, Paolo Stellino
Programme
NOVEMBER 25
09:30–10:00 Registration
10:00–11:30
Panel A (Room 209) [mod. Luís Aguiar de Sousa]
Bart Vandenabeele (Ghent University), Schopenhauerian Pessimism and the Redemptive Value of Art
Olli Pitkänen (University of Helsinki), F.W.J. Schelling as a Cheerful Pessimist
Dimitris Kastritis (Leiden University), Cultural Pessimism: From Fr. Nietzsche to M. Weber
Panel B (Room SE1) [mod. Paulo Lima]
Fábio Serranito (University of Leeds), The Wisdom of Silenus in Ancient Thought: An Optimistic Approach
Bruno Venâncio (Coimbra University), Epicurus and Human Suffering
Mor Segev (University of South Florida), Pessimism, Optimism, and Human Progress: Schopenhauer and Aristotle
11:30–12:00 (Room 209) Coffee break
12:00–13:00 (Room 209) Keynote talk: Maria Filomena Molder (NOVA University Lisbon), Is Abandoning Philosophy Still a Philosophical Gesture? A Tribute to Giorgio Colli [mod. Nuno Fonseca]
15:00–16:30
Panel C (Room 209) [mod. Paolo Stellino]
Tarjei Mandt Larsen (University of Stavanger), Benatar’s Asymmetry Argument and the Egoic Constraint
Jacob R. Koval (Florida State University), Pessimism and Nihilism: What Does One Have to Say About the Other?
Rex Lee (York University), Pessimism as a Second-Order Desire
16:30–17:00 (Room 209) Coffee break
17:00–18:00 (Room 209) Keynote talk: Bartholomew Ryan (NOVA University Lisbon), What Are Poets for in a Desperate Time? [mod. Luís Sousa]
NOVEMBER 26
10:00–11:30
Panel A (Room SE1) [mod. Luís Aguiar de Sousa]
Ha Young Lee (KU Leuven), Flourishing amidst Tragedies: Edmund Husserl on Happiness
Scott Gordon (Binghamton University, SUNY), Beyond Pessimism and Optimism: Thinking Beyond Value with Heidegger
Natascha Schmelz (Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade), Alienation in Adorno’s and Baudrillard’s Thought: From Utopian to Dystopian Pessimism
Panel B (Room SD) [mod. Ana Falcato]
Michael Harrington (Duquesne University), Peter Wessel Zapffe and Chinese Tragedy
Bernardo dos Santos Martins (NOVA University Lisbon), A Philosophical Analysis of Suicide in a World Surrounded by Nothingness
Antonio Sanges (UCL), The Obviousness of Pessimism and the Obligation to Express in Beckett
11:30–12:00 (Room 209) Coffee Break
12:00–13:00 (Room 209) Keynote talk: Patrick Hassan (Cardiff University), Philosophical Pessimism, Suffering, and Nietzsche [mod. Paolo Stellino]
15:00–16:30
Panel C (Room SE1) [mod. Bartholomew Ryan]
Khentse Gyatso (Indian Institute of Technology Madras), Assessing the Value of Life and Ethics within the Emptiness Worldview of Mādhyamaka Buddhism
Rodolfo Esteban Tapia León (Granada University), Ecosuicidology and the Anthropofugal Will
Jill Hernandez (Texas Tech University), Does Existential Pessimism Die with AI?
Panel D (Room SD) [mod. Paolo Stellino]
Britt Harrison (University of Leeds), The Meaningless of Life According to Woody Allen: A Case Study in the Philosophy Without Theory
David Ferragut (Autonomous University of Barcelona), Dark Deleuze: The Logic of Hatred
Marco Grosoli (NOVA University Lisbon), Against the End of History: Reconsidering Tarr’s Pessimism
16:30–17:00 (Room SD) Coffee break
17:00–18:00 (Room SD) Keynote talk: Jaime Pena (Filmoteca de Galicia), A Home in Hell: The Representation of Auschwitz in Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest [mod. Susana Viegas]
NOVEMBER 27
10:00–11:30
Panel A (Auditorium A223) [mod. Paulo Lima]
Matko Krce-Ivancic (Independent Researcher), Optimism Granted
Michal Givoni (Ben Gurion University of the Negev), Post-Apocalyptic Reckonings: Living the End-Times in Israel-Palestine
Kelly Arenson (Duquesne University), ‘Death is Not a Part of Life’: Anti-Death Ideals and Pessimism
Panel B (Room SC) [mod. Luís Aguiar de Sousa]
Henriikka Hannula (University of Vienna), Existential Historicism: On the Late 19th Century Discourses around the Uses (and Abuses) of History for Life
Soofia Lateef (University of California), Affective Attunement to Suffering – On the Moral Psychology of Pessimism
Leszek Kopciuch (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin), Beyond Pessimism and Optimism: The Ontological and Axiological Foundations of the Meaning of Life (with Reference to Nicolai Hartmann’s Philosophy)
11:30–12:00 (Auditorium A223) Coffee Break
12:00–13:00 (Auditorium A223) Keynote talk: João Constâncio (NOVA University Lisbon), Bosch and the Temptations of Saint Anthony [mod. Paulo Lima]
15:00–16:30
Panel C (Auditorium A223) [mod. Gianfranco Ferraro]
Patrick O’Donnell (Oakton College), Emotional Pessimism and Capitalist Realism
Justin Clardy (Santa Clara University), Afropessimism, Black Suffering, and Civic Indifference
Kevin P. Morris II (University of Massachusetts), On Afropessimism, Carcerality, and the Twentieth-Century Black Literary Tradition
16:30–17:00 (Auditorium A223) Coffee break
17:00–18:00 (Auditorium A223) Keynote talk: Thomas Moynihan (University of Cambridge), Hope, Despair, & Dolphins: Questioning the Value of Human Ingenuity in the Age of Existential Risk [mod. Bartholomew Ryan]
Event supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e para a Tecnologia) of the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science under the projects UIDB/00183/2020 and UIDP/00183/2020, and by the European Union within the scope of the CineLab research project “FILM AND DEATH – Film-Philosophy as a Meditation on Death” (ERC, FILM AND DEATH, 101088956). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.