Department of Philosophy School of Humanities University of Hyderabad

Forum on Contemporary Theory

PUBLIC LECTURES

“Alienation and Rationality” Prof. Akeel Bilgrami Sidney Morgenbesser Chair of Philosophy, and Director, South Asia Institute

Columbia University [ 2.00-3.30pm ]

“What does Prosody do to Texts” Prof. Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht Albert Guérard Professor in Literature, Departments of Comparative Literature, French & Italian, Spanish & Portuguese

Stanford University [ 3.45-5.15pm ]

Chaired by Prof. Amitabha Dasgupta 17 June, 2016 (Friday) C.V. Raman Auditorium (Science Complex) ~ All are Welcome ~

ABSTRACTS

“Alienation and Rationality” Prof. Akeel Bilgrami The lecture will explore one angle on the problem of alienation by exploring some assumptions about the notion of rationality in the intellectual history of modern political thought and through these explorations will attempt to fundamentally refigure the ideals of the enlightenment.

“What does Prosody do to Texts” Prof. Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht The question regarding the functions of prosodic forms can be called “the scandal of Literary Theory,” i.e. the explanation that everybody expects Literary Theorists to have an answer for – although it has been strangely bypassed since the historical beginnings of our discipline. Starting out with a philosophical discussion of the concept “rhythm,” first approaches toward a solution of this open problem will be outlined.