“Precisely the defeated man must try the outside world again” – Ernst Bloch, The Principle of Hope (1954).
It is easier to imagine the end of the world, than the end of capitalism. This phrase has become something of a shibboleth for the contemporary left, a diagnosis of our present condition and a bleak indictment of our current situation. Yet, it is also a challenge to our imaginative capacities and our potential to think of the future at all. We live in the ruins of capitalism but such ruins are haunted by the ineradicable possibility that things could be different.
The philosophy of Ernst Bloch is a philosophy of the future — a towering intellectual achievement of the twentieth century and an attempt to think hope and thus the future as more than just a feeling or subjective moment of possibility but a political, existential and ontological reality. This talk offers an introduction to Bloch’s work and argues for the necessary work of reigniting the spark of utopian philosophy amidst the ashes of our present.
Jon Greenaway is a writer and researcher from the UK who writes on horror, philosophy and utopian possibility. He is the author of A Primer on Utopian Philosophy (Zer0 Books) and Capitalism A Horror Story (Repeater Books 2024).
This event will be held via zoom and open to all. Please find a Zoom link here.
Details
Starts On
August 4, 2024 - 6:00 pm
Ends On
8:30 pm
Event Categories
Canterbury, Events, Interview, Otago, Public Lecture, Wellington