Contact: Sammy McDavid
Eight public lectures scheduled at Mississippi State during the year will offer an in-depth examination of German idealism and the 18th century philosophy's impact on modern religion and thought.
Beginning Feb. 8, each of the 90-minute programs will begin at 5 p.m. on a Friday in the Mitchell Memorial Library auditorium. The speakers group assembled by MSU's department of philosophy and religion includes widely respected researchers from the state and nation.
German idealism refers to a phase of European intellectual thought, as modified by conditions in Germany, which blossomed during the Age of Enlightenment movement. Believing in social progress and the liberating possibilities of rational and scientific knowledge, proponents frequently criticized existing society and religion for "chaining" the human mind.
Before the Enlightenment movement fell away with the conclusion of the French Revolution in the late 1790s, German adherent Immanuel Kant had become a major figure. His development of a comprehensive system of philosophy is considered among Western culture's greatest intellectual achievements. Kant influenced later major philosophical figures, among them fellow Germans Johann Fichte and Georg Hegel, and American Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Topics and speakers for the various MSU sessions include:
--Feb. 8, "Hegel and Terrorism," led by the Rev. George Seidel of St. Martin's College in Lacey, Wash.
--March 22, "The Birth Pangs of Humankind: Schelling's Philosophy of Religion," led by Michael Vater of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis.
--April 5, 'Fichte's Critique of All Revelation," led by Daniel Breazeale of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
--April 26, "Schleiermacher's Appropriation of Schiller," led by Jeffrey Kinlaw of McMurray University in Abilene, Texas.
--Aug. 25, "The Death of God, Hegel, and Post-Modern Thought," led by Michael Clifford of MSU.
--Sept. 20, "The Kingdom of God Impulse in Kant's Philosophy," led by Arnold Farr of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pa.
--Oct. 18, "Race in Hegel's Philosophy of Religion," led by Michael Hoffheimer of the University of Mississippi.
--Nov. 15, "Fichte and the Way to the Blessed Life," led by Yolanda Estes of MSU.
For more information, contact Estes at (662) 325-2382 or thunter@futuresouth.com.