Workshop: Agonizing Over Power, Love and Evil OR Trying to Find A Voice to Talk About This Stuff

Workshop A: Agonizing Over Power, Love, and Evil OR Trying to Find A Voice to Talk About This Stuff
with Wayne Cristaudo
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

In this workshop I want to share some of the content of my forthcoming book Power, Love and Evil: Contribution to a Philosophy of the Damaged  (Rodopi) as well as discuss the difficulty I encountered when I attempted to talk philosophically about material which I think, in general, is better dealt with by expressivist forms such as literature, song, film, theatre, painting and theology than philosophy. Although I will be drawing upon my own experiences, the workshop is more about a general problem one encounters when trying to find an appropriate ‘voice’ for reflecting upon experience, traditional narratives and cultural examples than the uniqueness of my difficulties. At the centre of my discussion will be the problems with the ‘manners,’ expectations and temptations of academic analysis (especially the temptations to either simply outline what other authors have said or  apply the ideas of a specific social theory to evil and love.)