In 1994, Larry Wolff published Inventing Eastern Europe, in which he argues that the very idea of Eastern Europe was an invention of the French Enlightenment—thus establishing a collective identity for this part of Europe as inherently inferior to Western Europe. It can be, and has been, argued that all subsequent attempts by Eastern (and, for that matter, Central) Europeans to self-identify have been framed by this initial 'baptism.' The notion of Central Europe—whether in its German guise as Mitteleuropa or Milan Kundera's reinterpretation as the "true Europe"—can, and perhaps should, be seen as an attempt to push Eastern Europe further eastward, thereby reinforcing the idea that being Eastern European is somehow to be a lesser European. Repeated efforts by the Baltic states to reframe themselves as Nordic can be understood in the same light.
This talk will explore these and other conceptualizations of Central and Eastern Europe by situating them within the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard's concept of selfhood (and identity) as a form of despair. Kierkegaard proposes that various forms of despair are, in fact, various forms of misrelation with oneself.
Speaker: Prof. Viktoras Bachmetjevas (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas)
Viktoras Bachmetjevas is a Lithuanian philosopher. After graduating from KU Leuven in Belgium, he defended his doctoral thesis at Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania. He specializes in continental ethics, especially the thought of Emmanuel Levinas, as well as the 20th century and contemporary French philosophy. Key publications include edited volume Philosophy of Humour: New Perspectives (Brill, 2023, with Daniel O'Shiel), and the articles 'Between the Two Ethics: Why Assessor Wilhelm is Not a Judge' (Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook, 2020), 'Imaginary Construction and Lessons in Living Forward' (History of European Ideas, 2020), and 'Philosophy in Lithuania after 1989' (Ideology and Politics Journal, 2021). He translated Emmanuel Levinas's Time and the Other, Harry Frankfurt's On Bullshit, Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny, and prepared the critical apparatus (introduction, commentaries and indexes) for the Lithuanian editions of Soren Kierkegaard's Repetition and Fear and Trembling. He has held visiting positions at Yale University, Soren Kierkegaard Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen, Institute for Human Sciences in Wien and has given guest lectures at the Ecole normale superieure, Ecole des ponts, West Virginia University, Sofia University, and elsewhere.
Hosted by: Dr. Anton Saifullayeu (University of Warsaw) and Prof. Izabela Blackwood-Kalinowska (Stony Brook University/University of Warsaw)
Discussant: Prof. Marci Shore (University of Toronto)
Register here.
The Zoom link will be sent 1 day before the event.