Philosophy: Uncommon Sense
Tuesday, 11 October, 2016 - 12:30
Abstract : Drawing on the work of Martin Heidegger ("Introduction to Metaphysics" and "Was Heisst Denken?") and Friedrich Nietzsche ("Thus Spoke Zarathustra"), this presentation seeks to delineate philosophy as a mode of uncommon sense (to Be, in Heidegger's sense, demands philosophy; that is, it must, before all else, reject what is "common"). For Heidegger and Nietzsche, it is only the uncommon, that mode of being that is directly tied to Dasein, that makes it possible for human beings to reveal themselves as meaningful and significant.
Time: 1pm on 10 October, 2016
Grant Farred is Professor of Africana Studies at Cornell. He has written on a range of themes, on social theory, postcolonial studies, race, the intellectual, and sport (particularly football). He is the author of several books, including Midfielders Moment: Coloured Literature and Culture in Contemporary South Africa (Westview, 1999), What's My Name? Black Vernacular Intellectuals (Minnesota, 2003), Phantom Calls: Race and the Globalization of the NBA (2006), Long Distance Love: A Passion for Football (Temple, 2008), Bodies in Motion, Bodies at Rest: The Even to fate Athletic Body (2014), and, most recently, Martin Heidegger Saved My Life, (Minnesota, 2015). He was editor of South Atlantic Quarterly, and edited an important collection on South Africa in 2004.
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