Philosophy Sharing Foundation held its annual conference for 2019 on the 1st of March at the Excelsior Hotel. The theme chosen for the event was Philosophy of Mind and the topic was discussed by Dr Stephen Law, an internationally renowned English philosopher and author. Dr Law explains how different philosophers have wondered whether the mind is a function of the brain or if it is an entity of its own. The conference was opened by Hon Minister Evarist Bartolo.

Beatified Lying: Make-belief and truthfulness in the democratic imaginary. Professor John Baldacchino, Arts Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. This lecture will argue that the act of lying has been gradually beatified as a political-aesthetic event. The beatification of lying inaugurated the substitution of democracy with what Baldacchino identifies with the society of myth. This is possible because in the language of myth the process by which lying is structured as a polity of representation is mostly taken in its state of immediacy. As such, the practice of lying now deceives itself in that its validation comes from a procedure that lost its mediating virtue. This is to say that, in their beatified state, lies and acts of lying are no longer virtuous, and less so effective in their pursuit of fairness and democracy. Philosophically speaking, lies have become meaningless to the polity because no one believes a lie anymore. The lie is now misconstrued by mechanisms of deception and lost its ability to become truthful. To understand this apparent paradox one needs to recognise how the polity of representation has been reduced to a positivist structure where facts are artefacts and deception suffers the same fate as knowledge, which is reduced to an epistemology that lacks any gnoseological value. In this lecture Baldacchino will argue that: Firstly, just like truth, the lie is no longer dialectical, but has become relational. Secondly, forms of instrumentalised forms of relationality have become commonplace in the structure of representation. Thirdly, relational representation is acting as a surrogate form of relativism where the vacuum left by the retreat of the virtuous lie has weakened democracy and any other form of societal living to the extent that, what Gillian Rose aptly calls “the fascism of representation”, has become a way of life with all the consequences thereof. Prof. Dr. John Baldacchino specializes in philosophy, art and education. He is a Full Professor and the Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Arts Institute. He served as an academic in the universities of Dundee (Scotland), Falmouth (England), Columbia (New York), Robert Gordon (Scotland), and Warwick (England). He is the author of Post-Marxist Marxism: Questioning the Answer (1996), Easels of Utopia: Art’s Fact Returned (1998), Avant-Nostalgia: An Excuse to pause (2002); Education Beyond Education: Self and the Imaginary in Maxine Greene’s Philosophy (2009); Makings of the Sea: Journey, Doubt and Nostalgia (On Mediterranean Aesthetics vol. 1) (2010); Art’s Way Out: Exit Pedagogy and the Cultural Condition (2012), Mediterranean Art Education (With Raphael Vella, 2013), Democracy Without Confession (with Kenneth Wain, 2013), John Dewey: Liberty and the pedagogy of disposition (2014) and Kenneth Wain (with Simone Galea and Duncan Mercieca, 2014). In addition to a book on art as unlearning (2018/19) and monograph on Ivan Illich (2018/19), Baldacchino has written three single books for a Maltese audience, which are forthcoming in 2018, He is also the editor of Histories and Philosophies, The Wiley Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of Art & Design Education (2018).

ANNUAL PHILOSOPHY LECTURE - Malta, 8 March, 2017 PROF. JOHN RYDER, PROVOST OF THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF MALTA _______________________________________________ POLITICS BY TWITTER Has social communication become a problem? _______________________________________________ The topic of this talk is the role of digital technology in political communication, specifically in relation to the importance of the pursuit of common interests in political activity. In his recent Farewell Address US President Barack Obama remarked that if we want to improve our political environment and accomplish significant political ends we need to stop attacking one another on Twitter and on-line, and converse with one another face-to-face. We here explore the implication of Obama’s comment that technology is currently an obstacle in political communication. We will further explore a position Prof. Ryder has for some years supported, which is that the strongest ground for political activity, especially democratic political activity, is the identification and pursuit of common interests within one’s community and across borders. In the end, we will conclude that there is no reason to think that digital technology is necessarily detrimental to useful political engagement and communication with one another. That we often use it detrimentally contributes to misunderstanding and social divisions. More genuine communication in the sense of engagement through shared meanings is critical and, it turns out, a necessary condition of experience and growth, both individual and social. Such communication, digital or otherwise, is enhanced through the pursuit of common interests. ____________________________________________ Born in New York City in 1951, John Ryder is the Provost at the American University of Malta. He is a specialist in American philosophy, especially American philosophical naturalism and pragmatism, its historical development, contemporary applicability, and its reception outside the US. His published work tends to focus on issues in systematic ontology and epistemology, and on social and political philosophy. Education: Having finished his bachelor’s degree at the State University of New York (SUNY; 1973), he continued his education at Stony Brook University, receiving a master’s degree in philosophy (1977). He became a Ph.D. in 1982. Positions held: He was a lecturer (1980-85), then professor (1985-2002), at the SUNY. He chaired the university’s philosophy department (1991-96), and was the co-founder and director of the Project for Eastern and Central Europe (1995-96). He served as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences of the SUNY (1996-2002), director of the Center on Russia and the United States (2002-10), and director of the SUNY Office of International Programs (2002-10). He was rector of Khazar University, Azerbaijan (2010-12), and Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emerates (2012-16). He was named head of the American Institute of Malta in September 2016. Publications: Prof. Ryder is the author of The Things in Heaven and Earth: An Essay in Pragmatic Naturalism (2013), and Interpreting America: Russian and Soviet Studies of the History of American Thought (1999). He is editor of American Philosophic Naturalism in the 20th Century (1994), and co-editor of The Blackwell Guide to American Philosophy (2004; Russian Translation: 2008) and The Philosophical Writings of Cadwallader Colden (2002). Ryder is also the co-editor of several volumes of selected papers, published by the Central European Pragmatist Forum (CEPF), which he co-founded in 2002 with Emil Višňovský of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Many of Ryder’s papers have been translated into and published in Europe, and he is a frequent speaker at universities and conferences across Europe and the US. He served as president of the Alliance of Universities for Democracy (2002-12). Contact: john.ryder@aum.edu.mt philosophysharingmalta@gmail.com

L-ikbar sfida tal-bniedem hi li jfisser il-misteru tal-eżistenza u l-kundizzjoni umana. L-argument bażiku ta’ din it-taħdita hu li l-logosinteżi umana, kemm bħala għarfien jew/kif ukoll bħala filosofija, hija dejjem waħda ermenewtika; għalkemm tvarja fi processi li aħna nsejħu reliġjon, politika, arti jew xjenza, loġika, ontoloġija jew epistemoloġija. Il-ġlieda eterna bejn il-veru u l-falz fetħet twieqi u orizzonti tul is-sekli li fil-qofol tagħhom, anke jekk aktarx ħafna drabi fis-subterreni tas-subkonxju, dejjem jilagħbu bejn il-waqgħa u l-affirmazzjoni, bejn id-dlam u d-dawl, bejn l-injoranza u l-għarfien. F’ħafna waqtiet l-esperjenza umana hi dik ta’ dinja mkissra kemm fil-mumenti ċkejknin ta’ ħajjitna kif ukoll fl-ontoloġija u l-epistemoloġija bħala forom formali ta’ għarfien uman. Fi vjaġġ ċkejken tal-eżami tal-kurċifissjonijiet fl-arti matul iż-żminijiet u b’xi eżempji mill-arti tal-kelliem innifsu naraw dan kollu. Il-Filosofija hija tieqa li tiftaħ fuq twieqi oħra; hija orizzont li meta jingħex ifittex orizzont ieħor. L-interpretazzjoni tal-interpretazzjoni hija l-qofol tal-Filosofija u allura jiġri li l-ermenewtika tibqa’ l-bażi tal-filosofija u l-għarfien uman. Karl Borg għallem il-filosofija għal madwar 35 sena. Kien ir-rinovatur tat-tagħlim tal-filosofija fis-sitt klassi ta’ dak li llum hu magħruf bħala l-Junior College u ħadem ukoll ta’ kap tad-dipartiment. Studja l-Università ta’ Malta u ggradwa fil-Malti B.A. Hons. u M.A. fil-filosofija. Kien Commonwealth Scholar u specjalizza wkoll bi studji post gradwali f’Londra u l-Amerika fil-patoloġija tal-lingwa. Ħadem fil-qrib mal-filosfu Amerikan Matthew Lipman, li kien l-istudent tal-magħruf John Dewey fl-Amerika, l-Ewropa u r-Russja. Waqqaf ċ-ċentru kulturali u tat-tagħlim magħruf bħala l-Istitut ta’ San Tumas, il-Furjana, fejn eduka eluf ta’ żgħażagħ kemm Maltin kif ukoll barranin. Huwa wieħed mill-fundaturi tal-Moviment għall-Filosofija għat-Tfal u-ż-Żgħażagħ Ewropew. Huwa kittieb u editur ta’ ’l fuq minn mitt ktieb ta’ suġġetti akkademiċi għal etajiet diversi, fosthom editur u kontributur tal-ktieb Lingwa u Lingwistika li qiegħed fis-sillabu tal-Malti Avvanzat tal-Università ta’ Malta. Huwa wkoll koeditur tal-ġurnal akkademiku ġdid The Maltese Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Borg għandu madwar 400 pittura u abbozzi ta’ dik li tissejjaħ Arti Filosofika. Il-medjum huwa ż-żejt; ħafna drabi fuq tila organika kif kienet tinħadem fl-antik. Fost ix-xogħlijiet tiegħu hemm il-proġett poliptiku (polyptych) tal-Kurċifissjoni li jikkonsisti f’seba’ kwadri u simboli oħra bi stil post Chagaljan ultra modern.

Ulrich Beck, li miet fl-ewwel jum ta’ din is-sena, jibqa’ magħruf għall-idea tas-“soċjetà tar-riskju”. Hu juża din il-frażi biex ifisser kif il-globalizzazzjoni ġġib magħha opportunitajiet daqskemm riskji, mill-bidla fil-klima sal-kriżijiet finanzjarji. Il-globalizzazzjoni medjatika u teknoloġika tkompli żżid is-sens ta’ riskju li, skont Beck u oħrajn, jirriżulta mill-modernizzazzjoni u fl-istess ħin jiddefiniha. Fis-soċjetà tar-riskju, il-“Jien” jirrefletti aktar fuqu nnifsu bħala aġent awtonomu. Għal Hannah Arendt, li dis-sena qed jitfakkar l-erbgħin anniversarju ta’ mewtha, “il-banalità tal-ħażen” għandha l-għeruq tagħha preċiżament fl-inkapaċità li wieħed jaħseb. Fil-kitba tagħha dwar il-ġuri tal-uffiċjal nażista Adolf Eichmann, Arendt issostni li, minkejja li l-Olokawst kien avveniment ta’ ħażen straordinarju, il-karattru ta’ Eichmann kien wieħed pjuttost normali ta’ xi ħadd li jinġarr mal-mewġ, u li m’hux kapaċi jixtarr l-aspett uman ta’ dak li jagħmel u jiddistingwi bejn it-tajjeb u l-ħażin. Hija n-normalità ta’ din l-injoranza li twassal lil Arendt biex taħseb b’mod differenti dwar il-ħażen, bħala n-nuqqas ta’ ħsieb u ġudizzju. It-titlu ta’ dan id-Diskors Annwali mogħti minn Dr Jean-Paul De Lucca huwa mnebbaħ mill-ideat ta’ dawn il-ħassieba. Iżda aktar milli dwar Arendt u Beck, id-diskors jinseġ flimkien xi aspetti tal-ideat tagħhom bħala l-ewwel tokki ta’ riflessjoni dwar xejriet u forom tad-diskors kontemporanju (eż. dwar ix-xjenza, l-arti, il-kultura, il-politika u r-reliġjon) li jibbanalizzaw jew jittrivjalizzaw dawn l-attivitajiet u t-tifsira tagħhom. Dan jista’ jidher bħala paradoss—u x’aktarx hekk hu—f’soċjetajiet fejn il-libertà individwali tiġi affermata, l-għarfien jidher bħallikieku qed jitkattar u t-teknoloġija tkompli tiżviluppa. Lil hemm mill-paradoss, il-banalità mhix xi ħaġa ‘taż-żuffjett’ iżda marbuta ma’ ‘ħażen’ li ġej min-nuqqas ta’ ħila li wieħed jixtarr u jaħseb bir-reqqa, u għalhekk hija riskju li jeħtieġ ikun identifikat, artikolat u evitat. Fil-kuntest ta’ avveniment bħad-Diskors Annwali ta’ Philosophy Sharing, faċli wieħed jassumi jew saħansitra jargumenta li l-filosofija hija l-antiteżi tal-banalità jew l-antidotu għaliha. Fil-fatt x’aktarx li lanqas il-filosofija m’hi ħielsa minn dan ir-riskju. Għaldaqstant, id-diskors ta’ Dr Jean-Paul De Lucca jesplora fuq fuq kif din timmanifesta ruħha fi tradizzjonijiet filosofiċi differenti. U wkoll jekk il-filosofija, jew imqar xi attitudnijiet li nistgħu nisiltu minnha, tistax tal-anqas isservi bħala wens, jew konsolazzjoni, biex wieħed iwieżen aħjar ir-riskju tal-banalità.