Nemocommunism by Stanimir Panayotov
Join us for professor Stanimir Panayotov's talk & seminar called “Nemocommunism”.
This talk/seminar will be focused on a single problem, in two parts: What does it mean to be no one?
In the first part, he discusses Thomas Metzinger’s doctrine of nemocentrism. In the second part, he discusses his own view, which outlines a futurist project of a “society of nobodies/no ones,” which Stanimir call nemocommunism. His work on nemocommunism is informed by so-called “nemocentrism” propagated by Thomas Metzinger (Being No One) and Ray Brassier (Nihil Unbound, “The View from Nowhere”), but it was highlighted earlier also by Thomas Nagel (The View from Nowhere).
The initial question can be reformulated as, more precisely, what “it” is to be no one? And, crucially, does not it entail “not being someone” rather than “being no one”? The question does not merely imply some post-Parmenidian logical paroxysm, but the legitimate problem behind it is this: How can being and human existence work together if the latter cannot be subsumed under the reign of the former? For “to be no one” certainly violates the law of non-contradiction.
Beyond the logical problem entailed, nemocentrsim is both a philosophical and experiential problem: reports in medicine (psychiatry, systems medicine) and neurosciences swirl around what is often experienced and considered a lack of self and/or subject/ivity. Beyond the pathological dissolution between object and subject there nevertheless lies the hypothesis that the self is an illusion to begin with. Whereas this is no news for philosophers, Metzinger’s strong reductionist view, which professor Panayotov will be presenting, is specific in as much as it largely relies on a data-driven, neurobiology-ingrained philosophy at the cusp of something like a post-digital Buddhism. His own offered view, based on Metzinger’s and Brassier’s nemocentric perspectives, has to do with assessing the political ramifications of nemocentrism, or, nemocentric politics, which he proposes to name nemocommunism. This problematic will occupy him in the latter part of the talk, where professor will discusses what does a society of “no ones” might look like, why is it important to consider this as a real opportunity, and what is the endgame behind the hypothesis that humanity can, eventually, scientifically override its own “phenomenal self-model.
When: March 21, 6.30 PM (Tyumen, GMT+5).
Where: 8 Marta St, 2k1, School of Advanced Studies (SAS), room 501.
Language: English.
The event is open to the public but registration is required.