Judith Butler - The Difference of Philosophy (2015) | Notes on Impressions & Responsiveness

Public intellectual and feminist theorist, Professor Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley, addresses a workshop on "The role and responsibilities of philosophy in society".
The workshop was hosted by the UCD School of Philosophy, University College Dublin, in conjunction with the Society for Women in Philosophy, on 06 February 2015.
Judith Butler is Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as Founding Director.
She received her PhD in Philosophy from Yale University in 1984 on the French Reception of Hegel. She is the author of Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth-Century France (Columbia University Press, 1987), Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge, 1990), Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex” (Routledge, 1993), The Psychic Life of Power: Theories of Subjection (Stanford University Press, 1997), Excitable Speech (Routledge, 1997), Antigone’s Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death (Columbia University Press, 2000), Precarious Life: Powers of Violence and Mourning (2004); Undoing Gender (2004), Who Sings the Nation-State?: Language, Politics, Belonging (with Gayatri Spivak in 2008), Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable?(2009), and Is Critique Secular? (co-written with Talal Asad, Wendy Brown, and Saba Mahmood, 2009). Her most recent books include: Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism (2012) and Dispossessions: The Performative in the Political (2013), co-authored with Athena Athanasiou, and Sois Mon Corps (2011), co-authored with Catherine Malabou.
She is active in gender and sexual politics and human rights, anti-war politics, and serves on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace. She was recently the recipient of the Andrew Mellon Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in the Humanities (2009-13). She received the Adorno Prize from the City of Frankfurt (2012) in honor of her contributions to feminist and moral philosophy as well as the Brudner Prize from Yale University for lifetime achievement in gay and lesbian studies. She is as well the past recipient of several fellowships including Guggenheim, Rockefeller, Ford, American Council of Learned Societies, and was Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and at the College des Hautes Etudes in Paris. She has received honorary degrees from Université Bordeaux-III, Université Paris-VII, Grinnell College, McGill University and University of St. Andrews. In 2013, she was awarded the diploma of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Cultural Ministry.

[@m.b.garcia4640]

The effect that we’re talking about in the comments seems to be the thing I like the most about Butler’s writing, which is that it has taken the advice of reading writing aloud before cementing it in print (maybe to an annoying point for some readers/listeners). Reading Butler feels like you’re doing the thing she’s doing up there at that too-big podium-constantly clarifying what was said one second ago as you’re talking about it and that’s a big ol’ tip o’ the nib to Derrida. I don’t think it totally serves speaking for all that speeches can do, ok fine, but as far as lectures go, wow that’s clear, prepared, and thoughtful. Butler really be like, I want to make a claim, but first, I should unpack the machination of uttering that I, which begins with the Big Bang.” And I love that.

[@tonyfubu]

so you're saying, as a philosopher, she's amazed by the difficulty and joys of writing. how is this philosphy, and not just fiction writing?

[@m.b.garcia4640]

@@tonyfubu no, not really. More like they’re a great speaker was my whole point and Derrida is not read as a fiction writer, but pretty squarely in the signifier/fied conversation so that would actually be philosophy. The story is not the issue, instead it’s the mechanism that language is, which is a more philosophical concept than creative writing.

[@Stefano.D]

Fantastic. For those seeking further knowledge, do read the Pshychc life of Power (1997).

[@GaryAskwith1in5]

That podium is a human shield!

[@BelMisi3000]

Judith

[@santiagowechsler]

That podium is way too big

[@PremiumIELTS9999]

I just listened for few minutes in the beginning but I merely understood what she is really saying. I hope someone can explain her main point to me.

[@BenthamicMethly]

+sunho lee Subjecthood arises from a 'matrix' of relation to other beings, the pronoun 'I' arises conditionally from a formative process which none can escape (all humans having passed through individuation at the very least including dependency of infancy). 'Independence' is actually founded in a bunch of relations, which leave 'the I' with an 'impressionability'.

[@sjiang5927]

I love the story lol!

[@milascave2]

s: The guy in the hotel sounds robotic. He just got stuck and started skipping. However, I understand the class element. He had to gender his cient before going on to the next part of his task. It is part of his job and his role.

[@sabetzero7715]

about whom does she tals about at 19:02? it's a french name..

[@jujostudio]

Merleau-Ponty

[@alexanderaerts9490]

Nope, it is Malebranche

[@Grappapappa]

@@alexanderaerts9490 No, it is Mösjöö Plöplö Plöö.

[@TheRandomBiscuit]

@@alexanderaerts9490 Butler says "For Merleau-Ponty and indeed with Malebranche..."

[@mohsinrao4334]

Based on the cover image for this video and I came to seek Judith Butler play rock, paper, scissors. I am bitterly disappointed :(

[@damienolivares1162]

Transcript?

[@JCResDoc94]

Damien Olivares YT generates transcripts

[@JCResDoc94]

Yer nice.

[@zeno6387]

Being so overly detailed about a few simple timeframes seems to me either a very specific niche or a form that is easier and clearer caught by zen and such eastern thoughts. The 'I', being at all - afterall - is always present even if 'I' dwells in memories. Secondary ( told ) stories about me by others are not that significant for that (this) presence. The structure of time does have its impact on us, even more so since we are self-reflective to a degree. That is one level. On two other levels we are not self reflective: when we are just doing - or when we are present as such. These differences are somewhat illusionary and 'just ' modes of being we experience and have (can have) knowledge about. Well, maybe I didn't get her point.

[@szymonharbuz9052]

I am not sure about your argumentation, but I think you are right about Zen. She is here on a very zen-like lead, however, to approach it, she puts herself in an impossible and confused position, since she still utilizes the very tools of language she agues against. To put it in more of a zen term, paraphrasing Nansen, she is close to the right path, but as she seeks it, it runs away.

[@szymonharbuz9052]

@@meadow9441 Nah, that's me

[@wolvestasty]

@@szymonharbuz9052 I don't think Butler's interest is involved with being "against" the "I". I think she is looking to both complicate and identify implications of "I" relative to its function. How it may or may not "refer" and to what.

[@shirlynmakar4129]

Her speeches are readings...

[@safwanshow]

better than digressing

[@Grappapappa]

When will people learn that the "I" is only a negative subjectivity in the impossible, yet necessary belated immanence.

[@ExistenceUniversity]

Word salad

[@victorgrauer5834]

Tedious!

[@Luuka11]

The Dalai Lama, Krishnamuthi, Rajneesh (Osho), etc. will explain all this in a very easy, simple and interesting way without reading a speech 🙄

[@GaryAskwith1in5]

Gender and discourse on self are over-indulgent, & a distraction, 'we' should gather forces such as feminism into a new narrative capacity that channels energies with a multi-disciplinarian approach that challenges inequality.

[@ExistenceUniversity]

Word salad

[@quercusalba5441]

Not quite 10 minutes and it's been a waste of ten minutes my life.

[@sphinx333]

Not a good speaker. She could have emailed participants the paper since she is just reading. Very monotone. I have seen her speak many times and she always reads.

[@andres.alegre]

sphinx333 that’s what academics do in an academic talk when the audience are others academics