The Post-Europe Project - Blog

Saving Europe From Salvation: Simon Glendinning Responds to "Life After Europe"

1/14/2015

"National competences are not something one can waive away with a magic wand and reassign to international institutions. Limited sovereignty all round is the road we must travel." Professor Simon Glendinning (LSE) responds to our essay "Life After Europe "

The opportunity provided by a philosophically informed approach to the future of European union is, as the authors suggest, to help liberate discussion from domination by narrowly “economic thinking which sees growth, expansion and accumulation” as the be all and end all of Europe’s ambitions. However, I found the authors’ assessment of “what is needed” or “required” in its place to remain too stubbornly close to a classical form of rational cosmopolitical thinking that is no less "all or nothing" – and which, I will argue here, in wanting everything can get nothing. [read the full piece]

LIFE AFTER EUROPE: the post-europe project manifesto

12/15/2014

Darian Meacham and Francesco Tava introduce the next stage of their project – a discussion inspired by the Czech philosopher and political dissident Jan Patočka. An invitation to discussion.

The Post-Europe Project may sound a bit ominous. The aim is not to bring about or even hasten the end of Europe; whatever that might mean, our help is probably not needed for it - Europe is perfectly capable on its own (see here for one way how). Hopefully though, the name is provocative. Much of the debate surrounding the idea of Europe or the question of Europe seems to fall into one of three non-mutually-exclusive camps: rather technocratic discussion about the formal structure of governing institutions, eurocentrism or anti-eurocentrism (the latter being different from euro-skepticism, which often remains eurocentric).

In a recent piece, John Drabinski, Professor of Black Studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts, described eurocentrism in reference to the great Frantz Fanon’s comment that “Europe takes itself as its own measure”. Another, rather coarse, way of expressing this would be to say that the sense of superiority vis-à-vis the rest of the world is very deeply and often subconsciously ingrained in European cultural and political life.

In a post-European world this conviction has deleterious effects on the way that geopolitical challenges are addressed at all levels, and in today’s world nearly all major political issues are geopolitical in their nature. The philosopher Simon Glendinning puts it well when he writes: “For a Eurocentric thinker Europe is not just one sample of human culture among others, not just one regional culture among others – but is the best example, the head of the pack: the avant-garde for the whole of humanity in its history and its development.”[1]

There is however a very apparent risk that the critical response to this attitude can become a form of self-loathing, an unreflective anti-eurocentrism that thinks of Europe as an “undifferentiated shit factory” as the philosopher Paul Moyaert once put it.[2] Unreflective anti-eurocentrism risks overlooking many of the accomplishments, especially of post-WWII Europe. An unscientific and anecdotal analysis of the European psyche suggests that these two positions - eurocentrism and (unreflective) anti-eurocentrism - are often held in concert with one another in a form of debilitating cognitive dissonance, a particularly European pathology. [read more]

Kojève's end of history: a philosophical key to the European financial crisis

10/9/2014

What I would like to argue is that this historical and existential process retraced by Kojève helps to clarify the origin and the genesis of the present, European and global, supremacy of economic processes over all other fields of human activity.

Riccardo Paparusso's excellent piece from our openDemocracy.net partnership on Europe, financialisation and the end of history.

Call for papers: Phenomenology and the idea of europe

10/9/2014

“Phenomenology and the Idea of Europe”

Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology - Special Issue

http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rbsp20#

In a period in which Europe seems to have lost its political cohesion, due to the growth of particular interests and the outbreak of nationalistic forces, the need to think of Europe not just as a continent, a political and cultural space, but rather as a philosophical idea, as a concept and a project, becomes especially urgent. This analysis does not correspond to any apology or plea for European unity on the base of an abstract idea, but aims rather to shed light on the conflicts and the differences that characterise the European space, determining its substance.

The theme of Europe as an idea with philosophical significance has played an important role in the work of many philosophers who have been part of or engaged with the phenomenological tradition: Husserl, Heidegger, Patocka, Fanon, Derrida. Additionally, other philosophers working in and around this tradition have offered important conceptual resources for understanding political crises and institutions: Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Arendt, Kosík, Nancy. Both of these lists are obviously not exhaustive.

We welcome papers that address the concept of Europe and the current European political scene using resources drawn from this rich seam of philosophical investigation and analysis. Papers may address the question of Europe from a historical perspective or draw upon the conceptual resources developed within the phenomenological tradition to address current questions and challenges. We of course also welcome contributions that are critical of a phenomenological approach.

Papers should be between 6000 and 7000 words and be prepared for blind review. Author information should be sent in a separate document containing the author’s name, contact information and the title of the paper. All papers must include an abstract of 100-200 words. Please submit the papers by 30 June 2015. Papers should be submitted following the normal submission procedure indicated on the journal’s website (http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rbsp20#.VDbQ5-flcR8) with a note indicating the title of the special issue.

This special issue is an initiative of the Post-Europe Project (www.post-Europe.org.uk)

Jacques Derrida and the Europe of hope - Tamara Cărăuş in opendemocracy

7/2/2014

This affirmation of Europe is not a simple one; it is preceded by the choice to inherit the discourses of Europe with its tensions, contradictions and aporia... (read more)

Europe Needs Some Old Ideas - more from our opendemocracy partnership

6/26/2014

If Europe is not for something then it is good for nothing. I propose that we think of Europe as being for flourishing...

...We do not need to be embarrassed at the simplicity of the notion that flourishing comes first. Few Americans would blush at the thought that at its core the United States is for freedom, no matter how complicated and problematic that idea turns out to be when concretely manifested, or how far we currently are from that regulative ideal. Perhaps Europeans need to shed some of their insecurity and cynicism and proclaim Europe to be for something. We don’t need to worry about over-simplification; politics always turns out complicated. The self-proclaimed realists will scoff, but they always do. Derision and over-complication are political weapons too – “we’d love to shut down these overseas tax havens, but it’s more complicated than that”. The question to ask is if Europe and the European project are not first and foremost about flourishing, then what on Earth could they be for? (read more)

openDemocracy.net editorial Partnership

6/10/2014

In the next couple of weeks we'll be launching our editorial partnership with the global commons openDemocracy.net. The post-Europe project will have a devoted partnership page in the oD commons with the title: EUROPE, THE VERY IDEA. Some of our contributors couldn't wait, so here's a little taster of the great debate to come.

Anya Topolski, "From the Idea of Europe, to a Europe of Ideas"
Contrary to the maxim popularised by political scientists that there is no political community without a political identity, what Europe most needs is a political community without identity... (read more)

Teresa Pullano, "Europe, A Concrete Idea"
The rise of the far-right parties and more generally of the anti-European or euro-sceptic ones, such as the British UKIP, is a clear sign that moderate solutions to the current crisis are not enough any more... (read more)

Post-Europe YouTube channel

5/30/2014

We've launched a YouTube channel for the project's activities. So far there are three videos from the May conference and public event - more to come soon hopefully.

Success!

5/29/2014

Success! A huge thank you to everyone who participated in "Europe, The Very Idea: Exploring Europe as a philosophical concept and project" 9 & 10 May 2014, Watershed, Bristol...

In case you missed it, the full conference programme is available here.

Check out the conference page for photos and videos.

"The Crisis of the European Sciences and the Crisis of Europe" (Darian Meacham at UWE World Philosophy Day Celebration March 2014)

5/1/2014