Event: Talk/Forum and Day Conference on Simone Weil.
Talk/Forum Event: Simone Weil: A Visionary for our Time.
Day Conference: Key Ideas in Simone Weil's Life and Thought: Force, Affliction and Attention.
Talk/Forum Event: Simone Weil: A Visionary for our Time.
Panellists: Prof Zenon Bankowski; Dr Elizabeth Drummond Young; Dr David Levy.
Chair: Brian Smith, former Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Day Conference: Key Ideas in Simone Weil's Life and Thought: Force, Affliction and Attention.
Facilitators: Dr Timothy Baker is a Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen; Prof Zenon Bankowski, Emeritus Professor of Legal Theory at the Law School of Edinburgh University; Dr Elizabeth Drummond Young teaches courses on the philosophy of friendship and love in the Open Studies department at the University of Edinburgh; Dr David Levy is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Dates: Friday 8 May – Saturday 9 May 2015.
Time: Friday 8 May 2015: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Talk/Forum: 7pm-9pm.
Saturday 9 May 2015: Registration: 9.30am-10am. Day Conference: 10am-5.15pm.
Event Description: Simone Weil (3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. She became a teacher and she was devoted to political activism, having spent more than a year working as a labourer, mostly in factories, so that she could understand the working classes. As her life progressed she became more spiritual and inclined towards mysticism. She wrote throughout her life, though her work became better know after her death. Albert Camus described her as "the only great spirit of our times".
The purpose of this conference is to:
1. learn about and explore aspects of Simone Weil's life and thought;
2. provide a forum for networking among those who are interested in aspects of Simone Weil's life and thought;
3. facilitate open and mutually respectful enquiry and communication among scholars and the wider public regarding aspects of Simone Weil's life and thought.
Simone Weil, 8-9 May 2015
Organised by the Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace, EICSP, Scottish Charity, SC038996.
Date: Friday 8 and Saturday 9 May 2015.
Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL.
Schedule
Friday 8 May 2015
Evening Forum Event: Simone Weil: A Visionary for our Time
6.30pm-7pm: Arrive and Registration.
7pm-9pm: Talk/Forum Event
Panellists: Prof Zenon Bankowski; Elizabeth Drummond Young; Dr David Levy.
Chair: Brian Smith, former Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Saturday 9 May 2015
Day Conference: Key Ideas in Simone Weil's Life and Thought: Force, Affliction and Attention
Chair: Simon Barrow, Director of Ekklesia.
9.30am-10am: Arrive and Registration.
10am-10.10am: Introduction.
10.10am-11.25am: Force. Dr David Levy
11.25am-11.45am: Break.
11.45am-1pm: Affliction. Dr Elizabeth Drummond Young
1pm-2.15pm: Lunch Break.
2.15pm-3.30pm: Attention. Professor Zenon Bankowski
3.30pm-3.45pm: Break.
3.45pm-5.15pm: Workshop. Dr Timothy C. Baker
Timothy C. Baker is Lecturer in Scottish Literature at the University of Aberdeen. He is the author of George Mackay Brown and the Philosophy of Community (2009) and Contemporary Scottish Gothic: Mourning, Authenticity, and Tradition (2014). His current research focuses on the relationship between language, animality, and suffering in contemporary fiction.
Elizabeth Drummond Young MA MSc PhD: I run a course at the Open Studies department of Edinburgh on the Philosophy of Love and Friendship. I am interested in philosophical aspects of the preciousness of the individual, love and sacrifice, the work of Raimond Gaita and that of the contemporary Catholic French philosopher Jean-Luc Marion. I am currently working on a book length project, why the Catholic Church should take romantic love seriously.
Professor Zenon Bankowski: Born Polish in 1946. Educated at the Universities of Dundee (LL.B in Law and Philosophy 1969) and the University of Glasgow (Advanced Study Scholar). Taught at University of Wales, University College Cardiff (Lecturer in Law 1971-1974) and then at the Faculty of Law in Edinburgh (successively, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, and Professor of Legal Theory 1994- 2011). I am now an emeritus professor but am still engaged in research but much more peacefully.
Dr David Levy: Dr. David Levy (pron. lee-vee) teaches at the University of Edinburgh in the department of philosophy, where he teaches moral philosophy and the history of philosophy. The principal historical figures in whom he is interested are Plato, Simone Weil and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Most recently, he wrote the introduction for and edited the Blackwell edition of Wittgenstein's Lecture on Ethics. He was educated at the universities of St. Andrews and King's College, London.
Cost: Evening Talk/Forum Event: £5/£3 (Concessions)/£1 (Students).
Day Conference: £25/£20 (Concessions)/£10 (Students).
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 0131 331 4469.