Conference onCritique of Modernity

14–15 June 2018, Leipzig University
Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies (Kolleg-Forschergruppe, KFG)
„Multiple Secularities – Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities“
Nikolaistraße 8-10, Room 5.55 (5th Floor)

Convenors: Monika Wohlrab-Sahr and Said Arjomand

Ideas travel in time and space. The conference seeks to explore the transnational circu-lation of counter-enlightenment discourses, moods and motifs as well as those of theirintellectual opponents. We will discuss the global phenomenon of anti-modern critiquein its specific regional contexts in the Islamicate world, but also its wider entanglements.
The cases of Ahmad Fardid and Henry Corbin are revealing examples of such transna-tional traveling of ideas and traditions.
Critique of “Western” modernity is present outside and inside the West. We aim at discussing the similarities and differences between various types of such critique, includ-ing
critical theory approaches and post-modern forms of critique.
The starting point of the conference is Ali Mirsepassi’s recently published book on Ahmad Fardid (Transnationalism in Iranian Political Thought: The Life and Times of Ahmad
Fardid, Cambridge University Press: 2017). Iranian public intellectuals were of great
influence on the rise of political Islam in Iran on the eve of the revolution that eventually
emerged as “Islamic”. Ahmad Fardid, the famed Iranian “oral philosopher” and devoted Heideggerian took from his years of study in Europe the philosophical resources tocom-bat the global force of “Westoxification”, exalting the spiritual vitality of the Iranianand Islamic tradition against the truth-effacing forces of Western culture, including its secu-larism. This found resonance among European intellectuals, for instance Foucault, fora while. This resonance indicates a deeper and more complex interrelatedness beyond
mere intellectual or national influence and reception.
Such interrelatedness is not only a matter of the past but also of the present. Since nativist movements have become influential in Europe as well as in the US, with political
Islam – in itself essentially nativist – as their proclaimed antagonist, the conference willlead us not only into the Middle East, but also into the depths and shoals of current Western developments.
1/4

Thursday, 14 June 2018
4 – 4:30 p.m.
Introduction
Monika Wohlrab-Sahr (Director, KFG “Multiple Secularities”)
4:30 – 5:15 p.m.
Mistaken Anti-modernity: Fardid After Fardid
Ali Mirsepassi (New York University)
Chair: Said Arjomand (Senior Fellow, KFG “Multiple Secularities”; Stony Brook University)
5:15 – 6:45 p.m.
Podium Discussion (Conference Speakers)
Chair: Said Arjomand
6:45 p.m.
Small Reception
7:30 – 9 p.m.
The Fabulous Life and Thought of Ahmad Fardid
A Documentary Film by Ali Mirsepassi and Hamed Yousefi

2/4

Friday, 15 June 2018
9:30 – 11 a.m.
Modernity and critique of authenticity in contemporary Arab thought
Elizabeth Kassab (Doha Institute for Graduate Studies)
Chair: Florian Zemmin (Senior Research Fellow, KFG “Multiple Secularities”)
11 – 11:30 a.m.
Coffee Break
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Vindicating Postcolonial Obscurantism
Aziz Al-Azmeh (CEU, Budapest)
Chair: Mohammad Magout (Senior Researcher, KFG “Multiple Secularities”)
1 – 2:30 p.m.
Lunch Break
2:30 – 4 p.m.
The Persistence of Enlightenment: Reflecting Modernity and Modernity in Reverse
Dan Diner (Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Leipzig University)
Chair: Sana Chavoshian (Junior Researcher, KFG „Multiple Secularities“)
4 – 4:30 p.m.
Coffee Break
4:30 – 6 p.m.
From Beyond the Grave: Heidegger as Preceptor of the European New Right
Richard Wolin (City University of New York)
Chair: Markus Dreßler (Senior Researcher, KFG “Multiple Secularities”)

3/4

Friday, 15 June 2018
6:15 – 7:45 p.m.
Final Discussion
Sana Chavoshian (Junior Researcher, KFG)
Mohammad Magout (Senior Researcher, KFG)
Florian Zemmin (Senior Research Fellow, KFG)
Chair: Monika Wohlrab-Sahr (Director, KFG)

Connecting to wireless internet for workshop participants:
As a guest of our workshop, you can access the internet using ourworkshop account.

Instructions• Select the wireless network: “eduinfo”• Open a browser on your computer (Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer etc.) which 		redirects you automatically to the network page.
• In the drop-down menu, choose the event: “Multiple Secularities”• Enter the password: 7f108-2018• Accept the terms of use.
• Click on “activate”.

Your device is now connected. The connection remains active for the whole day.

4/4