You are invited to attend the HT presentations. Each presentation will be about 30 minutes, followed by about 15 minutes of question time.

Date: Friday, 7 Sep 2012
Time: 2-4pm
Venue: Philosophy Resource Room, AS3-05-23.

Embodiment as the highest standard of Knowledge in Later Chinese Thought: Adventures in Alternative Epistemologies
by Mr. Yeo Siew Hua

Abstract:

Inherited models of Western epistemology has aligned itself closely to the way we do sciences in the modern world, emphasizing on objective truths and repeatability. But in the last few decades, there have been proposals of alternative systems of epistemology to which my work positions itself with. I wish to explore the possibilities of embodiment as a form of knowledge, taking cue from Neo-Confucian metaphysics, particularly, the conceptual strategy of Body (体) and its Uses (用), and its fundamental grounding in social interaction. Finally, to reclaim claims like “i know how it is to be in your shoes” as possible forms of knowledge.

A Will-to-Power Reading of ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’
by Mr. Doan Tuan Duc

Abstract:

My thesis aims to interpret the crucial point in Nietzsche’s ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ where Zarathustra feels nausea at the thought of the eternal recurrence. Starting out as a prophet of the future Superman – the ideal for human greatness in part I, Zarathustra in part III envisions his failure to complete such project when thinking about the eternal recurrence of the small man. Such nausea is later overcome when Zarathustra embraces the eternal recurrence with joy.

Applying recent findings on Nietzsche’s doctrine of will to power as the activity of overcoming resistances, I argue that Zarathustra maximizes the power of his will when he overcomes his nausea and embraces the eternal recurrence. Zarathustra’s will goes through two steps: (1) the confrontation with resistance as the will realizes its entanglement in the eternal recurrence’s deterministic complex of causes and (2) the overcoming of resistance as the will admits its inefficacy and dissolves into the ‘Ring of Eternity’, an act which paradoxically increases the will’s power and brings Zarathustra immense joy in the concluding part IV.