Abstracts

LECTURES

Hunter Beaumont: “Subjective Effects of Bonding, Guilt and Feelings of Guilt”
Lecture | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 12 h

Internal, subjective experience is often overlooked in conventional academic contexts. Closer scrutiny of these experiences reveals a strong connection between guilt, guilt feelings and bonding, and also suggests constructive solutions. Attachment behavior can be observed among many mammals and is the fundamental basis for human relationships and social groups. Surprising insights from psychological research and clinical experience from systemic psychotherapy will be discussed.

Elena Esposito: “What Do Bonds Bind? The Property of the Future and the Responsibility of the Present”
Lecture | Saturday, 08.12.2012 | 14 h

Debt has always been associated with guilt. Traditionally, however, the guilty one was not the debtor but the creditor – the one who gets a profit selling something that does not belong to him, because it does not belong to men: time. Today the situation is different and guilt is attributed to those who become indebted, maybe irresponsibly, but the structure is the same. Bonds, like all forms of debt, operate with time, and more precisely with the future: they use the future in the present, hoping to produce a richer future that will also allow repayment of the debt. In the years before the crisis this traffic with the future reached dizzying levels, with tools like ABS and CDOs, and especially with the techniques of structured finance. The problem, as the crisis showed, is circularity: in binding the future we bind something that does not yet exist and depends on our present behavior – often deviating from today’s expectations and calculations. Thereby we can produce a future richer in opportunities, but also the feeling of being left without a future – the accusation of “theft the future,” as made by Occupy Wall Street and similar movements.

Marcel Hénaff: “Cosmic, Symbolic, and Financial Debt: Energy Reserves, Equilibrium Differentials and Temporality”
Concluding Lecture | Saturday, 08.12.2012 | 19 h

Every debt involves a relationship to others, to time, and to the world. Although symbolic (or moral) debt is not the same thing as financial debt, these two forms have mutual implications. In every case debt entails reciprocating, paying back, reestablishing equilibrium, and replenishing energy. What is at stake is redemption: restoring life, preserving bonds, and periodically closing cycles of time. But this may be precisely what modern finance aims to do away with.

Maurizio Lazzarato: “The Making of the Indebted Man”
Lecture | Thursday, 06.12.2012 | 18.30 h

The economics disciplines hold that money and the market have liberated humanity from debt. In fact, capitalism has introduced the concept of infinity to economics and to the servicing of debts. Maurizio Lazzarato will try to illustrate how this endlessness operates in societies and how it engrosses the subjectivity of every individual.

Stephan Seiter: “Debt. Facts and Figures”
Presentation | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 10 h

Using Greece as an example, the presentation focuses on the problem of national debt. Should this, in principle, be avoided or are there rational reasons for a country to become indebted? Who bears the heaviest burden incurred by the national debt? And who benefits?

Sigrid Weigel: “Conversions between Guilt and Debt”
Lecture | Saturday, 08.12.2012 | 15.30 h

Sigrid Weigel discusses the symbolic trade-off between guilt and debt, above all, in relation to the cultural memory in Germany since 1945. Her point of departure is the conversion of guilt into debt in the post-war discourse. The discussion centers on the “encumbered” attitude of the ‘68 generation towards money and the interconnection between money and guilt within the generational discourse and the euro crisis.

Q&A SESSIONS
In the Q&A Sessions the discussion on guilt and debt takes the form of a dialogue which embarks upon a journey through various disciplines. In a kind of relay, each participant will switch after 20 minutes from being an interviewee to interviewer of a new participant.

Christina von Braun
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 15.40 – 16.20 h

Christina von Braun, gender theorist, filmmaker and professor for cultural theory, is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by Birger P. Priddat, philosopher and economist. Afterwards, she questions Eric Brian, sociologist and science historian.

Eric Brian
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 16.00 – 16.40 h

Eric Brian, sociologist and science historian, is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by Christina von Braun, gender theorist, filmmaker and professor for cultural theory. He then questions Tomáš Sedláček, economist.

Michael C. Burda
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 18.00 – 18.20 h

Michael C. Burda, Professor of Economics, is interviewed for 20 minutes by Michael Hutter, economist and sociologist.

Ulrike Harms
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 14 – 14.40 h

Neurologist and neuroscientist Ulrike Harms is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by Thomas Macho, professor of cultural history. Afterwards she questions Jochen Hörisch, literary and media theorist and professor for contemporary German literature and qualitative media analysis.

Jochen Hörisch
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 14.20 – 15 h

Jochen Hörisch, literary and media theorist and professor for contemporary German literature and qualitative media analysis, is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by neurologist and neuroscientist Ulrike Harms. He in turn questions Leopold Seiler, asset manager.

Michael Hutter
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 17.40 – 18.20 h

Economist and sociologist Michael Hutter is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by philosopher Maria-Sibylla Lotter. Afterwards, he questions Michael C. Burda, Professor of Economics.

Birger P. Priddat
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 15.20 – 16 h

Philosopher and economist Birger P. Priddat is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by Ulrike Vedder, professor for contemporary German literature. He the questions Christina von Braun, gender theorist, filmmaker and professor for cultural theory.

Maria-Sibylla Lotter
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 17.20 – 18 h:

Philosopher Maria-Sibylla Lotter is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by philosopher Wolfgang Pircher. Afterwards, she questions Michael Hutter, economist and sociologist.

Wolfgang Pircher
Dialogues  | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 17 – 17.40 h

Philosopher Wolfgang Pircher is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by Elisabeth Weber, professor for German and comparative literature. Afterwards, he questions Maria-Sibylla Lotter, philosopher.

Tomáš Sedláček
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 16.20 – 17 h

Economist Tomáš Sedláček is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by Eric Brian, sociologist and science historian. He in turn questions Elisabeth Weber, professor for German and comparative literature.

Leopold Seiler
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 14.40 – 15.20 h

Asset Manager Leopold Seiler is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by Jochen Hörisch, literary and media theorist and professor for contemporary German literature and qualitative media analysis. Afterwards, he questions Ulrike Vedder, professor for contemporary German literature.

Ulrike Vedder
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 15 – 15.40 h

Ulrike Vedder, professor for contemporary German literature, is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by asset manager Leopold Seiler. She then questions Birger P. Priddat, philosopher and economist.

Elisabeth Weber
Dialogues | Friday, 07.12.2012 | 16.40 – 17.20 h

Elisabeth Weber, professor for German and comparative literature is initially interviewed for 20 minutes by economist Tomáš Sedláček. Afterwards, she questions Wolfgang Pircher, philosopher.