Bank Windhoek Socratic Forum

The closing meeting of the Bank Windhoek Socratic Forum for 2015 will take place on Monday 16 November 2015 at 18:00 at Nice Restaurant. The meeting will represent the Namibian Celebration of Unesco World Philosophy Day 2015 and the topic of the meeting, “Learning to live together in a changing world: a philosophical reflection on postmodernism and beyond”, will be introduced by Dr Rika Preiser from Stellenbosch. Curriculum Vitae of Dr Rika PreiserDr Preiser matriculated at Stellenberg High School in Cape Town and thereafter obtained a BA from Unisa, two MPhil’s and a PhD with the title of “The Problem of Complexity: Re-thinking the Role of Critique” from Stellenbosch University. She is currently employed as a Researcher at the Centre for Studies in Complexity at Stellenbosch University and has lectured at the Department of Philosophy and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University and the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town. Her publications include edited books, chapters in books, scholarly journal articles and reviews and she has delivered papers at various international and national conferences. Dr Preiser is a member of a number of academic committees and has, amongst others, already received the DAAD Scholarship for three periods.Abstract Our current way of living together is marked by inhabiting a world of technological advancement, political freedom and scientific discoveries that have grown exponentially since the dawn of the Enlightenment. However, even faced with the light of reason and the rational tools we have to our disposal, we have not been able to find solutions for eliminating poverty, for preventing war and social injustice or crimes against humanity. In fact, it seems that our current world is marred by being in a constant state of discontent and crisis and that we are facing even bigger problems to solve today than ever before when we consider the threat of global climate change, the rise of new and incurable epidemics, the threat of a depletion of natural resources and ultimately economic meltdown and severe recession.Considering the state of the world as described above, it is evident that the problems of our current age provide us with enough reason for discontent. And discontent always suggests that we become critical of current ideologies, policies, solutions and predictions. In light of the above, contemporary philosophical inquiry is challenged to engage with intellectual activities that offer new ways of knowing, thinking and acting so as to find answers to the difficult problems that mark our world today.In the presentation I will unpack the shortcomings of modernism and explain how the postmodern position critically responds to it. More importantly we will engage in some reflective discussion on how the perceived dichotomy between modernism and postmodernism can be overcome so as to find new ways of thinking and acting on this journey of living together in a changing world.• Recommended reading: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/postmodernism/

Bank Windhoek Socratic Forum

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