Inaugural lecture for Christian Benne and Lene Østermark-Johansen

Thinking with texts. Literary studies and/as/of philosophy

Christian Benne

This lecture argues both historically and systematically for a closer relationship between literary studies and philosophy. It envisions literary philosophy as a major contribution to contemporary debates on the future and relevance of the humanities by highlighting its critical potential vis à vis disciplinary and conceptual boundaries.

How to do things with words and images – a speculative approach

Lene Østermark-Johansen

Do images primarily unfold within space and literature within time, as the German philosopher G. E. Lessing (1729-1781) stated in his Laokoön (1766)? Or can the boundaries between the two be blurred, and what happens if we do so? This lecture argues for the great potential in a more flexible approach to the sister arts in both teaching and research and suggests that just as time and space are inseparable, so are word and image.

After the presentations, a reception will be held in the 24.2 corridor